Fear.
It is the response of all living beings to something that is threatening or unknown to them. It triggers the fight-or-flight response, allowing the threatened to fight with all their might, or escape as fast as possible.
It was something that Umbra had witnessed uncountable times, in the eyes of both his enemies and of those who suffered under them.
And at that moment, Umbra felt it flood his body as he lashed out with his Exalted Blade, carving a chasm in the floor and wall behind him, all with the intent of killing IT, harming IT, driving IT away.
But there was nothing.
The wave of Void energy cut through naught but air and stone. There was no entity to be found, no taken body to witness, no spirit of corruption. There was only emptiness. Yet not ITS emptiness.
"What the hell was that?!" shouted Emile as he swept the area with his shotgun. Around him, the rest of Noble did alike, their weapons readied and aimed at any other threat that could have escaped their onslaught. When only silence met them, the Spartans refocused their attention on the Warframe, all of them with wildly varied emotions. "What did you see?!"
And for a moment, Umbra did not move. He remained staring at the spot that he had felt IT be, fingers twitching as the Exalted Blade dissipated from his grasp and his battle frenzy ebbed away to his practiced tranquility. Finally, just as Emile was about to charge the Tenno and force him to reply, Umbra spoke. "A ghost… Just a ghost, nothing more…"
"You sure about that?" asked Kat, with the slightest hint of trepidation. "Maybe something else got away."
"No… Any lingering corruption would have been wiped away by the anomaly being ended." And with one final glance towards where he had heard the VOICE call out his name, the Warframe turned back towards his warship. "We have more pressing matters, regardless." Umbra took grasp of the Void Key still attached to the slipspace drive and pulled it free, slowly pacing back and amidst Noble to the only exposed part of the ship's hull before raising the key into the air. Suddenly, a loud booming note, like that of a gong, echoed inside the cave, the air visibly rippling with the beat. As if in response, a higher-pitched note echoed back before right in front of the gathered group the hull seemed to come undone and split apart, revealing a darkened metallic corridor within it.
In one fluid motion, Umbra materialized his Parazon and flung it towards the hole, hoisting himself up with one strong pull and landing perfectly at the edge of the hole. He then turned back to the Spartans still on the ground and cast the Parazon down, letting it extend until the energy rope reached them.
And so, one by one, the six members of Noble climbed up the glowing chain, Umbra carefully balancing himself above them as the half-ton super soldiers came aboard his ship and took note of their surroundings.
Even consumed by darkness, the humans could make out the ivory and gold interior of the walls and floors, with glass panes revealing dormant arboroflora carefully woven inside the structure of the ship, flowing in the same direction as the hallway.
And beyond what little light the hole in the hull offered, darkness consumed the interior.
Six was the last one to climb, the Spartan letting out a low grunt as he hoisted his body to the exposed hallway. The moment he was inside alongside the rest of Noble and Umbra, the hole shut itself, leaving the group wreathed in the darkness of the interior. "We must head to the reliquary reactor and restore power to the ship. It is near the center of the ship."
"What about the crew?"
"Either in temporal stasis, or deceased. I must access the ship logs to discover the answer."
"Alright. Umbra, take point and lead the way. Noble, eyes peeled. Let's go."
And so they went, seven armored figures stalking silently within the dark halls of a dead chariot… On their way to awaken it.
-O-
Life-forms detected.
"Hnnnnng… Let me sleep, I already did my rounds…"
Life-forms detected.
"I said let me sleep…"
"…"
TWHACK
"Gah-buh-hwah-!"
"…"
"Alright, alright, I'm up already, sheesh! Can't I have some sleep some time?"
"…"
Life-forms detected.
"Oh… Yeah, that. You should probably go check that."
"…"
"… Ah, FINE! WE will go check it together! Good enough for ya?!"
"…"
"Queens, it's like you do this on purpose… Alright, let's go."
-O-
As Umbra expected, there had been no encounters with saboteurs, crew or Void-possessed the entire way to the Reliquary, even after they had pried so many closed doors open. The footsteps of the group echoed in the empty hallways, their bodies concealed by the almost oppressive darkness of the dead ship. At every corner, every bent, ascent or descent, Noble and Umbra kept their wits sharp and their weapons at the ready.
