AN: And now that I'm back at school the update is slightly slower. Oh well, I hope everyone is still here! We'll move back to the Covenant here, and this was fun to write to be sure.
Coelest System, Substance, Installation 05
9th Age of Reclamation
A storm raged on the surface of Halo Installation 05, its weather systems in disrepair after so many years of the Flood outbreak. The center of this storm was over the Library, ringed by its Sentinel Wall. The massive wall stood tall, various models of the Forerunner machines that gave it its name flying around it. Sentinels and Enforcers fought the Flood that was even now attempting to escape, while the smaller repair drones did their best to keep the wall in good shape. Various Covenant, Brute, warships floated around the massive structure, occasionally firing on it. If it were just the wall, they would have long ago breached it, or just flown over it. The problem was the light, almost translucent, blue shield extending in a dome around the wall. It was impossible to get in, even with a drop from orbit.
Thus, the reason a single small Corvette was flying right at the wall. The Everlasting Solitude came to a halt a safe distance away, while a pair of Phantoms detached themselves from its small hangar and flew at an opening in the wall. One of the Phantoms was carrying the Arbiter and his personal guard, while the other carried the Jiralhanae Chieftain and his men. The two dropships landed nearby to each other, dropping their precious cargos onto the silvery Forerunner metal.
"Arbiter, you will take the first path, I shall take the second!" the Chieftain shouted out, running forward with his hammer.
Thel couldn't help but shake his head as he moved more cautiously with the Sword behind him.
"I can smell the Parasite," the Arbiter said, a note of disgust in his voice.
The rest of the Sword didn't even bother sniffing the air. The smell of death and decay so indicative of the Flood was easy to sense. Even the Unggoy in their masks could smell the stench. It didn't help that there were multicolored blood stains scattered across the floor, along with discarded weapons. Thel walked up to a blue stain and picked up a red Plasma Rifle, the weapon still mostly charged despite its condition.
"The Jiralhanae have been sending in assault teams I see," Nar commented, taking the Brute Plasma Rifle from the Arbiter and attaching it to his own waist.
Thel nodded, "Indeed. Why then have they sent us in?"
"Other than the Oracle's word, I would assume they can't handle the Parasite."
"Arbiter!" an Unggoy called out from further in the room.
Upon hearing that, Thel moved forward with the rest of his men, standing next to a massive piece of metal with glowing holograms on each of its four faces. The structure seemed to be recessed into the floor, and, oddly, had a blood stain that seemed to be extending from under it. Almost like it had come down on top of something, which shouldn't have been possible.
"What is this Arbiter?" the Unggoy asked, sounding skittish at the situation they were walking into.
Thel looked thoughtful, clicking his mandibles as he circled the pillar. There was something about it...but what? Cautiously reaching a hand out, the Sangheili leader pressed it to one of the holograms lining the device. As soon as his scaled hand touched the device, the Arbiter felt a slight shock, before a groan began to echo through the room. The Covenant warriors around him raised their weapons, scanning the area for any sign of a trap. As such, only Thel noticed the pillar rising out of the floor at first.
"Interesting," the Arbiter mused, looking at the hole the pillar had revealed.
Stretching into darkness, was a curving passageway. The blood that had been on the pillar was reveled to belong to an Unggoy, its body sitting on an outcropping on the passage.
"I think we have to jump Arbiter," one of the other Sangheili said, "we have been unable to find any other way out of here."
Thel nodded, "Move out!"
The Unggoy, unsurprisingly, jumped first, their screams echoing up from the darkness below. The Kig-Yar went second, holding their shields below them in an impressive display of improvisation. Finally, the Sangheili went down, the Arbiter going last. As the darkness consumed him, Thel heard the pillar retracting back into the floor, and sealing his group in. They were trapped now, unless they could bring the Wall down.
"Remind me to never do that again Arbiter," Nar said, once Thel landed with the rest of his team.
Thel chuckled at that, before turning serious and looking around the area, "Have we found any sign of the controls for the Wall?"
Nar opened his mandibles to answer, when a familiar voice came over their comm systems, "The controls are further in the Wall. Follow this marker."
