Chapter Ten: Shadows of a Fallen Empire
Planet Demeter, Covenant Encampment 026, December 17th, 2552…
I crept along the ridgeline over the Covenant base, keeping my mandibles shut and my lights off in the cold early morning wind. I clutched my Carbine tightly as me and the Sangheili next to me made our way around the large encampment a thousand feet below. The other male Sangheili turned to me as we reached a crest in the rocks.
"Thaea, we must make our attack. It is almost daylight, and the Jiralhanae are beginning their scent sweep. We will be caught if we wait any longer."
"We must hold this position, 'Karus. This intel for the Swords is too important to make blind decisions with, brother."
"Sister, you underestimate me. I never said I was going to go in blind." 'Karus replied, a cocky smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes and continued examining the large half circle of purple tents. Males were males, always hotheaded and ready for battle without thought. It was a wonder that the Sangheili race was still alive after thousands of years with the same mindset. Never once had I married, and I never will. I am devoted to the life of a swordsman - and a high-ranking one at that - I have no time for family life like the females and children who populate our worn homeworld.
"I do not underestimate you. I am ordering you as your superior not to attack."
"'Malkam, when have I ever-"
"You're not going in." I paused. "Trade." I handed my Carbine to him, and he handed me his Beam Rifle. I used the projection scope and zoomed in on a pair of Jiralhanae who were conversing over an early-morning meal.
"What do you see?" 'Karus replied, his joking attitude disappearing completely. I nodded, not looking away from the scope while reaching out my hand.
"Battery." I ordered simply. He grabbed a plasma battery from his belt and handed it to me. I popped it into the rifle and zoomed in to the maximum, aiming right at the center of the Jiralhanae's forehead. I fired once, watching as the beam smashed into one Brute, and then the other - both falling to the ground at the same time. I let the rifle cool before taking aim again.
"Thaea! Watch out! Get out of the wa-!" I looked up from the scope to see a Gravity Hammer being smashed into 'Karus' skull. I cried out and jumped to the side, snatching my Carbine from 'Karus' limp hand. I dodged another strike from the Jiralhanae and jumped, scrambling up the sheer cliff. Brutes can't climb, so I was safe for the moment because it wasn't carrying anything other than the hammer. I took this moment of peace to climb as fast as I could. I reached the lip of another ridge and climbed up, immediately running into the thick forest ahead. As I kept running, I left the enraged howls of the Jiralhanae behind, and suddenly I was in complete silence. I fell to my knees as the exhaustion from running caught up to me, and I lay back to recuperate for a few minutes.
I must've fallen asleep, because I woke up deep into the morning. Demeter's twin stars gleamed brightly in the purplish-blue sky. I sat up, shaking the dry leaves off of me, and took a deep breath. I just watched my blood brother die by the hands of a Brute. I thought, looking down at my shaking hands. And I did nothing to save him. I stood up and looked around. There was nothing around me except trees and a small stream. I walked due north, hoping that my fighter was still there where I had landed. Seven miles later, I still hadn't come to my landing zone. I looked up to the sky to cry out to the gods, but then I heard a low whirring. A Sword Frigate, purple with red war paint, soared over, firing on the Brute camp. My comm fizzled, and a voice broke through.
"Strike Leader 'Malkam, we've come to retrieve you." A very human voice said. The frigate dipped down and hovered over me. Extension lines lowered from the pod bay, and two figures dropped down. One was Field Marshal 'Zehirae, and the other… was a human?! I stood at attention as the Field Marshal walked up to me, but I kept my eyes on the human. It was odd, the human was wearing the armor of a Major, but wore the symbol of the Varlemai Family. I looked to the Marshal with a questioning eye.
"Strike Leader, where is Stealth Major 'Karus?" 'Zehirae asked. I looked down, and he sighed.
"We need to go. Look, they're launching fighters. I'm going to get into the AA gun, but we need to go, Mizume." The human said, walking back to the frigate. I turned to the Field Marshal and made him stop from following.
"With respect, Marshal, but, what in a thousand hells is a human doing wearing our armor?"
"He's a SPARTAN, and is a better warrior with more honor than many of our own men." The Field Marshal replied stiffly, looking back at the human. I raised my bald eyebrows in surprise, a Demon was among us? What have the kaidons done?
