I Don't Get Paid Enough for This
Author's Note:
With most of my Finals gone, I can finally focus on typing.
(As I'm typing)
Grammar check, don't fuck with me now.
I'm editing this author's note as I continue the story. At the moment, I've currently finished the Ichika Operation bit and my current comment on it right now is:
Why did I name him Kuuga again? It just makes me think about the Kamen Rider I named him after: Kamen Rider Kuuga.
Chapter 9: Forerunners
"Flight systems, check, weapon systems, check, all systems are go," Cortana smiled, proud of her newest creation. This 10 foot tall machine is the first humanoid exoskeleton that can be worn without augments. The MJOLNIR Armor set is considered an exoskeleton as well, but it is a Power Armor, it augments the user's abilities. This Infinite Stratos is more of a true exoskeleton as it gives extra abilities to the wielder.
"Alright Ichika, watch me closely," The AI ordered. The Japanese stared at the ten foot tall behemoth, causing it to grab its "face". It's visor turning a bright shade of pink.
"But don't watch me too closely, you're making me blush." She joked.
"Cortana, stop screwing around with the private first-class and start with the field testing. We're stationary when we have a cloaking field surrounding us." Edward ordered. He and most of the crew are watching Cortana in her unmanned/AI controlled exoskeleton.
"Roger that," She gave him a mock salute and began hovering in the air.
"Anti-gravity propulsion systems working," She ticked off. "Fusion generators are working at 10%."
"10 percent," Edward asked. "So keeping you afloat takes up 10 percent of a Fusion generator's power supply?"
"The previous IS I've scanned used a power source akin to Fusion, actually it is Fusion, but it had a larger output than the scrap of metal and hydrogen atoms I've meshed together. It is something comparable to the MJOLNIR's personal Fusion Reactor." Cortana explained, her visor shifting into a standby "white" face.
"If I were to relay all the power to the propulsion systems and keep all essential hardware properly online, I should be able to move at mach 10." She added. "However, in heavy combat, the ideal would be 30 to 40 percent in the propulsion systems."
"Okay, show me this thing's maneuverability." Edward ordered, placing his hands on his hips. Ichika had a notebook with him and was starting to jot down random calculations. He was estimating how fast he was moving during his combat situation with this world's him's girlfriends.
"Right-o; let's get started!" Cortana amplified her speakers ecstatically. She seemed to momentarily float higher into the air, and then burst into a wide display of air tricks and finesse. She demonstrated practical combat techniques used by IS pilots from the first and second IS tournaments. Her main armaments were two light-heavy laser cannons which should have a personal Fusion Generator. It's lightweight, being only 7 kilograms heavy for each "blade" the wing has, which it has five of on both wings. So in total, it weighs around 70 kilograms. It isn't simply a laser cannon either, it assists in the IS's propulsion system, breaks and turning ability.
The audience gaped, in awe of the Infinite Strato's flight capabilities. It put even their most agile aircraft to shame. The video was being streamed live to the patrolling Covenant Shadow of Intent. Their crew was stunned by the show. It had even more maneuverability than their finest aircraft. Even the Arbiter was impressed by the display.
"Materializing Beam Rifle – Infinite Stratos Variant," Cortana announced. As stated, a large Covenant Type-50 Sniper Rifle System appeared in her hands. It seemed to have phased into the world from out of nowhere, appearing as a cybernetic tracing and outline then, a brief flash later, the Beam Rifle appeared.
"Materialization uses something akin to Slip Space as it 'phases out' a weapon into a subspace storage device implanted within the IS. The subspace storage device is something like a small pocket universe, but it is stored as data not as an actual physical object. When it is extracted, the subspace storage device reads the data coming through and turns the information itself into a physical object by manipulating its Higs-Field, giving it mass." Cortana explained. She fired a few experimental shots from her rifle. "However, the subspace storage device is a prototype and it isn't used in a real Infinite Stratos. This is just faster."
"Then what does an official IS do to retrieve its weapons?"
"It uses something similar to slip-space technology. It semi-submerges its weapon into another universe, possibly a pocket one or a subspace storage device to lower energy costs." The AI answered as she withdrew a new weapon, a Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword modified specifically for the Infinite Stratos. The plasma blade ignited. To the AI, it looked like particles burst into flames and slowly began coming together as a blue plasma blade. Cortana began to move quickly with the Energy Sword activated and swung at imaginary enemies.
"As you can see, the Energy Sword should have little problem operating at low speeds such as this." Cortana said. "However, at higher speeds – the magnets holding the ion particles that form the Energy Sword will not be able to keep up."
She demonstrated this by swinging the sword at impossible speeds in succession. The blade seemed to slowly fizzle out of existence as the ions dispersed from the speed and velocity of the swings. However, instead of taking heed of her warning, they were in awe of her swinging speeds. The IS arm seemed to blur and forced even air to become visible.
"Cortana, stop showing off," John scoffed, his arms folded. Ichika flinched at his tone. The Infinite Stratos visor turned a shade of white with black lines running down vertically, briefly.
