The strange pistol in Six's hands hummed. Around him and his two comrades, alien lights showed the way. The narrow corridor was made of a combination of stone walls with supports made from an alien alloy that was fairly familiar to Six, for that one time he saw it in the caverns below SWORD Base. The floor was also made of that same material, with a combination of glass and metal lit by ancient alien symbols.
"My God..." Barriss murmured.
As the trio reached the end, they came out in the middle of a massive cavern, lit by blue holographic displays and the lights of the alien technology below their feet and in front of them. In the center, a device floated while energy coursed through into it from conduits on the floor. It was an amphitheater, with an alien device as its center-piece. Said device was formed of multiple rotating prongs and geometrically-perfect, smooth shapes lined with those same symbols.
Ahead of Six, there was a holographic console. It showed a multitude of symbols, matching those on the alien thing in the room with them, as well as one central symbol, like an open eye. Stowing the handgun, the Spartan approached the console while his comrades explored the alien technology that had apparently been hidden below the Jedi Enclave. Barriss herself seemed the most dumbfound at the sight of it.
Mara, though? She was eerily calm, or at least her poker face told Six as much.
He looked over the console, then past it at the symbols on the device. He took a knee beside the Console and looked over it, trying to find out what the hell it was, then he went over to the device itself. It pulsed an eerie blue at two-second intervals, with each symbol being lit up in a certain pattern. Now that the Spartan had gotten a better look at the device, he saw it was a trio of rings just hovering over what looked like an energized platform.
He turned to Mara yet again, receiving only a look back from the girl. Humming, the man went over to the console's interface, keeping in mind the seemingly-correct string of projected symbols. He hoped it was correct as he slowly punched it in, the place whirring to life slowly. The ancient machine seemed to pulse ever-brighter as the Spartan added the symbols together into one cohesive set.
He, however, touched the last symbol up and let it go too quickly. The released energy pulsed like an electro-magnetic shockwave, bursting Six's shields and enveloping the room in blue light. The Spartan swore to himself, then looked around as the ground below them started to shake. From the pillars around the room, he saw amber-colored dots of light swirling, landing and forming.
Forming into monsters.
Made of the same alloy as the rest of the place, from the looks of it, the half-humanoid, half-insectoid machines that appeared were constructs of energy very close to those four-legged bots they'd just killed up above. Bearing the faces of humans on their armored helmets and with eyes and weapons of orange hardlight, the hulking masses of alien alloys and armor numbered in the dozen. Each had four sets of arms, two curled up at the core, resembling small human arms and two arms that were 'connected' by some form of invisible force field to the carapace, as well as two triple-jointed legs resembling of the Elites'. The two carapace-locked arms, formed of multiple pieces, housed weapons, with the left being a blood-orange hard-light blade shaped like a machete and the right being a variation of those weapons Six had gotten off the topside bots.
The Spartan's instincts kicked in. He drew the alien automatic weapon off his back, then called out "Girls, form up behind me!" as he scanned the dozen bots. Drawing their weapons, the Echani and the Mirialan did as ordered, falling in behind Six, each on one of his flanks. The hulking humanoid machines towered even over him, at just over nine feet tall.
The back carapace of the leading warrior bot flickered, that same orange light flaring up behind it. It took one step forward toward Six, giving the Spartan a good look at the human skull-shaped helmet and mask. Mara spoke "I do not like the looks of them..." and only got a nod out of Six and Barriss. The leader took another step forward, chittering and hissing like an overgrown bug. It had a massive weapon on its arm that the Spartan didn't want to test just yet.
It jerked its head to the sides, curiously examining the Spartan and his compatriots, probably scanning them.
Once, twice, three times.
"Why aren't they... Attacking?" Barriss asked "Did you do something to them?"
"No." Six answered, clear-cut and almost silent. His trigger finger itched, but he held discipline, considering possible escape routes. He showed the girls to take one step back with him and moved backward, rifle still aimed at the creatures. It took a step forward, as if mimicking him. Another step back for Six, another one forward for the creature. It hissed. He looked back at the console. The hiss turned into a mechanical, modulated growl. He moved his left hand toward one of the symbols, right still holding onto the energy weapon. It...
Its face opened up and a hardlight human skull screamed at them. The Spartan wasted no time in waiting for the creature to aim its weapon and fire. He squeezed the trigger of the weapon once wielded by its compatriots and hosed the creature center mass with energy-based projectiles, forcing it to stagger. Its allies all cried in unison, then charged forward.
