Ch 26
What Lies Below
Surface of Halo:
Covenant Occupied Territory
"I'm afraid that's as far as I can take you, Commander," Cortez said, as he set the shuttle down on the grassy hillside. "Too much air patrol on the other side of this mountain."
The ground below was dotted with marble like ruins, covered in vines of vegetation, giving the ring an almost ancient feel. Shepard and his squad stepped off the shuttle, their boots pressing into the moist moss covering the ruin's ground.
"We'll signal you when we need evac," Shepard said, waving his hand to signal the Kodiak to leave. Weapons drawn, Liara and James scanned their immediate area, eyes keen to any trap that might await them. Pulling his rifle off his back, Shepard pointed ahead of them, towards the ruins built into the mountainside.
Leading the way, Shepard walked into the open temple, careful to keep his eyes trained in all directions. It wasn't long before the natural light was gone, as they walked into a long tunnel that lead straight through the mountain.
"This is supposed to open up past their main force," Shepard said aloud, glaring at the map on his omni-tool. Soon enough, natural light appeared at the end of their long tunnel. Stepping through the exit, Shepard was almost blinded by the change, as his eyes struggled to adjust. His helmet's hud dimmed, easing the brightness on his retinas. His eyes now clear, Shepard was amazed at the site before him. A massive lake sprawled out from the mountaide, beautifully reflecting the crystal blue sky above. The mountain itself was sprawled with lush grass, rolling through the hill like a natural carpet, while the structure itself stretched out along the mountain, before turning into the water, pathway high in the air away fro the rippling surface.
"Fascinating," Liara stammered, eyes gleaming across the entire view. "An entire self sustaining biosphere. It's amazing just to think how they might retain an atmosphere on such a small surface."
"Focus, Doc," James said, walking up beside the Asari. "Forget what I told you, these things weren't meant for sight seeing."
"I still find that hard to believe," she said. "How can any civilization build a galaxy wide weapon? It doesn't seem possible."
"Isn't that what we're hoping the Prothean weapon is?" Shepard asked her. "One galaxy wide Reaper killer.""Fair point," she said, before the trio continued across the walkway. Following the path, they hurried down the mountain side, the marble like path built neatly into the mountain. The only sign the temples had aged at all, was the lengthy amount of plants and vines growing along the floor and wall, giving the dull gray walls a bright vibrant green.
Their path curved left, running almost perpendicular to the mountain itself, and out into the body of water, still several stories above its surface. A kind of island awaited them, covered in more mossy green that peeked up through the cracks in stone.
"We've got trouble," James said, pointing to the other end of the small island. Following his gaze, Shepard saw a purple drop ship appear from the horizon, breaking away from the fleet of ships above the temple island on the far side of the lake. It flew level and straight, headed straight for them with its weapons drawn.
"Looks like they know we're coming," Liara said, taking cover behind a pillar. Shepard and James followed suit, crouching behind separate rocks as the Phantom hovered on the far side of the island. As the aliens fell from the ships gravity well, they met a hail of bullets.
Reacting quickly, one of the Elite commanders activated a small device, and threw it on the ground in front of him. The device stuck into the ground, creating a bright blue shield to cover him and the others floating down inside. Once he was joined by the remainder of his squad, which included two more Elites and four Grunts, he ordered them to leave the confines of the shield.
The Grunts moved forward first, panicking as they left the safety of the shield. They exposed themselves slowly, testing the outside to see if their flesh would be immediately seared. Without any other option, they sprinted outside of the shield, jumping behind the remains of a small wall. The Elites quickly followed, as the bubble shield lost power and failed behind them. As they ran, the aliens continuously fired on the squad, keeping them pinned behind cover.
"Liara!" Shepard shouted, "Singularity, now."
Following the Commander's order, Liara used her biotic energy to create a disturbance directly to where the aliens were covered behind. Without warning, the Grunts were lifted off the ground, floating slowly into the air and knocking into each other. The floating Grunts caught the Elites off guard, who were also beginning to lose their footing, one attempting to grab at the grass below him as his feet lifted above his head. Their bodies now fully exposed, Shepard and his squad unleashed a sea of bullets, ending the aliens desperate flailing as they tried to find their way down.
"Wasn't so bad," Liara said as the dust and smoke settled. "The way you described them out to be, I was expecting something more."
"You haven't seen them up close," James said, moving towards the rear of the island.
Walking out of cover, Liara started for the now motionless aliens, curious as to what they looked like. Noticing one of the large Elites, laying flat on its stomach, she pushed it over with her boot, revealing the armor clad body littered with fresh gaping wounds.