"Okay, okay," She blurted out. Cortana dismissed the Energy Sword and began showing off other weapons, to be more specific, Covenant Energy Weapons and how they will operate at high speeds. Most of the Energy Weapons fired normally. However, in high-speeds, a little more calculating is required. When Cortana fired a Covenant Plasma Rifle, the plasma ball went in a straight life from where she fired it. Therefore, you will need to aim and estimate and take into account where you were and where they're going to move beforehand.
"Next up, UNSC weapons," The AI materialized a massive M6H PDWS and shot it several times. The machine suddenly propelled forward. Holographic targets were set up and the machine engaged them. All the shots hit and were dead center.
"UNSC Weapons work normally in high speed combat as well." Cortana concluded.
"Ichika, how is this compared to your time in the Infinite Stratos?" The Master Chief asked. The Spartan-IV in question scratched his exposed head for a moment, before coming up with an answer.
"It's slightly slower actually." Cortana's physical form stared at the boy, pausing at his statement.
"Really?" She asked, amazed.
"Well, right now you're a little bit slower. I know you're stressing out the IS's power supply, but in all honesty, the 'White Expression' or [Byakushiki] was far superior in speed and agility. It also had a sword that could cut or negate shields." Ichika explained. "In my honest opinion, compared to how I moved when I had the concept revealed, the [Byakushiki] is faster but weaker than [The Swallow]."
"If we get the chance to commandeer that particular unit, we'll check." Captain Edward said.
"It isn't that hard to acquire, sir. He stands out like a sore thumb." The Spartan-IV replied.
"I'm sure he does." Cortana scoffed sarcastically. "That's all for my demonstration, now if you don't mind, I'm going to contemplate over Ichika's statement just now."
"Dismissed," The Captain announced, leading the crew back inside the ship. Cortana flew in through the hanger and returned to the lab from there. Ichika painfully stood up and slugged his way back to his room.
He was getting another headache. It seemed to be occurring more frequently now. Sonic called it "synchronizing". He had synched with Orimura for a total of 47 times over the last two weeks. It's surprising a ship of this size can't travel any faster, but the Freedom will arrive there by tomorrow at least, but I'm digressing. Every time he synched with Orimura, he would learn another chunk of IS controls and get a brief glimpse at his memory. The memories would shortly disappear afterwards if he didn't bother trying to remember them and usually they do leave. He can't stand his counter-part's memories.
"The fag is a lucky cunt." Kuuga cursed, clearly grimacing. He lay on his bed and grabbed his walkie-talkie. Cortana had inherited it after Sonic died. She seriously helped him during IS testing. The newest model she's been working on is a black [Byakushiki] a [Kuroshiki], a Black-Type or Black Expression. It's basically a black version of the [Byakushiki] with all its faults fixed and gaining some additional abilities such as regenerating shields.
So far, Cortana has been able to mostly hack the encrypted [Byakushiki] data Ichika Kuuga has been sending her. He's trying to be as inconspicuous as he can, which is difficult considering Ichika Orimura has a harem following him all the time. Also, that Student President is not helping. Ichika felt that funny tingling feeling again. He held the communications device against his mouth and pressed the transmit button.
"Cortana, I think I'm synching again." He stated.
"Affirmative, I'm getting those weird readings again." She said. "You know what to do this time right?"
"Yeah, yeah." Ichika said, grabbing his usual load out. It consisted of a Combat Knife, a Walkie-Talkie, a data chip and a miniature camera.
"Let's do this."
The Spartan-IV had his dizzy spell cast upon him. When he woke up, he was still holding his things, but he felt needlessly tired and even weaker than when in his previous body. Unlike before, the area he was summoned to was a wreck. The walls were cracked and it felt like there had been a massive battle here. He was already in his [Byakushiki], however it looked different. Ichika placed the camera against his head and it strapped onto him. The device began recording.
"I'm in the [Byakushiki]," He began. "This is my 48th synch and fifth time I'm using the machine. The [Byakushiki] looks different though, like its armor had folded out. My energy claw is significantly larger now and I seem to have a larger energy reserve but it has been mostly drained, as usual."
Ichika landed and dematerialized his IS suit. The Spartan examined his surroundings. He was in a dome shaped building, the arena if his memory serves him correctly. However, it looks beaten and bashed, as if a battle occurred here. Kuuga closely watched his surroundings to see if there were any other presences in the area. Concluding that the area was clear, he sprinted inside the arena corridors. Usually, these information gathering operations required him to be at a terminal that could analyze IS data and one that could transfer information into a medium. The popular medium in the 21st century seems to be the old fashioned but still very reliable "Universal Serial Bus" or USB.
The Spartan-IV contemplated running out in this swimsuit-like outfit he was wearing, but decided against it seeing that it would attract more attention than needed. He walked to where his locker is presumably located and unlocked it with a retina recognition device. If he had to input an actual password, he would have been stumped right there. Ichika shoved his swimsuit-thing into the locker and put on his oddly fashioned Russian-like school uniform. Now all he needs is a Russian cap.