Six looked to Barriss and Mara and called out "Now!"
The Spartan continued to fire on the leader, chipping away at its armor. Barriss, meanwhile, parried the hard-light blade of one, pushed it back using the Force, then swung her blade for its head. It dodged agilely, at least for its size, then raised its own energy weapon and fired. Barriss was luckily fast enough to deflect them, each round hitting either the ground or the walls.
Mara, meanwhile, seemed to dance a dance of death, dodging under hard-light blade strikes and what looked like energy pellets from a shotgun. She slashed the creature she was attacking center-mass too, forcing it to stagger back and focus on a more defensive role, while another one of them charged her. She looked to Six, to see him switch from the energy weapon to the strange sword and his knife, before parrying his assailant's light blade and deflecting it off to the side.
He slashed the creature's right arm, then deftly dodged under another attack from the hard-light blade before stabbing at it. It moved aside and rammed the projectors of its blade into Six's gut, blasting apart his barely-recharged shields and sending him skidding back-first into the console. He ducked, watching as it hesitated to strike at the console it was protecting and then took the advantage, ramming right into it like a hammer hitting a nail. He managed to push it back a good five feet with that attack, but its compatriots quickly took to assisting it.
Barriss spun, narrowly missed by a blast from a heavy weapon wielded by them, before using the force to redirect a set of actual, physical projectiles to the shooter. The rounds impacted with the force of hand grenades, blasting and vaporizing bits of the creature's armor. It hissed in pain, roaring at the girl before charging her and slashing with its hard-light blade. The girl yelped, raising her Lightsaber to block the attack.
Mara's blade made contact with the hard-light of another monster's. She drew her blaster, aimed it at the face of a second assailant and fired. The creature staggered a bit, allowing the girl to disengage from its current attacker and deliver a few strikes that took chunks of its armor off. She was punted from the side, slammed into by one of the others and was flung across the room.
Six gasped, disengaging, holstering his energy sword and dashing to grab the girl mid-flight. He nodded to her and she looked a bit surprised, only nodding back. He set her down on her feet, drew his Energy Sword and blocked another attack from the boss, which then retreated to leave its minions to do business. The trio were herded together in the center of the room, with Barriss panting, having broken a sweat while fighting these monsters. She spoke through heaving breaths "These things are powerful..."
Mara nodded, drawing heavy breaths as well, then said "They are unlike any droid I've ever seen."
"I have a feeling that they're more than droids, girls..." Six noted, looking around and noticing some of them had lost armor plating, revealing hard-light cores. He murmured "At least we know we can chip their armor off... But we'll be dead before... Wait..." He eyed the cores that pulsed with energy behind the armor plates. He nudged the two girls with his elbows, then tilted his head toward the exposed bits of some of them. They needed to focus on them together. One at a time, isolate and annihilate.
Mara spun her blade in response, while Barriss gave a quick smile and a nod. Six turned to face the boss of the monsters. He looked to the girls, raised one finger as the creatures approached, ready to attack and, upon dropping it, he and the girls surged forward. Handgun and Energy Sword in hand, the Spartan pelted one of the creatures with rounds, before squeezing the trigger a little too tight.
A blast of energy like that of a shotgun's escaped the muzzle of the energy pistol. Six smirked behind his helmet, realizing what this meant. He proceeded to parry, strike and defend, while charging up and firing the shotgun-pistol into the creatures to chip away armor. Mara made short work of their target's armor with a combo of blaster fire and pinpoint strikes from her sword and Barriss slashed away at anything she caught as an opening in its defenses.
The Spartan tossed Barriss his Energy Sword, then cocked his fist back and rammed it right into the creature's armored face, shattering the plate and staggering it enough to open it to Barriss and Mara's double-team attack. Vibrosword, Energy Sword and Lightsaber struck the now-unarmored back of the creature with ferocity. The creature keeled over, before it shattered, turning to embers and dust and dropping its larger weapon.
Six grabbed the weapon off the floor, racked what looked like a pump and spun about, dumping five 'shells' into the creature to his right and realizing he now wielded an alien energy shotgun. He rammed another of the bots hard enough to remove a chunk of its armor, aimed the acquired weapon right at its chest and pumped another two shots into it, bursting whatever defenses it had and shattering it like its brother.
