Part II
Chapter II
"Let no one here question our place in human history. That we are here right now is not a coincidence or accident. It is our fate. And this war, our birthright, our legacy. Our generation was born to fight the Covenant, and you, my fellow soldiers, were born for this very day. Today the enemy will hear the roar of humanity, and they will fear us."
—Colonel Akono Menteith to 12,000 men and women during the Covenant siege of Actium, May 10, 2545
31BBY/2581 UNSC MILITARY TIME
Chommel Sector, Naboo System, orbiting planet Widow, Aboard Autumn-class Heavy Cruiser the Harvest
Shepherd found Dooku waiting patiently amongst the mounds of destroyed droids in Launch Bay 5. The droids, which had been armed to the teeth, laid sprawled across the room and seemed to had been cut to pieces with extreme ease.
Other then the destroyed droids, no other damage was found. The Pelicans and Longswords that had been stocked onto the Harvest thanks to the Trade Federation were still in good condition. Some crates had been scattered on multiple levels of the docking panels of the hanger. Even all the way to the highest point of the docking bay, where droid snipers had been positioned. Obviously, Dooku had used his surroundings to his aid.
Too bad however, that the Sith knew already that the rounds which the SRS99C fired could still penetrate a lightsaber. But it seemed that Dooku had avoided the snipers despite their long range and well placed beats and took them out as well.
"Spartacus." The Sith Apprentice of Darth Sidious voiced. No emotions were evident in his tone nor any in his facial structure. He was completely calm as any diplomat should, and that's what put Shepherd on his guard.
"Tyranus. I must ask what you are doing that required to be so close to the very world the Sith orchestrated a attack on only a mere year ago?" Shepherd questioned with his helmet detached at his side.
"Shouldn't I be asking you the same?"
"Touché."
One of Tyranus' eyebrows rose before he came to a understanding a spilt second later. He chuckled. "I forget how diverse your culture is Shepherd. Hundreds of different languages, ideologies, and technologies all originating from a single planet while the rest of the Galaxy only scratches the surface of such a diversity in a single nation alone."
Shepherd allowed himself a slight neutral smile. "Indeed. But I believe your not here to talk with me about the culture of my people."
"You're correct." Tyranus smiled coldly.
"Well get to the point then. Why are you here Tyranus."
"As you know, Sidious created a early warning system to watch the growth of the Covenant. Recent reports have shown their military is almost on par to pre war levels." Tyranus continued, "As well, you also know about Kamino and the clones."
"The point?"
"When the clone armies are finished, we can build a new Sith Empire. The Galactic Empire. Once we do that, we will be as united as possible and have the backings of thousands of worlds to battle the Covenant!"
Shepherd smirked, "Tell me something I don't know Dooku. As well, I'd like you I inform me where I would come into play in all of this?"
"Well to get to the point, you would lead the campaigns against the Covenant."
"And with what? Ships outfitted with UNSC and Covenant technology? Maybe Forerunner as well? Yeah that might give the Covenant a challenge, but we all know what was on Earth and Reach. How many more Forerunner relics were scattered through out the UNSC? By now, how many of those relics have been reengineered? Oh also don't forget that Sidious built the Harvest and he lost it to me. I don't think that insult has cooled off yet. The only reason I see you here is to simply try to re-recruit me and take what I kept from the Sith. Then once all that is used up, you will dispose of me." Shepherd drew his Energy Sword while throwing on his helmet, "Don't insult me Tyranus. You now have two options: die or leave! Your decision."
"Very well. If you won't come back to the Sith willingly, I will kill you and take what we need." Tyranus said as he slide his lightsaber into his grasp and began to loosen his Sith cloak.
Shepherd growled, "Let's see you try."
A split second later, Shepherd leaped forward with unimaginable speed. Enhanced by his Spartan suit as well as the force and his augments, Shepherd crossed the empty meters of hanger that was between him and the Sith Lord within a second. However, when he brought down his Energy Blade, he came across a problem.
The Sith Lord had whipped out his ruby red blade and met Shepherd's Energy sword. But that was not the problem. It was that, even though Tryanus was slightly pushed back by the attack, when their blades connected, Tyranus held strong against Shepherd's superior strength.