"Oh Ichika, leaving already,"
The sudden outburst caused the Spartan to flinch. He suppressed his urge to kill and turned to the out speaker. It was the sassy one with cyan hair, the one with the Chinese fan fetish. Wait that could be her IS as well. Kuuga closed his locker door and gave the best impression of Orimura as he could.
"Yeah, I have plans with Houki and I don't want to be late." He replied. The name of his lost and possibly dead childhood friend rolled off his tongue in a very distasteful manner. It was weird speaking her name.
"Oh, then don't let me keep you. Please, be on your way." The cyan-haired girl replied, moving for him.
"Thank you madam," Ichika subsequently ran away from her at speeds even Cortana would be impressed by.
Kuuga ran into the main building and reenacted his previous forty missions: find the room, hack the control terminal and upload the data. Unfortunately for him, this time he had a harem to attend to. It was the dead-or-missing childhood friend, military childhood friend, the second dead friend, the handicapped friend and the super soldier friend. They impeded his progress by a substantial amount.
"Hey Ichika, where were you during lunch? I couldn't find you anywhere." Rin asked, grinning.
"I was practicing IS maneuvers," Kuuga lied. "I thought I could get the hang of this one but I just couldn't."
"I could help you if you want." She made an advance.
"I don't think you could help even if you tried."
"Shut up! That was uncharacteristically harsh!" She retorted, folding her arms and looking away in such a tsundere manner. Jesus Christ, she's a tsundere.
"Sorry Rin, but I'm kind of frustrated right now, could you please move? You're in my way." He asked politely.
"No! Not until you say sorry!"
"I'm really sorry, now can you please let me through?"
Rin seemed taken aback by this sudden 180 degree turn in characteristic. She managed up a reply, but it was all in shambles, "W-w-we-e-ll...I-I guess I c-could let y-you th-th-th-through." She stuttered, blushing in a bright cherry color.
The Spartan-IV took this as his cue and sprinted down the corridor, leaving a slightly aroused Rin behind. He took a left down the corridor, passing through the cafeteria where he was stopped by another character in the harem, the second dead friend. She looked nervously at the Spartan in disguise. The girl examined him, her eyes scanning every inch of his body. Ichika stopped in front of her, watching as her eyes abused his body.
"I feel violated." The Spartan-IV commented.
Charlotte blushed and placed her fingers against her mouth. "I'm sorry, did you see that?" She asked nervously.
Ichika nodded, gaining a sigh from the Dunois. "Sorry, it's just that you feel different today."
"Do I?" He asked. "What part of me do you think feels different?" He tried his best not to make that sound dirty.
"I can't put my mind on it. You just feel a little different that's all. Don't mind me," She laughed and left him alone. The Spartan-IV shrugged and walked away from the scene, smiling at his good fortune. It seems like they aren't bothering him for as long as usual. He turned a corner and blasted off into a full blown sprint. The IS room was just in front of him. He slid to a stop and checked for cameras in the hallway. For an internationally known school, the security sucks in the IS Academy.
Ichika opened the sliding doors using his already cracked password. The security in the room is all but deactivated and the Spartan can transfer data with ease. He closed the door behind him and locked it. Turning to the scanning device, he took off his [Byakushiki] and placed it in the scanning device. A red light ran over the bracelet-like object and the data was taken from the Academy's database once again.
Ichika inserted the USB into the terminal and began the final download. He picked up his surprisingly strong walkie-talkie from his pocket and activated it.
"Spartan O513 to Command Post, do you copy?"
"...mand P... Spa... O513, w... copy..." The signal was choppy. Ichika tried adjusting the signal. Twisting the cap to the left seemed to do the trick.
"Spartan O513 to Command Post, do you copy?" He repeated.
"Command Post to Spartan O513, we copy. What's the situation?" Cortana asked.
"I'm copying the rest of the data. How do I get back home if the data is unfinished copying when I start synching back?" He asked.
"Don't worry about that, just do your thing." Cortana replied.
"Roger," Ichika groaned. He sat down and watched as the copy bar slowly completed. It was another ten gigabytes of information that didn't make sense to him. The best he could make of the data was the strengths and weaknesses of the [Byakushiki]. It was built mainly for Finesse, Endurance and Melee Strength. It's hinted by the aerodynamic design present in most ISes, its reinforced joints and armor, and the way it helps augment the user's force. Its shield strength is terrible due to the fact that it was using terrible shield emitters and because the way the power circulated wasn't very efficient, which sounds strange considering the fact that Shinonono Tabane created the thing herself. It must be because of the new form he was in.
"Wait, new form?" Kuuga lashed out for his Walkie Talkie. "Command Post, this is O513! I have urgent news to tell you." He quickly lowered the tone of his voice.
"Command Post, go ahead O513," Cortana replied nearly instantaneously.
"The objective has a second form I am not able to gather Intel on, please advise."
"We'll gather data on the original objective first, and then we'll focus on this second form you're talking about." The AI replied.
"Roger, O513 out." Ichika sighed. He might have over reacted but it was for the best. Minutes passed before the data copy was completed. The Spartan grabbed the USB and pocketed it.
"O513, the objective has been copied," He announced.
