AN: And back to our regularly scheduled programming. Sort of.
The ship is eerie during its night cycle. The Void Engines are slowed until the deck barely hums beneath my knees, the life support system is clicking and whirling periodically to cycle the correct sequence of healing and stimulatory chemicals to gently push my body to its most efficient state. The mild paralytic mixed into the atmosphere and my preoccupied musing is enough to keep me upright in my meditation. My exhaustion fights to pull me to sleep but I do not want to wake up in the simulated quarters. I am reluctant to join Sera. I could, of course, sleep in the Arsenal's provided sleeping arrangement- little more than the person shaped recess that instead of being used to exit the ship during missions, is padded slightly and remains within the superstructure of the ship.
I am once again male. After the disaster of an argument in the Pelican drop ship, as Sera called it, and the uncanny sense of dread I felt in the human vessel I simply cannot deal with her. I look down at my hands- my metallic, inhuman hands and let the last day randomly play across my mind.
The most jarring aspect was most definitely being forced to switch genders as future missions require. How could I possibly communicate with anyone if I am always switching bodies? What would anyone believe? It makes me think of a persistent rumor that we were simply advanced AI in combat constructs that was perpetuated during the Golden Age of the Orokin. What hope is there now of understanding, when I no longer resemble humanity at all? What hope is there when I am not even permanent enough for any person I meet to understand what I wish to do?
Sera's demeanor was the next bothersome subject- I could definitely have handled her better when I asked her not to adopt the war mask. That damn reflex was a part of the reason that AI rumor persisted, I am sure, along with a range of unsavory gossip about the nature of a Tenno. The uninformed human populace quickly forgot what the Tenno meant to them after the Orokin uplifted our race. Like most subjects of politics and semantics, there was a sharp divide in consensus whether the Tenno were agents of good or evil, evidence and reason be damned.
The visceral distaste for the focusing tool, the war mask, simply overwhelmed me- especially in my less emotionally stable female form. It is a poor excuse for my own lack of self-control, especially after Sera's aid in controlling myself before the simulation but I suppose I should not have expected perfect control after only a day of practice. I will have to practice for far longer to retain the iron control I have worked for in my male form.
The final problem I ponder is this Covenant. They are both fascinating and terrifying. Aliens were… uncommon… during the Golden Age. Not for any reason like war or xenophobia- how could we when the Orokin were our metaphorical parents. The galaxy was so young during the Golden Age. By the Orokin's reckoning, it was about four billion years after the formation of the universe when they became starfaring, roughly five when they became post-physical, and about eight billion years old when they encountered humanity. There were at most twenty starfaring races during the Golden Age and, of those, only six that were regular trading partners with humanity. Even then, they were wary of a race that was as contradictory as humanity, not to mention the Orokin presence and the aftermath of the Sentient War. In the Covenant alone, there are roughly ten member races and they are all hostile to humanity- their technological inferior. There is no greater threat staying their hand- humanity is alone and outnumbered.
Sera's explanation about the current state of war between the Covenant and humanity was not comforting. I could think of very little that could make the situation worse than it already was. The religious impetus of the Covenant social structure was their most basic tenant, almost like the Tenno's Code or the Orokin's Light; to fully negotiate with them, to stop this war, would be against the ingrained responses inherent to their society. How could I undermine something so ingrained as to be automatic? Humanity has a long history of religious zealotry, for good and for ill. In this case it is bad for humanity, but who can say whether this Great Journey might not be to its benefit at some future time? Would it be wrong to try and undermine the Covenant's social structure simply for survival?
I let my thoughts slowly turn in circles for a time and ponder my next moves but before I can begin brooding, my immediate future becomes far more important. Sera is ghosting fingers along the back of my neck and I am unable to twitch away due to the paralytic. I lost our argument quite badly on the human transport. Oh, I achieved my goal but Sera expertly manipulated concessions out of me that, while not entirely unpleasant, I am not comfortable giving her. She will not don the war mask again, though she will mention it to whoever our future students will be. Her price in exchange was acceleration of our "relationship". It is impossible to tell if she is entirely AI or not at the best of times with her personal history and overly friendly advances but she displays such a precise model of how I am in thought and emotion that I am unsure if she is not more calculator than lifeform. She knew exactly how far to push me after my angry shouting in the Pelican to get exactly the right concessions from me.
"Sleep, Yaru. You must rest." Sera cajoles from the cockpit speakers.
I try to ignore her for a few minutes while she continues her ministrations. She could call on our earlier agreement to motivate me to drop into a deeper trance but she doesn't. It would be unnecessary- I know it is only a matter of time before I join her. My devotion to the Code and my personal sense of honor expect no less than strict adherence to my word.
I sigh before giving up and slipping into a trance with the help of the atmospheric chemical cocktail and a constant rhythmic thunder of Taiko drums.