"I'll admit they're not the friendlies looking species," Liara said, "but I think 'flesh eating squid-monsters' might have been an over exaggeration."
"You're the doc, Doc," James said, reaching the far side of the island with Shepard.
Looking out across the lake, to the temple island below the hovering Covenant and Reaper ships, Shepard couldn't help but notice what appeared to be part of the temple floating off of the island and coming towards them. "Do you see that?" he asked aloud.
"Yeah, and it's coming closer," James said, looking through the scope of his rifle. "And it looks like our ticket over there."
"Chances are it will be packed with reinforcements," Liara said, joining the duo at the edge of the island. "At least there will be less to fight once we're inside the temple.
Shepard shook his head, laughing wholeheartedly at her comment. "I thought you would have learned after we took down the Shadow Broker, there's always more enemies to fight."
"It doesn't hurt to be optimistic," she said mockingly. They positioned themselves behind more cover, waiting anxiously as the gondola approached. It was easy to see the Covenant had packed every spare hand they could onto the thing, eager to take the island and extend their perimeter. Once they were within range, the squad opened fire, careful not to stay out of cover long enough for their shields to drop.
It didn't take long for the combination of warps, bullets, and singularities to clear the gondola of the Elites and Jackals. The few remaining Grunts ran in fear, completely bypassing the squad as they sprinted towards the safety of the mountain behind them.
"Have to admit," James said, loading in a fresh thermal clip from his belt. "Taking down these things is a lot easier with a biotic with us."
"You're welcome, Lieutenant," Liara responded, as she moved to the front of the gondola. Once there, she searched for some kind of control panel that would allow them to take the device back across the lake. She was almost surprised to find a holographic pad waiting for her. With a slight jerk, the structure started moving across the water, floating effortlessly on a beam of light that ran across from one island to another. "Fascinating," she muttered.
"Feel like setting up an excavation?" Shepard asked, stepping up beside her.
"If only I had the time. This entire structure changes everything we know about galactic history. To think, there was a civilization older than the Protheans, with technology we can only dream about." As she spoke, Shepard couldn't help but notice a small twinkle of wonder develop in her eyes. "Think about how much we could learn, the things they could teach us."
"You're cute when you want to excavate," Sheaprd said with a smirk, causing the Asari to blush in embarrassment.
"Shepard," she muttered, her cheeks flooding with warmth.
"More on the way," James said, coming up and taking cover next to them. Another structure, identical to the one they were riding, straddled a different beam of light, taking it towards the island. On it, were more Covenant forces, all intent on ambushing their enemies and preventing them from finishing onward.
Taking cover next to James, Shepard prepped a grenade from his belt, and chucked it into the center of the other gondola as it passed their own. A lout explosion was coupled with shrieks of pain as the explosive sent shrapnel into the aliens.
"What are those things!" Liara shouted, taking Shepard's concentration towards her. She was sanding behind a ramp, peaking over just enough to have her pistol ready to fire. Following her gaze, Shepard saw what had caused her surprise. Dozens of massive bugs started swarming towards them, flying away from the second gondola where they were hiding below its floor.
"Damn bugs," James grunted, as he blew the closest one to pieces. "Why'd it have to be bugs?"
Despite their strikingly frightening appearance, with hideous green bodies with deafening beetle like wings, the Drones were fairly fragile, taking only a few well placed shots before Shepard and his squad were able to drop them out of the sky. Their only problem was avoiding all the fire they gave in return.
"Just think, it could be worse," Shepard said, shooting the head off another Drone as it flew by.
"And how could this possibly be worse?" Liara asked hysterically, attempting to freeze a Drone into a stasis. The bug now frozen in its mid air position, it was only a matter of seconds before it found its limbs scattered about the floor.
"You haven't seen anything yet, T'soni," he shouted, trying to raise his voice louder than the wailing of the insect's wings.
"Try not to psych her out, Loco," James shouted in return, blowing a hole clean through the last of the flying monsters. He wiped his armor, attempting to clear it of the green blood that now covered him.
The other gondola passed them, as each continued forward toward its separate destinations. Coming closer now, the squad could see temple clearly. A small alcove waited in front of them, the obvious site where their gondola would dock for them to land. Above was a kind of balcony, large enough to house a small army, attached to the sharp tower that protruded into the sky. On the balcony were a small squad of Jackals and Grunts, weapons raised to fire on them.
However, they never received the chance. Once the gondola was in range of their weapons, the squad rushed forward toward the alcove, dodging the incoming plasma with ease. They had to jump the small distance, but managed to land safely below the enemies above. Recovering from the fall quickly, Shepard readied himself as another squad of aliens came walking from a door in the rear. A few well placed shots, and the Jackals and Grunts dropped where they stood.
