Mantle Across A Starry League
Disclaimer: I own no franchise or original content that appears within. They belong to their creator's, and owners.
Summary: Megaverse. A grand vision, on how Mass Effect, and others will be affected by a humanity forged from the influences of 1980's-2000's Sci-Fi and such. Prepare for BattleMech's, Powered Armour's, Fusion, Energy Weapons, Psychics, Magics, and more. How will the Citadel deal with a humanity that has seen and has Cyborgs, Super-Soldiers, BattleMech's, WarShips, with more to come?
Chapter 7-BattleTech Wars: Part 2 – Harvest III
"I am the punishment of God... If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me, upon you"-Genghis Khan
-Halo Wars OST – Spirit of Fire START-
Federated Suns
Harvest
"Captain's Report. February 4th, 2531. Five years. Five long years. That's what it took us to get Harvest back... At first it was going well... Then setback after setback... Loss after loss... Made what should have been a quick and decisive win, into five years of hell. Of course, that's all Harvest is today, it's hell down there. But now it's ours again..."
February 4th, 24531
Five and a half years have passed since the beginning of the struggle with the alien entities known as The Covenant. Attacking across the breadth of the frontier-space, they launched all sorts of assaults and raids, but Harvest was their focal point in human space.
Despite the first shocking, and effective defeat of the ground forces they brought to the planet, the Covenant's resilience began showing shortly after that. Proving imitative, and inherently adaptive to tactics, they were able to make every situation worse as it came.
Humans would gain ground initially, but massed infantry armour and air power from the Covenant's side, would prove troublesome even for the powerful large field armies of the Successor States that were under attack. The Federated Sun's were bearing the largest brunt, thus far, while the Draconis Combine has faced attacks as well.
Once the Covenant's reinforcement arrived during the Second Battle of Harvest, Fleet Admiral Kerensky and Rear Admiral Cole took the remainder of their forces back to Star League space, rather than waste lives. The enemies capabilities in space were evident, and couldn't be matched. Thus, humanities naval tactics would have to be re-examined before they sent out the next Battlegroups, to retake frontier-space, and wreak destruction upon those who took so many human lives in such a short span.
The Covenant's appearance had been shocking, having been broadcasted fairly quickly due to their disruption of trade and goods, giving humanity a shudder when this massively advanced alien juggernaut appeared from the Orion Arm's east. Taking no prisoners, and scorching everything in front of them, their nature to take no prisoners caused some unrest, but ultimately it was now a military and Star League problem. The main decisions made after a series of conferences between the leaders of the nations, and various high-ranking personnel, that were for an overhaul of their naval research for starters.
While there ships were fast and manoeuvrable in real-space, the Covenant's weapons, shields and Slipspace outstripped them by a considerable margin. Admirals congregated, and began to have discussions on how to best deal with the apparent superiority their enemy had, trying to develop ways and theories on how to gain advantage in space. Their discussions took them from the ships available, specs, weapons, to the environments went on for days. Ways to utilize system effects, how to produce phenomena, and where the best places to sortie were were all being plotted by professors, tacticians, theoreticians, and learned strategist's who wanted to outfight the Covenant.
Shipyards were now turning out more ships, troops were training for the SLDF and moving into position, the civilian infrastructure was upping production once more to a wartime capacity. Materials flowed, as the two realms bearing the brunt of the continuous assault, were struggling to stop inroads being made as the Covenant continuously claimed victories in naval and ground-side engagements.
The Covenant were not "resting on laurels" as they say, there had been marked improvements in not only tactical acumen but were putting out stronger and better vehicles. Their tendency to change their methods, proved annoying in battle, since they proved unusually effective at this was now being showcased next to their new equipment.
Having taken from human design, and ascetic, the Covenant had improved their own technology, based on their own first engagements with humanity. Their CPV-Class Heavy Destroyers were not much use, if they kept getting blown up before launching torpedoes, and the strength of their shields needed to be increased to deal with the combined weaponry they faced. Slowly but surely, humanity noticed that the designs were getting larger and larger, to the point where a Covenant Heavy Destroyer was the size of a 3.5km Battleships.
Proving to be a major problem when faced, the Covenant Fleet had begun increasing the numbers of fighters carried by their ships, and carried a heavy weapon now in every ship modelled after the overwhelmingly powerful Energy Projectors. Less powerful Plasma Projectors, now were common in every ship they faced, not only having to worry about torpedoes now. Anti-Missile and Fighter defences were increased in number and ability, to deal with the Capital-Class missiles that human ships carried, and their potentially deadly Fusion payloads.
Captain James Cutter removed the thoughts clouding his mind, as he stared down at the ball of blue, green, and the accompanying colours associated with planetary plasma scoring. Sitting heavily down onto his comfortable chair, he began to go through the motions of initiating protocols, as his ship just came out of slipspace.
The converted-Supercarrier SLS Spirit of Fire, along with a few other ships, began to bring it's personnel out of cryo and get everything ready for the relief of the system. Alongside his friend Maurya, he had been waiting for this moment for over 5 years, wanting to retrieve the soldiers he sent to an apparent death.
Cutter blinked the sleep from his eyes, and his thoughts wandered back to their discoveries. The coordinates deciphered. The language they had been working on. Not being able to come to Harvest for a long time, the system being blocked by large amounts of ships for a while, they had hoped the forces they had landed held out.
A forlorn thing to wish for, in light of the numbers the Covenant had, but one they nonetheless held onto.
The fleet was bringing over to 100,000 troops, 10 full divisions of tanks, 'Mechs, artillery, and such. This was actually all part of an attempt to continue their operation from five years ago, so they could continue the path the coordinates provided, and complete their journey. The excess numbers assigned to the fleet, were to provide additional assets, so they wouldn't need reinforcements, supplies or replacements.
"I see your already awake." Cutter turned at the voice, noting that Duke Maurya had made it to the bridge. Fresh and dressed proper as always, the man was just losing the icy tint that indicated coming out of the freezer. James groaned.
"In spirit. Notice anything unusual?" The Captain nodded lightly at the planet. Maurya studied the consoles first, checking readouts, before looking upon his planet.
"There's no enemy ships in system, but there are large numbers on the planet, mostly concentrated around the mountain. It appears that no human forces remain." The Duke assessed, while crossing his arms, resting his chin on a hand.
"Yes. Therefore, I think we need a closer look at the ground, to see what is actually going on."
-Halo Wars OST – Spirit of Fire END-
-Epic Space Battles – Two Steps From Hell - Protectors of the Earth Cinematic START-
Tasking a flight of Eagle's, 75-tonne Heavy Aerospace Fighters, to do several sensor passes, Cutter and Maurya watched as they begin to accelerate towards the planet.
