HALO: THE EMPYREAN EFFECT
As the outcome of the poll was inconclusive, I have decided that the title will remain unchanged. Thanks for voting though.
For the time being, the Chief will be called as such or occasionally by 'The Spartan'. Later on I may begin to use his actual name. Let me know your opinions via reviews or private messages.
One person sent me a PM a while back that stated their dissatisfaction with the team using relatively weak weapons, especially the Chief. The reasoning behind it is to attempt to convey the danger and fear that they would all feel regarding the Flood infestation of the Dead Planet. Also they did not count on anything being alive there either :)
But don't worry, the team will find some surprises soon. And about the Flood... they are not the only things that lurk in the dark. You'll see.
And finally, I must stress that the Chief is NOT indoctrinated. He simply experienced the same kind of vision as Shepard did when he/she activated the Prothean Beacon in ME1. However the Chief's vision was more "interactive".
With all that said, on with the chapter!
CHAPTER TEN: HORRORS IN THE DARK
DECEMBER 22, 2609. SYSTEM 82420, PLANET THREE.
The Chief's brain reeled from the mental onslaught given by the vision he had just experienced. His mind was filled with a multitude of questions. Just who are these 'Empyreans'? What is the 'Crucible'? The 'Catalyst'? He had no idea.
Miranda walked up to the Spartan, "Hey Chief, are you OK?" She asked.
"Yes," he shook his head to clear his mind of the turbulent thoughts, "Any word on a way out of here?"
Just as he asked that, Ramirez ran up to the group, panting for breath, "I found something you guys will want to see. Follow me." Everyone looked at him in amazement and quickly followed him to the source of his excitement. Behind the huge black dispersal pod in the center of the large chamber was yet another terminal.
"My capacitors are actually running out of juice. Need to find a way to charge 'em up soon," Garrus said as he connected the tiny device to the ancient terminal's exposed wiring. "Got it."
The ancient device's cracked display flickered for a full minute until a grainy video began to play on it. Everyone crowded around the small display and watched with rapt attention.
Just as the Flood had overrun and consumed the last remaining humans on the planet, the surviving ships turned, in unison, toward the planet's sun. The largest ship, more than ten kilometers in length, released a large glowing sphere of blue-black energy that seemed to distort space around it. The other ships followed suit.
As soon as the ships fired their orbs of energy toward the Sun-like star, they remained still. It was almost as if they were preparing to embrace whatever fate awaited them.
Some time passed with nothing happening, but then the star suddenly flashed white. The brilliance of the star's sudden outburst of light obscured everything and bathed the planet with blinding light. Just before the planet was completely obscured by the impossibly brilliant light, the video showed bright aurorae flickering and dancing all around the planet.
The video skipped forward one week. The sight that it now revealed was shocking. Not a trace remained of the ships that had defended the planet. The human planet itself looked like hell had been unleashed upon it. Massive fires raged amongst the cities and most of the atmosphere was literally stripped from the planet, as it had made a trail behind the planet which starkly resembled a giant comet. Whatever the ancient humans have done here, it had devastated the planet. Much more so than a mere glassing from orbit.
The video skipped forward once more, this time the timestamp seemed to indicate that it was now one year after the incident. The fires that raged on the planet had been extinguished long ago, presumably due to the loss of most of the atmosphere. A filtered close-up view of the star appeared next, and its surface seemed to convulse and rage like some hellish inferno. Whatever the ancients did here, it had also destabilized the star.
The power of their weaponry seemed to be beyond anything that they had imagined.
The video suddenly went black.
Everyone was left speechless as the terminal's display went black.
"That... was incredible," Garrus finally stammered out, "I... I can't believe what I just saw."
Both Alex and Ramirez snapped out of their stupor and simply nodded in agreement. The Chief simply turned around to face the massive doorway that led out into the cavernous chamber beyond.
As Garrus was disconnecting the capacitor from the ancient terminal, Miranda knelt down to study it. She wondered why each of the terminals they found and viewed had shown their videos in sequence. However, her examination of the terminal's decaying electronic components yielded no answers.
Just as Garrus had finished disconnecting his capacitor from the terminal, Ramirez noticed him and asked, "Do you bring those things everywhere you go, or something?"
"Not usually. However I felt that this particular mission would make them valuable to us," then Garrus gave a smug look, "And as you can see, I was right."