He swiveled about as time slowed around him. Noticing Mara about to get attacked from behind, much like Barriss, the Spartan aimed the Shotgun and fired, running toward the two girls. He pushed both of them aside, before watching the Hard-light blade coming down toward him. He barely dodged, feeling the blade singe in his shields and slash him clean across his breast plate. As revenge, he emptied what was left of the alien shotgun into its face.
Putting the weapon onto his back and regaining his footing, the Spartan once again pulled out his knife to parry another hard-light sword strike, diverting it and punching the creature twice in the mouth. He rammed the knife's blade deep into its chin, pulling it down and pinning it to the floor as it dissipated around the blade. He charged another one, ramming into it and pushing it into Mara's sight. The girl fired two blaster shots into its face, jumped on top of it and brought its blade down right into the open face-mask protecting the hard-light skull.
Six felt another blade slash him across the back, his shields dying under the stress yet again. His vital monitors reached the yellow, so those things must've been hitting something important, but before he could return the favor, he saw Barriss use the Force to pull it toward her, before cutting off the back armor, pouncing on it and plunging the Lightsaber right into the exposed core.
Mara yelped and Six turned around, to see her having taken a direct slash from one of the creatures. He drew the handgun again, charging and firing it in shotgun mode to stagger the bot and chip away at its armor, before ramming his fist into its exposed skull-face. He looked to the girl, to see her holding onto her side. She gave him a nod, as if to say she was fine, before she pushed him aside and slashed the less-than-armored mech behind him in half.
She and him exchanged a look and gave each-other nods of approval, before going in to assist Barriss.
By the time they were done, only the boss alien remained. It shimmered, hissed and roared at him, but the Spartan was quick on the draw, blasting its skull in with its own handgun. Barriss cut off its blade arm, raised it using the force and threw it right into its midsection and Mara cut off its robot arm, grabbed the energy weapon before it dissipated and fired into it. Three boulders of scarlet fire rammed into the monster, blasting it apart at a molecular level.
Mara breathed a sigh of relief, falling onto one knee and leaning onto her sword. Barriss leaned against the wall beside her, panting and rubbing her eyes. Six? He went right back to the console. Mara sighed, then followed him, hobbling a bit due to the wound in her side, before she stopped him and asked "Do you think this is a good idea?"
"I was off by only one combination." He answered "A little bit of trust, if you don't mind?"
Mouth slightly agape, the swordmistress sighed and stepped back. He was one to speak about trust. He hadn't said a thing about himself since the start of this endeavor.
The girl staggered as she felt the ground shake again. Except, this time, instead of a blaring warning, the console flashed blue and sunk into the floor while the strange device in the center powered. The blue shine they had seen while descending down the long corridor intensified a hundred fold, washing the room in light, before they all saw what looked like a portal.
Six stared at it, hearing a dozen voices whispering at him...
"Go. Save this world as you've saved yours."
"You seek knowledge of your enemy. Your search begins here."
"That is the start of your road to victory! Take it!"
"That is your path... That is your truth. Your target. It will be your proving ground, your path, as war was hers."
He looked to the girls, both of whom were now on their feet. He tilted his head toward the portal and said "I'm gonna go in... Far as everything I hear's telling me, this is what I need to find out where Nihilus is."
"You hear voices yet again?" Mara raised a brow. Six nodded and the Echani girl sighed, before saying "You owe us some explanations, Noble Six. We will talk aboard the ship. Until then..." she gazed to Barriss, who gave a single trusting nod, allowing the girl to look at him and finish "Go. Find our path in there and let us find our target. We shall see where it takes us."
He gave a nod to the girls, before walking toward the portal within the device. Stepping inside, he felt the prickle of electricity even through his armor. He vanished before the girls, in a whirlwind of cold blue. Mara hummed, her thoughts occupied with what the Spartan's role in all of this was. What their role in all of this was. She recognized the Lightsaber he had taken from the statue from stories.
Pulling the staff of her ancestor from her back, she looked at it, then murmured "What is happening, Brianna...? What are we not being told?"
... A bright flash of light washed over Six's visor. It could not polarize enough to stop the light from partially blinding the Spartan. He stumbled through, eyes closed, then he stopped as he felt a heavy, armored hand land on his chest. He swallowed, hands hovering over the strange alien weapons, only for him to find he had none of them now. Quietly, he asked "Who's there...?"
"Really, Six? I'd have thought you'd recognize an old friend. Or did the sun hit you too hard?" He heard the jovial voice of a familiar giant speak to him. He felt his heart stop and for the first time in his long career, Six choked and stumbled. He opened his eyes slowly, his gaze landing upon an orange armor plate with a canister attached to it. A MJOLNIR armor set washed by the white light of the sun hanging high above.