The room I have appeared in is magnificent. It is almost the size of the living area with the fountain and meditation platform. There are three doors here marked with holographic glyphs that any Tenno would recognize. The smallest door bears a black water drop suspended above an animated ripple- the bathroom. I imagine a simulacrum of personal effects are stored inside. The largest door contains the glyph for Common. It is an animated checker board pattern that occasionally switches the top left square with a random box in the rest of the pattern. The final door leads to an unknown room. The glyph is easily recognizable- it is the glyph of the Lotus. This symbol carries many meanings for the Tenno- home, safety, guidance… and secrets. I imagine that behind that door is Sera's room. In this place, it is almost fitting that she has an element of secrecy in fact rather than implication. It is a very real example that Sera is still mostly an unknown even if she is benevolent, kind, and beautiful. She is also manipulative, secretive, and hidden. I frown at my last thoughts, truly, she is no different than the Diffreya Qadis that have come before.
The door to the bathroom slides open, accompanied by a gentle chime. My thoughts immediately train wreck and grind to a halt. Sera is dressed in a shift that billows gently as she walks. It is neither indecent nor revealing but it suits her in an undefinable way that draws my eye and forces my thoughts to a standstill.
She remains silent as she approaches and holds out her hand to pull me up from my kneeling positon on the floor. I absently note that this room also has a nicely crafted meditation platform, for two of course. I stand with her help and she wraps my hand with her free hand. She pulls me toward the door with the glyph of the Lotus.
It opens with another quiet chime and beyond the threshold I see a simple bedroom. I suppose I should revise my guess- the previous room was a seating room and antechamber for my sleeping quarters. Well, our sleeping quarters. I feel a twinge of shame for thinking so poorly of Sera, it was uncharitable and childish to apply such an uncharitable slant on her motivations and actions.
"Relax, Yaru," Sera easily picks up on my unease, "you will not be able to rest if you are so tense."
I nod and close my eyes for a moment to center myself. I easily navigate the room blind and sit on the bed. I restrain the unidentifiable emotions within me and ever so slowly return to my usual placid calm. When I open my eyes, Sera is frowning at me slightly. She is once again very close to me, standing right in front of me between my legs, but despite her proximity, this time I do not allow her alluring state of dress to affect me.
"I did not quite mean you to suppress yourself so, but…" Sera hesitates before sitting beside me and grabbing a hand to hold, "I suppose for a first attempt, it is understandable."
I nod uncertainly, "This is acceptable to our bargain?"
"For now." Sera smiles gently, but it carries a hidden something just below the surface. I suppress the urge to grimace at the dual, conflicting sensation of anticipation and dread. We awkwardly sit on the edge of the bed for a time while I order my thoughts beneath my enforced calm and Sera waits for me to confirm I am ready to sleep. After I can procrastinate no longer, I disentangle our finger and start sliding backward up the bed and Sera follows me after a moment's hesitation. We shimmy under the blankets quickly and the lights automatically dim and red-shift. I sigh and roll onto my side where Sera happily presses against my chest. I am pleased when I have no real discomfort; after a few minutes I drift off to sleep peacefully.
The remaining two days before the arrival of the Pillar of Autumn are spent in training. The disadvantages I encountered in my first female Warframe are more easily ameliorated if I spend all my time acclimating to the nuances that threw me off so badly. Every day, for a few hours, I would review a Warframe that I was already familiar with in its male iteration as a woman and complete objectives at Sera's direction. The unfamiliar hallways of various Covenant ships were slowly memorized and catalogued. Human vessels were similarly examined though my time in my race's craft left an odd feeling of familiarity and unease, the former easily explainable and the latter far more worrying. I did not know what was causing my aversion to human design but I continued on regardless.
You have four minutes and a half to return to the bridge, Yaru. Hurry. Sera urges me on. She is carrying out her role as Lotus on this mission. I am not ashamed to admit that I miss her presence at my side though I deny any emotional rationale for wishing for her help. Solo missions are a painful reminder of the time before the Silence. Her help is invaluable and she is a good operative.
I sprint down a hallway and disregard the incoming fire from Unggoy packs in the cross-shaped intersections that lead to the various underdecks that make up the Supercarrier's engineering section. For a normal human, a four minute hard sprint from aft to fore of a twenty-eight kilometer ship would be impossible. For a Volt, however… modified for sprinting speed and entirely comfortable with high speed combat… it is almost possible. Every new hallway I pass down mounts up the pressure I feel. The timer in the corner of my HUD is flashing red at me and even though Sera is not speaking, I can almost imagine the tense expression on her face.
I burst onto the bridge with thirty seconds to go and my extreme speed causes me to skid right into a pair of Jiralhanae who do not hesitate to swat me away violently. Their strength is far greater than the Sangheili and I am slammed into a console. Twenty seconds.
I do not even bother to jump to my feet- I release my energy reserves and trigger an Overload. Fifteen seconds. The lights on the bridge, rather than creating arcs of high voltage electricity are powered by chemical reactions; the Overload vaporizes their containment components and the deceptively small fixtures explode with incredible concussive force. In my magnetic field, I am protected from the force of the explosion but the unfortunate Jiralhanae are simply torn apart by the wild forces.
Ten seconds. I touch down and layer as many Electric Shields as I can in as short a time as possible facing the clear steel viewport before pulling out my Boar Prime. I unload a full magazine into the layered shield but the viewport remains intact.