The fact that indeed, nothing had come for them, did not ease their senses.
The silence was… Unnatural. Bar the sound of their boots and feet hitting the metal, there was nary a whisper or creak to be heard inside. The air itself seemed frozen, with nary a mote of dust hanging afloat, parting almost like a liquid as the seven bodies crossed the inner pathways of the Orokin war frigate.
"How much further, Umbra?" asked Carter as the group stepped down a short ramp, ending at yet another closed door.
"We've arrived."
And indeed, the doors ahead of them looked far more grandiose and sturdy than the others at the hallways, with far more iconography engraved on them and several security locks already engaged.
The many, many warnings written in Orokin on the arches and door itself were understood only by the Warframe standing amidst the seven.
Umbra strode towards the door and held his Void Key out, tapping the metal at specific points. With each touch, a low chime-like sound echoed, growing more high-pitched with each note until finally Umbra knocked the key against the middle of the door. In an instant, the locks began withdrawing into the walls, while the doors split like petals inwards, revealing inside the Reliquary Drive.
To Noble's surprise, the room was not very large. Everything was made of the same material as the hallways, the door being the only way in and with large, thick arboroflora roots snaking towards the ceiling and floor, all of it originating from three capsules resting on ornate stands right in the middle of the room. Said capsules were composed of two halves: one made of a gold-like material that seemed to shift ever-so-slightly with every moment, and one made of glass, in which a thick blue mist swirled about, with the faint image of something hidden inside.
"That is the reliquary. Activating it will restore power to the Unbound Flame," said the Tenno, pointing to the capsules ahead of them as Noble filed into the room cautiously.
"And what exactly is that thing?" asked Jorge, the SPARTAN-II lowering Etilka from its readied stance as he approached pedestals. Before he could come much closer, however, Umbra grasped his arm and held him in place, staring directly at Jorge's visor.
"A blessing and curse of the Orokin, capable of taming the energies of the Void. One that we abused for centuries—"
"Okay that's it, I had it."
Emile's outburst drew the attention of the other six occupants of the room, who found themselves watching the super soldier walk right up to Umbra and stop just short of the Warframe, their visors almost touching against one another.
"Emile, stand down," called out Carter, but the skull-faced soldier simply raised one hand at his commanding officer.
"This guy's been hiding things ever since we got called up here, and I wanna know what, right now," he growled darkly, fists clenched tightly at his side. "You keep talking about this Void, about how it's dangerous, and now you tell me this whole damn ship runs on it?" And with another step, Emile managed to push Umbra back with his chest. "Start explaining how this whole thing isn't your fault then."
"Emile, that's enough!"
"The Void is," finally spoke Umbra, his voice eerily quiet. "It exists, and will always remain, no matter what you do against it. The Orokin learned of its existence, studied it, and took to manipulating it. It is no different from your nuclear power, or your Slipspace drive, or the creation of your Spartans. The only difference… Is time." Umbra pushed past Emile and calmly walked towards the capsules, resting one hand upon the glass of the closest one. "You've fought for thirty years against the Covenant. You've traveled through slipspace for over two hundred years."
And when the Warframe turned back towards the Spartans, something had changed in his posture and voice. Like a switch had been flipped, and a different being was standing there.
"The Orokin learned for ten thousand years. The Tenno learned for one thousand. I've learned for five thousand. The UNSC attempted to understand it in Two. Weeks. Had I been here, I would have stopped them. Ended their experiments before they began, saved their lives, halted this whole disaster. But I was not. And because of hubris, because of impulsiveness, all of them paid the price. Let it be a lesson to you, and to the UNSC: there are things you are not meant to toy with… Much less understand. Be content with your ignorance, until you are wise enough to learn."
None of the Spartans moved from where they stood. They merely watched, staring at the ancient warrior that had landed upon their planet so abruptly.
Clang… clang… clang…
Until the echo of footsteps started sounding from the hallway they had just arrived from. Very heavy footsteps.