Jumping backward before the Sith could counter Shepherd saw Tryanus smirk. Dropping his Sith cloak, Shepherd realized this fight had just became more complicated.
"Damn it."
As under his cloak, Dooku wore modified SPI armor.
Suddenly Athena chimed in his suit. "I'm scanning his armor and... Well it ain't your normal SPI armor. Yes, it still has the features of the Mark II used by Beta Company during the Spartan III project, But Tyranus version has light shielding, a power suit skeleton frame and a jet pack as well as built on weapons similar to the weapons used by bounty hunters: Flamethrowers and lasers."
"Good to know." Shepherd said as he looked over Tyranus cautiously preparing for the Sith's usual verbal assaults that he gave throughout battles.
However, Dooku did not gloat. Instead he leapt upward using the force to propel him to the higher levels of the Hanger. Landing onto a docked Pelican on the third docking floor of the five level hanger he aimed his wrist at Shepherd. Red lights spewed from the mounted gun on the SPI armor and soared toward Shepherd.
"Look out!" Athena called.
Shepherd quickly reacted and blocked the ruby lasers. The energy being absorbed into his Energy Sword. But the barrage kept coming and he could feel the blade warming. The problem about a Energy Blade was it absorbed lasers, thus slowly overloading the heat reduction systems as well as the programs that kept the plasma'd shape. Not only that, since the Energy Sword absorbed laser bolts, it didn't reflect then. As a result, Dooku had a very large advantage over Shepherd in long ranged fights.
But Dooku wasn't the type to stick to a single weapon. As Dooku continued to lay down fire on Shepherd, Dooku used his free hand to manipulate the force.
A second later a warning echoed throughout the force just as Athena screamed, "Duck!"
Throwing himself to the ground, a previously hanger secured Warthog sped over Shepherd's opting body from behind missing him by inches. But he had no time to slow down.
Rolling to his right, Shepherd took cover behind a set of Hanger secured Warthogs. Looking around wildly for a way to get at Tyranus, while at the same time cursing his own stupidity of not bringing with him some sort of gun for a situation like this.
His eyes eventually glided over the series of weapons scattered across the floor by the dismantled droids. Nearly all of then where close to medium range weapons but with Dooku's agility, Shepherd wouldn't land a single shot. But then he spotted a AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun. A devious grin came upon Shepherd's face.
"Oh, don't tell me your going to..." Athena said before Shepherd cut her off.
"Alright, Athena, can you access the computers for the Hanger clamp that's holding up the Pelican Dooku us on?"
"Yes. Of course."
"When I get to that HMG, you pull Dooku's clamp once I got him suppressed. Drop the clamp on my mark, I will only have two hundred rounds maximum!" Shepherd told the AI.
"Got it!"
"Then let's put this plan in action!" Shepherd yelled before he leapt out of cover and made his way toward the HMG in a full out sprint resulting in being to fast for most of the bolts. Only a few of Tyranus' lasers hit there mark however, Shepherd's shielding held.
Coming upon the Heavy Machine Gun, Shepherd ripped it off its mount and brought the gun to his hip. Pulling down the trigger, flames and bullets spewed toward the Sith Lord who scrambled to get out of the way.
Ducking under a docked Pelican, Tyranus would pop up occasionally to fire a few shots under Shepherd's suppressive fire.
Marching his way towards Tyranus, Shepherd came under the Pelican that Dooku had now taken cover on top of.
"Now Athena!"
A split second later the hanger clamp opened, leaving the Pelican and by extension Tyranus to the effects of gravity. Falling, the Pelican crashed on the docked craft beneath it until it flattened into the hanger floor. However, the Sith Lord did not appear from the wreckage but instead from one of the other docked Pelicans the crashed Pelican had nearly collided with on its way down.
But, Dooku was indeed shocked momentarily which allowed Shepherd to drop the HMG which had a few rounds left and leap onto the same Pelican the Sith occupied.
Tyranus barely had time to deflect the Energy Blade that came upon him. Grunting he rolled out of Shepherd's next strike and over edge of the Pelican.
Free falling, he activated the SPI armor's jet pack launching him into the air. However, Shepherd was having none of that and using his force abilities, he jumped across the towards Tyranus.
Swiveling in mid air to face Shepherd, Dooku unleashed a fury of force lighting, which caught Shepherd and forced him backward and tumbling to the ground.