While everyone was mulling over what they had seen, the Chief walked around the room checking for any hidden hostiles or clues. He knew they would never be able to return to the surface the way they came, for an army of Flood was that way. There has to be another way. As the Chief looked around behind the large black pod in the room, he noticed an indentation on the wall. Upon further investigation, he noticed that the indentation actually continued along the wall as a narrow line until it made a square that was about two meters in height. In the center of the square, there was one symbol that seemed oddly familiar. It vaguely resembled one of the Forerunner symbols, but it was... different. He extended his hand toward it...
The Chief recoiled in surprise when the symbol lit up with a dim blue light. A soft grinding noise emanated from within the wall as the square lit up with the same blue light. Soon the entire room was dimly lit by the blue light from the lines along the wall.
Everyone noticed the change and began to murmur amongst themselves. Garrus in particular was amazed, "By the Spirits... Do my eyes deceive me?"
"No they don't. This is amazing!" exclaimed Alex, who had never seen any of this kind of thing before.
The Chief rushed up to them in a full sprint, "I have found a way out of here. Hurry." Everyone followed him over to where the lit square had been, except it was now missing entirely. In its place was an opened doorway that led into the dark unknown that lay beyond. The Chief promptly went into the narrow passage, but everyone else initially hesitated.
All of a sudden, a deafening CRASH shattered the silence. The Flood were close at hand.
As if some unseen force had cracked a whip, everyone ran into the dark passageway. They went through just in time, as they all heard another deafening CRASH sound from the massive chamber outside. Alex looked back around her shoulder to see a stone slab fall into place behind them, thus sealing them in this passage.
The Chief whispered solemnly, "Now we have no choice but to continue on into the unknown darkness," he motioned for his helmet, "Night vision on. We go full stealth from here on out. No active camo unless it's an emergency." On his helmet HUD three acknowledgment lights winked green along with a hand signal from Garrus, who was directly behind the Chief.
In the claustrophobic passageway that led into the dark unknown, the team crept along slowly like mice trying to avoid a hungry cat on the hunt. The Chief had point with Garrus behind him, and Miranda and Alex remained in the middle with Ramirez guarding their six. Undoubtedly the Flood now owned the chamber they were just in, but they had a chance to give them the slip if they remained silent. The cacophony of moans and muffled screams gradually faded away as they continued along the seemingly endless passage.
After what seemed like hours spent stumbling about in the darkness, they came to a dead end. Alex huffed in frustration and Miranda voiced her own, "A dead end? You've got to be kidding me." She was careful to keep her voice as a whisper.
The Chief noticed the indentation of the same symbol as before, so he put his hand on it. Unsurprisingly it lit up and formed a square around his hand. The stone slab quietly slid upwards to reveal yet another hallway, just as dark as the narrow passage they had just come out of.
"How did you do that?" Ramirez asked. The Chief simply shrugged in response.
Unlike the previous chambers they had been in, this hallway was spotless. Not a single trace of any battle or the Flood could be seen. It was as if this place had never been touched by the horrors of the past.
Alex gasped in wonder at the immaculate hall, which seemed to extend for miles. She could only manage to say, "This is... magnificent."
"It is as if this place was frozen in time," Garrus replied as he stepped forward, "No bodies, no blood, nothing. Apart from the darkness, you would think this place was still occupied."
"There's no way anyone still lives here... except for the Flood." Miranda stated plainly.
Soon, they would discover that they were not alone in the seemingly empty halls...
"Let's move on. We should not linger in any one place." The Chief said as he began to walk away from the team. Even though he kept it hidden from everyone else, he had been deeply affected by the vision caused by contact with the mysterious black dispersal pod they had found earlier. The Flood he could handle, but the words seared into his mind from the vision gave him pause. Something older and more terrible than the Flood... That possibility chilled the Spartan to the bone. He could hardly think of something being worse than the Flood.
Everyone quickly assembled into a line behind the Chief and followed him as he walked through the darkness, with a slow deliberate pace. As they continued on, the darkness seemed to press around them as if it possessed some malevolent will of its own. Not a sound, besides their own footsteps, could be heard in the ancient hall. Even though no one showed it, they were doubtlessly anxious as they walked in the silent dark.
After what seemed like days walking through the darkness aided with naught but the grey washed-out vision given by the enhanced vision in their helmets, they came to a great metal door that appeared to be more than ten meters high and five meters wide.
