Universal Journey Chapter 7 Preparations
Hollow faith, Cold echo of loss base
Azzadira stood and watched as Covenant dropships left with troops to fully crew her flagship. The Malevolence. Her flagship, her grand warship. The greatest warship ever built in her opinion. Built by her. The crown jewel of her life, the greatest achievement. Some might call it a monstrosity, but she called it a masterpiece of engineering. She had spent over one-thousand years constructing and upgrading it. She looked up, it was massive, even from this distant. It dwarfed the Covenant Super Carriers twenty-eight kilometers with its own eighty kilometers. Its original construction had taken fifty years because of its size, it had taken tens-of-thousands of workers and the lives of countless thousands of slaves. Her beautiful jewel.
The massive eighty kilometer Super Dreadnought had a completely slick black outer hull. It was nothing like the bulky human ships of the UNSC. It had a spear point shape in the front and was almost three kilometers in height at the highest point. It was covered by thousands of batteries., both plasma and a type of plasma missiles. It became slightly wider at it came longer from the front and slightly higher.
Right now munitions and weapons were loaded onboard. Thousands of troops were loaded onboard to support her own forces. She only had a relatively small force onboard. The majority were war droids, which was quite easily constructed infantry from the factories onboard. They could perform menial tasks and act as cannon fodder. Her Jaffa mercenaries was onboard their own Ha'tak-Fearful tears. She had spent a long time gathering resources and forces for the final confrontation with her love. The Wraith Heavy Cruisers Nightingale and Feast of glory was with Malevolence, as was the Hive ship Flowerbed of mercy. Several Covenant Corvettes was acting as a support screen around the her four small warship.
"Sir."
Azzadira turned around when she heard the raspy voice. Her second in command stood there. The tall Wraith had long white hair and a goatee. He wore the standard black clothes most Wraith wore. He had his fingers fiddling behind his back.
"Toby," Azzadira acknowledged his presence.
The Wraith-although he didn't use a name-he was accepting that Azzadira had named him. It was easier to her that way, he supposed.
"I have a time table for how long the resupply will take," he explained.
"Yes, how long?"
"Two more days if it continued at this current rate. The Covenant is sending that General Thel'mola here with Sangheili ground forces to bulk up the Unggoy, Yanme'e and Kig-Yar forces they are supplying us with." He took a step forward. "The Sangheili isn't too excited over serving onboard the Malevolence. The Kig-Yar and especially the Unggoy is more thrilled. Given their treatment by the other member races, they're figuring you can't possibly treat them worse. Besides, they have probably never seen a ship this size. It gives you an aura of power."
Azzadira smiled and nodded.
"What about…food supplies?"
"They have provided us with a long line of criminals and deserters. They are being brought onboard the Hive and Heavy Cruisers as we speak. Personally, the pathetic Kig-Yar I tasted was far less…tasty, then humans, but we'll do with what we have available."
Azzadira turned around. "They can never defeat the next invasion when Malevolence takes part in the assault." She smiled behind her mask. "This is it Toby. The Covenant is my path to reach my goal. My empire, one day. And….my final revenge."
"Your war droids are better soldiers then these, Unggoy," Toby voiced. "They are quite pitiful and useless."
"Don't underestimate them. They can fight. I find them very useful." She turned around and looked at the airfield. "Just imagine it, Toby. Imagine if I can win their loyalty by treating them so much better then to Covenant do. When this war is over and my love is dead. Well…I can use the Unggoys numbers, plus Malevolence. I'll pay off the Kig-Yar, at some point. After I slaughter enough of them, I'll promise them a position in my new empire, and give them something else if they side with me. They must know the Sangheili and Jiralhanae won't hesitate to sacrifice them, just like the Unggoy. The Prophets doesn't care about any of them. They like their powerbase. and…"she turned around. "You know what, Toby. The Unggoy is the Covenant's powerbase. Without them the Covenant will collapse. They keep the industries and shipyards going, and act as primary infantry." She started walking with Toby behind her. "I need you to find me some kind of Unggoy officer. I'll give one of them a position of my senior staff. Should make them feel a little better to have a voice there."
"Understood, sir."
Azzadira thought about him. He probably already felt something wrong. The question she asked herself was if he had put it together and realized it was her. It didn't matter thought. He couldn't possibly win this time. Unlike their time in the Augum galaxy, she now had allies of her own. She didn't stand alone this time. In fact, her allies were overall more powerful.