Penitent Tangent's voice had somehow come over their communication systems, and planted a marker on their maps. The Sword looked amongst themselves, unspoken thoughts ranging along the lines of 'how is the Oracle still contacting us?'. Ignoring the problems with that, the Arbiter scanned their surroundings. Unlike the room they had landed in, this one was much larger and more open. A set of walkways crossed a deep chasm, with hexagonal panels on the sides of pillars. A few of the panels bore damage, almost like they had been beaten and torn apart by a Jiralhanae...or a Parasite.
Raising a hand, Thel signaled his troops to activate their Active Camouflage devices. The Covenant Warriors vanished, as they moved forward quietly. Crossing walkway after walkway, all they came across were a few roaming Sentinels. Despite how advanced the machines were, they made no signs of noticing the cloaked Covenant warriors, who continued on their way.
Unfortunately, sneaking around wouldn't work forever. A loud clang echoed from across a bridge, forcing the Arbiter to halt his troops. Not a moment too soon either, as the crushed body of a Sentinel went flying into the chasm below them. Moving from behind the wrecked Forerunner machine was the tip of a...Gravity Hammer. At first, the Sanheili assumed it was the Chieftain they had entered with. This was quickly proven false, as a yellowed and decayed hand and body came into view. It was a Chieftain alright...but a Flood Infected one.
Since they were all cloaked, Thel sent a quick communication to his Sword.
"Move back."
The Covenant warriors backed up, taking positions to ambush the infected Jiralhanae. The Unggoy were pushed up to positions on nearby ledges, while the Kig-Yar angled their shields in front of the few Sangheili in the group. Thel himself had jumped on a platform overlooking the bridge, his sword primed and ready. The Brute Form had no idea that the Covenant were there, as it stumbled forward on broken and disfigured legs.
"Fire!"
A cascade of blue and green plasma bolts, and pink needles hit the Flood Form from all sides. It seemed to retain its shield to some extent, as a shimmering effect took the impacts and kept it alive. A high pitched shriek echoed from its tortured throat, before the Arbiter fell from above, his sword plunging through its drained shield...and through its chest. The infected Brute slumped forward, the sword burning through the Infection Form in its chest. Kicking the body off his blade, Thel deactivated the sword and picked up the fallen Hammer.
He made a small distasteful noise at holding a Jiralhanae weapon, but as the cloak wrapped around the weapon, he still put it on his back, while moving his Carbine to his hands.
"Why are you taking that Arbiter?" Nar asked quietly as the group began moving forward again.
"It is an inferior weapon, but it has its uses," Thel replied just as quietly, "at least I can still use it if it runs out of power."
Nar nodded, and fell back to his guard position as the Sword reached another pillar. Once again the Arbiter stuck a hand to it, and once again the group jumped down a winding passage. If these were any bigger limbs would be broken. As it was, the Covenant troops were still shaken slightly at the end of the drop, the Unggoy stumbling around trying to get feeling back in their short legs.
Once the group had recovered, they moved forward again. This time though, it wasn't a silent walk. For they could hear shouts in various Covenant tongues...in addition to plasma and needler fire.
"Move forward!" the Arbiter shouted, dropping his cloak and raising his carbine...green bolts lashing out at a pair of Infection Forms trying to take a fleeing Kig-Yar.
The rest of the Sword opened fire, this time joined by red plasma from Nar's 'borrowed' Brute weapon. The Covenant forces that had been previously fighting for their lives let out a weary cheer, and turned to fire on the Flood again. With the crossfire from the surviving fighters and the Sword, it didn't take long to down the remaining Flood forms. Curiously, some of them were carrying Sentinel Beams, weapons that the Arbiter had his Sangheili recover for their use against the Flood.
While that was being done, Thel walked up to the ragged group of Kig-Yar and Unggoy that had been fleeing.
"Who is in command here?" he asked sharply.
A Jackal stepped forward, looking at the Arbiter with some amount of disdain in his eyes, "I am Arbiter."
Thel simply ignored the look, quite used to it by this point, "And why were you fleeing from battle?"
The Jackal merely pointed at the corpses of Flood and Covenant alike. It seemed to think that explained things sufficiently...which it did, but the Arbiter had a job to do. So he moved past the arrogant Kig-Yar, and stood in front of one of the Unggoy.
