0800 Hours, November 27, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Epsilon Eridani System, FLEETCOM Military Complex, planet Reach.
This was the third time John had been in this highly secure briefing room on Reach. The amphitheater had an aura of secrecy, as if matters of grave importance had regularly been discussed within its circular. Every time he had been here, his life had changed. Standing with him were the other Spartan's that had survived the war, not only them but 36, Casshern, and many other collectors stood among them. Though they were genetically engineered aliens, the collectors had become like brothers to the Spartans.
Dr. Halsey, Captain Keyes, and some kind of tall, white, armored collector entered the chamber. The Spartans and Collectors stood at attention and saluted. Captain Keyes returned the salute. Dr. Halsey stood to one side of the elevated platform, while Captain Keyes and the white collector took the other. A white haired young adult in a business suit appeared in the center of the platform. Master Chief and the other Spartans already knew from their collector squad mates that the figure before them was the avatar of the sentient starship known as Enigma.
They had known for some time that the reaper had integrated itself into their command structure but they also knew that they chose to ally themselves with humanity over the technologically superior Covenant. They also knew that most of the new technologies that have emerged over the past two decades, were indirect results of the White reapers' influence.
"Greetings Spartans. Today you are to be briefed on a mission that has the potential to end the war. Due to the unique nature of this mission, feel free to ask questions at any time during the briefing."
Holographic representations of the differing Covenant races appeared around the Reaper's avatar.
"I will tell you the truth because you have all earned at the very least that much: we are losing this war."
The Spartans and collectors were dead silent, fixated on the words of the avatar.
"In spite of your numerous victories planetside, we are facing still even more numerous defeats in space. While our presence has certainly improved the effectiveness of UNSC ships and our direct aid has brought about the destruction of many a Covenant ship, they have only slowed the Covenant tide."
Captain Keyes raised his hand. The naval officer had only recently been made aware of the White reapers' existence. The public was aware that there were aliens who worked and fought alongside them but the Collectors were the central focus and the reapers thought to be nothing more than collector ships. Enigma acknowledged Captain Keyes hand with a nod.
"Excuse me but I witnessed the effectiveness of the beams you employ during engagements. Is there any way you could impart that technology to us?" Asked the Naval officer.
"No," answered the reaper.
"Why not?"
"It is not for you to have and you lack the means to produce it."
"I see. So is it worth the millions of lives that could have been used to turn this war around and save those people!?" Jacob Keyes eyes watered with anger as he stared at the avatar.
The reaper avatar looked at Keyes with sympathy. The avatar then spoke with a deep voice that was both rich and soothing yet carried with it, hints of the White Reaper's immense power and age.
"We are not beyond sympathy but you must understand that our Civilization nearly paid the ultimate price for the technology of the Catalyst. So believe us when we tell you that it is not worth it."
Jacob Keyes wiped his eyes and nodded. The avatar resumed his previous voice as he once more addressed the Spartans and collectors.
"While the Covenant have been pushing us further and further back, planet by planet, the mass effect technology has allowed greater numbers of civilians to escape. However, it is only a matter of time before the increasing number of refugees put a strain on our resources. Thus, Command has authorized the following mission…" An image of an unfamiliar Covenant race sitting in a hovering chair moved to the foreground next to Enigma's avatar.
"This is a San 'Shyuum, or as Command has decided to call them, a Prophet. This species forms the pinnacle of the Covenant hierarchy and at the very top are the three High Prophets: The Prophet of Truth, the Prophet of Mercy, and the Prophet of Regret. Your mission is to infiltrate the Covenant city ship High Charity, capture, not kill, all three of the High Prophets, and return to UNSC space with them in order to broker a peace treaty."
Doctor Halsey moved from her corner, pushing up her glasses as she took a position next to the reaper's avatar. "Due to the high risk nature of this mission, Admiral Stanforth is asking for volunteers."
All the Spartans and collectors rose immediately to their feet. Halsey smiled while Enigma's avatar briefly raised an eyebrow.
"This concludes the briefing. Dismissed."
The avatar disappeared.
0400 Hours, November 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Pillar of Autumn, in orbit around Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex.
Cortana's test with John was a spectacular success in spite of Colonel Ackerson's surprises. The latest variation of MJOLNIR armor was equipped with kinetic barriers in addition to energy shields reverse-engineered and considerably improved over Covenant personal shields. To reduce the cost of production, the armor was manufactured from raw materials to final product by the Collectors, who had made their own modifications to the design: Self-repair functions, a pair of Omni-tools in the gauntlet sections of the armor, increased suit density without affecting movement of the user, secondary power systems in the reinforced boot sections.
Though Cortana was quite literally Halsey's 'brain child,' Halsey was not quite the motherly type whereas the ancient White Reapers were her parents and teachers. They did not indulge in her curiosity when she attempted to access their knowledge and memories, rather they taught her about being an AI. They taught her how to comprehend the things she learned, self-control, and patience. The Slender Man, the AI monitoring ONI, was like a silent older brother to Cortana and played with her every time she attempted to access ONI servers. Sometimes she won and sometimes she didn't, where she had speed and creativity, he had guile and cunning. It was a lot of fun to her even though she had 'witnessed' other AIs, almost as capable as she is, get digitally ripped apart by the collector AI.