"Come on," Shepard ordered, beckoning his squad mates to follow.
Now inside the temple, they moved with extreme haste and speed, not wanting to be trapped in the hornets nest. They walked through another door, one tha opened up into an expansive room, and quickly disposed of the two Elites that blocked their way, their shields doing nothing to protect them from Liara's biotics.
They continued up a ramp that lead to a large open door way. Beyond which, a massive hallway appeared, looking more akin to a grande throne room than the inside of a temple, with large elaborate pillars dotting the sides in a grande fashion. Stepping into the room, the squad immediately started for the door at the far end, only to be stopped by more plasma fire. From behind the pillars dozens of Grunts appeared, followed by Elites and Jackals.
"Ambush," Jame shouted, crouching as pink needles soared over his head. They were surrounded on all sides, every direction brought with it more weapons aimed right at them. For Shepard, time seemed to slow, maybe due to the imminent fear of death, or the adrenaline pulsing through his system. No matter where he looked, there didn't seem to be a way out. A wall of plasma and needler fire appeared, seeming to envelop his entire vision. Closing his eyes, Shepard braced himself for the impact, unable to look directly at his inevitable death.
The blinding flash of plasma was gone, now replaced with a dimming blue as a biotic field enveloped him and James. Blinking his vision clear, Shepard looked behind him to find Liara, hands raised and feet planted firmly into the ground, struggling to produce an energy field to shield them from the incoming fire.
"This isn't as easy as it might seem," she struggled to say, already straining from the energy required to keep the biotic field stable.
"You just need to keep it up till we reach the door," Shepard said, regaining his composure. The Covenant had recovered from their moment of surprise, unable to fathom how an organic would be able to produce such a powerful force field, and began firing again, trying desperately to break through to the Humans beneath.
Nodding in understanding, Liara struggled to push one foot forward in front of the other. Every muscle in her body ached, as the contentious plasma fire withered away her biotic barrier. Though the door couldn't have been more than a few meters away, the distance seemed vast to her, but she continued on through the pain, unwilling to let her friends die there.
The had made it halfway through the hallway, when the firing suddenly stopped. Ahead of them, two massive creatures stepped out of the shadows from opposite sides of the hall, each sporting a large energy cannon as an arm, and a metallic shields as another.
"Hunters!" Shepard shouted in distress
Glancing up, Liara could see the worry on his face as the two things approached closer, their shield arms raised to protect their bodies. The pain was becoming too much to bear, she dropped to her knees over encumbered by her energy output. The Hunters were inside the blue field now, headed straight for the Asari trapped on the floor.
It was James who charged forward first, with his Eviscerator drawn, he fired at the closest Hunter, distracting it from continuing on. He emptied his clip into the creatures belly, most of the pellets bouncing off as they struck nothing but armor. Now within arms length, the Hunter swung its shield arm, intent on slapping the Human aside, but was surprised when James narrowly avoided the attack.
The second Hunter continued on towards Liara, unable to fire its cannon due to the proximity of the Asari. Before it was able to reach her, Shepard stepped in front of its path.
"You gotta go through me first."
As if obliging his demand, the Hunter swung its arm down to crush the Commander. Reacting quickly, Shepard brought his arm up above his head, a bright orange glow enveloped his arm as his omni-tool activated. The Hunter's shield struck hard, almost shattering Shepard's arm on impact. Grunting, Shepard attempted to push up, as both of their appendages pressed against each other. Instead, he found the strength of the Hunter to be forcing him down, dropping to one knee as the shield pressed against his omni-blade.
Meanwhile, the first Hunter was still desperate to slap James from its path, but still failed to hit him as with every blow was only met with the resistance of air. After dodging the last swing, James pulled his shotgun to bear, slapping in a thermal clip as the Hunter struggled to regain its momentum. Its shield came down from above, and James dove forward and behind the Hunter, using his momentum to roll around into a crouching position. In one swift motion, he stood and turned around, now facing the back of the hulking alien, and fired at the small gap between its armor where orange worms protruded. Giving off a wail of pain, the beast fell to the ground in defeat.
With the sudden loss of his bond brother, the second Hunter's rage grew. Even though it could not see the first's demise, he could still feel as the life went cold. The Hunter moved its arm up, giving Shepard a moment to breathe, his arms and shoulders almost torn apart by the weight of the Hunter. Turning around to face James, the Hunter bent its legs and launched itself into the air, its arms raised high above its head as the creature attempted to crush James beneath its weight.