"What is past that door?"
"Big monster!" the Grunt replied, sounding frightened by the 'big monster'.
"A Forerunner Enforcer," the Kig-Yar supplied.
Thel clacked his mandibles thoughtfully at that. An Enforcer...something he had seen on the approach to the Wall, but not actually fought before. They were big, had shields, and large weapons if what he had seen them do to Flood was any indication. Not an easy fight, and it made sense that the warriors were fleeing from it, even discounting the Flood.
"I assume it killed your Jiralhanae leaders?" the Arbiter questioned.
"Yes," the Jackal replied.
"Hmm..." the Sangheili leader walked back to the Sword.
"An Enforcer eh?" Nar asked.
"Indeed. I don't trust our brother's to fight it...they are weary and running out of ammunition and power packs."
"We can handle it ourselves Arbiter!" one of the other Sangheili shouted, his green armor rippling slightly as he rose a hand to his chest.
Thel nodded, "That I do not doubt. Kig-Yar!"
"Yes Arbiter?"
"Keep your warriors here and rest. We shall return for you once the Enforcer is dead."
If the Jackal had any doubts, he hid them well as he nodded and moved the surviving warriors to a small alcove where they could rest while keeping an eye out for any Flood or Sentinels. For their part, the Sword checked their own supplies before stacking up behind Thel as he moved to open the door. The moment it slid open, they rushed forward, finding cover behind various walls while the Arbiter active his antique camouflage systems and scouted the room.
And it was a big room at that. The walls stretched into the distance, surround a central platform upon which set several pillars of energy, with one central console. Jiralhanae bodies lay scattered where they had fallen, Kig-Yar and Unggoy corpses littering, and in some cases hanging off walls, the rest of the area. The biggest (no pun intended) problem however, was the massive Enforcer floating above the area. Its shields were active, covering its eyes and keeping anyone from getting close. There was noticeable damage from the previous teams, even so much as one of its 'legs' missing.
That didn't mean it wasn't a threat however...as a stray Unggoy tried to escape and was blown, quite literally, into pieces by super-sized needler rounds.
Moving back before his system ran out of power, Thel walked over to his second in command.
"We aren't going to kill it the normal way Arbiter," Nar said without being prompted.
"No we are not," the Arbiter agreed, "have the Kig-Yar and Unggoy with Plasma Pistols set up positions where they can hit its shields. Needlers are to fire once the shields are down, while the Sangheili join me in getting underneath the Enforcer and tossing Grenades. I will fire one...one...shot from my Carbine as a signal."
Once the orders had been relayed, the Sword got into their posts, and sent ready signals to the Arbiter. Thel activated his cloak again, and got to a covered area on the lower level. Raising his Carbine to his eyes, he sighted in on one small gap in the Enforcers shield, right around it's 'eye'. Taking a breath to steady his aim, the Sangheili fired one green radioactive bolt.
The Enforcer staggered back slightly, seemingly confused at the shot that came out of nowhere. This stagger became a full-fledged shudder as several larger green bolts came from several directions and took out it shield. Spinning around, the Enforcer started to fire off its large pink needles, while smaller Covenant needles swarmed in and stuck to its weapons before detonating in brilliant explosions that sent shrapnel flying everywhere. The machine floated down slightly, its programming stunned at the sudden, and well-coordinated, attack. A machine designed to fight basic Flood infections wasn't prepared for Sangheili leadership...especially not Thel 'Vadamee leadership.
"Go!" said Elite shouted, as his counterparts charged from different positions around the platform.
The Enforcer spun, trying to fire weapons that no longer existed. The Sangheili merely kept running, trusting their shields if it managed to fire something off. Once the Elite's were beneath the massive machine, they crossed paths, each tossing a glowing blue sphere up at the Forerunner combat AI before jumping into cover on the edge of the platform. As for the Enforcer? It froze as the Plasma Grenades got brighter and brighter before...
*BOOM*
The combination of half-a-dozen grenades detonating at once blew the machine into several pieces, the surviving leg nearly crushing an unfortunate Kig-Yar. Coughing slightly in the resultant smoke, the Arbiter lifted his head over the wall he was using as cover, and saw no sign of any remaining defenses. The Sword joined him, as he walked up to the central panel.