"You know we should be allowing for the humans to meddle in our affairs, Mizume."
"We must. On our own, the Sword of Sanghelios will fall unless we have human aid."
"But we promised never to have humans in our civil war! This is our fight."
"And they have been pulled into it." I sighed, exasperated, and walked past 'Zehirae in the direction of the frigate. The human was firing on the incoming Banshee fighters with the topside plasma cannon, and he downed four. I shrugged and climbed up the cable into the miniature hangar, walking to the small compartment that housed the AA cockpit. I knocked and came in, looking down on the human. He was too engrossed in firing on the Brutes to notice me, and I took this moment to sit in the seat next to him and take control of the other turret. The Banshee pilots were quite bad at flying, and weren't avoiding the weapons fire that well, and they were easy to shoot down.. The frigate turned to its side and rose, shooting into the upper atmosphere in seconds.
"So, we came one hundred and seventy million miles to save one person." The human said next to me, his face still glued to the screen of the targeting scope.
"I do not approve of you being here."
"And yet I still am." He replied, looking at me finally. I took a moment to look him over. He had fair skin - a trait never seen among Sangheili - dark brown hair - another trait not seen among us - and dark brown eyes. He stood at a mere six-foot-two, and was missing his right arm.
"Technically, you're breaking the treaty by being here."
"Technically, I didn't even know about the treaty until I was already fighting for you." He said quickly, raising an eyebrow. I scoffed and stood up, walking to the doorway.
"Do not expect me to help you, human."
"Likewise, Strike Leader.
I stood up from the seat with a sigh, deactivating manual control of the cannon, allowing for Arcus to take control again. Following the Strike Leader, we walked down the hallway towards the bridge. The hole in the wall that had been cut by me was not there any longer - patched up hastily by the one Huragok on The Servant of Recompense.
"I never got your name." I said, trying to make conversation.
"And you never will." The Elite replied, hands folded behind her back. I looked out of the eye-height windows of The Pride of Xerxi at the planet below us and sighed. I had never done this much space travel before. The most I had done was the transfer from Reach to Indicative last week. I put my hand to my forehead and frowned. It really had only been a three days since I had been taken from Indicative to fight alongside the Swords of Sanghelios. The Strike Leader stopped and turned to me.
"What?" I asked, putting my hand to my side.
"If you are to fight, you will need both arms. Why has the Field Marshal not given you a prosthetic?" She asked gruffly, looking at my semi-healed stump. I shrugged.
"I had one, it was destroyed. All of the other prosthetics, including the ones in the medical room on this ship are your size, not mine."
"Indeed." She muttered. "You know that yours wasn't scaled down? All prosthetics automatically fit themselves to the wearer."
"Oh. Then I should probably get another one." I replied, feeling mildly stupid. I opened a door next to us and stepped in. Inside the small medical room was a bunk, some amputation equipment, and a rack of different kinds of prosthetics. I grabbed one for a right arm and held it over the stump of my arm. Small strands extended from the attaching end of the prosthetic, connecting themselves to the end of my arm. I winced as the string-like robots pushed against the healing wound, but then it suddenly stopped. I looked down, and there it was, just on my arm - no pain whatsoever. The pieces of armor on the outside moved around and adjusted to my body size, and soon, except for the fact that it had four fingers, it was the same size as my left arm.
"Good. Now that you can function, we must get back to the Fleet. The Fleetmaster will want the intel I have gotten."
"I understand." I paused and peeked my head out into the hallway. "Mizume, set course for Mendirae!"
"Already done." His low voice replied from the small bridge. The Strike Leader turned to me with a questioning stare.
"How is it, human, that you trust the Field Marshal so much, and vice versa, that you use each other's first names? Had I not known any better, I would think you were spiting him."
"Quite the opposite, really. It's not the fact that we trust each other, it's the fact that I have to work together with your species, and I need to get to know my operatives on a more… personal level."
"'Operatives.' You speak as if you are a real Sangheili leading his men to battle."
"Although I am not Sangheili, I do lead soldiers to battle."
"I will not follow you."
"And you also won't support me, tell me your name, or help me. Thank you for clearing this up for me." I spat, quite annoyed. But then, I shouldn't be annoyed, how would I feel if we had a Sangheili among the UNSC ranks? I wouldn't support it either.