"Eagle-1 requesting status."
"Eagle-2, standing by."
"Eagle-3, standing by."
"Eagle-4, standing by."
"Eagle-5, standing by."
"Eagle-1, reporting my squad as green across the board, ready for overflight of Covenant and Harvest landscape."
Cutter tapped his console, and began to speak into his headset, while the Duke listened in.
"Understood Eagle-1. You are to vector to the human parts of Harvest, and find out what happened to those we left there. Then, you will go around the planet, and attempt to scan for there life-signs. Finally, you are to scan the Covenant, and the complex, near the escarpment. Do you understand?" The Captain said, and waited for an answer.
"Yes Captain. Vectoring for the human settlement remains now." Eagle-1 input a set of coordinates, and the flight began an approach angle to the StarPort, while keeping a loose formation.
Holovideo feed soon was being displayed, and they were watching what remained of downtown Utgardhr.
Not much remained, and so many buildings were reduced to heaps of glass, metal, and ceramics. Apartment buildings were scorched black and ripped open. All the tall ones were knocked down, and the smaller ones were torn to pieces, with burnt bones and remains everywhere. The scale of this washed over the two, both extremely angered but they tempered it immediately, as they witnessed the results of two forces destroying each other and everything around them.
"There isn't much more here sir. Heading to the non-occupied areas of Harvest."
"Roger Eagle-1. Report anything out of the ordinary."
~Perspective Shift~
AFFC Air Force Captain Connor O'Brien kept his fighter close to the nape-of-the-earth, as he and his squadron blasted over the ocean. Sea-foam and spray would occasionally lick at their hulls, as they observed the deep greens and blues of the Harvest ocean, splashing them with water that was quickly ripped ripped off their planes.
Grinning to himself, Connor enjoyed the feeling and jinking back and forth over the waves, while they did their job and scanned the lands and sea. The aerospace fighters skimmed the surface occasionally, dipping a wingtip into the water, as he he pushed it's limits.
Disturbed, a school of dolphin like marine-life leapt from the sub-surface, and chittered wildly at the rapidly disappearing forms in the air.
Laughing, as he saw what the rear cameras picked up, smiling at the wildlife's actions.
"Oceans are clear Captain Cutter. Moving on to the next objective." Connor reported in, as they began to race overland again.
~Perspective Shift~
Maurya and Cutter kept their eyes on the holo.
"It looks like the only ones left..." James began.
"Are probably holed up in the mountains, yes I was thinking that as well. It is certainly big enough, and if what we know about this technology is true, it is less responsive to Covenant than Humans." Maurya finished, while thinking about the possible forces still on Harvest, considering the streets and land were empty.
"Hm. I was hoping there would be survivors, that made it in the cities, and oceans. The Covenant cleaned out everything they could, very thoroughly." Cutter grimly noted, and Maurya nodded.
The Duke glanced at the comms operations area.
"No transmissions?" Cutter nodded in the negative.
"No transmissions from our frequencies. Plenty of regular Covenant chatter."
"They might be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield and in space, but their CyberWarfare skills have great room for improvement." Serina, the AI of the Spirit, spoke up. Materializing in an ancient Celtic priestess' garb, she put on a show of 'weaving a spell', as her functions moved unopposed through the Covenant Battlenet.
Cutter rolled his eyes at the theatrics of his AI friend, while Maurya chuckled lightly, as the Captain focused upon the results and information she was pulling. With Serina actively translating the code, and into his neural net, Cutter could actually comprehend what her actions were accomplishing. He watched, focused, upon the lines of code that Serina was flying through.
"Supply dumps. Armour concentrations. Fleet movements. Troop locations. Defence lines. That's very good Serina, thank you. Keep searching for chatter on humans." Cutter tagged all the relevant and necessary information, and turned to the Duke, as Serina resumed her attack.
"The Covenant are very static at this time. Apparently, their fleet scoured the system once we left Harvest last time, trying to locate any other human ships or installations. Strange, considering they took out everything with that battleship, but maybe this commander thought we had deeper installations and stealth ships here. Regardless, this allowed our troops to make for the Forerunner structure in the escarpment, and consolidate a defence. Somehow, they've been able to keep themselves supplied all this time, but it is unclear how many made it given the severe damage to the landscape. Recently, their naval assets left via slipspace, on a fuelling run." Cutter's assessment was given while they walked down a hall to a lift. Punching a few coordinates in, Cutter settled against a rail, with his arms folded upon his chest.
"So, you think we can pull this off?" He asked, while staring out the window, as metal, machinery, and such blurred by.
"I'm actually more concerned with the feelings I've been getting, ever since we got in system, as it's telling me this could be a trap. When Serina read through their BattleNet, and you said that their fleet left, it only made my gut feel worse. I only hope I am proven wrong..." Maurya stated, as his face wrinkled while deep in thought.
"I am not sure that it is. From what Serina has found out, it is a routine fuel run." Cutter stated, and Maurya half-frowned, before nodding.
"It is just hard to believe that James. That may be what the Covenant's system register, but what if that is not the truth of the matter?" Maurya stated, with a questioning look directed at the Captain. Cutter looked to the side in thought.
"It's possible. However, we don't have a choice at the moment, we are committed to this mission now that we know survivors are down there." James' swift reply overrode any protest the Duke had.
He nodded in thought, while considering the possibilities of what the people down there could have gotten their hands on, in the last five years.
"You think they might have more information on the Forerunner ruins, and it's coordinate puzzle." More of a question, than a statement, and now the Duke was looking piercingly at the Captain.
"Yes. We are hoping for some degree of information from the people who have probably been trapped down there for five years. It could be invaluable, what they know." Cutter replied.
"Are we going to annihilate the Covenant's troops first?" Duke Maurya was looking forward to revenge for the deaths of Harvest's citizens, and absolutely wrecking the Covenant's presence on this planet.
"Using our fighters to screen their air power, we will use select strikes on the massed formations, but their ground base has several large anti-air cannons... A ground assault is a necessity." Cutter said, then brought his his high-tech bracer up, projecting a Balor-Class DropShip.
"This DropShip will land and form a base to deploy from, putting around 24,000 soldiers, 100 Assault Tanks, 100 Heavy Artillery platforms, 100 CAS(Close-air-support) Aerospace Fighters, and 100 AssaultMech's. This should be enough to break that base, if you position it right, before assaulting them en masse." Cutter detailed several overland routes, and advantageous area that they could strike from.