"You must deactivate each of the pillars," Penitent Tangent's voice echoed through each of their heads.
Thel shook said head, as he waved a single Sangheili to each pillar while he pressed the central button. The first time unlocked the pillars, which each Sangheili then deactivated. The second time opened the wall and started the platform, now revealed to be a gondola of sorts, up. The warriors left in the last room barely managed to jump onto it before it left them behind. As it moved out past the massive doors, bits of Enforcer falling off the sides, Thel and his men watched as the glowing shield around the Library faded.
"We did it Arbiter," Nar said, "we brought the wall down."
The Arbiter nodded his large head, "But we still must retrieve the Index."
The other Elite nodded. Silence then fell upon the Covenant warriors as the gondola continued on its trip. Flashes of lightning lit up the sky, dark red and black hues illuminated by the blue streaks. They had a mission to finish, but they had no idea how to do so. The gondola would take the group into what had been coined the Quarantine Zone...but it wouldn't reach the Library still standing ominously in the distance. Not, as it turned out, that they had to worry about that.
"Arbiter, I believe you need a transport?" a familiar voice came over their radios.
"Rtas?" Thel questioned, seeing a Phantom lowering itself to the platform. And indeed, on one of the open side doors stood a familiar white-clad Sangheili.
"It is good to see you Arbiter!" the Spec Ops commander shouted out, as the Phantom landed next to the Sword and their weary counterparts.
Needless to say, confusion had begun to reign amongst the group, but that confusion went away when a particularly nasty bolt of lightning cleared some clouds and revealed a familiar, and massive, shape in the sky of Halo.
High Charity had arrived. Swarms of ships, large enough to be seen even from the surface of the Ring, surrounded the mushroom shape of the Holy City as it settled into orbit of the Ring. It certainly explained how Rtas had arrived, though it seemed odd it was so timely. Either way though, the Arbiter gave one final look at High Charity before waving his group (and the stragglers) forward to the Phantom.
Thel himself stood next to his fellow Sangheili, as the dropship lifted off.
"How did you know where to find us?"
"The Jiralhanae in command of the fleet told the Prophets of your mission. I was sent in as soon as the shield fell."
That made as much sense as anything, Thel thought...as the Phantom moved towards the Library in the distance...
1330 Hours, November 17th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Staging Area, Procyon System, Arcadia
With the new lead on the Spirit of Fire, Arcadia had reverted to the secondary purpose. Forming a staging area for flanking attacks into former UNSC territories. Thus, a large space station had been constructed in orbit of the devastated world, while supply ships flew back and forth, gathering what little they could from the world. The supplies were being used to stock various raiding groups, since the UNSC lacked the forces to actually hold any of the former colonies at the moment.
"They can certainly make an impression when they want to," Cam said, whistling slightly at the sight of one of only two remaining Valiant-class Super-Heavy Cruisers left in the UNSC navy.
The massive cruiser (though still dwarfed by the even larger Ascendant Justice floating next to it) was easily the same size as an Asgard Mothership, and left the Odyssey like a fly buzzing around it.
"No they don't," Sam agreed, "have you heard about that ship the General is working on?"
"Infinity? Yeah, she's as big as that Covvie ship," the other Colonel replied, using the UNSC slang for Covenant.
Neither of the Colonels (or Daniel for that matter) had seen Landry or Vala for months. All they could gather was they were working with ONI on some super-special ship out in the Solar System's Oort Cloud. On that note, they hadn't seen Teal'c in months either. SG-1, sans the Jaffa, had been alone on the Odyssey with its (hopefully temporary) UNSC crew for longer than it had taken to get between the Milky Way and Ida.
"Wonder what Teal'c has been up to," Cam mused.
"Trying not to kill the Prophets?" Sam deadpanned.
Cam snorted at that, easily able to see in his imagination how Teal'c would react to meeting the Prophets. When, by all indications, they were just as religiously wacko as the Goa'uld, minus the God-Complex. Then again, the Jaffa was able to control himself, so hopefully that meeting had gone as well as planned. Having an ally of any sort could help.
"Sam!" Daniel's voice came echoing through the bridge as he ran up with a message in his hands.