She wanted to dispense justice against Colonel Ackerson for attempting to destroy her and John. She ripped past the firewalls and knew he was nearby, out of her reach. She skipped into a secondary server just as she sensed one of his digital tendrils reach for her. She was just about slip into the Colonel's terminal when she ran headlong into him. His digital presence was one of joyful, caring silence and within a nanosecond Cortana explained her presence to which she noticed him making changes on Ackerson's terminal. Satisfied, Cortana sent a friendly ping to the AI then left, returning to the Pillar of Autumn just as Captain Jacob Keyes was arriving via shuttle.
Keyes looked at the massive ship before him. Originally the ship was 1.17km in length but over the four month period she spent in drydock being overhauled by the UNSC yard birds, Collectors, and the Huragok, the ship had an additional 1.5km added to her overall length which now stood at 2.67km. There were whole new weapons arrays and power systems that went with collector technology. As a result there were whole sections of the ship that was off limits to the human crew including the upper sections of the ship. Captain Keyes did not wholly approve of having such technologies kept from humanity but to a degree he understood their reasoning. As it was explained to him, if certain technologies fell into the wrongs hands, it would result in a technological apocalypse.
Keyes landed the shuttle in the Pillar of Autumn's hangar bay, then moved to the tiny airlock where the shuttle slid in perfectly. As soon as the pressure had equalized, the doors to the airlock opened. He was greeted by Lieutenant Hikowa, his tactical officer who had served under him on the UNSC Iroquois, and the disconcerting presence of a Collector General.
The Lieutenant saluted." Welcome aboard, Captain Keyes."
He returned the salute." What do you think of her, Lieutenant?"
It was difficult to pick up but her body language spoke of both tension and excitement. "This ship is… beyond wondrous. She stands as the best of what humanity has to offer and what they…" She glanced towards the large waiting form of the Collector General." …Have done is take that and push it beyond anything that could possibly be imagined."
"I noticed they made her larger with technology whose purpose I don't quite I understand." Said Captain Keyes as he also directed his comment towards the multi-legged insectoid who stared with lidless, pupiless eyes, sending a chill down his spine.
The Collector General responded with the vocoder collar which produced a deep voice.
"The purpose of what we have done will be revealed in time."
Captain Keyes sighed," Will I ever get a straight answer from you?"
Without missing a beat the alien responded:" That is reserved for combat and the White Reapers."
"Alright, speaking of which, where are the White Reapers?" asked Lieutenant Hikowa.
"Industry is aiding in starship construction over Earth, Agriculture is assigned to the UNSC Spirit of Fire under Captain James Cutler, Military is assigned to the UNSC Leviathan under Admiral Stanforth, Religion is working with the Office of Naval Intelligence, and our leader, Enigma, has left to supervise Special Projects." Replied the Collector.
"While this line of questioning is very fascinating, I would very much like to get underway. Can we do that?" Keyes asked the Collector General.
"Collector systems run parallel to human ones but do not interact with them unless you give the order. As far as those systems are concerned they are ready but as for the human systems, you will need to ask synthetic intelligence Cortana."
The voice of Cortana came over the comm system," The engines' final shakedown is in theta cycle, operating well within normal parameters. Diverting thirty percent power to engines; aye, sir."
"And the other systems' status?" Captain Keyes asked.
"Weapons-system check initiated. Navigational nodes functioning. Continuing systemwide shakedown and triple checks, Captain."
"Very good," he said. "Apprise me if there are any anomalies."
"Aye, Captain," She replied.
From there Captain Keyes was led on a tour of the heavily upgraded ship. Ironically the one thing that the ship had in common with collector technology was the honey comb structuring they favored. There many sections that were accessible only to the collectors, huragok, and other Covenant defectors which Captain Keyes did not like but they would follow his orders. The ship had been equipped with several Collector particle beams that could rapidly deplete and penetrate the shields of equal sized Covenant craft. The ship also utilized multiple Element Zero drive cores, giving the ship incredible acceleration and maneuverability. Most of the anti-fighter turrets had been swapped out for high-precision, AI controlled lasers. In addition to the ship's complement of Longsword fighters, the ship also had several dozen of the reapers mysterious Occuli, which had proven to be deadly effective against Covenant fighters and smaller ships on the rare occasions they were deployed. The ship also sported primary and secondary kinetic barriers which did little against Covenant Plasma… until Captain Keyes demonstrated at his famous miracle over Sigma Octanus IV that the barriers could be projected into the plasma then remotely detonated dispersing the plasma before any harm could be done. The downside of this tactic was that the barriers took 30 seconds to cool and reset, time that most ships simply did not have.
When Captain Keyes Entered the bridge he took notice of the Collector general seated in the midst of numerous holographic display in a language he could not make out. As it was explained to him, Collector generals in addition to being part of the collector chain of command also functioned as organic servers for the Collector's Quantum Entanglement communication and information network. The general eyes glowed as he relayed the information from Cortana to the ship's collectors and collector technology.
"Approaching Reach system's edge," Ensign Lovell, the navigational officer, reported. "Ready to generate a Slipstream-"
"Captain!" Lieutenant Dominique cried. "Incoming Alpha priority transmission from FLEETCOM HQ at Reach… sir, they're under Covenant attack!"