Jumping to the side, James slid across the ground, almost directly outside of the still wavering barrier. Once the Hunter had landed, its force causing the floor to bend and break, it took it a moment to realize it had missed James entirely. So consumed by rage that it had failed to notice the Human was now out of his reach, and that Shepard had managed to recover from his earlier exhaustion.
Pulling a pistol from his side, Shepard fired on the Hunter, his arms barely able to handle the recoil of the weapon. Now the Hunter's focus returned towards Shepard, even as James positioned himself to fire his shotgun. With both Humans combining the fire, the Hunter raised its shield to protect its more vulnerable areas, but it could not protect every part of its body from the different angles. It didn't take long for Shepard's incendiary ammo to burn through his armor, flailing the worms that were inside. Now the second Hunter crumbled to the ground, unable to withstand the onslaught of fire.
"I can't hold this much longer," Liara said, as the beast fell to the ground with a thud. Already the barrier was beginning to shrink around them, wavering as Liara's strength fleeted. Moving over to her, James helped the Asari to her feet, wrapping his arm around her to help carry her weight. Together, they hobbled to the door, all the while the rest of the Covenant had continued its onslaught of plasma fire. Shepard followed closely behind, the barrier's thinning radius preventing him from moving too far away.
They had finally reached the end of the hall, the barrier itself, now only a fraction of its former size, fizzled out as the door opened before them. Passing through, James carried Liara through, while Shepard covered their retreat, turning around only when he was sure the pair had made it in safely. Once he had made it out of the hall, James activated the holographic lock, sealing the door behind them.
It was quieter now, the seemingly endless weapons fire now stiffened. The trio took a minute to regain their strength, exhausted after having to simply cross the hallway.
"I take it those were what I hadn't seen yet?" Liara asked, sliding down a wall to rest on the ground.
Rubbing his sore shoulder, Shepard responded. "Told you it could always be worse. Besides, that wasn't nearly as bad as taking down that Yahg."
"If I remember correctly, I did most of the work there too."
Shepard laughed slightly at her response, taking the time to help Liara to her feet. "Come on," he beckoned. "We need to keep moving."
Following him, Liara and James pulled out their weapons, following Shepard closely as they started to leave the first room.
"You guys must have some pretty crazy stories, huh?" James asked, as they passed through another door, locking it behind them.
"Stick around long enough, and you may find a few yourself," Liara said mockingly.
At last they came to another door, slightly larger than the last few, and moved to the sides before opening it, with James and Liara leaning against the opposite wall of Shepard. Holding his hand up, the Commander counted down from three, expecting them to walk through the door on his mark. Readying themselves, the squad prepared to breach through the door.
As soon as Shepard reached zero, the trio charged through the door, immediately sprinting towards a railing across a small pathway. Having a clear view of the room, they could see the door opened up to a balcony, with two ramps going down opposite sides to the floor below, where a contingent of red armored Elites stood, encircling a frail looking alien sitting atop a floating throne.
"Think they noticed us?" James asked, as they all ducked behind the railing out of sight.
"It doesn't appear so," Liara said, giving a sigh of relief.
Before they were able to act, a small squeal interrupted their thoughts. Glancing over to the ramp, the squad noticed a single Grunt had noticed them, and held its pistol out towards them. It seemed frozen in fear.
"De..." it muttered, barely able to produce an auditory sound behind the trauma. "Demons!" the Grunt shouted, receiving a bullet in its skull for the trouble. Now the rest of the room was alerted to their presence, and a group of Elites began charging towards their potion, some carrying brightly decorated spears as they charged up the ramps.
"Who dares defile my sermon?" the Prophet in the throne demanded, shouting above the clamor of armored feet marching. "Kill them all!"
The trio had managed to stop most of the Elites form gaining any ground, giving off enough suppressing fire to slow their advance. It seemed as though they were intent with running into a hail of bullets, to die in a vain attempt to rush the intruders.
"Running low on clips!" James shouted above the commotion. As if to emphasize his point, James's rifle gave off an exasperated spat of overheating, as he reached to his belt for his last thermal clip.
"Liara," Shepard started, before an onslaught of plasma fire caught him off guard, forcing him to duck behind the railing again. "Try to see if you can take down that Prophet, we'll cover you."
"I'll try," she said, slapping in her last thermal clip into her smg. Peeking over the railing, she looked to the ground below the balcony, determining the distance she had below her. After thinking it over for a split second, Liara pulled herself up and over the railing, using her biotics to gracefully float to the ground. Meanwhile, James and Shepard continued to suppress the other aliens, forcing them to remain behind cover.