With no helmet, however, to cover the grey hair and beard and the tired features of an old friend. Said friend flashed a smile at Six, who barely now noticed his bulky helmet was clipped onto his belt. The tall Spartan-II before him chuckled, his voice hard, then he spoke "What's the matter? You're staring at me like you've seen a ghost... Then again..." He shrugged "You may as well have."
"Jorge." Six murmured, filled with disbelief "Jorge... I saw you-"
"Die? Well, yeah." The Spartan nodded, smiling proudly "Took a chunk of that Covvie carrier with me too, lot of good that did."
Six nodded slowly. What was Jorge doing here...? Where was here?
"Don't give me the silent treatment now of all days, Six." The man shoved Six playfully in the chest "Not when we really do need to talk."
Six wrapped his hands around his helmet's sides, twisting it and undoing the seals. He slung it under his arm, staring with wide, tired eyes at the old man before him and whispering "I saw you die, Jorge. You gave me your tags, god dammit." with a dumbfound look on his face and trying to suppress any sort of agitation he felt grow "Do you mind explaining to me what the fuck is going on? Why did I hear voices, why do I... How are you here?"
"Easy does it, Six, I get it." The man tried to calm him down "This isn't exactly a good place for a reunion, what with your mission and everything. Walk with me and I'll try to explain everything."
Reluctantly, the Spartan nodded. Jorge took the lead, walking down the open path ahead, into a field of green. Six stared around, barely now taking in the environment he was surrounded by. Emerald fields in valleys with walls of obsidian, lined with towers of that same technology as the beacon under the Enclave ruins, hanging high in the skies of this strange, almost alien world.
He swallowed empty, then caught up with Jorge. Jorge looked at him, still wearing a trademark smile, then asked "So, not even a bit curious as to how I know about your mission?"
"I figured you were gonna tell me anyways." Six answered "What is this place?"
"Something called the Domain by the people that built it. Some kinda storage space for important knowledge and the likes, though I haven't been able to access any of it." He quipped, then he sighed "I know what happened to Reach, at least."
"I'm sorry, Jorge." Six noted "We tried..."
"You damn well did. Hell, you died for her, as well." Noble Five quipped. And right he was. "Good thing you got that package to the Autumn. Going by what Emile told me, you two had it rough."
"Emile's here too?!" Six stopped and Jorge looked back at him. Six did poorly at hiding the thousand things crossing his mind right now, so he asked a question to sum them all up, "Is... Everyone... Here?" while staring with the muted hope of a single, broken soul at his closest friend in Noble. The big man was a calming presence to be had around the place.
"Yes and no," The big man answered, rather cryptically, "All of us are 'here' by some definition, Six... It's just not all of us can show up and talk. We're more like... Guides... If you wanna look at it that way."
"Guides?" Six raised a brow "To?"
"To other pieces of tech like the buffer station you just found, for your job." Jorge explained, "You're hunting some big bad from this other Galaxy, right? Nihilus. We know of him because of this whole Domain thing, it's interconnected. All pieces of ancient technology across our two galaxies are linked by it. Though the Milky Way one is harder to access than we'd like, so we can't exactly look at what's been happening home..."
"Damn." Six sighed "So no knowing if we won or not?"
"Hmm..." The Spartan shook his head "Sorry, Six."
"It's fine." He nodded "I'm still wrapping my head around all of this. Did... Did this Domain bring me here?"
Jorge grinned "Smart as usual, Six. Yeah, it did. You had the closest contact to it, carrying that AI. The tech below SWORD Base, the AI and doctor Halsey? Multiple connection points that allowed you to sort of 'attach' to it as well, like an anchor. Though, seeing as to how screwed Milky Way's network was..."
"It tossed me here... But why didn't it revive you or the others as well?" Six asked "And what exactly is that damn thing under the Enclave?"
"I'll answer the first bit as best as I can, but she's asked me to let her reveal it to you." Jorge smirked "You're linked to this Galaxy, Six. To this place. In a way we aren't. It's why the Domain tossed you on that planet instead of any, or all of us. And it's why the Cult you're fighting wants the alien tech here. As for what the station here is? It's a linked piece of the puzzle, now that you powered it on."
"A piece to the puzzle? Jorge, seriously, I need actual answers here." Six got slightly impatient "I'm not gonna throw myself at a problem without knowing at least a little bit more of it. And... She?"