With a loud clunk, Shepherd crashed into the ground but he did not stop moving. Leaping onto his feet as fast as he could, he sprinted toward the flying form of Tryanus and leapt upward ignoring the bolts of lasers that collided with his shields.
Tackling the Sith in mid air, the two came spiraling to the ground, leaving both scrambling to their feet. But, Dooku was faster and took the chance to put Shepherd on the defense. Rushing forward, the Sith's satanic red lightsaber was ignited and swung downward upon the rising ex-Sith.
"Shepherd!" Athena cried.
Bringing his Energy Sword upward, Shepherd caught the blade between the double prongs of his blade. Dooku's eyes widened in realization and attempted to backup but Shepherd wasn't letting this chance pass up. So he quickly hooked the ruby blade out of the Sith's hands while simultaneously kicking him in the gut.
The SPI armor was not strong enough for the amount of force behind the kick resulting the armor denting inward right before Dooku was sent sprawling on to his back.
Shepherd gave no leverage and rolled backward, using the force to call Dooku's lightsaber into his free hand. He then Rushed forward, A blinding white Energy Sword in one hand and a ruby red Lightsaber in the other, he closed the minimal distance between the two force users.
Realizing what was coming, Dooku brought both hands up and let loose. One arm spewed fire from the mounted flame thrower and the other force lighting.
Colliding into Shepherd's shields, it was enough to deplete the already low levels.
Energy shields collapsing, Shepherd kept moving forward, ignoring the several warnings that the suit was giving off as the electricity danced alongside his suit.
But it was enough for Dooku. The electricity and fire had slowed Shepherd slightly allowing Dooku to get on his two feet and speed backward.
Using his agility, Dooku dodged the upcoming strikes that came upon him. In the fury of battle, the Sith pulled the force to him and unleashed it outward.
Throwing Shepherd back several dozen meters, he jumped back up to hear Athena yell once again, "Duck!"
Following her warning, Shepherd lurched down as a warthog flew over him.
Looking toward Dooku, Shepherd saw the Sith levitating a few nearby objects: Crates, another Warthog and several droid corpses. Then they all came soaring at him.
Shepherd grunted as the numerous objects collided with him and sent him flying, his Energy Sword and Dooku's lightsaber leaving his hands.
Skidding on the polished metal floor, he sensed the danger in the force and rolled to his side and behind the previous thrown Warthog that laid beside him. Dodging the several ruby bolts, he looked for his Energy Sword.
Spotting it in the assorted wreckage that now laid scattered across the Hanger, he used the force and pulled it into his grasp. Igniting it as he felt the torrent of lasers subside, Shepherd leapt out of the Warthog cover and clashed with the red blade in front of him.
The two force users swung, jabbed and blocked. ECG other throwing attack after attack, counter after counter at each other. The fury of red and white filled the center of the Hanger.
Slashing vertically, Dooku attempted to stay out of the double pronged blade's trap. And Shepherd knew this; that type of attack only worked once. Quickly thinking as the fight slowly drew into a stalemate, Shepherd brought the force to his aid and followed Tyranus' example.
Wreckage and debris soared toward the two, however, Shepherd knew what was coming and jumped upward and out of the way as the objects continued on there way toward Dooku.
In response, Dooku slashed through much of the debris, leaving him almost unscathed; his shields slightly drained.
Landing on his feet, Shepherd assaulted Dooku as the Sith recovered from the previous attack.
Both of their blades met over and over as the two tried to get a edge over each other. In a attempt to once again disarm Tryanus, Shepherd performed a feint to the right while bring a force punch upward and directed at Dooku's wrist from the left.
The Sith realized too soon. The sound of bone shattering echoed throughout the hanger just as Dooku screamed and pedaled in reverse desperately trying to gain some room between each other.
But Shepherd sensed Tyranus' plight and pressed his advance knowing full well that straight up close combat was where Dooku could not keep a equal fight at the moment.
Slashing left and right, Shepherd managed to nick Dooku across the right cheek. As a result, a burning red cut emerged.
"Blast it!" Cried Tyranus as he was pushed back further, his back getting ever closer to the Hanger wall as the pain from the plasma cut soared throughout his face.