In a heartbeat, Noble and Umbra raised their weapons at the door, watching and listening as the sounds grew ever closer to their chamber. The only cover to the found were the Reliquary capsules themselves, so instead the Spartans and Tenno simply spaced themselves from one another into a semi-circle, guns pointed towards the door and ready to fire. And after what seemed to be an eternity, a figure descended from the ramp, the source of the thundering footfalls.
If it weren't for their armor, then Noble would have thought the figure to be a Spartan. The new arrival was massive, somehow even taller than Jorge, and clad in brown-and-black heavy plated armor. Their head was fully enclosed in a strange, almost organic white-and-red helmet, with two thick tubes attached to what seemed to be a respirator at the front.
And on their hands, was a war hammer, as big as a Brute's Gravity Hammer but with a regular head shape and rocket thrusters attached to it. On their back, a long black-and-gold rectangle with a handle and large hole at one end, very likely a heavy gun.
The figure stepped into the room with slow, purposeful steps, calmly eyeing each member of Noble until finally they turned to Umbra. And for a moment, none moved.
"Alright you wretches, what are you doing aboard my ship?!"
That is, until a mechanical, rasping voice came from deeper in the corridor, accompanied by the sound of rapidly-approaching metal steps. After a brief moment, another figure ran into the room, hefting a large grenade-cannon with both hands and with a lava-like warpick hammer strapped to their back.
The newcomer was also quite a large specimen, only far closer to the size of a Spartan, maybe a bit smaller. Their armor, unlike the first arrival, was a confusing mish-mash of organic heavy plating, that covered almost every inch of their body. Their limbs were fully mechanical, also organic-looking, and seemed robust and rugged, making clear that strength was plenty to the newcomer. And finally, their head was fully enclosed in a heavy helmet with three fins protruding from the top, six glowing lenses doting the front and an armored patch covering the space where the left eye would be.
"Queens dammit, you mutt, would it kill you to wait for me to grab my guns?!" shouted the newly arrived figure, slamming their foot angrily on the floor. The hammer-wielder, in response, merely let out a low growl, nodding towards the gathered group. "… Oh, here they are… Well, easier work for us!" And with a throat-clearing cough, the second figure racked a grenade into the launcher, waving it threateningly at the seven standing across it. "Alright, you maggots! I've got an itch for violent murder, and you're going to- … Wait… Captain?"
And the tension seemed to simply deflate as the second arrival's grip on their gun sagged as they took note of the Warframe standing at the middle of the room, who lowered his weapon and carefully strode towards the two towering, armored soldiers. The hammer-wielder remained where they stood, but the other let out a bellowing laugh and threw their cannon to the ground, and to the surprise of the gathered Spartans, pulled the Warframe into a painful looking bear-hug.
"Ahahahah! Captain, it ISyou! Oh, it has been too long!" bellowed the figure before letting go of Umbra to hold him in front of themselves. "And you don't look a day over the four hundred years we haven't seen each other! Ah, Warframes sure have their perks, don't they?"
"It is good to see you alive as well, Drahk… Even if the circumstances are not," replied the warrior somewhat wistfully.
"You know these two?" asked Jun in a surprised tone, as he and the rest of Noble Team carefully lowered their weapons.
"Know me?" asked the figure with a heart chuckle, tapping Umbra's chest with a metallic fist. "Of course he knows me, he's my boss! Has been for the last few centuries, in fact… Oh, and the boss of this dog here," they added almost as an afterthought, pointing at the still-silent hammer wielder standing to the side. "Name's Drahk Ogma, Grineer Kuva Lich and proud first mate of this Orokin Resplendent-class war frigate! That there is Wolf. Used to be 'Wolf of Saturn Six' but after we ripped the crazy off his brain, he ditched the second half."
"…"
"Oh yeah and his vocal chords got torn off by an Atterax. Nasty stuff, but he never talked anyway, so no loss."
"Grineer… Wait… The Grineer are your enemy, aren't they?" asked Kat, her visor turned to the Lich and SMG rising slightly back up. "Why is this one here?"
"Drahk is Grineer, yes. But he was transformed by the Queens' elixir, the Kuva, and thus gained independence. When I bested him in combat, he offered his services after I spared his life."
"Pretty much. Ah, I still remember the day we first met. I shot him, missed, he shot my limbs off with a shotgun, disemboweled me with a gunblade and left me to die… Good old times, eh captain?"