"Mm, then we may duel to clear things up."
"I'd rather not. This ship has thin walls - I'd rather not be sucked into space."
"No matter."
"'No matter?' Hm, I shall consult the Field Marshal."
"The way you speak of him - do you outrank him or does he outrank you?"
"I hold the rank of Zealot Major."
"What?! Why must the kaidons be so foolish! Placing a human at such a high rank… it's blasphemy."
"Blasphemy? I thought that you-"
"You think nothing, human."
"Ah, do I?"
"Yes. And I will extinguish you for it." She reached down and grabbed her Energy Sword, activating it with a loud growl. I snatched the Imperial Admiral's Vorpal Talon and activated it, holding the glowing blades in front of my chest. The Strike Leader, at seeing the great blade, flared her mandibles in astonishment and lowered her sword.
"Fight me, if you wish it." I said, doing a quick passè next to her to keep her in the center of the hallway. She deactivated the sword and put it back on her belt.
"I shall not." She said, her voice wavering. 'Zehirae, who had stood from the captain's chair and was leaning against the doorway, smiled thinly and walked over to me.
"A great challenge he would be to overcome, Thaea 'Malkam." 'Zehirae said, looking at her pointedly. She snarled at him using her name, and turned away, walking down the hallway to one of the barracks. Mizume laughed loudly.
"What is it?" I asked, deactivating my blade.
"I never liked her. Unlike the rest of the Sanghelios Home Guard, she was always one of the more… privileged ones."
"I see."
"We're about to arrive at the fleet. I'd advise strapping in." Mizume said, leading me to the bridge. I sat down in the captain's chair and strapped in. He sat at the radar and comms station, putting on a large headset.
"Countdown, Field Marshal?"
"Entering real space in three, two, one, now." Instead of feeling the sudden rush in my chest as we entered normality, I was jolted forward and thrown against my harness, my arms, legs, and neck dangling forwards as the Pride of Xerxi flew end over end into a debris field. Klaxons blared, and the screens were warning of a coming impact. I was jarred in my seat as the frigate was hit with something big. On the main screen, half of a destroyed cruiser was dragging a long wound in the bottom hull of the ship, exposing the ventral hallways to space.
"What happened?!" I yelled to Arcus, whose yellow, spherical pulsed at its computer dock.
"Unknown. Previously clear course has been altered. We have exited into a debris field."
"I understand that, but debris of what?! That was a cruiser that hit us!"
"Checking coordinates." I took a deep breath as it thought. The ship shook as bits of debris and shattered pieces of starships smashed into the Pride.
"Where are we?!" 'Zehirae yelled, looking at Arcus as it went through the ship's computer.
"These coordinates are exactly where the Sword Fleet should be." Arcus replied, bringing up a 3D wire map of the planet. The blue dots that should represent the thousands of ships of the Sword Attack Fleet were gone, replaced with yellow dots showing debris.
"Most likely, the ships were destroyed by the Supercarriers jumping out."
"Supercarriers?"
"Yes. I am getting readings of three slipspace gates open on the far side of the planet. Bringing up visual." On the main screen, a fuzzy video feed opened up. In between the wreckage and the shadow of space, a black object moved, illuminated by gargantuan engines. There were three gates, two of them closed already, and the third engulfing the unknown ship. It wasn't right…
"Arcus, those can't be Supercarriers. They're much too large to be of the Supercarrier class, and also, we never colored our ships black." 'Zehirae stated, looking at the screen in awe at the giant starship. From what I knew, that ship was over two times the size of the normal Supercarrier, and, as 'Zehirae had said, the ship was colored black with purple war stripes.
"Their identification is unknown, but a symbol on the side allies them with the Covenant Empire."
"They cannot be Brutes. They would not think of something so great. The creators, and probably crew, of those ships are the San'Shyuum."
"How? I've never even seen a Prophet that was out of a hover throne!" I yelled as the ship lurched right. The internal gyroscope of the frigate misaligned, sending the artificial gravity spinning. My arms and legs dangled from the harness as I was pressed against it, the artificial gravity pointed towards the front of the ship instead of at the floor.
"Arcus, capture that video feed and get us out of here! Track the signatures of those ships."
