Halo: Rapture
Act Two: El Dorado Is Burning
Entr'acte: A Matter of Honor
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Personal Log Entry
Date: First Age of Clarity:
At long last. After months of meaningless talk with the new council and empty claims of support by the other members of the surviving Admiralty, I have finally managed to arrange a private meeting with the Empress. She was, of course, dubious of my request. Saying it was an unnecessarily long, dangerous, and a possible specious mission. However, given my position with most of our people and Her Majesty's great trust in my ability's, I was granted the use of one the fastest ships we have. Under the condition that I bring back some of the remnants of the Ark… that and of course, marry one of her six daughters. Not a prospect I, particularly relish, considering I am old enough to be the father of the eldest. Still….
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Enlightened Transcendence,
Ship Masters Log Entry
Date: First Age of Clarity:
The search has been fruitless thus far and even the humans have expressed their doubts. Not even bothering to send a vessel themselves although, given their currant situation, I can't truly fault them, it is far more convenient to morn a legend then search to for a hero that may or may not be alive in the far vast reaches of the galaxy.
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Enlightened Transcendence,
Ship Masters Log Entry
Date: First Age of Clarity:
The Ark expedition has proven more of a problem than first anticipated. All attempts at reaching the Arks coordinates through Slip-Space have been disasters' even as the instillation lays in ruins it has defenses. The Haragok has told me the Enlightened Transcendence could not withstand another 'Slip-Space Bust' as my tactical officer called it. A concentrated mass of energy created by our own Slip-Space field! How the Forerunner instillation managed to detect us thousands of light years away remains a mystery to the meager group of scientists aboard. I forwarded my findings to the Admiralty, and they say they will send a better equipped vessel to investigate. I do hope they are successful. Though the Ancients may indeed be the Humans' predecessor, their knowledge and technological advances cannot be aloud to fade away.
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Enlightened Transcendence,
Ship Masters Log Entry
Date: First Age of Clarity:
Warriors weep not. Those were the words my father gave to me upon my first commission aboard the Majestic Ascension, and I took those words to heart. The day my father perished in battle during the Grunt rebellion, when illness took my mother and even when I was stripped of my title, branded a traitor, imprisoned, yes even then I did not weep. Yet, now. Now as I kneel before our family shrine, see all the empty spaces of the living and crowded side of the fallen, it was then that I truly realized I am alone.
All that I had left when I was disgraced were my nephew and niece. And now... I weep.
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Enlightened Transcendence,
Ship Masters Log Entry
Date: First Age of Clarity:
A beacon! After one hundred and sixty seven days of searching, we have finally had a clue and better still a trail to follow. The navigator has informed me that it will take two weeks in Slip-Space to reach the destination, and that we can all go home in a matter of months, given that nothing goes wrong. Hmmm, were it so easy. However, in matters of honor, sacrifices are all too often required. I can only hope that the Spartan is worth such sacrifices.
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The Arbiter stepped away from his computer console in fatigue; it had been a great many days, since he last had a decent amount of sleep. As he walked out of his study in his private chambers, he had considered his last communiqué with Lord Hood.