"Roger that O513, can you force yourself to desynchronize?" Cortana asked.
"That's an affirmative, but I'll need some time-"
"Time for what?"
Ichika lurched forward, rolling on the metal floor. He turned around to see Sarashiki Tatenashi. Her smiling face hid a very sinister aura that caused the trained soldier to take a step back.
"O513 what was that? O513 please respond!" Cortana shouted.
"Command Post, I've been spotted, engaging the hostile." Ichika declared, grabbing his Combat Knife from a hidden vest beneath his uniform.
"Ara, you think you can beat me without your IS?" Her smile grew bigger as a large lance appeared in her hand. Ichika paused. He had no defense against blunt force and she seems pretty confidant about it as well.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho weren't you going to attack me or is my [Heavy Rain] too intimidating for you?" She taunted.
"Is that a barrel?" Ichika asked reluctantly.
"Why yes, this is a quad-barreled Gatling Gun for your information." She answered cheerfully.
The Spartan-IV paled. "Q-Quad Barreled Gatling Gun?" This caused Tatenashi to moan in glee.
"Stop using my junior's voice!" She replied, grabbing her cheek with her free hand. The Spartan took the momentary distraction to move the Lance and attack her with his flimsy lump of metal. However, he underestimated the Council President's fighting experience as she blocked the Spartan's lunge with the shaft of her Lance.
"I knew it, you are a trained soldier. It still doesn't explain why you have the same voice, face and even DNA as my junior. Are you some sort of secret clone or something?" She questioned. The Spartan didn't answer, instead he moved his body forward, smashing his head into hers causing the Student Council President to stagger back. The Spartan-IV lunged to the left and grabbed the Infinite Stratos and was about to put it on before he was abruptly smashed into the wall. His Combat Knife skittered away.
"That kind of hurt," Tatenashi said. Her face showed none of the innocence it had before.
"H-hey...Tatenashi, what are you doing?" The Spartan tried.
"You aren't fooling me, Faker." She retorted.
"You're acting kind of scary Tatenashi, could you put that lance away now?" She showed no signs of stopping. In fact, she summoned all of her Infinite Stratos.
"Oh shit," Ichika murmured. He had no time to retrieve the Knife. If he did, Tatenashi would probably kill him on the spot. He had no choice. Ichika closed his eyes and willed himself to return to his body, focusing only on his walkie talkie and USB drive. He heard the walking stop. She must be in front of him now. At that moment, in a surge of desperation, he returned to his original body.
To the Russian Representative however, the boy simply went unconscious.
MCPO Spartan-117 watched as Ichika raced to Cortana's lab, probably with the final piece of IS data. John could honestly say that he was excited to try out the new machine. The prototype "Kuroshiki" or as Ichika likes to call it, the [Kuroshiki] will sport three layers of shielding. One outer layer for Infinite Stratos battles, one inner layer made from the IS's new fusion generator using the MJOLNIR's shielding technology and a third layer, the one the MJOLNIR produces. It will also be able to carry several additional weapons, adding on the equipment from its base model, the "Byakushiki". So, it should sport a giant energy destroying Katana and an Energy firing Claw along with several UNSC and Covenant weapons and possibly some other form of weaponry that John hasn't heard of.
The Spartan-II sat down to eat. His mind wondering. He was anxious. He couldn't predict what would happen next. What would happen after they arrived at the Bermuda Triangle? Would they try to fight back, unlikely. If they had the man power to raid our base and cause the UNSC and Covenant to retreat, then they would easily be able to wipe floor with them. Of course, the two super powers won't give up without a fight, but they have very limited resources, unless by a stroke of luck they managed to find some sort of hidden Forerunner base, they would have no choice but to lay low.
John, in all honesty, had nothing to do. Unlike back on Reach where he could rest before going back to train, now it just feels like he's wasting his time doing nothing. Of course he could go train, run a few laps here and there, but without intense sprinting he won't improve. If he did sprint for a prolonged amount of time, he might be too weak for when there's an enemy attack. The only time when he felt like he was contributing was when he was lecturing the Lightning Exodus Spartan Company on their horrendous War Games simulation.
The Chief decided to watch some Marines spar. They were using wooden knives and kendo swords for practice. One of them was dual wielding the knives while the other was in a kendo posture. John rarely sees any soldier use an actual Katana in battle, but I suppose the Katana is a Japanese family heritage. If you lost it in the Human-Covenant war, you lost it. It would either become a lump of molten metal by the time the Covenant is done glassing the planet or it would be taken as a trophy by said faction. However, as of recently, Humanity has been getting more desperate and they have been using the World War 2 Banzai charges the old Japanese have been doing.
They would charge the Covenant front lines and get slaughtered by Plasma fire or somehow survive and cut down Grunts and Jackals before getting slaughtered by Elites. There were rare cases of the Banzai charge succeeding in killing off enemy forces. The most notable was when five soldiers charged a pack of Grunts with two Elite majors in said pack. They killed off all the Grunts, but the Elite majors managed to kill three men before one of them went down. The last Elite managed to kill one more marine before he went down. It sounds impossible, but it was in the dead of night and those soldiers were wearing very dark clothing. With little light, they were able to assassinate several Grunts before the entire pack was alerted.