"Where's the fire Jackson?" Mitchell asked curiously.
"Apparently we're being called to Earth," the archeologist replied.
Both Colonels raised an eyebrow at that. Why would they be recalled to Earth? They hadn't even been to the cradle of humanity, not in this universe. Not that there had been much reason, beyond sentimental value at least, anyway. Reach was the true center of the UNSC, and as such, where the Odyssey had been studied and resupplied. Going to Earth was...while pleasant, a surprise nonetheless. Especially since the Odyssey was always an integral part of any large raid these days.
"Wonder why?" Cam asked out-loud.
"Maybe they want to pick Sam's brain on the Infinity," Daniel suggested, with a sly grin at his old friend...who merely punched his arm.
"Possibly, but they have Vala for that. She's eccentric, but she is smart when she needs to be," Sam replied.
Cam was amused by the interactions between those two, but still kept enough attention on running the ship to get it into hyperspace.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
With the speed of its hyperdrive, it didn't take very long for the Odyssey to arrive at Earth. When it did arrive, a low whistle could be heard on the bridge. While the UNSC Home Fleet had been shrunk somewhat to supply ships to Reach and the Arcadia Base, the sight of three hundred Super-MAC platforms was something to behold. The blue orb of Earth was literally encircled by the powerful stations, more than making up for the (relative) lack of ships. Twenty of those guns had been enough to bleed the Covenant badly at Reach...this was something else.
"No kill like overkill," Cam commented, as the Odyssey was called by Lord Hood.
"Evidently we have to go to Cairo Station," Sam relayed the message.
And, thus, the Odyssey floated forward, its powerful engines crossing the distance to Cairo at a very fast rate. The station grew larger in the viewport, a handful of frigates currently docked at it. The Odyssey herself docked next to a newly built frigate, the In Amber Clad. Apparently commanded by Captain Keyes daughter of all people...coincidence?
Either way, SG-1 disembarked their own ship, heading for the center of the massive space station. They passed various marines, loading crates and practicing drills. Say what you will about the UNSC, they certainly kept their people in shape and well-trained. Somewhat more surprising was seeing Miranda Keyes in her dress uniform, with an African-American Sargent next to her.
Hood stood in front of Keyes and the Sargent, looking up when he noticed SG-1, "Ah, you've arrived. I trust there were no problems?"
"Nope," Cam replied.
Hood smiled slightly, "Good. Commander Keyes you know, with her is her Marine commander, Sargent Johnson."
SG-1 nodded at the two UNSC soldiers, before Hood got their attention again, "I've called you all here because Commander Keyes has found something interesting while testing the new sensors installed on her frigate. Commander?"
Miranda nodded and walked forward. A panel, designed by Sam and Halsey, lit up on the wall. On it was a diagram of a city...according to the diagram, New Mombasa in Kenya. Seemingly random so far...why would some African city matter enough to call SG-1 back? Or really any city on Earth for that matter. This view changed when the view on the screen did...for the city went transparent, as...something could be seen deep underneath it. The sensor reading was iffy at best, but there was some metal construct underneath the modern city.
"While on a routine patrol, my crew tested our new sensor array," Miranda began, "we noticed something odd in the vicinity of Mombasa, so I did a fly-by. This is what the sensors picked up."
Sam walked forward, a gleam in her eyes as she looked over the data. Cam and Daniel shared bemused looks, while Johnson merely grunted in amusement. The Colonel ignored that though, carefully studying what the Amber Clad had managed to glean from its limited sensor sweeps. There was something familiar about this...but what?
"Odyssey, can you scan these coordinates?" Sam radioed back to the ship, hoping its more powerful Asgard-designed sensors could get a better reading.
"Will do Colonel," the reply came back...and soon after that, came the data.
A new image of the structure was placed next to the old one. The scans by the Odyssey were significantly better, and showed far more detail. Detail that told Sam a grim truth, and all she needed to know. For now...now she understood why the structure under the Kenyan town looked so familiar. Because she had seen something built by the same people before.
"I'm not sure how it got there," Sam said grimly, turning to face the rest of the group, "but that structure is...Forerunner."
AN: And there we go. Let me know what you all think! :D