The ship shudders as the charges begin to go off. I have maybe a few seconds before the slipstream drive explodes. I mechanically unload another magazine into the viewport which of course does not even waver. I let out a frustrated sigh and wait. A few seconds later, the simulation whites out.
The now more familiar and welcoming living area reforms around me and my Warframe and equipment shatter and ablate into bright yellow motes. Sera is kneeling in front of the fountain and looking into the water. Without looking around, she pats the empty space beside her on the mossy platform. I walk over and kneel beside her. The water in the small pool is unnaturally still and an image of the ring is displayed on its surface. I frown, as a portion of the ring's gray outer edge lights up in a flash for an instant.
"There it is, dear." Sera gestures and the image ripples before focusing on a cruiser. I hum thoughtfully.
"Will we be joining them on the surface of the ring?" I ask contemplatively. The image ripples once more and the Covenant fleet slips into the system. The largest ships immediately begin firing on the tiny human ship, though it seems without the ferocity I expect. They are not using their strongest weapons nor are they advancing aggressively. The humans have no such restraint. The first mass driver round punches through a cruiser as if it is not there and crashes against the shields of the ship immediately behind it, a smaller carrier.
"No. Nor do we have time to intervene in this first skirmish. Our energies will be focused on the fleet." Sera reaches over and laces her fingers with mine. We watch the Autumn defend itself deftly and efficiently. Its single spine-mounted weapon is deceptively powerful: it had nowhere near the power of a Corpus-equivalent railgun, perhaps, but its strength lay in the sheer mass of the pellet rather than the speed of the projectile.
"Incidentally, your simulation was acceptable. The objective was to simply reach the bridge. Survival was outside your mission scope." Sera calmly transitions to my debriefing; I frown thoughtfully- I disagree with her.
"Of course, but at the risk of being arrogant, my survival should be a priority." I accidentally let my opinion slip and I wince internally. The Autumn is starting its wild descent to the ring's surface and hemorrhaging lifeboats as it falls. The Covenant fleet does not hesitate in sending swarms of landing craft after the Autumn and to farther parts of the ring. One full wing of transports divert from the ring to the Gas Giant.
"It is good that you are willing to argue the point, Yaru." Sera says. She sounds pleased, almost joyful. "You will eventually be required to lead and even I will not be able to direct you."
"Perhaps not as Lotus, but if you have your way…" I trail off suggestively. I am surprised at myself for a moment for making light of my own misgivings for her personal objectives.
"Well. Yes. I suppose." Sera squeezes my hand, "Sesa 'Refumee has broken off from the fleet."
"I noticed," I nod and stand, "Until there are more Tenno, you guide my blade. All I ask is that you not throw me into suicidal missions."
I find myself kneeling in the Liset's cockpit, lit by Sera's gentle orange-brown-pink aurora. After days in the simulation, I am surprised that my knees and joints are not stiff or in pain. I suppose this transformation is useful for something after all.
"No suicidal missions then, Yaru." Sera voice emanates from the cockpit's hidden speakers, "Your first task is to infiltrate the Assault Carrier Seeker of Truth. It is the flagship vessel of this fleet and carries its commander- Thel 'Vadamee."
I make my way into the armory as Sera professionally briefs me on the mission, "The carrier is well staffed and its crew well trained. It will be impossible to fight your way through the ship without serious risk to your person; avoid direct combat. You will board the ship via Itzal Archwing insertion and continue toward the bridge, infiltrating marked consoles throughout the ship and breaking into the Covenant communications network. You will deliver a preliminary greeting to the commander of the fleet and retreat."
I nod along as consider my loadout and step into the Arsenal station. The immobilizing hardlight springs up and a panel flickers on to choose my equipment. I do not hesitate to choose my favorite loadout: Loki Prime, Dera Plasma Rifle, Castanas, and an Orthos Prime- all modified for Magnetic and Poison elemental damage types and silenced.
The Foundry springs to life and begins assembling my weapons from storage while my Warframe forms around me. The creeping metal is still unsettling but at least I am not switching genders for this Warframe. The familiarity is quite comforting.
Sera's explanation continues inside my helmet. It will be difficult to convince Thel 'Vadamee of our trustworthiness. Our task will be made much more difficult when we attack his men on the ring. It will, however, lay the foundation of trust with other elements of the Covenant.
I walk to the Foundry and retrieve my weaponry; they clamp to the magnetic attachment points on my back with quiet clicks and when they are firmly attached I step into the person-shaped recess in the floor to be ejected out of the ship. The trip to the airlock is silent- Sera has already evacuated the oxygen from the outer superstructure to retain the Liset's cloak in the middle of the fleet. The recess revolves into open space and I float out. The Itzal attaches to my waist with a hard bump.
Star Iron: The answer is, at the time of this chapter. Two chapters. I write as I can.
winxfan808: I'm glad you are enjoying this. Sorry I've kept you (and everyone else) waiting so long but time is limited for me and school is my priority. As a general outline, we'll be sticking to the barebones plot points from Combat Evolved. There will be divergence at times, some will make sense, some won't. By the end of this story, there's gunna be some major plot differences in Halo 2- that I promise.