John sighed. He had nothing to do. Nobody was at war games and he was absurdly bored. It would be several hours before they arrived at their objective. Those are several hours that he's going to continue feeling like dead-weight.
Crimson Vanguard Commander Yoron Tibthas watched as the Human ship drew closer. A low growl stimulated his nearby Prometheans. One of them stepped forward and crouched. He always wanted to see the second Generation of their species. It was difficult for the Promethean Commander to stop calling his own "Covenant" the People. It was an even greater shame to hear that the "Neanderthals" as they call them now, has gone extinct.
Yoron Tibthas stepped back, into the forest. He positioned his forces along the forest. There were several Hard Light turrets placed in the heavily wooded areas. In case the ships were to attack, they would disable all their defenses and immobilize them. Then, they would send in the Forerunner dog to negotiate with them. He said that one of the Super Soldiers would be weary of the dog, so one of his Blade Knights and Combat Marksman would accompany the dog. If they failed, they would be flash teleported back home and we would have to wait until he returns. Even then, the Prometheans would be forced to take in prisoners from both sides and even Yoron thinks that this would be a tough task.
If there is something they have learned in the entirety of their existence, it's that Humans don't give up easily.
"It appears to me that the Reclaimer ship and their companions are closing in on us." The Forerunner dog said. Yoron grunted in reply and walked towards the central command post.
"My goodness, would you stop calling me that?" 313 said. "It hurts my feelings to hear that even after a hundred thousand Erde Tyrene cycles, you would still call me a dog. I thought we came to understand each other."
Yoron was furious at the monitor. He absolutely despised working with it, but he had no choice. To ensure the survival of the remnants of the People, he had to work with it. He growled a retort; his voice being a low metallic mechanical crank. Strangely enough, this abomination he called a body had biological functions. It has a heart and a brain. However, the current avatar he was using had no biological function. His true body mirrored that of this avatar; however it is far superior and larger. This measly 14 feet tall vessel is just a protective shell incase he falls in battle. The Promethean Juggernauts were far too valuable to die in combat.
"Yoron, are you spacing out again?" The dog asked, hovering in front of the Promethean Commander's face mask. The Promethean in question emitted a loud growl that was akin to that of a rabid dog.
"Oh well pardon me. I didn't know you were this grumpy today." It replied.
Yoron Tibthas roared in response. His face mask split and he shrieked at the monitor. The words transmitted were, "Anybody would be furious with working with the servants of the beings that turned them into this abomination!"
"I guess you're correct." 313 replied, without his common enthusiasm.
Yoron growled once again. "You guess, you guess? How would you like it if- no. I shouldn't ask you that. You're just an AI, nothing more nothing less." He transmitted to the monitor.
"I suppose I am, but I do have feelings and I do learn." The dog retorted.
Yoron made a sound that was similar to a scoff. It was a loud, rough, metallic coughing noise that was quick and loud like a pop but also similar to that of rock breaking. The Promethean Commander returned to his post. The metallic ceiling felt tiny above his head. The table was also incomprehensibly short, but that could just be his size giving him an optical illusion.
The Promethean waited quietly for an astounding thirty minutes. A butterfly flew into the tent. All the machinated organisms that were nearby stared at it, observed it. They envied the insect. It still had its pride, its self-awareness. It still had its body. The Prometheans loathed it. They were jealous. They hated it. They're bodies, twisted and converted. They were composed. Their bodies turned into huge hulking machines. Their biomass converted into metal, their gray matter transformed into a hard drive, their hearts turned into what looked like a glowing orange glob of carbon. That's what they called it, carbon. It wasn't flesh, it wasn't meat. It was just another element that made up their bodies.
They hated their composed bodies so much that they don't even have the pride to call what makes up their supposed "organs" what they're supposed to function as. The Promethean Juggernaut "heart" is known as "The Glowing Orange Thing" or "The Glowing Orange Lump of Carbon". The Promethean "Brain" is called the "The Glowing Orange Lump of hardware" or more preferably "The Windows Vista". The Prometheans indulged themselves in this world's form of Not-So FTL information distribution and found some of the modern day Humans' technology to be quite humorous in the Prometheans' opinions.
Their communications officer emitted a high pitched growl. Yoron quickly turned towards the Promethean in question. The butterfly flew away, much to his disappointment. The communications officer, classed as a Promethean Lancer, stood up and turned towards the dog. He seemed to get the message.
"They're here." Unrelenting Vigilance announced. "Start up the World Gate, the Reclaimer must be recalled!"
Sirens blared throughout the ship. Marines readied their weapons. Technicians traveled to their assigned machinery. Spartans geared up. The Sangheili and their men returned to the Shadow of Intent. The legendary Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117 along with Private First Class Spartan (Ichika) Kuuga stood on standby at the bridge. Cortana was diverting most of her processing power to aid the Freedom's own AI in scanning the island.
"We're detecting huge fluctuations of energy in this island and the readings here detect Forerunner technology here." John immediately flinched. It seems like he had jinxed himself.
