A/N: Next chapter…
Six pulled out a wire from the console and attached it into the jack on the back of her helmet. As the Spartan started to make the necessary preparations for the jump, the sensors started to flash red. One of the ODST, Master Sergeant Cortez, was the first to ask the Spartan, "What's wrong now?"
Dot answered the ODST, "Apologies Master Sergeant. Noble Six was activating the slipspace capacitor until we detected a Covenant vessel searching the vicinity."
The 'director' immediately asked the AI, "What class?"
"Given its mass, I would have to guess it is a supercarrier."
"Oh that's just great! We're screwed! In space or on the surface, we're all going to die!"
As the trooper became more frantic, the 'director' grabbed the medical supplies and injected the man with a small dose of polypseudomorphine to calm him down. After falling asleep the 'director' assured the others, "That'll keep him quiet for a few hours. Now to deal with the Covenant…" He had to think of something before he spoke again. "Dot, do you still have access to the satellite feeds?"
"Unfortunately director, I do not. Even if Noble Six inserted me directly into the ship's system, my signal would easily be detected by the Covenant."
"Then we have only one option."
Dot saw Six's mind and saw what was planning, "I agree with your assessment, Noble Six."
The other ODST yelled at them, "What'd you agree with? Dot?"
The 'director' strapped himself in next to the ODST. Before O'Brien could remove the harness, the 'director' stopped him. "It would be best if you stay seated."
Taking a few minutes to move out of range of the supercarrier's weapons they moved towards a safe slipspace entry point. Now close enough to the SSEP, Noble Six started to warm up the slipspace capacitor as Dot noted to the rest of the crew, "Stealth systems disengaged."
Suddenly the bridge officer found the same anomaly again. This time it was constant and the Sangheili could easily identify it. "Shipmaster, they've reappeared! It is outside the range of the plasma turrets."
The gold armored Sangheili asked the officer, "What of the laser turrets?"
"We are obtaining a target lock now, sir."
The Shipmaster started to order his men, "Lower the power levels to disable the human ship and launch a squadron of Seraphs. We want to capture them for processing but if we must, destroy them without mercy."
"Noble Six, I have detected Seraph class fighters on approach." Six ignored Dot's warning as she continued the preparations for the jump.
The last trooper, Roger, asked Dot, "Doesn't this bucket have weapons?"
Dot unemotionally answered, "Unfortunately this vessel has not been outfitted with any means of defense. Our best chance for survival is entering slipspace."
"Then what's taking so long?"
Dot answered for Six, "Noble Six is attempting to. She is also preparing to evade the Seraph fighters. She is pushing the subprowler to its limits both in power and operations."
Duvall gripped the seat harness telling the others, "We need to trust the Spartan for now." As Six continued to work the console, Duvall spoke under his breath, keeping it to himself not letting the others hear him, "I sure hope you know what you're doing ma'am."
Six finished the prepping but the Seraphs were starting to catch up. Now Noble Six was starting to pull off a number of evasive maneuvers to shake off her pursuers.
Once they were in range, the Seraphs opened fire attempting to disable the craft. Six once flew the prototypes of the YSS-100 Sabre starfighter but this subprowler could not fight back or out maneuver the Seraphs. Noble Six was having a bit of difficulty compensating for the size difference but she started to get used to it as she started to evade the fire better. The Seraphs though were also missing some of their shots purposefully, trying to coral them back towards the supercarrier. Six wasn't blind to the trap, but for the moment she let them lead.
The humans saw she had turned around and was heading straight towards the Covenant ship. Roger tried to get her attention, "Hey Spartan, we want to head away from that ship not towards it!"
The 'director' finally saw what she was possibly planning, as he watched her hand press a sequence of buttons. He braced for something as he warned the others, "Get ready. This isn't going to end well."
Unbeknownst to the others, the ship carried a far more valuable item that far exceeded the location of Earth. As Six started up the slipspace capacitor again, the artifact started to react. This sudden power surge didn't go unnoticed by the humans, or the Covenant…
"Shipmaster, the Luminary is reacting to the power surge!"
The Shipmaster did not need the bridge officer to tell him what that meant. The Sangheili turned to the San 'Shyuum and knelt to him, "My prophet, the accursed humans dare to defile a holy relic of the Gods. I ask for permission to cleanse these stains and purify the holy relic."