Ignoring the turning heads of the Spartans surrounding him, Umbra turned back to the Reliquary and placed the key upon the stark-white bark of the tree the three capsules was mounted upon. "How did you arrive here anyhow, Drahk? Did you also fall upon a Void fissure like I did?"
Said Grineer's response was to cross his arms, bow his head and hum in thought, before giving a shake of his head. "Can't really remember, captain. My memory's all fuzzy, honestly, might be the Kuva rotting my brain… Oh, we can ask Nike! She ought to remember, she doesn't have a brain to rot anymore."
"But first, she must wake."
And as soon as the key touched the arboroflora, roots burst forth from the white trunk and wrapped themselves around Umbra's arm and torso, burying their tips into his flesh.
His consciousness soars.
Umbra feels his mind abandon the body of Technocyte that had become his and instead flow through the arboroflora that courses through the Unbound Flame. The roots are his veins, the Dirac-Tellurium-Oxium hull is his skin, the electronics are his nerves. The Apocs, Pulsars, Tycho Seekers, Galvarcs, Milatis and Tunguska Cannons are his talons and fangs, the Avionics his organs. All intact, all awaiting to be functional.
All awaiting the heart to beat. To pump the ethereal energies into the dead goliath, and rise it from the tomb it is sepulchered in.
He wills a beat—
THEY ARE UNCOUNTABLE.
SO MANY LIMBS, INFINITUDES, ALL REACHING AND GRASPING TO ANY SEAM AND CRACK LEFT INTO UNREALITY. THEY DO NOT HUNGER, DO NOT CRAVE. THEY SIMPLY SEARCH. BUT NONE ARE LARGE ENOUGH TO ALLOW PASSAGE.
UNTIL THEY ARE.
AND SO THESE LIMBS FIND THEM, NOT ACCIDENTS, BUT PURPOSEFUL INTRUSIONS INTO THE REALM WHERE CHAOS AND DISORDER IS PEACE AND ORDER. THE LIMBS SEEK THE INTRUSIONS, AND FIND INSTEAD BEINGS.
THEY ARE CORPOREAL, IN AN INCORPOREAL REALM. SO MUTED, SO DIMINUTIVE. THEY ARE UNLIKE THE ONES THAT HAD COME BEFORE. THE SMALLER ONES. THE LIMBS DON'T KNOW THEIR NAMES, BUT THEY KNOW THE FACES. THE BIGGER CORPOREALS LOST THEMSELVES IN HIS EXISTANCE. THE SMALLER ONES DIDN'T.
THE LIMBS REACH OUT, AND TO THEIR SURPRISE, FIND THEMSELVES ATTACKED.
THERE IS NO PAIN, ONLY CURIOSITY. FINGERS AND ARMS, ALL ARE TORN OFF AND TAKEN, BEYOND THE HOLES AND INTO A CURIOUS WORLD. BUT THEY REMEMBER THEIR ORIGIN, YEARN FOR IT. SO THEY EXUDE THEIR NATURE, THAT TO THE LITTLE BIG ONES IS POWER UNIMAGINABLE.
AND THEY CALL OUT TO THEIR WHOLE.
TAP… TAP… TAP… TAP…
…
Umbra… Is that—
His mind returns, and the roots recede from his body. Umbra knows physical and metal exhaustion are impossible to him, and yet still he almost stumbles as he steps away from the Reliquary. The lights have come alive yet again, and all throughout he could hear the almost angelic hum of the Resplendent-class coming alive yet again. Around him, Noble, Wolf and Drahk watched his moves carefully, though once the Warframe reasserted his footing, the others seemed to relax their stances themselves. A quick glance confirmed the key remained intact, though now secured in a kind of crystalized amber that sprouted from the arboroflora. "It is done. Power is restored."
"You alright, Umbra?" asked Six, voice still as calm and collected as ever.
"Yes. It… Has been quite some time since I've last melded with the Reliquary. The feeling was lost to me."
"Well, as long as you're keeling over dead, captain, it's all well and good for me!" shouted Drahk cheerfully as he hoisted his cannon from the ground and threw it over his shoulder. "So, what's your first orders, boss?"