"But sir, I am not technically reading those ships. It was a visual account. There is no radar or heat signature coming from the slipspace gates or the ships." Arcus replied, the AIs monotone voice sounding mildly confused. I raised my eyebrows, and Mizume was agape.
"Impossible."
"It seems that it is possible."
"Arcus, get us out of here! Emergency jump!" 'Zehirae yelled, pointing forwards at an open gap between two halves of a destroyed Assault Carrier. A slipspace gate opened up in front of the ship, and the Pride of Xerxi was soon out of system.
Deep Space, Sword Frigate Pride of Xerxi, December 17th, 2552…
The trip in slipspace was quiet, and when we emerged in real space, even more so. None of us knew if any of the Sword Fleet had survived, and whether we were the only ones left of the Swords of Sanghelios. I sat in the captain's chair with my hands to my temples. Even if we weren't the only ones left, there were at least a billion Sword soldiers dead. And, just to add to it, we now have a damaged ship. I sighed and unstrapped from the harness as the gyroscope stabilized, walking down the hallway to the room where 'Malkam was. I opened the door and peered into the room. The lights had shut off in the room, so it was quite dark.
"What happened?" I heard a voice ask me. She emerged from the shadows into the light coming from the hallway, startling me. She walked with a slight limp, and clutched her side. I stepped back and helped her out of the room. She shook my hand off her shoulder as she stood up straight, glaring down at me. I sighed and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed.
"Your false Prophets destroyed the whole Sword Fleet." I replied slowly. "We haven't found any traces of survivors yet from our visuals."
"What?"
"Right now, it seems we're the only ones left out here." I said with my eyes closed.
"We must take a scan, then, of the pieces of wreckage. We must find The Servant of Recompense."
"For once, I agree." I said before walking back to the bridge. 'Zehirae brought up a 3D model of Mendirae and all of the wreckage. I leaned against the wall and examined the picture. On the far side were three slipspace gates, and the tail end of a ship. It seemed that 'Malkam noticed the same thing.
"Field Marshal, if you could magnify and color sector A37 by U49." She asked. Mizume wordlessly zoomed in and filled it in with color to differentiate it from the rest of the wreckage.
"It's not like any of the pictures I've seen of Supercarriers, and looks nothing like The Servant of Recompense at all. I mean, it's similar, but…"
"As 'Zehirae said earlier, it's much larger than a regular Supercarrier, I estimate almost two times, which means it's close to sixty kilometers long."
"And the color? I've never seen a Covenant ship colored black or gray, only shades of purple."
"It is a tradition that goes back millennia, the fact that the San'Shyuum have done this is a disgrace to a trillion souls." Mizume said calmly, his arms crossed in front of him. His face betrayed his collected demeanor, his facial features contorted in a snarl.
"Is it experimental? Or are these some of those 'secret' weapons the Prophets developed years ago."
"Experimental. Or if these really were developed some time ago, the San'Shyuum have gotten better at hiding their secrets."
"What is the status of the flagship? We cannot have lost the Fleetmaster and the Imperial Admiral."
"Yes, Arcus, can you scan for the Servant?" 'Zehirae asked, staring blankly outside of the ship. Arcus appeared as his spherical form next to Mizume.
"Of course. Please state what I am specifically looking for to identify."
"Look for any wreckage with Shade of Sanghelios inscripted on it. Also look for pieces of Supercarrier-class Chassis'. You may find pieces of the Charismatic Swordsman, which would also be good, but search specifically for the Servant."
"Acknowledged, beginning scan." The 3D picture zoomed back out, and a blue line washed over the screen multiple times. It pinged objects and highlighted them red. The scan stopped, and Arcus appeared above the picture.
"What have you found?" I asked, looking at the highlighted pieces. Arcus raised the highlighted wreckage out of the picture, the 3D map fading away. He arranged the pieces to fit together as a ship.
"All of the pieces matching 'Supercarrier-class Chassis.' I found no match for Shade of Sanghelios." Arcus replied, analysing the crumpled figure of a macerated Supercarrier.
"If you found no match for Shade of Sanghelios, then that could mean that The Servant of Recompense could've escaped!" 'Zehirae said, standing up with a weak smile. "Could you scan for one more ship?"