Maurya took a look, and saw that the Covenant had based themselves in the valley leading up the Forerunner structure, giving them several over-watch positions they could access with just a little overland trek. The former highway was busy with activity, showing several large structures and bays, working on large amounts of tanks, weapons, and walkers of various sizes.
As they trailed up the path, towards the mountainous entrance, they noticed that this portion of the valley held a large amount of mechanized troops. More than a few large quadrupeds, not nearly the size of the massive Scarab sat with their legs folded, as multitudes of armour milled about around them. Transports, Hovertanks, and fast attack craft, all were present in this mix. Obviously they were preparing a large strike-force, to take the complex.
"Now that is fairly interesting. Why do they need such a large force to take the structure?" The Duke asked, with a small smirk on his face. Cutter grunted.
"I think our forces made it underground, in a size-able number, and someone very smart must be organizing the defence." The Captain assessed with a hard stare.
Finally, they arrived at Cutters desired destination, one of the private mess-rooms where briefings could be conducted.
"Ah, good, you are all here already." The Captain said appraisingly, as the two teams sprung to attention, and saluted with a roar of-
"CAPTAIN ON THE DECK!"
-and Cutter smiled, as he returned the salute.
"At ease, and you may be seated Spartans, Agents." The Captain strode to the head of the table, with the Duke taking a left-hand seat. The holo lit up, and put forth the geographic overlay of the Covenant's positions, giving the teams an idea of what was on the planet.
"As you can see, there are significant concentrations of Covenant forces in this base, all situated around some rather large anti-air guns." Cutter brought a close-in shot of one of the towers, a 5-Story contraption with a large cannon, capabilities rated to engage their ships.
"There are 10 of these guns grouped together, and they have enough firepower to overwhelm anything that gets close enough. Not only that, they have a large and powerful dome shield covering it all, making such an approach difficult with our naval assets. This is where your team will come in." Cutter showed the locations as he zoomed outwards, and several arrows began to point to areas surrounding it.
"We've come up with all sorts of plans for Harvest, over these last few years, and this one was the closest that could be adapted to this scenario. Travelling over the mountains, while we engage the larger formations straying away from their Ground-to-Orbit artillery, you will find a way into that mountain... Without alerting the Covenant to your presence." The Agents and Spartans nodded, as Maurya explained their mission.
"When there, you will make contact with the Harvest remnant, so we can organize and coordinate an offensive." The Duke said, and the two teams nodded again not offering much input, as they were already working on ways to execute.
"Our goal here, is to try and bring the Covenant base into a double-envelopment, with both our contingents attacking simultaneously." The Duke now manipulated the hologram, to show several spears attacking the base, from both sides.
"Thats quite agreeable then. The quieter we keep ourselves, greater chance to eliminate the enemy." The Agents primary demolitionist spoke up.
"Indeed. We will need to keep our tracks and signature minimal, to obtain access, and bring about this assault. I'm not even sure this place can be accessed, anywhere other than from the front, but we can only try." The Spartans leader, Blue-1, ground out.
"Yes, Blue-1 brings a good point up, being that there could possibly be only one entrance. However, we believe that the upper portion of the structures got entrances, higher up the peak. This means that we will not even be trying an airdrop near the base, you will need to make your way overland from a fair distance." Cutter said, and nodded to the Duke, who changed the holo's projection again, bringing up a hovering tank.
"The Bors Medium Hovertank. Ruggedly tested, this unit was developed through strenuous ruggedization experiments, as we've been struggling to overcome all the old problems. With this model, we believe that we have struck it right, and brought forth a model that can ascend a mountain and cross vast bodies of water." The tank rotated for them to see, and they all spotted that it had nearly 32 emitters on it's bottom, all grouped in various areas to support each other and compensate should one be damaged and malfunction.
"Possessing our latest in stealth-technology, the Chameleon-Panels and Void Null-Sig system, this tank is made for penetration and infiltration of an enemies lines. It only carries two weapon, an Ultra Autocannon 20 giving it powerful kill-shot capabilities, and a Rotary Autocannon 5 for dealing with infantry. Of course, being weaker than tanks like the Lancelot, it isn't meant for direct confrontation... The Bors has the ability to deal disabling damage, so it can retreat, and accomplish it's mission." The Duke zoomed in upon the engine compartment.
"It's engine is rated for a solid 120 mph, but acceleration is where it really shines, being capable of 0-60mph in 1.27 seconds." The Spartans and Agents smirked, imagining running enemy aliens over, and darting around while taking debilitating pot shots at armoured columns and shredding their smaller vehicles with the RAC5.
"Satisfied? Questions?" The Captain turned to his two teams, as the Duke shut off the holo. Each of them turned to look amongst each other, sharing various looks, before readdressing the Captain and Duke.
"No, I think we have all we need, the briefing was comprehensive enough. Any problems you want to raise, Agent?" Blue-1 said, and looked across the table. The Agent shook his head negatively.
"No. We are ready to embark." The Agents awaited a dismissal, as did the Spartans.
"Very well, you are dismissed." The Captain stood, and all the Agents and Spartans stood and saluted, Cutter returning it before striding out the door with Duke Maurya in tow.
-Epic Space Battles – Two Steps From Hell - Protectors of the Earth Cinematic END-
-The best 8-bit music top 100; #71: Final Fantasy II / NFC - Main Theme START-
Without many words, the teams made their way to their ships, preparing for the drop while over the mountains. The DropShip launched post-haste, maintaining a structured descent, and skirting around the engagement range of the Covenant base.
The fleet opened up with it's Ortillery, sending round after round smashing into the the large Covenant formations, decimating them. Railcannon's pounded to dust what they had out in the field, as they were caught in the open with few places to go, not being fast enough to retreat to the operational area of the guns.
Besides, fact is that the base was already chock-full, and busy as hell making new units and repairing existing ones. This meant that the Unggoy and Kig'Yar were dieing by the thousands again, mostly the so-called Grunts, as they made up the bulk numbers the alien zealots possessed. Their numerous armoured vehicles, transports, and mobile weapons were all blown to hell as the carpet of rounds marched towards the base.
Unfortunately, an adventurous Marik cruiser got too close, and the bases guns began rapidly firing at it. Rapid bolts of plasma arced through the atmosphere, at a frenzied pace, and began to strike the cruiser repeatedly, scoring hits on it's frontal armour. Within moments, it had reversed it's engines, and was now backing out of the area, just as the rest of the fleet ceased firing.
The last few rounds bit into the surrounding area of the base, flattening the land, and creating many craters.