An Unggoy suddenly appeared and jogged towards them.
"Fleet master Rtas Demmuda wanna see you!" He exclaimed.
"Where is he?"
"Follow me, follow me." He turned around and started walking away. Toby and Azzadira followed him.
"Thank you," she said.
She threw a last glance at the dropships carrying troops up to her ship. Hundreds of Yanme'e flew onboard dropships. Thousands of Unggoy moved around, going onboard ships themselves or carrying onboard supplies. Armored vehicles were also transported onboard to be loaded onto the Malevolence. Wraith tanks were brought onboard, as was Banshees, Ghosts and Revenants.
The Sangheili didn't like her authority within this invasion they planned. Demmuda was pissed that the battle would be commanded from the Malevolence, and not this flagship, Sword of Serpents. But it was the Prophets will.
"Toby, how's my Jaffa mercenaries looking on the situation?" She asked as they followed the Unggoy.
"As long as they get the payment promised, there are no problem. If they would complain, I'm sure they can be placed in the frontlines when we attack Yorktown. Was that the name, Yorktown?" He shook his head. "Foolish human names. I still don't get why you had to name our vessels."
"Off course you don't. But that's ok."
As they were led into an office, Rtas stood by a console. He turned around to them and waved at the Unggoy to leave. The little alien quickly left the room without question. Azzadira crossed her arms.
"Well."
Rtas took several steps towards her.
"I need to get something straight with you," he sneered. "Listen carefully here. I am in charge of this mission, not you. You may command the Malevolence, but it's my fleet. My army."
"Technically I think its Thel'mola's army," Azzadira replied, mostly to mess with him.
"Watch your tongue," he seethed. "I'm warning you."
"Or what? I can take you down right here, right now."
He stopped closer and looked down into her masked eyes.
"I wish we could find out, but…I have to work with you. Know you're place."
"Without me, you'll lose this wart. With Jovakhin and his human and Jaffa allies, they'll turn the tides against you. Your Prophets seem to understand this. But then again, you're a grunt, a foot soldier basically. Expendable."
He growled, but she stood her ground.
"Let's remember we have an invasion to plan," Toby reminded. "Let's try not to tear each other apart."
Rtas glared at him but straightened himself.
"Quite right," Azzadira said smugly.
"We'll leave as soon as your ship is supplied with enough troops and supplies."
Azzadira nodded. "Very well."
Yorktown orbit, Aleppo, lab
Callahan walked into the lab and looked over to Rodney. He stood by a desk with equipment, analyzing a Covenant plasma pistol. She had turned the other two Covenant weapons over to the ONI for study in the spirit of cooperation. Sense the treaty was taking several days, she had given him authorization to start working on the project to combine Goa'uld zat and Covenant plasma pistol technology into one far improved weapon. Rodney theorized he could create a weapon that fired an electric plasma bolt, a weapon that wouldn't overload after being fired for a while, could kill as well as stun enemies and be easily manufactured by the UNSC. Although the UNSC couldn't completely produce a zat, they could probably produce a damn near good enough copy, without the Goa'uld crystal to power it though. That would be where Covenant weapons technology came into the picture.
She didn't understand why it took this time to decide for the UNSC back on their Earth. They did need the technology quickly after all. They couldn't waste any time.
"How is it going?" Callahan asked.
Rodney turned half around.
"Huh? Oh, it's you. Sorry, I was expecting Jovakhin."
"Oh? Well he is in the mess with SG18 and Rya'c."
"He wanted to talk about something. We were throwing ideas about the Covenant back and forth earlier."
She walked over to him and leaned on the table.
"Like what?" She asked with interest.
"Given what little the UNSC have actually let us know, we were putting it together and making up theories. About their hierarchy and such."
"I got time."
Rodney smiled slightly. "Alright. Well, we know these Prophets, or San 'Shyuum is at the top. Then we have the Jiralhanae and Sangheili, rivals who pretty much want to wipe the other out. seems the Sangheili is one step over the Jiralhanae though.
"Could we use that?" Callahan asked.
"Hmm," he hesitated. "Don't know. Both are loyal to the cause and the San 'Shyuum. Isn't that a weird name by the way? San 'Shyuum? Sounds stupid."
She chuckled.
"Yeah, kinda does I guess."
Rodney got back to the subject after a light chuckle.
"We got Mag-Mag-let-lek, eh…Magelgogo-something."
"Mgalekgolo," she corrected.