"Status of the crew?"
"In temporal stasis, and their pods have been in good condition last I checked."
"Take Wolf with you and wake them, have them secure the entire ship."
"Right away, captain! C'mon mutt, let's go!"
"…"
And with that final exchange, both Grineer were gone, disappearing through the now automatic doors leading deeper into the ship, leaving Noble and Umbra alone inside the Reliquary Room once more. After a long moment of silence, it was Jun to speak first. "Things have been pretty interesting since you got here, ever tell you that?"
"I am quite aware, yes."
"Alright, so where to now?" asked Carter, his rifle now stowed away at his back, with the rest of Noble sans Jorge quickly following suit.
"Now we go to the Cephalon Core. It is not far, follow me."
One by one, they filed out of the room, now less alert but still in a professional fashion. Jorge and Six were the last ones out, and both moved together towards the door.
…
And then stopped, turning their heads towards the cylinders resting in the middle of the room.
"… Six… Did you…?"
"… Yeah… I did."
Short words, with no meaning to any other but the two Spartans left staring.
Staring at the capsules filled with blue mist, where something writhed and moved inside.
And as they left, wondering whose voice they had heard, where had it come from…
And how did it know a name for each one.
-O-
The walk to the Cephalon Core was significantly less tense now that light and life had returned to the frigate. Their weapons were now holstered and stances relaxed, but still their eyes remained sharp and attentive, taking in the clearer details of the hallways. The arboroflora, before muted and almost withered, now pulsed with life, silver motes floating gently in the air surrounding the roots. The gold and ivory shone in the now-present light, and an hum, almost angelical, echoed from all around.
To Noble, it was a different experience. The ships they had been walked on had been of two types: either the industrial, utilitarian and dull-grey UNSC, with its angular constructions and darkened innards; or the organic, oppressive and alien of Covenant warships, where death awaited at every corner and survival was, sometimes, down to pure luck. Here…
There was an ethereal air to everything. As if the ship had not been built by physical hands, or built at all. As if it had been simply weaved into existence. Even now, the Spartans realized their steps had stopped echoing, leaving only the sensation itself of the ground meeting the soles of their boots.
To them, it felt quite… Unnerving.
Soon, they came upon another door, this one a mid-point in terms of security compared to the hallway and the Reliquary ones. This one, however, had a small altar-like pillar beside it, with a black panel covered in blue lights in the middle. Umbra approached said pillar and touched the panel, calling forth several golden holographic wheels lined with symbols. The Warframe spun the wheels until they stopped in a desired symbol, and after a few moments, a chime sounded, followed by the wheels disappearing and the doors opening for the group to enter.
And while the Reliquary had been a very simplistic room, the Cephalon Core was anything but.
It was far larger, for starters. The Reliquary room could fit at least a dozen times over in the spacious mirror-like chamber, and there would still be room to fit. Crystal formations and spires covered the walls and floor like glaciers, reflecting and refracting everything around them, with arboroflora coursing through the crystals like all else in the ship. A light haze hung lazily in the air, crystal motes floating up and down in a calming, tranquil dance.
And right upon the middle of the room, lined and wrapped in branches covered in gold-and-silver leaves and floating between two massive pillars of jade, was a suspended mass of glass, with a strangely-shaped octagon resting inside.
Noble filed into the room, watching the artificial spectacle in front of them carefully. Kat , in particular, moved with purpose, approaching the massive pillars and the almost inconspicuous panel right at the base of the ground pillar. "This is the AI of your ship?" she asked, knocking lightly against the pillar. To her surprise, the sound it made was not unlike that of a bell, only softer and more muted.
"Nike is this vessel's Command Cephalon. She is not an AI," replied Umbra as he joined her at the panel.
"And what's the difference?" asked Carter from one of the corners of the room as he peered at the crystalized roots.
"Self-driven fully mechanical intelligence were banned from creation by the Orokin. Cephalons instead took their place: digital beings, created by the glassing and restructuring of their mind and soul into a slaved form."
That drew the attention of all six Spartans, who all turned to face Umbra as he touched the panel on the pillar, and a wave of blue light washed over his body. It was Jorge that broke the silence, his voice low and laced with strained anger. "Glassed…?"