Desperate to find a way out of this predicament, Tyranus concentrated on all the pain he had received in this battle and called upon the Dark side.
Eyes sapping open from their previous narrowed concentrated state, Shepherd hurriedly leapt backward to escape the blast of force energy that spewed out of Dooku moments later.
"You!" The Sith hissed as Shepherd leveled his Energy Sword at ready, "Darth Sidious claimed that you could be turned back! That you were a child compared to us! You are! But you are not worth the Sith's time!"
In a flurry, Dooku quickly turned around and full out sprinted while using the force to pass through the hallway that connected into the Hanger.
"Shit! Athena!" Shepherd yelled as he took after Dooku.
"Already on it!" Athena chimed in as she connected to the Harvest's control systems.
"Keep the doors he's already passed open, move droids into his path, I want-" Shepherd commanded as he past around a corridor, trying to lock onto the location of the spike of darkness in the force.
Athena cut Shepherd off. "He's cutting down the doors!"
"What!?" Shepherd exclaimed as he leapt over a split metal door panel. The cleaved door was still read hot.
"I don't know what's gotten to that blasted idiot, but I'm pretty sure the closest thing now that could stop him is a hanger door or the armory blast doors!"
"Oh man... Where's he headed?" Shepherd moaned in dread. The Harvest's design was based all around UNSC ships both inside and out which meant they were built with very few blast doors. Instead they had lockable bulkheads incase area of the ship where ripped open. However, those shutters weren't that thick surprisingly.
"Uhh.. He's pretty erratic... Oh no. Shepherd take a left now!" Athena panicky commanded in which Shepherd followed.
"What, what, what!"
"He's making full speed for the engine room!"
"Son of a sow!" Shepherd cursed, using a term he had picked up in the last year. "If he screws with the hyper drive and the Slipspace, we will be dead in the water for any pirates to attack!"
"He's almost to the engine room. The Bulkheads aren't doing anything!"
Shepherd took a corner down into the main engineering hallway. Droids that had been sent to secure the hallway where scattered on the floor in bits and pieces.
"Shepherd! He's- to the right!"
Shepherd slid to his right and into the the storage room that he had been passing. He had just passed through the door when the door slide to a close and a rolling wave of flame consumed everything in the main engineering hallway.
"Thanks."
"He just blew one of the secondary fusion drives!"
"How- never mind, where is he?" Shepherd asked as he slide open the door. The Hallway was scorched black.
"He's taking off his SPI armor on the Slipspace. Shepherd run quick, the SPI suit has explosives built in it!"
Shepherd didn't even acknowledge at this point. His fear was turning into anger; No one messes with his ship.
Another dozen seconds of sprinting through the generic gray hallways and he arrived in the main engine room. His eyes quickly glided over the room analyzing the situation. The SPI armor was attached onto one of the core reactors that powered the Two FTL drives on the Harvest and the main systems throughout the ship. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Sith Lord rushing through another hallway, but he was not so worried as he knew that hallway lead to a dead end storage room.
As a result, he got to work on the SPI amour first.
Ripping it off the cool metal of the reactor's cover, he quickly rummaged through the built in pack of the Armor. He quickly found a small metal case that had been wired to the suit's power source.
Pulling the cover off the casing, several multicolored wires were visible.
"Athena give me a run through."
"I'm scanning. Pull out that green wire first, then find something to cleanly cut the blue wire at it's base."
"Got it." Shepherd responded as he ripped out the green wire. A short second later he flicked out a knife and dug into the blue wife's base.
"What next?"
"Now, you need to disable the suit's power source. Flip over - Shepherd-!"
Shepherd sensed it first before Athena detected it on her sensors. Rolling to his left missing the laser bolt barely, he ignited his Energy Sword and charge the Sith which had just fired at him.
However, Dooku did not bother to truly confront Shepherd. Instead, he rushed forward and delivered a few strikes before he leapt over Shepherd. Within a second, Shepherd had turned around to see Dooku slash through his suits armor causing it's minor Energy core to reach a unstable condition as well as severely dicing up the armor plating of the reactor.
Rushing forward, Shepherd attempted to give Tyranus some new cuts to show off, but by the time Shepherd was upon him, Dooku had whipped toward Shepherd with a blinding speed and delivered a force push.