"Yes, we cannot let the blessings of the Gods be left in the hands of those unworthy of being in their divine presence." The Prophet put on a display as he stretched both arms out and shouted to the crew, "Hear me, members of the Covenant. The Ancients left these divine relics for those worthy of following in their sacred footsteps to the Great Journey, but these humans seek to stop our ascension. We will not let their heresy stop us, we cannot. This test of our faith will prove to the Gods we are worthy of their gifts. We are close to the Great Journey my brothers, soon humanity will be crushed and the path to the Great Journey will unfold before us. Shipmaster, to purify this space, I give you my permission and the blessing of the gods to destroy them."
"I understand, Prophet. I will not let them escape justice's might." The Shipmaster stood up and shouted to his men, "Open fire on that ship. I want to see the human corpses float off to the abyss."
"Alert: power fluctuations detected from Covenant vessel. Noble Six, they are arming their weapon systems." With little choice left and the slipspace capacitor ready, and in accordance to Cole Protocol, Six was going to try and jump to random coordinates away from Earth in the hope of losing the Covenant.
"Hold tight!" Six finished and turned the ship about. As the slipspace activated, the artifact reacted. Six made a sudden nosedive just as they entered slipspace. The slipspace opened underneath the supercarrier carrier and they were propelled into the unknown.
As the ship entered slipspace one of the laser turrets fired, hitting one of the ship's engines. The Shipmaster bellowed, "Track their vector! Find where they are going!"
Another bridge officer soon replied, "Sir, the anomaly from before is interfering with the…"
"I care not for excuses! I have never let a single human escape my grasp, I will not now!" The Shipmaster looked at the monitor as he tried to find a way to find what had happened. "Prophet of Pity, is it possible that the humans have found a way to activate the holy relic, thus making it impossible for us to track them?"
The San 'Shyuum took a moment for himself to think about the possibility. "Yes, there have been artifacts that are known to affect slipspace travel. The only foreseeable problem I can conceive will be maintaining contact with the fleet."
"My Prophet, we will need reinforcements as a precaution if the humans have a Demon with them."
The Prophet of Pity was forced to make a decision as the slipspace wake was dissipating. "Shipmaster, requisition from the Supreme Commander three agricultural support ships, two heavy destroyers and a CCS-class battlecruiser to pursue the filth. That should be more than enough to deal with any Demon."
The Shipmaster quickly made contact with his fleet's Supreme Commander. The monitor displayed a Sangheili in an elegant purple cape with a highly decorated helmet. "Shipmaster Rayta 'Zaconomee. Why have you contacted me?"
Rayta had already knelt down in respect to his superior, "Supreme Commander. A human craft has entered slipspace, but we cannot track its vector. We believe they used a holy relic to achieve this. I ask permission to purse and request a support fleet."
The Supreme Commander was not impressed, "How was it that they were not destroyed like so many others before them?"
"We did not detect them at first, but when we did I was under advisement of the Prophet of Pity, I attempted to capture them. Interrogate them until they reviled the location of their homeworld so we may burn their heresy from the galaxy and clear the path for the Great Journey. I do not mean to sound impudent, but a decision must be made quickly before the wake is closed."
The Supreme Commander almost seemed displeased but he promptly answered the Rayta's plea, "Very well, Fleet Master Rayta Nar 'Zaconomee. You may take a small task force and give chase. I will expect all of the ships to return and the coordinates to the human homeworld in hand." Before the newly appointed Fleet Master could give his thanks, the Supreme Commander warned him, "Do not return without the humans dead and those coordinates in hand." With that the Supreme Commander ended the exchange.
Rayta turned about, "My brothers, let the hunt began!" Many of the Elites gave a roar of excitement as his ship, Unending Resolve, and the ships Pity advised taking moved in to follow them into the slipspace wake. Anticipating his ships would arrive to the destination before the humans, Rayta Nar 'Zaconomee wasn't going to take any chances. He wanted that ship captured but he also wanted to make sure any Demon that may be hiding in that ship was the first one they killed.
As expected, even traveling through the wake, the Covenant vessels were able to exit slipspace before the humans. Unknown however, was their current location. As the NAV computers tried to locate their exact coordinates, the communication officers noticed something rather disturbing. "Fleet Master, we cannot reestablish communications with the fleet."