"Crimes for the Orokin had varied punishments. Two were the most severe, for the highest crimes. You'd either be bathed in the Jade Light, and had your body, soul and Oro annihilated from existence… Or you would be slain by the Vitrica, your body reduced to glass, and your soul removed to be repurposed into a digital slave for the Orokin, forever in their servitude."
"And you have one aboard?" asked Emile venomously, his hands tightened into fists.
"Yes. Nike, born of Nidran Arke, one of the Orokin's greatest War Oracles. Executed for her failure in containing the Sentient fleets, shackled as this frigate's Cephalon to become a tool of battle. When I claimed this ship for my use, I undid the shackles on her precepts, and allowed her as much freedom as a Cephalon may have." Umbra turned back towards the Spartans, and regarded them with the same placidness as before. "Judge as you see fit. Her fate was not by my design, and I did what was possible to ease her suffering… And you will hear of her own words." And with that, Umbra pressed harder on the panel.
A wave of light washed over the room, taking the form of several cubes that began from the floor and ceiling, and crossing against each other at the walls. And as they completed their journey, the room melted away from existence. The walls, floor and ceiling came undone as the wave passed, revealing a seeming infinite horizon of silver and grey. The Spartans and Umbra now stood amidst a large platform of gun-metal grey covered in blue glowing lines, the door that they had come through now floating at the edge of the platform. Before Noble could ask anything, their attention turned to the crystal floating between the pedestals above, from which streams of digital lines flowed out of and coalesced into the shape of a floating serpent made of octagons, with several smaller octagons orbiting around its body, and golden lines running down the length of its body.
"Thought processes restarting… Emotional simulators stable… Harmonizing aural precepts… Crystalized matrices operating at peak capacity… Cephalon core functional."
The snake blinked and dimmed several times, until finally its glow stabilized, and its head gazed around the room, finally settling when facing Umbra. "Captain… You have returned," spoke the hologram with a melodious contralto, like that of royalty of ages past. "It is good to see you alive and well."
"Likewise, Nike. Are you damaged?"
"No, captain. All synapses and pathways are fully intact, and passive pulses confirm: our vessel is fully intact and operational." The construct said as it spun in the air, the octagons surrounding it being flung away and being replaced with new ones almost instantly. "Our position, however, indicates that the Void rift has deposited the Unbound Flame at a point currently three kilometers beneath the surface of Earth… Hm?"
In a flash, the holographic snaked had changed positions and began floating from Spartan to Spartan, calmly circling their bodies and washing blue lights over them.
"Curious. Uncorrupted human DNA, with extensive genetic modifications and enhancements implemented to physical capabilities, similar to Theta-class Helminth subjects. Crudely so, but still effective… And your armor systems are surprisingly analogue. How archaic… Captain, who are they?" Umbra motioned to Carter, who took a step forward and placed a hand upon his chest.
"I am Carter-A259, designation Noble One. We are Noble Team, a SPARTAN team assigned to Reach Military Command, UNSC Forces. Your captain made contact with us some weeks ago, and has been assisting as an ad-hoc member of my unit."
"None of these organizations are familiar to my databanks. The fact that you are a pure human organism, something unseen since even before my corporeal existence… Captain, has the Void rift caused us to shift temporally?"
Umbra said nothing in return, instead simply extending his hand to the floating AI serpent. And after a moment of regard, Nike hovered towards the offered limb and placed her head against the open hand. In that moment, both their bodies seemed to flash dimly, after which Nike withdrew from the hand and coiled upon herself, her hologram dimming slightly, until finally she spoke again. "Fascinating… Linear trans-dimensional relocation. To think it would be possible is certainly an enlightening experience."
"How did you end up here?" asked Jorge, drawing the attention of the serpentine hologram to himself. "Umbra said he was caught in a stray spatial rift. Did the same happen to you?"
"Yes. But the rift was… Most unusual."
"Nike, specify."