The Chief looked up and noticed a multitude of mysterious glyphs inscribed all over the huge door. They looked much different than any of the glyphs they had found earlier, but yet they seemed strangely familiar... Suddenly Alex stepped forward and laid her hand upon the spotless metal surface. Whatever the door was made of, it must be some extremely tough and corrosion-resistant metal to have lasted all these years. However, nothing happened when Alex laid her hand upon the door.
"No power, perhaps?" Garrus surmised.
The Chief scanned their surroundings for some terminal or switch that would open the door. There was nothing. It was either go through the massive metal door or go back. He knew that the hallway also extended in the opposite direction for a long distance from where they had entered.
"I cannot see any mechanism that would get this door opened." The Chief said as he stepped away from the door, "We need to go back. This hall also continues past the point where we entered, in the opposite direction. Let's move out."
Everyone groaned in response. They had stumbled about in the dark for what seemed an eternity only to hit a dead end. However, everyone knew there was no choice but to go back down the hall to find the other end. Maybe there was something down there that would be able to open the door here... They would find out one way or another.
They left the giant metal door behind and walked back down the hall. Hours passed until they got to the point they entered from. The stone slab had fallen into place, but the Chief could still make out the square indentation in the wall.
The team stopped for a moment to take a breather. They had been on the move almost nonstop for the last three hours, ever since leaving the chamber with the terminal. A minute later, they were on the move once more. As they continued along the ancient hall, they noticed small piles of debris all over the place, and the more they walked the more debris piles they would see. They also saw the frozen body of an ancient human lying there amongst the piles of debris. It was well-preserved by the extreme cold, considering the extreme age of this place. The temperature was around -70C and the atmospheric pressure was just a small fraction of Earth Standard.
As they stood there examining the body at a distance, a soft grinding noise echoed from the hall ahead of them. Everyone whipped around to face the direction that the sound came from, expecting a seething horde of Flood to come at them. But there was nothing.
Alex began to shrink back behind the Chief in dread. He could understand her fear, as the young woman had never seen or even imagined anything like this before in her life. Not to mention that she was nearly lost to the vile horrors only hours ago. There was no doubt that the memory of that would be etched into her mind for life.
They stood still with guns aimed down the hall for almost five minutes, but silence now reigned in the dark. There was nothing.
"That was weird," Ramirez said as he lowered his MA-59 rifle, "I suppose we'll find out what made that noise soon."
Everyone relaxed and continued on down the hall, but they still kept their guns raised. The anxiety they all felt was almost palpable in the rarefied, frigid air.
Eventually they made it to a 'T' intersection, and all remained quiet. The Chief held up his hand, signaling everyone to stop at the corner. He peeked around the corner down the hall to the left, but he noticed that there was a cave-in which had completely sealed off that passage. The right hall was the only way to go, so they pressed on that way. As they walked, they began to have a foreboding feeling that something was lying in wait for them.
Eventually they made it to a large metal door that had been broken down and pushed aside. Whatever it was that broke down the thick metal door, it must have been truly terrifying to behold for the ancient humans that defended this place. The signs of battle were obvious. Frozen bodies, both Flood and human, were scattered all over the place. The area around the broken door was caked with frozen blood and there were scorch marks all over. "Stay alert." The Chief ordered. Everyone instantly had guns held up and aimed outward. No sound was heard, save for their deliberate footsteps and barely audible heartbeats...
All of a sudden, the sound of some heavy object hitting the stone floor shattered the silence. It was followed by a barely audible slithering sound. Even though no one noticed, the Chief's face went pale. He knew of only one thing that would make that sound...
"What was that?" Alex asked, with dread evident in her voice.
"Use active camo now!" The Chief hissed in the COM. Ramirez, Alex, and Miranda quickly disappeared from view. Garrus and the Chief ducked behind a large pile of debris. They held their breaths and remained still. The Chief dared to look further down the dark chamber, and he saw a sight that he dreaded more than any other...
A sea of Flood Infection forms skittering toward them...
If they remained quiet, there was a chance that the beach ball-sized horrors would never notice them and simply go out into the hall the team had just come from. However, the Chief also had another plan in store for them. He waited until the last Infection form passed into the hallway that the team had just come from.
"Let's give them some surprises of our own," he hissed into the COM, "I want overlapping fields of fire and grenades down the hall."