Jorge snorted "Isn't that what you did by helping the Republic folk? By agreeing to be here? Hell, Six, you're working with aliens."
Jorge had a fair point there. Six hadn't thought of it so far. He'd thrown himself dead in the middle of a mission for a bunch of aliens and a foreign government body in exchange for almost nothing. These people weren't the UNSC, they weren't his commanders, they weren't his original team. So why in God's name had he decided to throw himself into the line of fire for a bunch of aliens and with three of them by his side? He knew it. He focused on his mission, perhaps with hope that...
He shook his head as he felt his heart sink. Turning to Jorge, a more solemn look on his face, he asked again "She?"
Jorge nodded "Yes. She asked me and the others to keep quiet about it. Including her identity."
"Well, that's not fucking ominous." Six said sarcastically, looking around.
Jorge hummed, then stepped up to Six and slapped a hand onto his shoulder, before adding "C'mon, Six. Quit chewing yourself out over it."
"Over what, Jorge?" He asked, looking at the Spartan.
"Over us." Five shot back and Six felt his heart stop. His old friend continued "It wasn't your fault. Like I said, we all make that trip some time. And you can be damn sure everyone else'll say the same thing."
With a bowed head and sagging shoulders, Six said "Doesn't make it any easier. Especially since I never belonged to a team before Noble. We lost Reach and everything on it, even though we gave our damnedest. For all we know, I'm the last one around, alive and able. And I'm not supposed to be! I died! I fucking died on Reach too, Jorge... Whatever revived me after I died alone brought me here..."
"Then make it count." Jorge spoke, getting Six to look right at him. He now wore a stern, more fatherly expression than before as he continued "You got another lease of life to save a galaxy from a bastard worse than the Covenant, Six. Two of them, even. You're a Spartan, Six, surrender isn't in your MO. Make this new bit of your life count and save your allies... You got a new team. Sure, they're aliens, but..."
His expression softened again, unlike any Spartan he knew. Jorge had grown older by the way he acted, but not by age. At least not much. He stated "They've helped you so far. Welcomed you with open arms. Can't believe I'm saying this, but not all of them can be bad, can they? Covvies were our enemy in our galaxy. These folks?"
"They're fairly human-looking. And they welcomed me in... I can't shake the feeling it's wrong though." Six sighed, then he shook his head and chuckled "I won't stop calling the girl Tails, though. It's kinda stuck."
"Good." Jorge smirked "Good to see you're making friends again, even if they're from other species... She's proud of you. As are all of Noble."
"Whoever she is, she'd best reveal herself at some point." Six shot back, grinning, "I swear, if it's Kat, the moment I see her in the Domain..."
"She'll outwit you before you know it, Six." Jorge punched him in the shoulder slowly "No, it ain't Kat. Though she's been itching to talk to you as well. Anyways... I should probably let you go. I can give you a hint now, though..." And he pointed at the only weapon that hadn't vanished beside his Energy Sword. The Lightsaber from the statue. He spoke "That belonged to her."
"I see." Six nodded "So... What happens now? You still haven't told me what this station is"
"You activated this station. It's a link to the Domain and... Kind of an anchor. Kat can explain it better with hers." Jorge quipped "I didn't get all the technobabble from it, though she seemed to. What happens now, though? You leave my little section of the Domain... And you get a chunk of a map, to lead you to your next target..." And he frowned "Hmm... Be ready for a fight when you're out."
"What?!" Six started. Jorge slid his helmet back on his head and showed Six the Spartan smile sign.
"Take care of yourself, Six... Remember and, for all our sakes... Make it count."
Six gave a nod "I will."
"Good... Goodbye, Sam. See you soon." Jorge nodded back. Six only needed to blink, before he awoke in the middle of the device, surrounded by the metal and prongs that made up its body. He saw a simple flash of light explode into a sea of stars and star coordinates right in front of him, showing several planets. Walking out of the hold, he looked at each planet, pulling up the files on his wrist-mounted pad. Almost perfect matches to the list of planets they needed to visit.
"Well, this certainly makes our job easier." He heard a familiar voice speak. He turned his head toward where the speaker was, to see her. The Assassin, surrounded by a combination of Czerka troops and Sith Trooper mockups, several of which held the girls at gun point. The woman chuckled as she drew her Lightsaber, then said "We meet again."
"It seems we've even more to talk about, dear soldier..." She spoke, her voice betraying the smile she wore underneath the mask.