Spiraling backward and into the multiple mechanicals engines that powered the ship, he scrambled up to see Dooku sprinting down another hallway. However this one lead to the escape pods.
"Shepherd! There's nothing we can do about the armor now! The engine is prone to Radiation leakage and the armor is about to blow in a good few seconds! Get out of this room right now!"
And so he did. Sprinting at full speed, like he had never done before, he reached one of the more heavily armored areas of the ship.
"Brace!"
A split moment later, the Harvest rocked as the reactor blew, severely damaging the engineering room while crippling the effectiveness of the SlipSpace Drive.
The explosion did not last long, but it seems forever for Shepherd as he had used the force to warn him of any depressurization in the ship.
"Status!"
"Slipspace Drive running at 5% efficiency, Major reactor damage and Several areas of the ship are struggling to keep its shields and systems online. However, our weapon systems are practically gone. Without that reactor, The MAC will be severely underpowered and the shortage of energy fired many of the circuit boards for the point defense system, the missile bays, and even the security network."
"And Dooku?"
"He's out. And with the point defense system offline, we can't pin him."
"He wouldn't run like that for a reason... Ah shit." Shepherd quickly rushed to the bridge. "Athena, get the shields at full power. Redirect all Energy to the shields and put whatever extra juice in the Slipspace engine and the thrusters!"
"Got it. Expecting company?"
"Indeed. Are our sensors online?"
"Yes. And I don't think your going to like what in picking up."
"What is it?" Shepherd felt dread rising.
"Thirty Trade Federation Capital ships on the far side of Widow." Shepherd paled. He could even hear the worry in Athena's synthetic voice.
"Scratch my previous orders. Get thrusters in full. We need to outrun them."
"And what about Dooku?"
"He has us boxed in. I'm betting he slung his pod toward the Trade Federation. Even if we had our systems online, we would have to move toward the Trade. Plot a course to Naboo!"
"Thrusters won't reach full speed with our current energy output."
"Will we make it though?"
"Out of my calculations Shepherd? No."
"Can we get any signals too Naboo?"
"No. Were jammed as well. And even if we did, the Naboo Defense force wouldn't reach us even before the Trade Federation dismantled the Harvest for all her parts."
"Then we have to take extreme measures."
"Shepherd. I know what you're thinking. A Slipspace jump would-"
"Would what? It would Tear us apart or at the worst we will drop off in a Unknown area of space. I know it's a fifty-fifty, but we are outnumbered thirty to one!" Shepherd yelled as the bridge doors opened for him. Before him, the scenic screens flickered alive to create a perfect copy of what would be outside the bridge if there was still real windows.
"If we make the jump, in this condition, I'm not even sure what the effects will be. A underpowered Slipspace drive could tear a hole so unstable, that we would create a miniature black hole. Nobody wins then."
"At least then, Earth's legacy won't die bowing down... You know the saying Athena. when faced with extinction..."
"... every alternative is preferable." Athena sighed, "Very well. Should I plot a Slipspace jump into the Outer Rim? To my knowledge, the Trade Federation doesn't operate so much out there."
"Do it."
A second passed.
"It's done."
"How long until the drive is ready."
"One minute. Just a few seconds before the Trade Federation has us in their range."
"Then we will wait."
For the following minute Shepherd stared out into the black of space. He couldn't see the Trade Federation fleet, but the sensors where picking them up, and if he tried hard enough, he could feel them through the force.
Funny, he thought. I never thought I may die like this. Yet it senses it's all because of some ancient assholes that can't just understand when someone says no. Yet they were the ones who secured my future. The ones who gave me a new purpose.
Shepherd gazed over the timer for the jump. It read 0:02.
"But they shall not be the ones to end my vengeance." He said under his breath.
Then a several Kilometer spanning hole flashed before the Harvest. The edges were ringed bright blues and violets but as the colors swirled went farther to the center, they deepened into darker colors and eventually into pure blackness.
A pure darkness.
Just like his future. Unknown. Uncertain. Unclear.
And he embraced it.
End of Part II: Chapter II
Sorry for the lateness on this. Life is hell as is writers block. However, I'm still grateful for all the favorites, follows and reviews you guys have given this story. I will never forget that. It's why I still write.