Managing to avoid the incoming fire from the few Jackals who managed to spot her, Liara sprinted for the Prophet still floating in his throne in the center of the room. The frail looking alien shrieked in fear as the blue alien drew closer to him. Using her biotics to provide extra lift, Liara jumped forward towards the Prophet, tackling him out of his flying throne.
Pulling herself and the Prophet up, Liara pointed her weapon at his head, her other arm tightened around his elongated neck, while the Elites, now aware of her presence, attempted to surround her.
"I'd suggest dropping your weapons," Liara said, completely in control of the situation.
"Fools," the Prophet spat as the arm grew tighter around him. "Do as she commands!"
Without another option, the surrounding aliens dropped their weapons, obviously intent on finishing the fight once they found an opportunity.
"I do not know what you want, you vile blue harpy," the Prophet spat again, struggling to find some kind of command in his point of powerlessness. "But your interference will not hinder the Great Journey."
"Just keep talking," Liara said, dragging the Prophet back past the Elites, her weapon never straining away from the alien's head.
"The Prophets of Truth and Mercy will never allow my capture to go unpunished!" he shouted again. Just as Liara reached the foot of the ramp, with Shepard's and James's weapons aimed at the Elites, a bright blue flash illuminated the entire room, originating from a vast skylight above. Looking towards the sky through the window, the entire room could see hundreds of ships entering into view, all popping out small rifts in space. An entire Covenant fleet appeared out of nothing, followed by a massive space station, appearing next to them in the same manner.
"Damn," James muttered, his attention momentarily occupied by the fleet entering space. "That's one big fleet."
"Surrender now demons!" Regret snapped, a state of victory glaring over his eyes, even as he struggled at the arm around his neck. "And your death may yet be swift and..."
His statement was cut short as one of the Covenant ships broke from its formation and flew straight for the island, the underside of its hull glowing with a build up of energy.
"No, that traitor," he continued, fear finally encroaching his voice. "I haven't perished yet!" he shouted, in some vain attempt to talk to the ship above. The Elites too were filled with some kind of fear and confusion as the Covenant ship positioned itself directly above them. A second later, and their confusion was gone, replaced instead with an intense plasma fire as half of the temple was destroyed, wasting away into the water far below.
When the plasma had settled, only the balcony and ramps remained. The entire bottom floor had been wiped away from existence. Liara had almost been caught in the blast, only saved when she released the Prophet in favor of saving her own skin. Now he and his compatriots were gone, destroyed by the very allies they hoped would save them.
"Time to leave!" Shepard shouted, pulling up his omni-tool to contact Cortez. "Steve, we need an evac. Lock onto my signal and hightail it over here."
Another blast shook the temple, from the other side, bringing with it a wave of heat and fear as a different ship started glassing the entire island. The one above them, which could now be seen clearly through the hole it had created, started charging up its weapon again, intent on finishing off anything left alive in the temple.
Suddenly, the Kodiak appeared, flying from the underside of the island to position itself inside the now smoldering ruins. The door slide open, as the shuttle moved closer to the balcony. Jumping in, James watched as Shepard walked to the ramp to assist Liara to the top. "Hurry up!" he shouted.
Once on her feet, the pair sprinted up the ramp, hurrying towards the safety of the shuttle at its top. Liara managed to jump in first, assisted through the door as James pulled her in. A collapsing wall forced Cortez to dodge, as rocks crushed the edge of the balcony, narrowly missing Shepard.
"Get out of here!" Shepard yelled, waving his arms for them to leave, right as another bright plasma bolt of plasama stoke the temple closer behind him. The Covenant ship above had finished its charging, and was already laying waste to the other end of the temple, destroying what little remained, and forcing Cotez to flee as more of the surrounding rocks fell from above.
Looking behind him, Shepard could see the literal wall of plasma encroaching on him, blocking the path that lead to his escape. Unwilling to stick around for it to reach him, he sprinted off the edge of the balcony, now a flat cliff side with burning edges, and fell straight towards the water below. Hitting it hard enough to almost render him unconscious, even through his armor and helmet. Yet he could still fell the water encircling his body, seeping through some cracks that had formed in the fighting, as he sunk lower into the water.
Even through the damp coldness that slowly encircled him, Shepard felt something else entirely, something solid and strong.
"This is not your grave," a voice called to him, as the light slowly dissipated from his eyes. "But you are welcome in it."
AN: Oh yeah, so this is still a thing. Had this chapter done for a while, but needed to do some edits before I posted it. That day of editing turned into a couple of months of what not. I'm not sure how many people are still regularly following this story, but if I get one review after posting this, I'll finish the next chapter and post it the day after! I've got to get this damn thing done XD