Watching the battle via a HoloNet uplink to the ship, Blue-1 projected the conflict so his team could see it, and they would explain it to their pilot teammate later. Silently they observed the bombardment, and watched the Marik's nearly get taken out, as the Freeworlder's tried to get an advantageous shot in.
"They nearly paid for that one." Blue-3 observed.
"Yeah, and they made the ground easily cover-able with defilade fire, from the Covenant's lines. I mean, did you have to give the bad guys an advantage?" Blue-2 questioned, amusement in his voice.
"It doesn't matter, we will find a way." Spoke the immense Blue-4 in a calm, yet gravelly voice, as he sat back and tried to relax.
Soon they were over the drop-point, and were discharged from the ship, coming out over the ocean.
The DropShip continued it's trajectory unperturbed.
Their drop-pods engines ignited, and began redirecting them to land on the other side of the mountains, away from the presence of the enemies guns. Semi-gliding and under power, the two pods came in at a 20% angle, impacting with significant velocity as they tried to land.
The pods began to split, and soon revealed two Bors Medium Hovertanks, which started up and began to trundle up the mount. Gaining speed rapidly, the tanks raced through the crags and cliffs, climbing over many areas that would be difficult to reach individually. Their engines generated an effect, that while it suspended the machines off the ground, it also stuck them to the earth.
Ascending cliffs that had a 70% slope, would make most nauseous, or plain freaked out. That being said, the Spartans and Agents enjoyed racing around the rocky landscape, pushing their machines as only each could. Searching as much as they could, while making the long trek, they a were able to view a lot of Harvest natural beauty.
Feeling their pride swelling, at beholding this, the two teams felt more of a need to protect emerge within them. They felt deep within them, the need to protect everything, the humans and the planets that their realms held. This rising didn't distract them, but rather spurred onwards, to find an entrance that would lead to their brethren.
Eventually, they came upon one such hidden entrance. Buried in a craggy alcove, the teams spotted it when passing near and seeing a glimmering black and blue door shining inside faintly.
Blue-1 chatted over the nanocomm with the Agents team leader, and they agreed to disembark.
Blue-5 set their vehicle on auto-defend, tasking their AI Suvorov, to use their vehicle to ably keep the Covenant out of their hair. Ceredwick, the Davion AI, guided the other hovertank.
"Alright, lets get going." Blue-1 spoke to the assembled troop, before they began to assess the entrance-way. Blue-2 pulled out an attachment, and clipped it onto his forearm, before beginning to scan the wall around the doorway. With soft boop, a portion opened up, and thrust a panel forward.
"Got a panel!" The Spartan reported, and the others gathered around, Blue-1 and Agent-Leader peering over his shoulder.
"It is definitely a complex door lock. I can't really make out it's systems, but I would say it has several countermeasures for sabotage, and only responds to certain people trying to access it." Blue-2 reported to the others.
"Alright. Try pressing a palm to it." Blue-1 ordered while nodding.
With only a seconds pause, the Spartan put his hand upon the panel, palm spread. A humming emitted from it, while the crystalline surface around his fingers glowed, lighting up his gauntlet armour.
"Automatic scanning, and it's responding to touch. Do we have any clue why this works this way?" Blue-2 asked, as his hand pulled away, the lightshow having dimmed.
A whoosh, and the door opened, splitting into it's four sections evenly. Blue-1 began a reply, even as they formed up to begin trekking through the tunnel.
"We have no real intel on why Forerunner devices work for us, we only know that they do, so for now we use that to our advantage." His gravelly voice said, as he walked forward into the lead-scout position.
"Ah. Well hopefully the next one we touch doesn't cause body-parts to fly off, as I can imagine that just like us, the Forerunner were not altruistic." Agent-Leader said dryly, thinking about the possibilities of a demented and vengeful Forerunner making and leaving a machine behind, that could cause body-parts to explode...
Blue-02 chuckled.
"Unlikely, however much of a chance there is of that, because the scanners always check for high-energy element alongside binary and trinary element combinations that can possibly blow us to kingdom come." The Blue Team member stated, as they walked down the long hallway.
"One can only hope so..." Mumbled one of the Agents.
The group walked quickly, and covered much distance in short order, arriving into the larger complex. Within minutes, they ran into a patrol of infantryman, and were immediately recognized.
"Sir, is it ever good to see you!" One of the infanteers exclaimed, as they all began to chat and ask questions of the Spartans and Agents, wanting to know about events outside Harvest from the last five years.
"Understandably. What we need to know from you soldiers is this. How have you survived these last five years in this place?" The troop Lieutenant grinned, and just motioned for them to come with.
"You're gonna love this place, sirs, it has everything. Wait until I get you to the man in charge though." the Lt grinned, and just continued onwards into the complex with everyone following him.
As they made there way throughout, they noted that there was in fact a large amount of the IIIrd RCT's units, guarding every bit of the place that they could. Strange gasbag-like aliens floated about various places, and more than once they lowered their guns, being told that they were harmless.
Finally, they got to the main chamber, and inside were more than three-dozen personnel, all working at various areas doing tasks on jury-rigged consoles.
"Ah, so you are the relief force that has come to save our sorry butts." A voice brought their attention back to the centre of the room. A long table, with various holograms upon it, whereupon the one who addressed them was at it's side.
Coyote-coloured armour, a handsome and rugged face, with clean-cut brown hair.
"Robinson, how are you doing old boy!" The Agent-Leader greeted cheerily, as he noted the others around him.
The Spartans greeted each other quietly in the background, Blue reuniting with Ω after quite some time. The teams gave each other the smile-
"Fairly well, all things considered. Let me introduce my companions." The OO shook the Agents hand heartily, as he began to gesture to those surrounding the table.
"That's Spartan Team Ω. I'm sure you know what they are like, since you brought their Blue-Team with you." The three Spartans nodded politely, their dull black suits betraying no emotion.
"Dr. Ellen Anders, ONI Section III, our resident genius when it comes to the technical aspects of this structure." Anders saluted crisply, but narrowed her eyes when Robinson mentioned her allegiance to ONI, even as she brightened when he praised her ability with the Forerunner systems.
"Sgt. Major John Forge, from the TMC(Terran Marine Corps), and quite the defence specialist. He's optimized our use of the defences we've found here, and kept the entire base Covenant-free." The leatherneck saluted, and nodded politely to all.
"Of course, I am Agent Robinson, James Robinson OO3 of the MI6-OO Section." He saluted the teams, and nodded his ascent for their introductions to begin.