As if someone had cracked a whip, everyone immediately poured a deadly fusillade of hypersonic slugs upon the squirming mass of Infection forms. Both Ramirez and the Chief lobbed grenades at them, which popped hundreds, at least, with each blast. Alex and Miranda fired at individual Infection forms with excellent marksmanship. Miranda was an experienced marksman, but Alex had very little experience apart from her standard two month UNSCINTA training. Nevertheless, Alex held her own.
Garrus was like a machine, his Phaeston assault rifle making short work of a good portion of the seething horde. Occasionally he would switch to his Krysae sniper rifle and pop many pods in a line with practiced ease.
Even with the withering fields of fire they were pouring on the fragile Infection forms, there were a lot of them and the team lacked heavy weapons. The Chief inwardly cursed at himself for only bringing a BR55. However none of them had known beforehand that this planet would be crawling with Flood. With each popped Infection form, two more seemed to take its place. The team was beginning to burn through their ammo stocks.
And then as suddenly as they had come the onslaught of Infection Forms suddenly ceased, as if someone had thrown a switch.
"I wish we would have brought more gear..." Ramirez finally said. That comment rang true with everyone.
The Chief nodded in agreement, and after shouldering his weapon he replied, "Yea, we didn't have the best intel going in. Let's just hope we come across some type of weapons cache down here."
Their conversation was cut short by a loud banging noise that reverberated around the ancient chamber. The sound repeated itself three times until all became quiet again.
"What the HELL was that?" Ramirez asked. The Chief checked the team vitals on his HUD, and noticed that Alex's heart rate was spiking into tachycardic levels and she was hyperventilating. She was absolutely terrified.
"Alex, try to relax," the Chief cautioned, "You're burning through your O2." Alex simply nodded in response.
Even though the AIS suits possessed gas exchange devices and CO2 scrubbers, breathing very rapidly for a sustained period of time would overwhelm their recycling capability and exhaust oxygen levels in the suit, potentially leading to hypoxia.
Another bang was heard, but this time it sounded like it was muffled and dampened. Everyone sensed that they would encounter whatever made those noises soon enough. For now though, they had to press on.
"Are you alright?" Garrus asked Alex. The Chief noticed the turian's display of genuine concern for the young initiate.
"Yea, I'll be OK," Alex replied, her voice still shaking from fear, "I'll be OK..."
Once Alex had gotten her panic under control, the team moved on.
As they moved through the ancient chamber, silence reigned once more. Whatever made those loud sounds had either moved on or was lying in wait for the team. Eventually they arrived in another great chamber. What was different about this chamber was that the floor fell away into a seemingly bottomless pit. On the other side of the huge chamber was another door.
However, they would have to cross the three hundred meter-wide expanse of emptiness that lay before them...
"How are we supposed to cross that?" Garrus asked incredulously.
The Chief remembered the hard light bridges that were a common feature of Forerunner installations. Perhaps there was one here that was still functional. He looked around the chamber for a moment until he found a narrow path that led up to a catwalk above them. That had to be where a switch would be.
"Wait here, I'll be back." The Chief said as he swiftly marched to the path that led up to the catwalk. Everyone hid behind the huge piles of debris that were scattered all about this side of the chamber.
The Spartan was now alone in the darkness. The only source of light here was a skylight that opened to the outside. Even then, the chamber was only slightly less dark than the one before. The Chief had the overwhelming sensation of something lurking around the corner. He peeked around the corner of the path, fully expecting an army of Flood waiting for him. But there was nothing... The area he was in was so silent that his helmet's aural amplifiers could literally pick up the breaths from his teammates. Nevertheless, he walked with a very slow and deliberate pace with his rifle at the ready. Ready for whatever might lay in ambush.
He made it to the catwalk without incident. The stone catwalk seemed much higher from the floor below than it was when they had first entered the chamber. The Chief looked down the catwalk and saw a small podium about a hundred meters ahead. He jogged towards it and swept the surrounding area once more, to make sure there were no surprises. The Flood could lurk anywhere.
The Chief examined the podium and noticed a familiar-looking symbol emblazoned upon the black metal. Without a second thought, he found himself laying a gloved hand upon the symbol...
SCREECH
A horrible screeching noise echoed about the chamber as the ancient machinery seemed to come back to life. Two rails extended out over the bottomless pit and stopped with only ten meters of space separating them. A 'ripping' noise then reverberated around the room when the rails appeared to emit a flickering light. Within a few moments, the light grew in intensity and soon it had encompassed both rails. The light then widened to form a 'span' over the pit below.