He furrowed his eyebrows.
"How could you possibly remember that?"
She shrugged.
"Good with alien names, guess. Don't know. Just stick with me."
"Well, we figures these guys are pretty high up in the hierarchy. We're just guessing but sense the UNSC doesn't know much either, well…we didn't see any onboard the ship. They aren't that super common and are more like heavy troops or tanks instead of infantry. If they weren't respected they would be more like the Unggoy."
"Maybe there to good fighters to treat badly. Maybe the Covenant had trouble absorbing them into the empire."
He nodded.
"Maybe. Would make sense to keep them happy enough not to rebel if they're too powerful." He keyed a command into the laptop on the desk before looking back at Callahan. "The Yam-ish-eh-uh-"
"Yanme'e."
"Right, right. The Yanme'e would seem to be a pretty important race in the Covenant arsenal. It make sense if they are pretty well taken care of."
"Your logic is flawed, Rodney. Sorry."
"What?"
"The Unggoy is extremely important. They're the basic infantry and probably fuel the Covenant military industrial complex. They aren't too well treaty. They're treated like shit."
Rodney conceded the point.
"Ok, good point. Hmph….ok, but the UNSC are convinced they are above the Unggoy, which isn't too hard. Sense the Kig-Yar is a species of mercenaries, it would make sense to have the Yanme'e above them too. If they're as crazy as the rest of the religious nut-jobs, it would make sense too."
"Which would put the Kig-Yar one step above the Unggoy," she finished.
He nodded.
"Yeah. These Unggoy, they can't be too happy? How much would it take to start a rebellion, or a freedom force fighting beside us?"
She arched her eyebrows.
"I don't know. But, the ideas certainly something to look into. Fuck the UNSC, McKenzie laughed when we spoke of it yesterday at lunch. Bra'tac took it more personal than I did. Think he and the Jaffa see some small similarities between their former situation with the Goa'uld and the Unggoys slavery at the hands of the Covenant."
"Hmm. I can sympathize. If we could capture a few Unggoy. We could convince them that fighting for their freedom is better and they might help us spread the word, starting a friction between the Covenant." Imagine, if they crack down on that friction, they'll push the Unggoy away further, straight into our open arms."
"That's a lot of assumptions, but then again... I think we should give it a shot." She looked across the room. "By the way, their Commander Ricardo told us that UNSC reinforcements would arrive in a week or so, to bulk up their lines."
"Expecting a Covenant attack?" He asked with concern.
She nodded.
"He said that they'll be back soon. He hoped that the reinforcements would get here first, though."
Open Heavens, McKenzie's office
"So it's done?" McKenzie asked.
The man on the screen shifted slightly in his seat.
"Not yet, but pretty much. They're beating out the last few points they want with back on Earth. We were informed that the allies is still on the table, as it the supplies and exchange of information. They want an exchange of weapons, those Jaffa staff weapons and zat-things, the scientists are very interested in those. They could give us a unique look into their technology and an advantage over the Covenant." General Bill Hathaway leaned forward in his chair. "The project that…" he looked at his papers. "-Doctor McKay was talking about has the Oni talking. Everyone's pretty interested in combining Covenant and, eh…Jaffa, technology. But, I sent the list of current points to you."
"Thank you, Bill."
"Don't mention it. I didn't actually do much," he replied.
As the channel closed, McKenzie looked over the list sent on his screen.
Firstly, the alliance. That was a good and important part of it.
Secondly, they would provide the small naval force with supplies, food, munitions more on an as-needed basis.
Thirdly, they would provide scientist to research and manufacture a drug the Jaffa needed to live. It was clearly one of the most important ones. it would go a long way to gain their trust. Tritonin, he thought they called it.
Fourthly, they would exchange information.
Fifthly, they would exchange weapons technology.
Sixthly, they would worked to combine Jaffa and Covenant technology into better weapons.
Seventh, they would be provided with specs over hyperdrives. It could turn the tide of war and McKenzie obviously knew it.
Eighth, the Aleppo would share their long range sensor technology with the UNSC. They could detect Covie worlds and launch raids or even all-out invasions.
Ninth, they would provide the UNSC with shielding technology.
tenth, the Aleppo would share their beam weapon technology with the UNSC. He was hesitant to believe that would be excepted. It was quite a lot to ask already. Not to mention with the next point.