"On my team, we have OO's 1, 2, 5, 8, and 9. Our names are unnecessary for now." James nodded, and looked to the Spartan team.
"I have been designated as Blue-1 for this mission, and my team are Blue-2-through-5. Our names are only told to those closest to us." The somewhat cold answer by the Blue Team leader was brushed off by James. Understandably, they felt no need to tell everyone their names, as it was part classified material.
"Ok James, give it to me straight chum. How the bloody hell have you maintained an effective fighting force in here, while keeping them all fed?" James grinned as OO1 fixed him with questions, an amused stare, and waited for answers.
"Dr. Anders, I'll leave that to you to explain." James nodded to the Doctor to take over.
-The best 8-bit music top 100; #71: Final Fantasy II / NFC - Main Theme END-
-Mega Man III (Gameboy) OST – Final Stage – Wily Marine Fortress START-
"Alright. Ok gentleman and ladies, what we have discovered here is that this was actually a Forerunner Redoubt, during their time of primacy over the galaxy. It is made to be a fully functional, self-sufficient, and hardened facility. Everything a sizable army could need, is provided here, so they could wait out sieges that could technically overwhelm them, while awaiting relief in orbit." Anders changed the tables readouts, and began to bring up the holographic structure representation, denoting several areas.
"First it has a a hybrid power system, which is comprised of an unknown type of reactor, and a sort of energy-tap that is shown to be reaching Harvest's core. These two systems power enough features within this facility, that can support and repair it, keeping it in top shape." The hologram zoomed in showing the reactor, the geothermal tap going to the core, and retreating back to the base where it began to detail areas and their facilities.
"This, is a Von Neumann Generator, it produces the nanomachines that maintain this facility. Here, we have the central mess, where we found Food Replicators capable of producing food that they knew how make(luckily one of the AI's we brought had several recipes and could feed the molecular structure formulas into the devices). Barracks are throughout, and the facility has automated weapons throughout." The hologram showed a room where several bubbling grey masses were moving around in tanks. The mess hall showed soldiers walking up to the microwave-like machines, and pressing a few buttons, before it dinged and gave the recipient a roast turkey dinner with potatoes, vegetables, and gravy.
"Finally, the entire facility is capable of a form of teleportation, we've translated from some of the hieroglyphs to be understood as "Translocation". With this, we have been able to maintain coverage of the whole place, and keep a lockdown for this period, while scouting the Covenant from time to time." The reconnaissance team was surprised, the technology inside this place was very advanced, startlingly so.
"How many of you are there?" Questioned Blue-1.
"Nearly 20,000 Infantry made it Blue-1. We were able to preserve many units in the hours proceeding Fleet Admiral Kerensky's retreat, but still lost nearly 40,000 getting here, saving around 322 Mech's, 431 Artillery pieces, and 369 Assault Tanks." Robinson counted off with his fingers, after he detailed their casualties.
"It's good that you maintained an effective force, even after losing 60% of your number, because you guys are going to be apart of the breakout attempt." Spoke OO1, as he stepped up and began to input new information into one of the table's terminals.
A hologram popped up, now designating the various areas of Harvest that held forces upon it, showing that the Covenant were trapped between the mountain and it's entrance to the Holy Forerunner structure.
"Here are our boys landing now. A Balor-Class DropShip carrying 100,000 tonnes of troops, CAS-planes, tanks, guns, and mighty vessels of war." The ovoid Balor-Class dropped in, settling into a depression.
"Your forces are here, and I've updated this map with their troop levels." Now, the mountain was showing two powered infantry divisions, alongside a few regiments of 'Mechs, armour, and artillery.
"As well, we have a powerful Aerospace strike-contingent that will be preceding the offensive, so we can remove their Air Force." 450 fighters of various weights were detailed in groupings in the sky, but with a note stating they would need notice to launch from the ships.
"Won't their anti-air just sweep them from the sky?" Asked OO2, and OO1 just shook his head.
"From what the Captain and Duke have ascertained, this contingent only really carries an anti-capital-ship type of weapon, which is rather slow compared to a fighter. The flyboys only need to worry about not flying through the guns trajectory of fire, and they will be fine." Agent-Leader stated.
"We would definitely want to join in destroying the Covenant's base here, but there is too much of value to leave behind, and we only have just begin to scratch the surface." Dr. Anders said, passion in her voice, not wanting to leave a treasure trove of tech like this.
"We understand that it would be remiss to leave this behind, unfortunately we don't have time to waste on getting the facility broken down, as we need to get the next set of coordinates from this place because we are charged with finding wherever this map is supposed to lead." Blue-3 stated, staring down the ONI Agent.
"Why is there a time-limit?" Asked Robinson, curious to know what other factors affected their situation.
"The Covenant fleet that guards this system, went on a routine fuel run, at least that is what was registered in their records on the BattleNet. Duke Maurya thinks it could be a trap." 005 replied.
"Ah. That is a little suspicious, I can see the need for concern. Well, Anders we can always lock the facility down, and make it auto-run itself until we can come back. That way if more Covenant come to this planet, it won't open for them." Robinson said, and rubbed his chin in thought, crossing his arms.
"What if they try to get in another way, bombard it with plasma from space, and bore their way in?" Blue-04 questioned.
"Not going to happen. From what we've been able to hack from the Covenant's BattleNet, they revere this place, and won't tolerate for a second, any damage to it. It's one of the main reasons why they only attack the front gate, because they know for a fact that it is the only way in without wrecking their temple." Forge said, having hacked their communications more than once. Heads nodded in ascent, agreeing upon the information, after all the Covenant were blatant zealots so it was unsurprising they went to great lengths to preserve any sites their "Gods" had visited.
"Well that's good to know." Robinson said, and Anders stepped up once more, ready to answer his earlier question.
"We can set it to lock-down. This place will never open for anything but a human, and we can get it to lock itself in a way that it won't allow anything to open it." Anders said, looking at James.
"Begin preparations immediately. I want the lockdown ready to slam into place, as soon as we exit." Anders nodded, and began to exit the room, going to the side of the door and disappearing with a yellow flash. Many of the team members noted this, but said nothing.
"Alright, notify the Captain and Duke to begin the assault, and we will get everyone gathered and ready to take out this side." Blue-1 and OO1 nodded, and were directed to terminals for communications.
"I thought you couldn't communicate out of here?" One of the OO's asked.
"No, we can but it alerts the Covenant every time, something to do with their systems similarity to the Forerunner ones. After we had a few teams ambushed outside the complex, we quit using the transmitters here, and nothing we have that's human-made can penetrate the structure. There is a bloody hell of a disruptive layer in these walls, only allowing their more advanced methods to be used. These things were extremely well constructed." James stated, as they walked together to the communications area.