Silence descended upon the chamber once more when the machinery stopped and the light remained static and unchanging. The Chief was amazed that the ancient device still worked, even after all of the years that had passed and all the damage this place had seen.
He swiftly moved to rejoin the team below.
Garrus was amazed at the bridge that seemed to be made of nothing but light. Without any hesitation, he ran toward the pit and gingerly touched the light bridge with one finger. To his surprise, it felt as unyielding as the stone floor he stood on. Amazing, simply amazing.
Soon everyone joined him at the bridge, and they all shared in his amazement. "This, as you can see, is a bridge made of hard light." The Chief stated as he joined the team.
"What's hard light?" Garrus asked, highly intrigued. The highly advanced technology that these ancient humans had possessed seemed almost fantastical to him. Almost unreal.
"I'll explain it later," The Chief replied as he did a quick headcount of the team, "Let's get across first."
Everyone tested the light bridge by tentatively tapping it with their feet. The only reaction was a tiny ripple. They nervously watched as the Chief was the first to walk out onto the bridge. He jogged across and stopped at the other side. He waved for the others to join him, and they did so after some hesitation.
Both Alex and Garrus were the last to cross the light bridge, fortunately they had made it across without incident.
They scanned their surroundings for a moment and once they were satisfied it was clear, they walked over to the large metal door they saw when they had entered this great chamber. Unlike the massive metal door they encountered several hours ago, this metal door possessed a terminal next to it. The Chief walked over to it and pressed his hand into the metal indentation on the terminal. A hand-shaped symbol lit up in response and the grinding sound of ancient machinery was heard. The metal door slid to the left. A blast of air blew around the team and into the passage beyond.
"One sec, Chief. What is this 'hard light' you mentioned?" Garrus insisted.
The Chief turned around and faced the Turian, "Hard light is exactly as the words describe. It's coherent light that actually becomes solid enough to walk on. Solid enough to drive tanks across..."
"How does that work?"
"I don't know exactly. I'm not an expert in that kind of field, by any means," the Chief folded his arms, "All I'm concerned about is that it works."
Garrus nodded, satisfied with the answer for now.
The team fell silent and moved on through the doorway. The passage beyond was even darker than the hallway and the chambers they had been in ever since leaving that room with the huge black Flood dispersal pod. As soon as Alex followed her teammates into the passage, she immediately noticed a presence here. A foreboding and evil presence. The passageway looked like it hadn't been touched ever since the fall of this colony over a hundred thousand years ago. Dust covered everything, and with each step, this dust was disturbed. It quickly formed a cloud that lingered about them and partially obscured their night vision.
Eventually it got so thick that the Chief was forced to give the signal to use helmet lights. Once they were turned on, the light from their helmet lamps cut through the dust. However, the element of stealth was now gone.
After an hour of slowly walking down the passageway, they noticed that the floor next to the walls dropped away into nothing. Apparently even this place was not spared from the effects of battle. However, upon closer examination, the Chief noticed that the holes in the floor looked like they had been dug by something. The Flood? No. No sign of the Flood here.
They left the pits behind and continued along the hall. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary until they got to another intersection. As soon as Alex looked down the left passage, she gasped in fright. The Chief noticed her reaction and pointed his gun down the way. Nothing.
"What did you see?"The Chief asked her.
Alex wrung her hands and her eyes darted from side to side. She eventually stammered out, "I... I saw something," she pointed down the dark passage, "It looked right at me and then disappeared."
Before she had finished her sentence, both the Chief and Garrus ran down the hallway and checked it out. After a few minutes they returned.
"There's nothing down there," the Spartan told the frightened initiate, "Just a bunch of holes."
"No sign of the Flood either." Garrus added.
As soon as Garrus finished that statement, a horrible roar broke the silence. Everyone whipped around with guns trained on the hallway that the Chief and Garrus had checked out. That roar was not from the Flood. It was something else...
That single loud roar was joined by many others. They also sounded slightly mechanical. Definitely not the Flood.
"What the HELL was that?" Ramirez bellowed out.
As if to answer his question, a throng of horrible blue humanoid creatures ran at full clip toward the team. What was particularly strange about them was that they each glowed blue.
"OPEN FIRE!" The Chief bellowed. Instantly everyone opened up.
