Chapter 12: Contingencies
Didact's muscles screamed at him as he pushed himself up and down with his arms, the floor filling his vision in a rhythmic zooming in and out after every rep. Sweat poured off his body and pooled on the tips of his hair before dropping to the black rubber floor where it waited to be cleaned up. Every nerve ending in his arms pleaded for him to stop while his muscles were starved for oxygen but pushed on without stopping. Trying to take a deep breath to rejuvenate himself, his throat and lungs stung as the air rushed down quickly but was instantly sped off to his arms and shoulders. Finally unable to take the pain any longer, he pushed up one last time and rocked back onto his knees. The tight grey sleeveless shirt he wore was almost ash in color from the sweat seeping in, his black shorts slippery. Didact had resorted to an almost suicidal workout regimen that had produced very noticeable results. Even though he was always in top physical condition, his workouts were only maintaining his current state, but with the amount of free time he had he devoted almost all of it to taking his body to a new level. In conjunction with the bio-enhancements he had received when he became a soldier and then later upon induction as a Demon, his body had added pounds of muscle and cut away all of the last remnants of fat. Every part of his body was outlined by defined muscles that were rock solid whenever he flexed them. There was another component to his workout that went beyond looking good and that was the Flood. Seeing them in combat he knew they were fast, and despite his augmented reflexes he was only slightly faster than them. For hours every day he practiced his hand to hand combat with dual swords against holographic drones. Standing up, he walked across the rubber floor towards a small wooden rack where the two blade projectors were sitting and strapped them onto his arms. Only outputting a fraction of what the real hilts could do, contact with them would result in a slight jolt and a red mark that would last for a few days.
"Activate drones. Highest setting at full speed." Five avatars materialized in his workout room, the bright light inside illuminating from every part of the walls with the only breaks coming in the form of small black floor to ceiling supports. The few weight sets that were still out collapsed into small forms and withdrew into their holding space on the inside of the walls, leaving the entire space completely open. Moving to the center, he watched as the drones turned into five Forerunner soldiers who were all fighting with hand to hand combat slowly float to encircle him and then wait.
"Confirm ready. Predetermined vital signs will trigger emergency shut-off. Values defined by…user…Demon Didact." The upside of using the drones was the ability to receive a simulation of the pain he would normally feel in the form of electrical volts to exact organs and muscles creating an unprecedented level of realism. Didact had placed the vitals to such a low level that one of the first times he fought he was worried the system wouldn't stop it in time. He had quickly learned his lesson and was easily defeating multiple opponents.
"Ready. Begin simulation." Immediately the drone at the four o'clock position lunged at him and was quickly stabbed in the chest before he had taken more than a single step. As this was happening, the two o'clock position leapt into the air and spun its leg around in an attempt to connect a roundhouse kick. Slicing his sword through the air he watched as the hologram flickered and rendered a portion of the leg falling to the ground while the avatar stumbled backwards on his remaining foot. Before the sword had cut completely through, he had withdrawn his right arm and brought it against the twelve o'clock who had taken a step back and was preparing to come at him, the blade slicing through its face as the drone's form went limp. Spinning back to face the other two, he held the two blades out as extensions of his fists and waited for them to make their move. In the few seconds of downtime he had, he knew this was the easy part with the worst yet to come. Simply lunging forward, both blades were plunged into their chests, killing them instantly. Before he had a chance to settle himself, a whole swarm appeared and came at him at once. His mind instantly switched into a Zen-like state as his arms swung and lopped off limbs that came towards him while leaping out at whatever soldier got close enough to be killed. To someone watching on the outside, he was almost a blur as each part of his body moved in a perfectly coordinated ballet that gave him maximum damage and efficiency with the least amount of energy required to reposition himself. Stepping out with his right leg, he sliced the two blades through the mass of soldiers as some fell down in two separate pieces while other clutched their stomachs and collapsed while writhing in simulated pain. The rest of the drones didn't last much longer and were quickly cut down by Didact's twin blades. Breathing quickly but under control, he shut the swords off and stepped back towards the rack and set them down on it in the same spot they had been when he first grabbed them. Walking out of the weight room, he set about his normal routine.
Tyro sat down in the floating chair, the gravity field adjusting to the added weight as she settled into the plush black leather that was attached to the silver frame. Crossing her legs, she adjusted her dark blue skirt and pulled it down towards her knees. Chairman Hoyt sat opposite Tyro on the other side of a large table, tablet computers scattered on the table and multiple holographic displays floating in the air. Adjusting a pair of almost invisible glasses that sat low on his nose, he turned to face Tyro and tilted his head down a little bit while his eyes remained glued to her.
"I don't normally make room in my schedule for an impromptu meeting, I hope this is important." Hoyt's voice was gruff as he turned back away to look at a screen that flashed at him. Behind him were three large floor to ceiling windows that afforded a view of the city behind them, a large arc separating each one as it rose up to the ceiling before meeting with three more arcs from the other side of his office.
"Yes, I understand Uncle, but this was very important." Moving his head slightly as a gesture to continue, he waited for her to speak her mind. "I feel you're not taking the Flood seriously enough. From what I can tell the operations have been half-hearted and understaffed. It's going to reach the point where you can't keep it hidden nor can you keep it under control. We're lucky it hasn't attacked a large populace center yet."