"Won't they detect it now, then?" James smiled, before he explained.
"The Covenant are able to detect the to-and-from of these transmissions, because of their energy signature, they aren't able to understand what we are saying. That being said, we can send a transmission to the Fleet, because it is a known quantity to them." James said, while pointing at a console that brought up the images of the fleet.
"Ah." The OO replied.
"Locking onto their signal now Agent Robinson." Informed the technician working the station.
"Good. Get the Captains attention." Robinson said, while leaning forward and putting his hand on the desk.
Within a few seconds, the Captain's face had popped up, surprised at who was calling.
"Agent Robinson, it has been a while, how are you making this transmission?" The man asked immediately, a little confused as how the OO was doing this.
"We can worry about that later sir. Right now, as I've been informed, we need to launch our assault and get out of this system." James replied.
"Yes Agent Robinson, I have been warned by the Duke that we could have sprung a trap, are your forces ready to move in regard to the plan?" The Captain queried.
"Yes sir, we are currently grouping everyone at the gates entrance." James said, while sending him the pertinent information regarding their numbers. Cutter nodded, as he read them and listened to the OO.
"Good, I think you can just all fit onto the Balor. It's lift-capacity is 100,000 tonnes, just be careful and don't be afraid to ask for another DropShip. We will begin the Aerospace assault momentarily, get ready. Cutter out." The Captain replied, before signing off.
-Mega Man III (Gameboy) OST – Final Stage – Wily Marine Fortress END-
-Doom OST – E1M1 – At Doom's Gate START-
The Aerospace pilots rushed to board fighters, as klaxons in their bay sounded the scramble. Hundreds of men and women in each ship climbed into Thunderbirds, Eagles, Rapiers, Goken, and Stuka fighters, getting their planes ready to fly immediately.
With a graceful series of movements, the fighters began to leave group by group, flying out of the hangar. The wings formed up, and began to join the others, coming from the various ships in the fleet.
"Orange-leader, standing by."
"Blue-leader, standing by."
"Green-leader, standing by."
Gold-leader, standing by."
"Black-leader, all ready, let's take these mothers down hard!"
With that said, the Aerospace contingent accelerated towards the planet, and began to approach from the urban side. Keeping the planet between them and the guns, was preferable. Swiftly descending into the atmosphere, they shot over the cities decimated StarPort, heading towards the ocean.
Coming to the other side quickly, the fighters began arming everything, preparing for conflict.
Swarms of Seraphs, Banshees, and even the Covenant's DropShips the Spirits and Phantoms began lifting off to fight the incoming air armada. All rose up, becoming a swarm of their own that headed south of the base, and moved to intercept the enemy. Energy shields hummed on, plasma weapons warmed up, ready to cycle. Seraphs and Banshees rode at the fore, while the DropShips tried to obtain height enough to bring their weapons to bear upon the enemy, as they jockeyed for prime positioning to fire on the human forces.
"Red-leader, Green-leader, take out those DropShips. Blue-leader, Gold-leader, with me to take out those fighters." Black-lead sent over the nanocomms. The fighter-wings split up, and accelerated to their targets.
Within moments, the two forces had sighted each other, 50 miles inland from the beach.
Lasers, PPC, autocannon, plasma, and missiles began to fill the sky.
The fighters began to scramble and dogfight, as they all manoeuvred harshly, weaving in and around each other as they all tried to attack at once. Bursts of fire tore throughout the air, searing armour when they struck, providing deadly hazard when they they did not. Missiles flew, splashing targets, leaving plumes of smoke all over and obscured the airspace. Autocannon rounds spattered against alien shields and alloy, weakening their energy, and ripping into nanofilaments.
The enemies plasma splashed all around, taking chunks of armour with it every time, eating into the human numbers. The more rapid-fire weapons of the Spirits, and Phantoms added considerable weight to the fight, but they were struggling to defend themselves as the Red and Green wings took them on. Protons lashed at their thick hulls, knocking them around, and sending discharge into their systems when hit.
Eventually, the humans began to wear out the enemy, as their interceptors were much more effective and powerful machines for their size. That, combined with their numbers, was proving to be too much for the Covenant's air contingent. They began to fall like hornets before a flamethrower, as the human fighters decimated them.
The Seraphs put up the most resistance, their shields, size, and dual-linked rapid-fire plasma weapons proving themselves against the Exoatmospheric Fighters of humanity. It could take a fair beating from the standard weapons they had, and fired plenty of damaging bolts itself. Their pilots were apparently fearless themselves, and didn't balk at the odds they faced, as they watched the others taken down quickly.
Banshees didn't have much ability to defend against their fighters, and except for a few surprising incidences where they unloaded a Green Energy blob and destroyed some Eagles and Thunderhawks, they were nearly ineffective in the battle. The DropShips, Spirits and Phantoms, had resisted the weapons-fire fairly well, but were so slow and inadequately armed that they were sitting ducks. Missiles took care of them, the pilots enjoying the slow-moving targets the vessels made, blowing them one by one out of the sky.
Soon, the Covenant air power was effectively annihilated, ending their combat-effectiveness in the airspace of Harvest. Not taking any chance, just as they were ordered, the fighters began to recede to space and return to their ships. No sense in testing the capital-class firepower their weapons had, and their missiles were expended from the battle.
-Doom OST – E1M1 – At Doom's Gate END-
-Dr. Wily Stage – Mega Man 6 START-
With a rumble, the ground contingent from the human DropShip began to advance, 24,000 power-armoured infanteers, 100 AssaultMech's, 100 AssaultTanks, 100 Artillery, and 100 CAS-planes. The Mech's charged with the tanks, and the group began forging their way to the mountain using the highway.
The Covenant, happened to have a few contingents of troops and armour, between the base and the humans landing site. Each of them opened fire as soon as they caught sight of their enemy, but none were large enough in size to do any serious damage, and a lot of the time the human army would just pause and blast them with artillery if they were too troublesome.
Rolling through the land, the Mech and Tank force finally beheld the beginning of the Covenant base, a fair ways down the highway. Jogging into a run, they charged their weapons, as the tanks prepared alpha-strikes. An awing sight, hundreds of Mechs charging down the road, with tanks all around them.
In an instant, energy began to sear through the air, belching from some type of energy-projector inside the base. Brilliant fuchsia-coloured plasma lanced through the air, targeting their 'Mech's, biting into any they touched. Chest, arms, and torso's were struck, as the weapons fired a continuous five-second burst.