Even though their withering fire began to cut down swathes of these horrible creatures, they began to get ever closer to the team with each wave. One ran up to Miranda as if it were possessed by a demon. It smashed its arm into her back and unloaded an electrical pulse onto her AIS armor; and she yelled out in pain. Garrus put it down with an expertly placed burst of gunfire. She nodded at Garrus in gratitude.
"My shields are out," Miranda reported as she shot at a trio of the strange creatures that were about to attack Alex.
The Chief checked Miranda's AIS functions, and what she said was true. These creatures had shorted out her shields. Whatever these things were, they were synthetic. However, they were made to resemble some perverted mockery of organic life. What was particularly unsettling was that these things vaguely looked like humans. What the hell is going on here?
As they were laying down fire upon the glowing blue monstrosities, the Chief noticed that the magazines for his BR55 rifle were gone. No ammo. He took out his sidearm and shot at the horrors with practiced ease. Whatever they were, a single headshot was enough to put them down.
As the onslaught continued, the team noticed that a few of the new arrivals were actually red. Garrus shot at one with his sniper rifle and he was rewarded with an explosion. The red creature's explosive demise had cut down four of its companions and disabled several others. "Don't let those things get near us. Concentrate fire on them." The Chief ordered.
Eventually the horrible onslaught abated and then ceased as quickly as it had begun. Smoke filled the hallway and the surroundings were lit by several small fires.
The Chief surveyed the damage and demanded, "Status report!"
"We're OK. Miranda got the wind knocked out of her though." Ramirez replied.
The Chief checked Miranda's vitals. She was fine but the impact of the creature's arm would result in a bruise on her back. Her suit's shields were sluggishly recharging though. The electrical shock her suit had taken triggered the EMP failsafes in it, which would put her shielding systems in a reduced functionality state for an hour. Until they were back to 100%, she would be vulnerable to further attack. Fortunately her active camouflage systems remained unaffected.
The squad had faced down one of the most horrifying sights anyone could behold, and yet they had emerged alive. For that they were thankful.
Little did they know that that attack was but a taste of the dread horrors they would experience here. Here on this dead, god-forsaken planet...
The team warily continued on into the hall where the tidal wave of dark horrors had swarmed from. The hall was a mess. Debris was scattered all over the place and frozen bodies were piled haphazardly among them. Scorch marks had literally painted the walls black. Whoever held the defense here had fought like hell until they were overwhelmed. Perhaps it was these things they had fought?
The squad wandered about the ancient battleground, investigating the piles of debris that were dispersed all over the place. Eventually they noticed four tall spike-like objects standing straight up. Each one had an array of cables and wires leading to some unseen place. The spikes themselves were a half meter wide at their base, but they tapered to a wickedly sharp point at the top, over three meters high. They could only guess what their purpose was...
They left the wicked spikes behind and continued on down the hallway, but they came upon what may have been an elevator in the past. Dim sunlight illuminated the floor at the base of the shaft, but all around it the darkness was thick. So thick.
With no choice but to backtrack to the intersection, the squad left the chamber of horrors behind. Eventually they got to the intersection and continued straight ahead. They noticed that the hallway they were now in was devoid of any debris, save for layers of ancient dust that had caked everything around them.
Eventually they arrived at another great metal door. The Chief walked over to the terminal and placed his hand in the indentation. The usual grinding noise of the machinery was heard as the metal door slid open to the right. Beyond it was a circular chamber with a large dais in the center. Upon it, there was a column that appeared to be made of cables encased in some type of translucent material. The large room was absolutely spotless and not a sign of damage could be seen. Not a single body could be found either. They surmised that the door had been sealed for all these years, and perhaps it was even defended to the last by the ancient humans here.
Everyone walked up the dais and stopped at the column. The Chief reached forward with his hand until it met resistance. It was a hard light control panel. He laid his hand upon it and to his surprise, everything in the room lit up. The hard light panel showed a ghostly array of illegible glyphs that resembled the ones all over the walls in the previous halls and on the enormous metal door that had stopped them prior.
A chair-sized object next to the Chief suddenly lit up and showed the unmistakable holographic avatar of an AI. Its avatar resembled a tall, muscular human who sported long black hair and white face markings. Presumably tattoos.
The ancient AI spoke in an unintelligible language for a moment, and then its avatar turned white. Suddenly it spoke perfect English.