"Then reestablish communication with High Charity."
"We've tried, sir. It's as if…they don't exist."
Just as suddenly, a strange grey ship appeared out of the blue. Unlike the bulky design of most human vessels, this one was more streamline, similar to many Covenant vessels. This particular ship though had the body similar to a miniature insect without its wings. "Prophet, this does not look like a creation left by the gods."
The Prophet gazed at the vessel, studding its design, "It does not share the same architecture as anything we know. No, this vessel is something different."
Before Pity could contemplate further, the comms buzzed with life. "Fleet Master, they are attempting to contact us. Should I proceed?"
"For now. I want to know what has happened, and why we cannot reestablish communication with the fleet."
A stuttering sound started to filter through first. Soon enough a gruff voice followed. Rayta Nar 'Zaconomee then said, "Get a Huragok out here to translate this creature." A large jelly-like creature was escorted in by a pair of Kig-yar. The Huragok was strapped with several metal pieces to its bulbous back and small head. The one-eyed helmet turned to the Fleet Master as he had the comm officer replay the message. The bioluminescent slave was quick with translating the message for the Fleet Master. The message was asking who they were and why they have approached this restricted area.
Pity then made a command, "Tell them, we are the Covenant and we seek the path to the Great Journey."
The Huragok replied to this unknown creature, using the exact thing the San 'Shyuum said. They soon received a response from the unknown creature. The Huragok translated it to equate that 'He did not understand.'
The Prophet tried to think of how to word his next response. "Huragok, tell them this. 'We follow the path of the Holy Ones to enlightenment and godhood'."
The Huragok replied as Pity said, and no response for several minutes. As the Fleet Master was plotting an attack strategy a message was received. It stated they would like to arrange a meeting with their leader before anything else happened. Along with the message was bundled coordinate data.
Rayta then shouted at the bridge officers, "Check those coordinates. Make sure it isn't a trap." The Sangheilis worked quickly and displayed the galaxy on the holotank. They zoomed in on the cluster, and then into the system as it highlighted…nothing. The coordinates led to the system but not a planet. The Fleet Master could only assume it was a trap but wasn't going to wait. "All ships, prepare to engage!"
But the Prophet stopped him. "It may be that our data on the galaxy differ slightly. Let us first investigate further, Fleet Master."
The Fleet Master was questioning the Prophet's unusual act, "Why do you want to show mercy to these things?"
"I do not." Pity explained, "These creatures are obviously not humans and they may yet prove to be worthy allies in order to further our own goal for the Great Journey." Pity then turned to the Huragok, "Ask them for data on the galaxy. Tell them we want to insure accuracy on the coordinates."
The Huragok made a purring sound as it sent the message. They were quickly responded with more data. Now the bridge officers were entering the data and comparing it to what was in their systems.
As they lined up the data it became abundantly clear, the galaxy map they have was off by a margin of twelve degrees. When they compared known celestial bodies, a majority of them were in their correct positions. But when they search for specific bodies, like the Sangheili homeworld Sangheilios, they couldn't find it.
"What trickery is this?"
Even Pity was perplexed by this unexpected revelation. "I do not know. Search for Janjur Qom." Nothing. They continued this for the others Covenant worlds and each system were uninhabited or controlled by an unknown species.
"Prophet, what does this mean?"
Pity was uncertain. "Something must have happened. We had not found a Sacred Ring, so that could only leave to the conclusion that the holy relic's activation must have caused some type of alteration in slipspace. What it is, I'm not entirely sure of yet. This makes our precedent of finding the humans all the more important. But no matter what happens to the humans, we must retrieve the holy relic, undamaged." The Prophet of Pity turned to one of the bridge officers. "Use this new data and the coordinates to find where this 'meeting' is to take place."
Now the coordinates led to a rather lush world in the Northeastern quadrant of the galaxy. The Fleet Master noted, "If we leave now we will miss our chance in capturing the humans swiftly and with ease."
The Prophet of Pity answered with a retort, "Yet the only reason we brought so many is to face down the possibility of a Demon; this fear is not unfounded but the facts are. I believe it is worth our time to investigate. Huragok, tell our new 'friends' we will meet them at the designated location."