Eleventh, the Aleppo would share their transportation technology with the UNSC. McKenzie rubbed his forehead and groaned. No way. They would never agree to that. Some of these points was a lot to ask, specifically sense they weren't providing them with a real bone in return. Thankfully, it specifically stated that the transport technology could be taken off the table if the Aleppo utterly refused. He chuckled darkly. If. Really?
Munitions, the Jaffa drug, exchange of weapon technologies-which probably would benefit them more than Aleppo-and an exchange of information, specifically on the Covenant. All this in exchange for shield, weapon, transport, sensor and hyperdrive technology. It was a horrible deal. He knew that the UNSC would never agree if the roles were reversed. Never. They needed more if they wanted all these technologies.
He sipped from his hot coffee. He cursed to himself. They couldn't make such ridiculous demands when they needed these peoples aid. Maybe in time, but not now. Not yet.
Hollow faith orbit, Malevolence, Wraith chamber 13
5th day
Azzadira was not at all bothered by the pained roars from the Jiralhanae. They were so deep inside the ship that no Covenant soldiers was close enough to hear anything. Azzadira needed to ensure her powerbase with Sangheili military leaders to deal with as well onboard. For hours the Jiralhanae warriors had been fed upon by Wraith and given their life back. It was only a matter of time before they broke, she was sure of it. She was confident they would break. They were mentally strong enough, although their brute strength made them strong enough to survive and bare it.
With a secret bodyguard force of Jiralhanae at her command, if Rtas tried anything, they would kill him. Something they would probably not mind anyway in their rightful mind settings.
Suddenly an Ultra pushed the Wraith soldier off of him. he stood up and grabbed his arm and flung him across the chamber. He smacked into the wall twenty meters away. Four other Wraith soldiers raised their stun rifles on him, but Azzadira raised her palm. The three war droids in the chamber also reacted.
They had silvery surfaces, with black junctions and a pair of red eyes. The heads were rounded and shiny. They were 1.7 meters tall.
"Wait," she said softly. She stepped towards the Jiralhanae. He looked both exhausted and confused. He had taken up a battle stance. "Stand down my warrior." He looked at her. "Stand down."
He relaxed, listening to her soft voice. He made a growling noise in his throat.
"It's ok. You're fine. I'm sure you are feeling a bit crappy, right now, yes? Relax and let him return what he took. I promise you you will feel a lot better. Is that acceptable?"
He growled at first and looked at the soldier that was getting back up. The Wraith looked like crap. More than a few broken bones probably. But, at least they heal over time. He staggered over to the Jiralhanae again. slowly the Jiralhanae Ultra accepted and allowed the Wraith to continue the reversed feeding. Azzadira smirked delightfully under her mask. The first giant had fallen to her will, or was starting to anyway.
She knew the Covenant would kill her or torture her if they ever found of about this. She would make sure to surround herself with loyal soldiers onboard. It would be nothing strange if she was followed by a pair of Jiralhanae warriors, sense the Prophet of Enlightenment had provided her with a bodyguard force of of in the first place. Now, they were more loyal than before.
A war droid entered the chamber. It held a holographic datapad in its hand. It walked over to Azzadira.
"Sir," it said in a mechanical and dark tone. "I have from the commander to you." She accepted it. The commander in question was Toby. She looked at it. It was a report that the last supplies had been taken onboard. As had the last vehicles and most of the troops. General Thel'mola would arrive in a few hours with his force of special commando Sangheili warriors. A combined force including stealth warriors, special operations Sangheili, zealots and veterans from many battlefields.
Azzadira thought for a moment. In a day their fleet could depart. Of course without hyperdrives it would take the Covenant three days to reach Yorktown. Which was why Malevolence would take on some many of the forces. Also, her three hangars would be equipped with several dozen Corvettes. She could fit Cruisers but they would take up more room, letting her carry less ship. Some of her ten minor hangars were filled with Covenant fighters and pilots, adding to her own Wraith Darts and ball shaped interceptors crewed by her war droids. The ball shaped interceptors were commonly referred to her just that, interceptors. Their shape made them highly maneuverable. They were black in color.
Alright, we found out a tiny bit more about her mysterious woman aiding the Covenant and her goals. Granted, lots still missing, ubbt we'll get a full explanation to her mystery soon enough. Also, added a counter of how many days there have gone sense the Aleppo and Bra'tac's ship came to this reality. Added that to chapters six and two.
Been introduced to the Malevolence. Kinda big.
Hopefully next chapter will be out tomorrow or the day after that.