Searing the armour plating, and cutting open more than one unlucky pilots metal epidermis, it wore down quite a few them. Getting hit in the sweet spot, 3 fell over dead, with their cockpit's hardened area run through by the plasma.
The human armies front ranks opened up, and calls for artillery were immediately sent for. A storm of weapons fire headed the way of the base, and a few explosions rang out, even as the blueish-white shimmer of the Covenant shields came on. Some buildings fell apart, and revealed defence emplacements clearly set up before them, shielded and smaller forms of the weapon that was on the Scarab.
Artillery crashed down, and began to hit the entryway, levelling the area. The few defence towers were immolated under the impact of compact explosives, incinerator rounds(Tri-ethyl-aluminium/magnesium), and flak. The emplacements broke apart , and were reduced to seared and broken piles of metal, crystal, glass and composite.
The first group of Mech's spilled into the base courtyard, and alongside their Tank compatriots, lashed out at anything sporting metallic purple.
It was at this point, that the gate to the Forerunner structure, began to open. The armour and walkers in the pathway, who were making for the bases front and the action, began to swivel and turn around slowly. Mech's began firing from the cave as soon as they could, getting a surprise barrage in, slicing into the enemy with laser, proton, and hypersonic ferric-uranium rounds.
Caught with their backs to them, the Covenant lost quite a few vehicles and walkers, as they absorbed the wave of firepower. Overwhelming their minimal armour, the enemies number blew apart under the weight of fire coming from the cave. With their numbers in disarray, the Covenant were not prepared for the Mech's and Tanks that surged from massive opening.
Artillery brought the furthest building under human fire, and began to wear their shields down, as the two forces began to press inwards so they could destroy the Anti-Air Guns. Mech's and Tanks were firing upon concentration of defence's, while the CAS-planes came in at a low altitude, and hovered while providing additional firepower to the battle.
Smaller weapon emplacements began to fire upon them, as they were made as an all-purpose defence, being able to target air units and ground units. They were firing continuously at everything right now, too many targets to count, not getting much of a chance to bring down their enemies. The Covenant Unggoy fought determinedly and ferociously here, and most of them were armoured with a maroon colour, and there were even a smattering of black and white clad ones.
Their defence's began to crumble, as the Mech's pressed further and further in, taking out more and more of the infrastructure. A group of them had begun attacking the first Capital-Class cannon they came upon, hitting it with dozens of emerald beams, hypersonic projectiles, and protons.
It's shields flared bright, for a time, and then began to flare before sparking and fading. Weapons fire poured upon it. The massive weapon began to buckle, as it was shredded bit by bit, groaning and sagging. The Mech's barrage began to prove to be too much, and it collapsed upon itself, before it's core began to glow green.
The Mech's began to back-off, taking leave of the area, and the gun blew itself sky-high. Unable to bleed off it's energy cycle buildup, the reactor's energy burst past it's pinch-field, and belched a plasmatic burst. With a massive whumph, the energy exploded outwards, decaying immediately while releasing fury. The dust began to clear, revealing a stories-tall, mushroom cloud.
Now knowing the guns were reactive, the Mech's and Tanks held their distance, and carefully attacked their targets from there on.
The destruction continued, with cannon falling one after another, as they eliminated the base bit by bit. Carrying out a thorough methodical sweep, with their weapons, the human army brought it all down. They scoured the area of alien life, and began to consolidate their hold, while the fleet begin preparing to send a second DropShip to pick them all up.
The DropShip came in fast, and landed just outside the mountain, where it settled on the remains of the base, crushing them.
Robinson ran his Mech down the hill, as he watched the DropShip begin it's landing procedures, and soon was on his way into the ships bay. Shutting the machine off quickly, he climbed out and down as fast as possible, and ran towards one of the lifts while still in full armour. Getting to the bridge quickly, he rushed out of the elevator.
"Why did your DropShip land? I thought we were supposed to make a trek over the countryside, and embark upon the other Balor?" The ships CO, a Commander, looked over at him before nodding and giving an answer.
"We began to launch, because the time it takes you to get there, the enemy will be all over this planet, and with a DropShip it would take longer to re-position then to just send another." The Commander stated, and turned back to his Sensor Operator, who was showing him the numbers embarking.
~Scene Change, 10 minutes ago~
"The operations almost complete sir. Just a few more guns, and we'll be able to start retrieval with our DropShip." The executive operator reported to Captain Cutter.
Cutter watched over the next few minutes, as the double-envelopment caught the Covenant flatfooted, and took out their forces by confusing them the whole time as to where they were actually being attacked from. The cave opened at a completely inopportune moment, for the aliens at least, the Captain watched the reinforcements get cut to shreds just after they had finished re-positioning themselves.
Then, the defence lines began to fall, and cannon after cannon went with them.
"Uh sir, you might want to take a look at this." The sensor operator called Cutters attention over to his console.
"A fleet of Covenant ships just arrived in-system. Hacking them now." Serina stated, as she made an appearance, and brought up the image of the aliens.
The Covenant fleet composed of 5 3.5km CPV Heavy Destroyers, 3 10km CCS Battlecruisers, and 1 30 km CSO Supercarrier. The new standards of ship size had made their appearance around one year and a half ago, surprising the naval forces on humanities side. They had gotten over their shock quickly, as considering the Covenant could make ships the size of their Supercarrier and the Battleship that first appeared over Harvest, it was not a stretch to consider them making their other ship classes larger. If anything, it had standardized their fleet quite well, allowing the aliens to balance their naval contingents even better than before.
Cutter grimaced. With their stronger designs, his ships would need to vacate quickly.
"Send a DropShip down now! Inform the other Balor to lift off and begin it's return trip. Get the fighter-wings ready, and charge up the weapons. Load as many fusion weapons as possible." Cutter ordered rapidly, as he went over his fleet, and compared it to the opposition.
1 6km Phoenix Class Supercarrier. 4 3.8km Farragut-C Battleships.13 585m Tatsumaki Destroyers. With his destroyers he had an advantage, but they were 1/6 the size of their opposition, and he didn't think they would make much impact before being wrecked. However, here he couldn't be aggressive, and had to protect his assets.
Keeping the ships clustered near the planet, and using it to block the incoming fleet, Cutter was hoping to delay and ensure they couldn't bring their overwhelming advantage of Plasma-Beams into play... Before his weapons fired first.
A sound tactic.
The first DropShip returned and began the procedure of locking into the collar and clamps, and he counted the time second by second, as the second one began it's ascent to the ship.