"Captain, please advise!" Cortana asked.
"Forerunner you say? Are they just droids like the ones we fought on Installation-00?" Edward questioned, scanning the data that was being fed to him.
A low male voice replied, "Negative, they seem to be combat drones, all deployed and ready for battle. They seemed to be expecting us."
"Show me,"
A static image appeared in front of the Captain. It showed two hulking metal behemoths simply staring at the ship's cameras. They looked armed and they were definitely not human. He couldn't be sure if they were Forerunner however.
"Are you sure they're Forerunner?" Edward asked.
"I'm about 99.98% sure Captain. The readings don't lie and we have conformation with the Shadow of Intent. This is Forerunner."
"Hail the Shadow of Intent." Edward ordered. The Arbiter appeared onscreen nearly instantaneously.
"Captain Edward, we see what you're seeing. I assure you, this is a Forerunner machination." Thel Vadam stated. "We also detect large quantities of energy charging up several kilometers within the Island. I believe they're attempting to fire a super weapon at us."
"Can't we communicate with them?" Edward asked.
"Negative. All attempts at communication have failed. We haven't tried any visible means of communication either since our ship isn't equipped with the sort of thing." Thel answered with a clear grimace on his face. A red light suddenly glowed on screen. It glowed off the Arbiter's scaly face.
"Wait, we're getting hailing signals." He said.
"Well then bring them up." Edward replied. He showed no attempts at trying to hide his anxiety. A static video began playing beside the Arbiter's live stream. The audio was also terribly encrypted.
"Construct, can you decrypt the signal?" Thel asked.
"Already on it," Cortana and the Freedom's AI replied at the same time.
"..." The video showed no signs of improvement. Cortana's holographic avatar visibly grimaced. The Arbiter emitted a low growl that was barely audible.
"Sir, we can't crack this." The Freedom's AI said. "It uses coding that is completely foreign to us." The AI made a visible representation appear. The coding lines looked alien to most of the crew, even John couldn't understand it.
"Wait, we're getting data uploaded to us." The AI's representation disappeared and Cortana appeared in his place.
"It's the coding language." She gasped. "It's the actual Forerunner coding language!"
"Construct! Stop yapping and hurry with the decoding!" The Arbiter roared. He was very agitated. It was expected. He had just returned from fighting in a war that used weapons of mass destruction created from the Forerunners. A monitor killed one of his and John's friends. Now, their military might has his ship in their crosshairs.
"Descend slowly, open your docking bay entrances and slowly exit."
"What does this mean?" Edward asked. "Do they want us to surrender without even putting up a fight?"
"Wait, we're not done with the translation yet." Cortana replied, quickly bringing up the second batch of text.
"We want to speak with your leaders. No harm will come to your crew lest harm come to us."
Edward stared at the screen for a moment, taking in the information. He looked at the Arbiter. "So then, what do you think we do?"
"The Reclaimer ship is descending; however the other ship has deployed a primitive version of gravity manipulation." The dog said. "Oh how exciting."
Yoron grunted and quickly chose the second back up plan. They were going to meet their leaders on the beach instead. He uploaded the message and regrouped his men into different formations. The Blade Knights would be hidden in a cloaking field. They would be waiting in a three meter radius away from the Human and Sangheili co-op diplomats while the Combat Marksmen would be hiding in the bushes, cloaked as well.
He waited. The dog floated up by him and looked at his plan before nodding and floating off to the meeting spot. Yoron grunted once he got the data. The humans were now disembarking the ship while the Sangheili forces were traveling down via gravity chamber. The Promethean turned around and walked towards the meeting spot. He made sure to have a high concentration of Prometheans in the forest so incase they decide to go the black-ops route.
A Promethean approached him. He said that the humans had cloaked units with the ambassadors. Yoron grunted in response and told them to increase Combat Marksmen levels. The Knight left by flash teleport. The Promethean Commander watched the screen. The dog approached the humans and introduced itself.
"Greetings Reclaimers, I am 313 Unrelenting Vigilance and welcome to the island." The Forerunner dog chirped cheerfully.
"Hello, I am Captain Edward Steward of the United Nations Space Command Ship: Freedom." The Human Captain replied. "It's uh...a nice island you have here."
"Oh indeed! This is the purest, cleanest and healthiest place on Erde Tyrene. This place hasn't been touched by Human hands in over a hundred thousand cycles!" Yoron smacked his faceplate with his free hand. The Humans don't know what Erde Tyrene is!
"Apologies, what's Erde Tyrene?" The Captain asked.
"Oh, pardon me. Erde Tyrene is the planet you're currently living on. Have you renamed it?" The dog asked in a disgustingly innocent voice.
"Yes, its called Earth now."
"Ah, cataloging, adding new information into index: Earth." The dog announced. "Thank you for the update. I will keep in mind this planet's new name."
"313 Unrelenting Vigilance, May I ask you a question?" The large hind legged creature interjected. The dog turned to said creature and nodded.
"Why do you call the Humans with us 'Reclaimers', but not the Humans out inhabiting this planet 'Reclaimers'?" He asked. "Are they not the same?"