With their answer given the strange ship disembarked as the Covenant vessels prepared to jump to the destination. Unfortunately the Fleet Master was correct, as a new slipspace portal emerged in mere minutes after they had left.
Having exited slipspace without finding a single Covenant ship, this only made Six even more uneasy. Six removed Dot from her armor and interfaced her directly into the ship and pulled the jack out of her helmet. "Dot, scan for…anything."
"Scanning."
As Dot did that, Six moved about to check on the others. "Is everyone alright?"
"We're all fine, for the moment." The 'director' moved to the cockpit to see what was going on. "Where are the Covenant?"
Duvall was being hopefully optimistic as he said, "We might have outrun them."
"That is highly unlikely, Sergeant Major. Covenant ships are far superior to any known UNSC vessel. Covenant craft are also known to…"
Cortez interrupted, "Track our slipspace vectors. We don't need a lesson Dot, we need to know if we're safe."
Dot replied, "I cannot be certain. The power surge has disrupted many of the ship's systems. Coupled with having to wait for the slipspace capacitor to cool down, it will take time in order to restore all operations to appropriate levels."
Cortez and O'Brien had a private chat about their unique 'friend', ODST to ODST. "I still don't like this, Cortez. Something about him doesn't feel right."
"The guy rubs me the wrong way too, but other than intuition he hasn't done anything to us other than hold out on bits."
"Large bits."
Cortez knew better than to over think this one. "ONI tends to hold info out all of the time. Why should he be any different? All I do know is that he's saved our lives. I still don't trust him, but I think we need him for now."
It had been a few minutes and Dot reported back to Noble Six. "Scan complete. I can detect residual radiation from Covenant vessels and entering slipspace."
The 'director' conferred with Dot. "Why would the Covenant leave? They must have realized they would have encountered us if they waited. Is it possible they encountered something more 'interesting'?"
"I cannot determine that, director. There is insufficient data for me to speculate any further."
As the 'director' continued to confer with Dot, Six went to investigate the unusual power surge from before. Dot had indicated that the spike originated from within the cargo hold. She found crates filled with weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, a number of different armor abilities and the like but nothing that could have caused the power fluctuation earlier. As Sierra-B312 continued through she soon found something, research notes and a number of strange objects. All of the objects looked similar to Covenant technology but they looked more like they were closely related to the ancient vessel Dr. Elizabeth Halsey was in, hidden beneath SWORD base. Six read through the material trying to find out what the 'director' really knew about these strange object.
The majority of them were purple crystals that were glowing very brightly. They were obviously the one behind the sudden power surge to the prowlers systems. But the other object looked like a simple silver orb but there was something unusual about this object. There were several notes referring to visions and whispers from the team who first encountered the object. The report also claimed that the orb had shrunk from an enormous size of about two warthogs down to this helmet sized ball. The orb was heavy when Six first grabbed it but the orb was producing some type of repulsion as it floated in the Spartan's hand. Six continued to read the notes and learned more about these 'visions'. They describe incredibly large ships attacking several worlds and metallic humanoids, disfigured and morphed slashing and killing many. They also described a ruined world where something laid buried, dormant. But it seemed the object, whatever secrets it held, no longer functions or does not have the correct stimulant to activate.
As Six continued to look through the papers a figure crept up behind her. Normally she might have seen or heard this individual but with everything she's endured, the Spartan was at her limit. A sharp pricking pain was felt in her neck when she grabbed someone's arm and pulled it away. The sleeve wasn't armor, it was fabric. She turned around to find the 'director' had jabbed her with a syringe, and the tube was empty. As the drug started to take effect the 'director' told her, "I'm sorry for this, Sierra-312 but we need to talk about your training later. There was enough polypseudomorphine to knock out horse for a few hours, I'm sure the effect will be similar for you." Noble Six tried to keep consciousness but in her fatigued state the moderate dose of polypseudomorphine quickly overcame her. As she slowly lost consciousness the 'director' told her one last thing, "Don't worry, you and the others will be just fine…"
A/N: I have to give credit for the name of the Shipmaster(turned Fleet Master) as well as a Special Operations Commander to user JustHitTheMark, thank you for your help and for letting me use the names. All of the stuff Six found stored in the back of the Black Cat will play a roll later, just need to find a way of writing it in is all.