The Covenant cruised in-system, as they tried to determine exactly where their adversaries were, at a loitering pace completely fearless in the belief of their might.
The second Balor DropShip made it safely back, and Cutter was conferencing the Captains, and determining a course of action for their flotilla. Between them all, the best option seemed to be leaving a set of fusion mines, and blowing them just as they transited to the next location via HyperJump. Cutter nodded in agreement, this would give them cover, and hopefully inflict some damage upon their enemy as they got the heck out of there.
"All right then, all ships begin placing the nuclear mines, charge your drives and we'll hopefully get a new set of coordinates I can relay in the next few minutes." Cutter ordered, as he awaited the arrival of the source of his coordinates, watching the fleet carry out their orders.
Ships began charging their JumpDrives, and launched a fair amount of missiles, trying to ring and section off their side of Harvest from approach 360°. Once they manoeuvred into place, the mines armed themselves, and engaged their cloaking and em-reduction suites. Set just past the horizon of where their calculations indicated the Covenant's possible approach vectors could come from, they formed a cordon around the human fleet.
-Dr. Wily Stage – Mega Man END-
-Sonic 2 Music:Chemical Plant Zone START-
"Agent James Robinson, Dr. Ellen Anders, Sgt. Major John Forge, and Team Ω reporting in." Cutter turned around, to find the party of six individual all present and saluting. Returning their salutes, he gestured for them to give him a brief report. After hearing some of what they had gone through, Cutter gestured him to stop, and asked if they had gotten the coordinates for the next planet.
"Yes sir, it was the first thing we cracked, in case the Fleet Admiral was able to muster a rescue-fleet, and came to relieve Harvest. That didn't happen, so we figured out how to turn on the rest of the facility." The Captain nodded, and motioned for Anders to come forward, and give Serina the coordinates for the next planet.
Dr. Anders did so, and soon Serina glowed as she sent messages to the various AI on the other ships, and began to get the JumpDrive ready.
The fleet began to accelerate, as the Covenant began to come into their range, and sensors lit up with notifications that they had been scanned. Also, there energy levels were spiking, indicating they were getting their weapons ready to blow them away.
It was now or never.
"Blow 'em to hell Serina!" Cutter growled and the AI nodded, as the fleet simultaneously opened windows to the higher-dimension of Hyperspace, as the mines began to detonate. Brilliant yellowish-gold explosions erupted in Harvest upper exosphere, blinding the enemy, and hoping to catch some errant ships in the process.
The blasts of expanding yet brilliant fusion-plasma, roared into action, blotting out everything in the Covenant's sight. 4 of their CPV destroyers got caught, but the Captain didn't get to see the results, as he felt the lurching sensation of Hyperspace transition. Whatever the results were of his attempted trap, he didn't get to see, as the fleet burst out of the Harvest system.
~Scene Change~
Arbiter Xytan Jar Wattinree smiled, as only a Sangheili who had a foe in their claws could, as he watched the humans blow their devices up and leave the system.
"So the chase begins. Recorder, did you obtain their coordinates?" The Arbiter turned and peered at his mobile intelligence.
"Yes. Their system was completely unable to read my entrance, and honestly I think they don't believe the Covenant have the ability to penetrate their networks. This aided me, and I was able to slide into one of their backdoors, and poach a copy of the coordinates." The Arbiter nodded, and gestured for it to send the information to his navigation officer.
"Good work Recorder, I thank you for your aid in this conflict, you have been indispensable in my campaign." The device bobbed in mid-air, simulating an attempt at bowing.
"It is an honour to aid you in your battles, Arbiter Wattinree." The Arbiter caressed the case lightly, as he watched the silent majesty of atomic fury dissipate against the planets backdrop, while his ships prepared to jump to the next location.
"Make ready our ships, and prepare to jump and pursue the humans." Wattinree ordered, with the fleet complying, and regrouping closer together for ease of travel.
Xytan thought over his plan, and wondered for a moment if was making the right calculations, but everything had unfolded as he had wanted. The human fleet had gained intelligence of their vacancy in-system, and sent an expedition to retrieve their beleaguered forces. Having engineered the "scheduled fuelling", Xytan was planning on the humans taking this chance, so he could gain access to the information they uncovered and retrieve wonders of the Forerunners for his race to use.
The humans took the bait, and sent a fair-sized fleet to gain their soldiers back, cleaning out those he had left to interfere with their progress while taking few casualties themselves. Grinning, he mused on how their "Greater Daemons" had proven an invaluable force against their numbers, taking out the base, and it's defences in minutes.
Even the addition of fixed weaponry that was modelled after the Scarabs main gun, placed throughout the encampment, didn't stall their force for long. As well, their reserves were cut down easily, with the force emerging from the cave and wrecking the rear positions. The air contingent was cut down all too easy, and he could improvement would be needed with that, even with the Seraph's decent performance. That would be next on his agenda to improve.
Thousands of thoughts on the war flowing through his head Arbiter Xytan Jar Wattinree sat back, and watched as the familiar glow of slipspace was cut in front of the fleet, and enjoyed the view as they lurched towards the next destination.
He loved it when a plan came together.
-Sonic Music:Chemical Plant Zone END-
BattleTech Wars:
Part 2-
Harvest III
~End~
AUTHOR NOTE: Edited the chapters, eliminated repetitive words, and added more meat the dialogues and conflicts. Also, I encourage you all to listen to the music.
Someone talked about how nobody was going to read the codex, and how I should just work on chapters for the story.
Maybe it's not important for you, and honestly I don't care if 90% won't read it, it is not only my reference for whats in this story there is a lot in there that I won't get to for a long time. That is one of the reasons I made such a comprehensive timeline, I wanted to be able to work with many many many things, while marching through the ideas from fiction and my mind. I just love sharing the stuff I think up, and codex entries work quite well for summaries.
If you don't want to read it, that's fine, but that is also why it's in a separate chunk compared to the main segments.
It's not about someone being patient enough to read it all, there are many who will sit and read condensed segments of story, and I can't ever see a story without having it's worldly history inside when it matters to the core material. If people ask why this is in it, or why that's popping up, all answers are in the codex. I really don't mind if you don't read it though, the story moves on as I keep writing.
New Ship Standardization- With this program being run by the Arbiter, as he continues to test and attack human worlds causing severe casualties, it is really just a reworking of existing designs and more efficient use of their ship-production. Xytan views this as one of the key-components of his long-term plan for the Sangheili race, and whether he's truly malicious or not, we shall see.
Anyway, that's it for me. Good night all, peace and positivity be with you.