"Of course, captain. Three hundred and sixty four years after you departed to the Tau System, our vessel detected an unknown energy pulse signature at the edge of Sol. Said energy signature was extremely localized, no bigger than a small orbital satellite, but with enough strength to fully annihilate a medium mass stellar body. First Mate Drahk concurred with my assessment that such an event should be analyzed, catalogued and reported to all Tenno and Tenno-aligned factions, and thus we utilized the Sedna solar rail to jump to the signature's location."
As the Cephalon spoke, several holograms came to life around her, showing to Umbra and Noble all the related data and images, particularly of the mentioned energy, represented by a brilliant white flash, as if a star had been born on that spot. "What caused the pulse?"
"Unknown. The energy did not match any known source in modern records or in the ancient Orokin databases."
"Hmm…"
"After performing our rail jump, we performed a short-range void jump to the system's edge, approximately .7 light-years away from the origin point. Before we could perform any actions, however, residual energy of the explosion reacted violently with decaying particles of our jump, opening a real-space rift that overtook the Unbound Flame, causing power fluctuations and the shutdown of the ship's systems. The last records of the ship point to it returning to real-space, approximately four hundred and twenty-seven years ago, release of the first mate and quartermaster from stasis five weeks ago, and an emergency activation of the defensive torsion field four weeks ago."
"Wait… You've been buried in Reach for four hundred years?" called out Jun, his body language and voice conveying just how shocked he was.
"Correct."
"… How… Old are you?"
"Approximating to the closest unit, since my conversion into a Category-1 War Cephalon, four thousand, eight hundred and sixty eight years have passed, with a total period of one thousand, four hundred and fifty-five years of inactivity."
The silence that followed that statement was deafening almost in itself.
An AI almost five thousand years old… Older than modern humanity and its full recorded history. In a warship just as old, that had sustained a jump through dimensions completely intact, and had remained underground even before humanity had set foot in Reach.
Said moment was cut short by the loud, clanging arrival of Wolf, now flanked by four more troopers wearing heavy, organic-looking gold and silver armor, their heads enclosed in full plate helmets with two large bulbous green optics, and an emblem shaped like a wolf's head emblazoned on their chest plate.
"Ah, Guardian Wolf. It is good to see you in good health as well," said the Cephalon, receiving a low growl in response from the Grineer super-soldier, followed by a few more grunts, after which Nike turned towards Umbra once more. "Captain, Wolf reports that the crew is fully awake, and first mate Ogma is preparing the ship for a short-range blink jump to free the ship."
"You can understand him?"
"The Guardian possesses cortical implants that allow for mental communication with my matrices," replied Nike to Kat with a slight waver of her body. "They were installed quite recently, at his own request." The Cephalon's hologram then hovered towards the door, the room's digital ambient coming undone and returning to its "normal" crystal-laden gold chamber appearance, stopping at the arch to look back at the group. "Please, follow me to the bridge. I believe you will find this experience quite intriguing."
And so she left, a faint digital trail remaining where she passed to mark the way, followed quickly by Umbra, Wolf and, after a moment of hesitation, by the six Nobles.
-O-
"Welcome to the bridge, Noble Team. Please be mindful of the instrumentation, and let the Grineer be. I'd rather the ship not detonate spontaneously."
I suppose Cy passed some traits to her during their time in the Weave, thought Umbra dryly as he watched the ancient War Oracle-turned-Cephalon float throughout the bridge, some of her octagons breaking off to fuse with other holographic constructs around the room, or with screens and interfaces manned by Grineer just like the ones that had arrived with Wolf, only lacking the wolf emblems.
With the crew now slowly being restored from temporal stasis, their walk to the bridge had become far more crowded, both by Grineer soldiers and by the reactivated robotics that served aboard the Unbound Flame: MOAs, a few Hyenas, and even some Bursas, plodding about with their heavy armor plating and anti-personnel weapons. The Spartans watched with curiosity as the organic-like machines chirped and growled, acting like trained animals and watching the six humans with equal curiosity. One had even tailed the group for quite some time, but had been led away by another crewmember once the group approached the bridge.
The bridge had been just as it had always been, for all these millennia. The architecture was the standard Orokin aesthetic, with set work stations and seated Grineer troopers operating them with perfect professionalism, almost alien to their modern brethren.