"Who is it that intrudes upon my slumber?"it said.
Everyone exchanged confused glances. They were amazed that an AI was found here, let alone one that was still functional. Whether it was rampant or not remained to be seen...
"Commencing image scan... Complete. Welcome, my masters, to Acephon - the premier world of esoteric research in human space." The ancient AI's voice then became solemn, "Or what was the premier world."
The Chief stepped forward to converse with the ancient AI, "Acephon? What's that?"
"Acephon is the name of this planet," the AI's avatar turned purple, "How do you not know this? Has humanity regressed in its knowledge of astronomy?"
"Uh... we've just arrived here only ten hours ago..."the Chief replied, slightly annoyed.
"Ahh. You are the visitors. You are aware of the grim fate that has befallen this world, yes?"
"You were the one who showed us those videos." Alex said. The Chief held up his hand and she swiftly fell silent.
"Correct. Exactly 129,302 local years ago, Acephon was attacked by the Flood. As the masters here had possessed only a mere token defense, they stood no chance."
129,302 years? Sounds like approximately 100,000 Earth years...
"We noticed the method that they employed to 'sterilize' this planet..."
"You are quite observant," the AI quipped, "The method the masters used had triggered the runaway thermonuclear fusion of helium within this planet's star. An acceptable translation in your language would be a 'core helium flash'."
"Explain." The Chief ordered.
The AI's avatar turned white as it processed more data, "Late in the normal progression of the lifetime of a star; the depletion of the core's hydrogen supply forces the star's core to contract and thus heat up. As a consequence the star's outer layers would heat and swell, thus becoming a red giant. Within only minutes, temperatures and pressures reach the threshold where helium fusion would begin. Since helium fusion is much more exothermic, the star's luminosity increases many times over for a short period of time."
Miranda butted in, "Normally a helium flash does not have much of an effect on a star's planets..."
"You are correct," the AI replied, "However, due to this star's stage of life the core helium flash was much more pronounced, as the thermonuclear front essentially destabilized the star."
"But this planet's star is still active."
The AI replied, "Indeed it is, as the destabilization was only temporary. However it will have some lasting effects, as you can tell by the increased stellar wind output despite its significantly lower mass and luminosity."
"How were your 'masters' able to destabilize the star?" The Chief asked, being highly intrigued.
"Among the primary research projects undertaken on Acephon, there was one project that showed immense promise. One that promised to give the masters an edge against the Forerunners in their great war..." The AI's avatar turned green, "The masters have discovered a substance capable of altering an object's mass."
"By the Spirits... these ancient humans used Element Zero!" Garrus exclaimed.
"Anomalous alien presence detected," the ancient AI boomed, "Identify your species."
"I... I am a Turian."
"Turian..." The AI processed the data for a minute, "Species register database recognizes species 'Turian' as being a primitive Tier 7 civilization."
Garrus sighed and 'enlightened' the AI in current affairs, "We are now a spacefaring race. In fact, we share power with many other species," Garrus emphasized his point by making a circular gesture with his arms, "Together we comprise a cosmopolitan galactic society called the Citadel."
"It is logical that Turians would advance," the AI mused, "The masters' records indicate they had shown much potential."
The Chief cut into their conversation, "What are you called?"
"An acceptable translation in your language would be 'The Erudite'."
"Erudite... That is Latin."
"Correct. I have compiled a somewhat concise lexicon database of all your current languages," the Erudite stated, "Your languages have become much more diversified. I have chosen that name as it most closely resembled the term in the ancient languages."
The Chief wanted to cut to the chase, "What's the story with that giant metal door down the hall. It had glyphs engraved all over it."
"That is the portal leading to an elevator."
"Which leads to...?" the Chief wanted an answer.
"You do not possess the appropriate security clearance..."
The Chief huffed in anger and aimed his gun at the cables in the ceiling.
"However... proper security clearances are irrelevant in these times," the Erudite's avatar turned red, "Below us, at a depth of approximately ten thousand meters, is a chamber that houses a stable Slipspace bubble suspended within this Universe!" The Erudite finished that last sentence with a tone of delight.
"Leading to?"
"No details exist." They would have to find out for themselves.
"Is there any chance you could perhaps... unlock that door?" The Chief asked with forced civility.
"Certainly. However close proximity is required. As a security precaution, my systems are completely isolated from those controlling the door."
I should have known I would have to babysit yet another AI. "How am I supposed to take you?"