"I'm sorry that you feel that we're not taking this seriously. I can assure you we're taking this very seriously, especially if we have to continue destroying colonies. If this is all you came for then I'm afraid you've wasted both of ours time."
"We have to start looking at more drastic measures as well plans for protecting the species, regardless of whether you like it or not. Assuming the Flood grows beyond our control we must come up with a plan that will not let them continue to grow, and that's what I've come to speak to you about." Expecting an immediate protest, Hoyt remained silent as she removed a small data chip from the pocket on her left breast. Handing it to him, he slid it into a receiver which fed the information to a holographic display that hovered all around Tyro. Maneuvering her chair off to the side, eight points of interest appeared around the galaxy. "These are the locations of all of our installations. You can see the seven Halos that reside within the galaxy which are also where we had originally house the Flood infection forms for research. In addition is the Ark which is located here," she said, pointing to the edge of one of the arms of the galaxy. "What I propose is this…at full power; the Halos can eliminate all life within twenty-five thousand light years. With proper positioning they can effectively cover ninety-nine point eight percent of the galaxy." The Halos slid around and a faint red circle displayed off of each one. "The Ark is then moved to a location outside of the galaxy now that it's foundries aren't needed for the construction of the Halos. It will also act as a remote activator and a safe haven if needed."
"And how do you propose reaching the Ark seeing how far it is away from the galaxy."
"Slispace portals. By creating portals located throughout the galaxy we will be able to reach it instantly and shut down all access if needed. It's drastic, but we have to think of the worst case scenarios here." Hoyt remained silent while he stared at the hologram, his eyes moving back and forth between in a slow scanning pattern.
"I'll think about this…"
"Well... I'd like to put forth another idea that goes in conjunction with this."
"What is it?" Tyro changed the view again to a system that Hoyt didn't immediately recognize, a cluster of stars residing within a purple and pink cloud of dust and gas. Zooming in on one of the stars, a series of gas giants filled the air, dwarfing the small icy planets that also occupied the space.
"We discovered this remarkable system a few years ago."
"I fail to see how special it is, Tyro."
"The habitable zone isn't occupied and none of the other planets have a strong enough effect on the region. I did the math and worked on the theory and this is what I came up with." A new planet appeared in a thin green belt that had appeared before the hologram zoomed in on a planet that had a quarter of it cut off. The surface was a mix of greens and blues with the tops covered in snow. Just below the surface was a thick ring of something silver with an assortment of structures hanging off of the bottom. Almost invisible was a small orb in the very center of the planet, floating disconnected from the surface. "The whole theory behind this is to take the combat drones that we already have in place on the Halos, the Sentinels, and use them to create a protective shell around a self contained biosphere located here," she said, motioning towards the small dot in the center of the planet. "The Halo blast won't penetrate far enough in and allows high value personnel to stay behind and repopulate or coordinate if needed. Attached to the underside are multiple production facilities that will maintain structural integrity as well as some holding areas where we can use Slipspace technology to actually protect even more personnel from the blasts. All of it will be coordinated by an advanced AI system." Stopping, she looked at Hoyt to judge his reaction. Receiving none she shifted uncomfortably but remained silent as he continued to stare at the image like he had done with the Ark.
"Leave these here with me, I'll look over them at a later date and get back to you. Is that all?" Tyro shook her head and started to walk away. Before she reached the door she stopped and stood there for a few seconds. Turning around she looked at Hoyt's eyes and spoke.
"Declare war; mobilize every ship and soldier we have. And reinstate Didact." Hoyt didn't respond as she walked away and Tyro took his silence and tilting of his head after she had finished as a sign that it would be taken into consideration.
"Admiral Edos, we're receiving a transmission from Fleet Command, should I patch it through?"
"Do it," he said while nodding. Standing on the bridge of the Halcyon, he stared out at the space surrounding Shi-Kai. Thousands of ships moved about in the blackness around them, carefully avoiding the buffer zone that surrounded every naval vessel.
"Admiral Edos, this is Fleet Admiral Hackett." The Fleet Admiral's voice was slow and low, every word sounding slightly raspy as his speech gave away the man's age while also sounding strong and forceful. "I'd like to congratulate you on your promotion, although I'm sure you've heard that a lot. We're reassigning you and your battle group though. We received a distress beacon from a colony in the Substance system. Go and investigate what happened and report back any findings. All pertinent information will be uploaded to your database before the initiating Slipspace departure."
"Affirmative sir. Is there any information on the attackers?"
"Negative. At this time we have no information but expect potential Flood contacts." That wasn't what he wanted to hear, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.
"Copy that, maneuvering for Slipspace jump now. Halcyon out." The bridge was much smaller than Edos had been used to, only four technicians running the ship's system plus the single navigator. Giving the orders, the nimble Halcyon pushed out of orbit as the two other ships under his command followed suit. A small file appeared on his main display and he opened it to read the information as they entered their jump corridor. The message being broadcast by the beacon was woefully short and contained no information, leaving Edos blind as the Halcyon blinked away in a flash of light.