"On the contrary, no, they are not the same. Those Humans don't have the same genetic markers implanted in them by the Librarian before she ordered us to come here. The genetic markers clearly show here." The Dog replied.
"And how would you know that they are your Reclaimers, the same one from your world?" The creature continued.
"We have our methods." And the dog said no more. "Please, follow me."
Yoron grunted and made the Combat Marksmen make a hole in their defensive line. The dog led them through the line and the Blade Knights slowly trailed them. The Combat Marksmen secretly teleported to vantage points, in case things get nasty. The large AA Battery is still active and is aimed at the Alien ship while Yoron's Prometheans have already infiltrated the Human ship. They were currently cloaked inside the ship and if the need arises, they will incapacitate the crew.
The Promethean Commander asked the AI where he was going. The dog hastily replied with an, "I'm busy." and left him alone for once. Yoron did the Promethean equivalent of a sigh and walked outside. The monitor was linked to his neural interface, so he can bring up the Forerunner AI's location anytime he needed. The Crimson Vanguard Commander, teleported to the mountain where the Promethean's home base was located. The island had a large mountain in the center, it was a suitable place for a base and since all the construction materials could me artificially made, it was just a matter of building the base which didn't take too long.
About fifteen percent of the Prometheans that were stationed on the island are in the forest. The rest were in the base. They hastily prepared for his return although it might take longer than expected. His side wasn't gathering enough energy but the gate was linked to his world, therefore the timelines were synchronized perfectly and there shouldn't be any weird occurrences during the pass. Yoron allowed ten Crimson Vanguard Prometheans to follow him. It wasn't out of kindness; it was so that they can assist him in destroying the gate since it will be difficult for him to destroy such a sturdy device himself.
"Yoron, are you there?" He heard the dog call for him. The Promethean grunted in reply into his equivalent to a radio.
"We're approaching the facility, what's your location?" Yoron uploaded his location and awaited a response.
"Splendid! I can introduce you at the same time as everyone!" One of the Veteran Blade Knights that were with him groaned in a manner that made it sound like he was trying to say, "Please don't." Yoron could understand. Vigilance makes one of the longest introductions in the history of introductions.
"This is...surprising." John murmured. Cortana was currently with him and they were accompanying the Captain and Arbiter. He was partially surprised at how friendly the AI was, much more than Guilty Spark. It sounded like he had no ulterior motive; however he didn't let his guard down. AIs were sneaky that way. The inside of this semi fortress was primarily made from a kind of shiny metal with lines of energy frequently running through the walls. The building didn't dig deep into the mountain, which was a relief once he realized that the place was a volcano.
The AI was showing the Captain and Arbiter everything. He was significantly more annoying than Guilty Spark. Surprisingly, he didn't see any combat drones like in the static image he was given. It was almost like they didn't exist.
"They are here, but just not now." Cortana reminded him. John agreed. They were here. The Freedom's operators and AI frequently update him on the island's status. There were weird power surges everywhere around the island and that massive AA Gun was still aimed at them. It felt more like they were hostages than diplomats. Still, were they going to meet an actual Forerunner?
"And here we have another database-."
"Could you stop stopping at each fucking room and talk about what they do for five fucking minutes!" A Spartan-IV shouted.
"My apologies, but you will be using this island as a base of operations am I correct?" Vigilance replied.
"Well, we were going to but," Edward looked at the Arbiter who shrugged his shoulders in response.
"We had...bad encounters with Forerunner creations." Thel answered for him.
"That is a shame. But will that affect your decision on staying here?" The Monitor asked.
"It depends on how you treat us and your allegiance towards us." The Arbiter replied. Vigilance was silent for a brief moment.
"In that case, we can skip the tour and can head directly to him."
"To who?"
"To the commander of this facility." Vigilance replied as he floated on forward.
Vigilance was mostly silent for the duration of the travel. They went up stairs and through corridors, not a single soul or even machine in sight. That raised many alarms in the Spartan-II's head and he was tempted to share his caution with the rest of the crew, however the AI was right in front of them and he didn't want to blurt out anything unnecessary. Vigilance did stop by some rooms and explain their functions; however the ones he stopped by were important and not unnecessary like the other ones he usually did. He still talked in a chirpy voice but the apparent seriousness in his voice was much more noticeable and the duration of his explanation was shortened by a healthy amount.
Finally, the corridors began to change. Instead of the gleaming silvery metal that most UNSC personnel were used to, the corridors changed into a dark, black-brown colored metal. It shined poorly and the lighting was terrible. The energy lines seemed stronger here as well. The light that passed through them glowed more intensely than before and John didn't notice it before, but 313 Unrelenting Vigilance seemed to follow those lines.
"Vigilance, where are we going?" The Captain asked after a long period of silence.
"If I tell you, I'll ruin it." The AI answered.
"Ruin what?"
"Oh you'll see." The Monitor chirped.
313 Unrelenting Vigilance led us to a room with a door at the end. The door was like a blast door, it was huge. It slid open. A large creak was heard as the huge door slowly split and moved into the walls. Out came a large...thing. That was the only way to describe it. It was a thing. It was a terrifying thing, it was huge.