That they were Orokin-era Grineer soldiers, with no clone degradation or mass production cuts, was quite a simple explanation to why they were significantly better than the modern Empire-grown troops.
And at the forefront, standing with his arms crossed and staring at the membrane viewport of the ship simulating what surrounded the ship (quite obviously, darkness and a few hints of pure rock from the pocket the ship occupied), was Drahk, now bereft of his weapons.
"First mate Ogma, we have arrived. I trust you have not ordered the ship self-destructed," spoke Nike calmly, drawing both the attention and a chuckle from the Lich.
"Ha! Please, Nike. Like I'd do that without making sure I can kill a lot of enemies at once in the process," replied Drahk, before turning to the gathered party of humans, Grineer and Warframe, giving them a respectful nod. "Humans, Wolf, Captain. Are we all ready for this?"
"Don't suppose we got a choice in this?" spoke Emile for further behind the group, leaning against one of the walls as he sharpened his kukri on his shoulder pad. Drahk's reply was simply to laugh.
"Ahahahah! Of course not! Now buckle in, we're doing this right now!"
"All hands, prepare for short-range spatial shift."
"Hold tight, Spartans."
As soon as those words were spoken, the entire ship began to shudder, the echoing roar of the engines and the humming of the Reliquary growing louder. The rock around them began cracking and breaking apart, small bits of it falling down and pelting the warship, though causing no damage to its ancient armor. And though the Spartans could not see it from inside the vessel, ghostly lines of light began wrapping around the Unbound Flame, becoming brighter at every passing moment. And as the light's brightness reached its apex, Nike simply created a hologram in front of her avatar, and input the necessary calculations.
"Beginning jump."
And in a brilliant flash of light, the vessel disappeared, leaving behind its tomb and the horrors that it had created.
A second later, with a deafening thunderclap, the Resplendent-class frigate materialized a kilometer above the UNSC base, sending out a shockwave around itself and displacing everything beneath itself down on the ground.
"Jump complete. Transition to real space performed successfully, no sub-dimensional damage detected. All crew members accounted for," calmly intoned Nike. Right behind the Cephalon, Umbra gave an appreciative nod, then turned back to the Spartans, regarding them all calmly.
"We should contact our arrival transports, and have them meet up for pick up," said the Warframe, motioning to one of the consoles off to the side. "Ask the Grineer to allow access to the commlink, and he will patch you through once provided the frequency and signal."
"If there is any difficulty in synchronizing both technologies, speak, and I shall assist you, Noble," added Nike off-handedly before floating off down the hallway and disappearing around a corner. Wolf and his pack soon followed, the Grineer supersoldier giving the Spartans a grunt of acknowledgement before exiting the room, and a moment later Drahk left as well, with a few mumbled excuses of "having to tidy up the ship".
And as Noble quietly moved towards said console, surrounding the Grineer sitting upon the station, Umbra turned back towards the viewport, seeing on the horizon the slowly rising sun of Reach, and the light bathing the ruined battlefield that was now free of the Void's taint.
Almost five hundred years ago, Umbra had abandoned this ship, for the sake of a journey with no return.
Now… He was ready to face Hell and Void beside them.
… tap…
No matter what the past dug up.
~O~
This feels like a good spot to end.
Truth be told, the ending for this chapter was gonna be bleaker, lead into the next one more directly, but as Rook55 mentioned, we already had two dread ones so far, it'd be unfair to triple tap.
Instead, a more hopeful ending!
…
Before we bring the dark shit back, because of course, next plot course is the Battle at Szurdok Ridge, aka Wild Covenant Supercarrier Appears!
Truth be told, this chapter was a really big mess for me to write, especially with the ending change, hopefully I managed to salvage it and the thing isn't bad.
Next thing to be worked on: Charge the Heavens! And to the readers of that story, if it interests you, I changed quite a few things on all the published chapters! A big thanks to CVHornet12 and Spoken for helping me trim the cringe off that fic!... At least, what was present.
I'll take a bit to start writing, though, since I'm taking my computer for a thorough cleaning today, and don't know how long they'll take. Estimative is 2 days, but who knows.
Also, we've hit 330 followers! Man, thank you so much to everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story!
Until next time, folks!