"Which."
"The Sword Cruiser Patriarch of Heian."
"Scanning now." I walked over to him and raised my eyebrows slightly.
"A friend?"
"Brother." I lowered my gaze at the desperate tone in his voice. The chances of his brother being alive were slim.
"Scan shows zero. The Patriarch of Heian is not present." Mizume's eyes widened and his mandibles hung open.
"Onai…" He muttered, clenching his hands over and over again. Thaea stood on the opposite side of the bridge looking at the 3D figure of the San'Shyuum Supercarriers on a datapad. Her head perked up, and she raised a hand to get our attention.
"Field Marshal! I think I have found something. On the rear ventral of the Supercarrier. It's a name and number."
"What is it?"
"It reads Archon - 03." She relayed, clutching the datapad tightly in one hand while rubbing the back of her gray head with the other.
"That's all?"
"There's more, but the picture is too pixelated to see."
"Arcus, enhance." Mizume ordered quickly, looking 'Malkam in the eye.
"Impossible. That picture is at maximum zoom as it is." Arcus replied calmly.
"Damn it. Arcus, can you track the slipspace signatures?" 'Zehirae asked, putting his arms behind his back.
"From the information I gathered, I can find a zone in which those ships would come out of slipspace."
"A 'zone'?" I asked.
"Yes, a two hundred-fifty million mile sphere in which the coordinates triangulate to. Depending on solar wind and unprecedented slipspace anomalies, the sphere was expanded."
"So we're searching for a needle in a haystack."
"More like finding a sand grain in an ocean. This is near impossible with the feeble scanners we have on this ship."
"Field Marshal, I am getting multiple readings on local sonar coming out of slipspace."
"What?" Mizume walked over to the window and leaned on the railing, looking out over the black gulfs of space. Far off the starboard bow, four glowing blue portals opened up, revealing over a dozen ships.
"Identify those. Are those Covenant or Sword?" I queried, coming up next to 'Zehirae.
"Sword. All of them." Came Arcus' reply. I sighed sadly.
"That's only a fraction of the armada."
"That's less than a hundredth." Thaea said, typing on a nearby console. "We're being hailed, top priority."
"Open it." 'Zehirae replied, watching the ships closely. The comms crackled to life overhead, and Tsutar 'Te Misakan's voice poured through.
"We'd thought we'd lost you to the Covenant. Thank the gods that you are operating. Have your AI dock with the Supercarrier." The Imperial Admiral ordered. The Servant of Recompense floated in space with large dents in its hull.
"Their weapons must be far advanced if they could do this to a Supercarrier."
"Indeed. Arcus, set course for docking with The Servant of Recompense." Mizume said, sitting down at a nearby chair. The ship dipped and sped forwards before whirling around again to raise and dock slowly with the Supercarrier. Once the docking clamps were on, and The Pride of Xerxi was completely inside of the ventral hangar, the shields closed once again. The side ramp just outside of the bridge lowered, and the doors to the bridge opened. I walked from the bridge to the top of the ramp, looking down. A group of red-clad Elites had already gathered at the bottom, looking up at the Corvette. 'Zehirae came up next to me and stepped down, his hand clutching the railing tightly.
"Field Marshal, Zealot Major, Strike Leader. Welcome back." The Fleetmaster announced, pushing his way to the front of Sword Elites. I followed Mizume down to the ground, coming to a stop in front of the Fleetmaster. Thaea came down and sat down on the second to last step, loosening her assault harness until it was one step close to falling apart. I sighed and loosened mine as well, the chest and back plates raising off of my skin-tight jumpsuit. The Fleetmaster put a hand on 'Zehirae's shoulder and said something, then turned to me.
"Fleetmaster 'Varliemai, you can't be serious, you know what those things can do!" Mizume exclaimed, his bottom mandibles hanging down. I perked up at hearing the Fleetmaster's last name; 'Varliemai.
"What hubris to believe that we cannot prevail." 'Varliemai said, turning back to Mizume with his mandibles shut tight. He looked back at me and let out a long sigh.
"You two need a rest. Woman, come with me." 'Malkam snarled as the Fleetmaster addressed her. I nodded, cast a glance at Thaea, and followed Mizume out of the hangar to our rooms.