"What the hell..."
"It is noticeably larger than in the picture." Cortana commented.
"This is Yoron Tibthas, Crimson Vanguard variant of the Promethean Juggernauts." He announced. "He comes from the time when the Forerunners still ruled the galaxy. Yoron has-,"
The thing- Promethean jerked it's...head at the monitor who quickly shrinked into the background. The Promethean walks on two legs and had a strange looking body. It had four arms as well, two small ones and two large ones. The small ones looked relatively normally sized compared to a human, but the large ones held weapons. On the left hand, he sported a rifle of sorts that glowed orange, on the right one, there was a blade of sorts – a plasma or hard light blade. The blade was attached to his forearms and looked even more sinister than the Covenant Energy Swords.
"He is also human, or...what you would call a Human back then."
"What?" Thel blurted. The Promethean- the "human" turned its head towards the Arbiter who stepped forward.
"You're saying that this machination is supposedly human? I have more trouble believing that than first learning that the Spartan here wasn't a robot!" Thel roared, outraged.
"Grr.." The Promethean growled in response.
"Yoron says that he doesn't consider himself 'Human' anymore and that he is an abomination that was used by the Forerunners." 313 translated.
The Promethean grunted and the monitor continued to translate, "He also says that the Forerunners turned him into this after losing a battle and having his entire fleet composed into Prometheans with a prototype Composer."
"Humans fought the Forerunners?" Captain Edward asked. Yoron nodded.
"Why?"
"Yoron says it's because they were running away from the Flood."
"The Flood..." The Captain repeated. "So we encountered them before?"
The Promethean nodded before freezing. He then took two steps forward, his rifle disappeared. The Promethean began examining the captain's face before stepping back.
"You encountered the Flood before?" 313 asked.
"Yes,"
"How did you survive?"
"I fired the Halos." John answered.
The Promethean looked at the Spartan as if he was crazy. He grunted at the AI who in turn asked the Spartan, "How are you still alive?"
"We fired a replacement Halo back on the Ark. It destroyed the local Flood infestation and killed its Gravemind. It made eradicating the Flood a lot easier, I presume." John replied.
"Indeed it did, without a leader; the Flood was quickly eradicated without remorse. We searched our quadrant of the Galaxy to annihilate any Flood left. We should be safe for the time being." The Arbiter answered.
"In that case, we should be getting back. I apologize for having to cloak our units but we couldn't risk it if you attacked us." Suddenly, a massive amount of Prometheans uncloaked, each just as tall as Yoron but came in some variety.
"Please, dock your ships at these coordinates and we can start our repairs and upgrades."
Author's Notes:
And so, the chapter 9 is done. It was very different from my previous "chapter 9"; no I should say my ORIGINAL, original. In fact, before I started this fic, I already had a base prepared and the Crimson Vanguards were a part of the original version. Well, the original Chapter 9 consisted of an IS fight between John, Sonic and The Arbiter against Ichika, and his harem, where Sonic got stabbed in the chest and blah, blah, blah.
Anyways, the summary for the other Chapter 9 was like this:
Basically, John trains Ichika (Kuuga)'s company and was disappointed by their performance and begins lecturing. I didn't continue it because I didn't like where it went and I couldn't continue it.
As for my comments on this chapter, it was...eh okay. It isn't as good as the new Chapter 4 which I really, really like right now, partially because the fight was awesome and partially because it was well paced. This one just felt a little off to me, but I did enjoy writing Yoron's segments since he was talking about Pre-Humanity's anger at being composed by the Forerunners.
Also, if you haven't noticed, these Prometheans are "Special". I called them the Promethean Juggernauts and they are part of the "Crimson Vanguard" variant. I also said that they were composed by a prototype composer which is the reason why they're irregular.
Basically, I'll name some of the differences here:
-They are taller than the original Prometheans, about 4 feet taller.
-They have hands on their larger arms (the ones they use for the gun and blade arm)
-They retain their minds after composition and they can't be controlled (Yoron's POV)
-They are stronger than the original Prometheans (That'll be shown later)
-They are currently in a "Shell" or a "Vessel" meaning that their real bodies are storied elsewhere.
-They glow a light to dark red instead of orange.
This also had a rushed ending since I really wanted to get this out and start working on Spartans X Dragons. I mean, everyone wants me to finish Spartans X Dragons and now, I can finally start!
The weekend is over however so I'll have to write during the week, during school. Time to stay up until fucking 12PM.
On another note: It is confirmed that a new universe will be part of this cross over series:
Muv-Luv Alternative
-Get Raped By Beta
Thanks,
Sonicfanx1
P.S. I am really sorry about how long it took this chapter. The next IDGPE chapter should be written in one month after my break. I know, I already had a break, but I really like my breaks. And visual novels.
(After uploading but not switching out Chapter 4)
Why...WHY DOES CHAPTER 4 SAY IT HAS 28K WORDS?! THAT'S THE LONGEST I'VE EVER WRITTEN!