"Your armor possesses an AI interface. Within this holographic projector is a memory crystal that is suspended inside of a hermetically sealed chip. You take this chip and..."
"I know the procedure," The Spartan said as he opened a compartment in the ancient device and withdrew the AI's memory chip, "Here goes nothing." At first he hesitated, concerned about the fact that he would be slotting an ancient and unknown AI into his AI interface slot... Into his mind.
He sighed and put the chip in. He felt vertigo for a moment and then the ice cold sensation that was so familiar to him. The last time he felt that was when she was with him.
"It has been overlong since I have beheld the wondrous emptiness of the human mind," the AI quipped with a cheerful tone. In response to its snide commentary, the Chief smacked the side of his helmet. "I apologize, master. Lead on."
"Hold on. We need better weapons."
"Of course. Your weapons are effective but quite primitive by design. There is a weapons cache here in this chamber."
"Where? I don't see anything."
"In the wall opposite from the entrance. Code is 59298376"
The Chief ran over to the wall and saw a grid of indentations in it. The Erudite immediately superimposed Arabic numerals onto his HUD upon the glyphs on the grid, so that the Chief could enter the code. He recoiled in surprise when the wall flipped over to reveal a tantalizing array of advanced weapons.
"Your interest in these weapons is noted. Shall I explain them to you?"
"I guess you were planning on doing so anyways." The Chief rolled his eyes.
"Quite right. The weapon closest to you is the Xiphoron X-12 Special Applications Precision rifle. It fires a focused beam of coherent light with lethal power and accuracy. It is the equivalent of a 'sniper rifle'."
The Chief's eyes lit up at those words, so he grabbed the weapon without question. Next he looked at a weapon that bore a strong resemblance to the old MA5B assault rifle...
Noticing the Chief's interest in that weapon, the AI explained, "This weapon is the Avokrod SI-670 Suppression rifle. It can be considered as being analogous to your 'assault rifle'." The Chief grabbed that one too.
"What about this?" He pointed toward a matte black pistol-like weapon.
"This is a covert weapons system. It's called the Hykonon SCL Covert Applications Sidearm. It fires a silenced magnetically accelerated projectile that is quite accurate and reasonably powerful. You can equate that to your 'pistols'."
The Chief grabbed one of those as well. He briefly wondered how a magnetically accelerated slug could be 'silenced'.
All along the wall, there were at least three of each weapon. Everyone helped themselves to the cornucopia of advanced weaponry.
Alex clipped two SCL pistols onto the weapon slots on her hip. Miranda picked up an X-12 and one SCL pistol. Ramirez slung the third X-12 on his back and shouldered the only other SI-670 available.
The Chief offered the last X-12 to Garrus, but he declined. "I'm good with my gear, Chief."
The Erudite chimed in, "These weapons will only operate in human hands, as they each possess genetic identification systems."
The Chief gave the Turian a friendly pat on his shoulder. Even though he was an alien, namely one from among the primary Citadel races; the Chief had grown to accept him as a part of his team. Trust had yet to be earned, however.
Everyone quickly kitted out with their chosen weapons and assembled behind the Chief. He noticed that even Alex was excited.
There was one more obstacle in the way of their ultimate destination; but little did they know that what they would soon find would surpass even their own imaginations...
The ultimate fulfillment of their destinies was at hand.
The enigmatic secrets of the Ancients will soon be uncovered.
So ends another great chapter. Please review! :)
The names of the Ancient Human research planet and their weapons could be interpreted as a modern transliteration of their original names.
The Ancient Humans were able to induce a runaway reaction within the star by temporarily increasing its core's mass by the use of Element Zero. Once its mass had increased, it suddenly forced the ignition of helium fusion.
Don't worry about the notion of Chief allowing the Erudite to enter his mind. The new MJOLNIR armor's AI interface also includes a failsafe, which would force the AI to 'eject' itself from the subject's mind and enter a shutdown state, should an emergency situation develop.
In the spirit of this fic's non-canon style, Miranda will be using sniper rifles!
The next chapter will take us to the frontline of the war between the Citadel and the Confederation. You will be surprised at the ideas I have planned for it. You'll also be surprised at who shows up during these battles.
However I need a short break from writing new material for this fic; so I'll be working on another one in the meantime. I just need to plan the future chapters out.
Oh btw, Erudite means 'scholar' in Latin.