*****AOMNH: Every Story has a Beginning*****
AN: Hello prospective reader! I'm glad you decided to check out my story here, and I hope you like what I've made so far. Now to cover a few things before we begin.
Just in case the description didn't make it clear: Reapers, in this story, do not originate from the Milky Way. Anything related to ME/Reaper tech will be covered as it becomes a topic in future chapters. Please keep in mind my knowledge of Halo is fairly limited to what I remember and read on Fandom and sites like it, as I haven't read any of the books and it's been several years since I've played the games; but I'll try to ensure there aren't any serious discrepancies in regards to Halo lore, weapons, ships, etc., wherever I can. For those that want to know: this is, in a way, an alternate ending of the prologue to my main fic, The Broken Reaper.
Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy reading! Constructive criticism, honest questions, nice comments, heck, I'll even accept flames if and when they happen; all are welcome, and I can't wait to see what you all think of this.
Pain. Indescribable, mind-shattering pain. That was the last recorded thought in the Reaper's memory banks before it was sent outside of the solar system it previously occupied; floating through the empty void of space for untold eons. In time it would drift outside the galaxy, and eventually it would go past several other celestial bodies akin to, yet vastly different from it's birthplace.
On and on it went, so close to true death, but never quite there; traveling through the vast sea of black that spans the majority of the universe, when at long last it finally ended: the mostly deactivated vessel entering a new home, this one made from arms of light in a similar manner to the one it left.
For many years, it drifted along in this new sector of light amidst the nigh endless darkness of space; for all intents and purposes just an unimportant speck of dust compared to the surrounding stars. During it's journey, a wave of cleansing energy passed through it; something that in the future would be considered an ascendance to godhood by some, and a weapon of extinction by others. But that energy reacted strangely to the disabled Reaper; as it was built to annihilate all life, and the vessel was partially comprised of those formerly living.
Rather than disappear into dust as intended, the pulse washed over the semi-living machine, and what was left of that truly ancient vessel lost all semblance of it's former self; everything tying it to the past erased from existence. A subsystem containing the original mind belonging to the Reaper fizzled and died; effectively killing the sleeping intelligence and leaving the vessel as an ironic husk of it's former self, with a deceptively simple adaptive program as the only thing left behind from this purge of it's systems; the artificial creation forced into a period of digital slumber alongside it's previous master, and due to the damage sustained, lacking the memory of it's original purpose.
After several more millennia passed, it finally traveled near enough to an object to be held by it; orbiting it like a moon would a planet. Yet this object was no mere planet; the name that belonged to the unnatural construction and it's accompanying stations something that in the not-so-distant future would strike both fear and awe in the hearts of billions, and would be the location of a short yet bloody campaign between two opposing forces of a decades long war; except a third force would intrude upon their conflict, to the detriment of all involved.
It's name…was Halo.
September 19th, 2552, UNSC Pillar of Autumn.
The warship could be seen leaving slipspace, exiting from the telltale blue-white portal created by the only known form of faster than light. The ship's captain, a man that was a hero in his own right at this point in the war, asked the resident AI a question as he examined the view provided by the bridge windows. "Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them?"
A holo-emitter lit up; showing a glowing purple-blue woman with short hair and her arms crossed over her chest. She was by no means a normal woman though, being the most advanced artificial intelligence created by the UNSC up to this point. "I think we both know the answer to that."
Captain Jacob Keyes sighed tiredly, already knowing what their odds were of continued survival when faced with the forces in front of them. "We made a blind jump. How did they-"
"Get here first? The Covenant ships have always been faster. As for tracking us all the way from Reach...at light speed, my maneuvering options were limited." she interrupted, answering the question before he could even ask it. That's a smart AI for you, I guess. Always trying to prove they're two steps ahead of everyone else; or maybe it's just her that's like that….
He paused to examine the bridge crew, proud of the men and women around him that managed to carry out their duties flawlessly, eventually saying more. "We were running dark, yes?"
"Until we decelerated, no one could have missed the-" she paused and seemed to be distracted for the barest of seconds, worrying him greatly considering he knew precisely how fast an AI of her caliber can process information, before her 'eyes' widened significantly. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she focused back on him with an utterly bewildered expression. "You're going to want to see this."
He raised an eyebrow but nodded, waiting for her to project it for him as she gestured to the window he had previously looked out from. It took a second or two for whatever she was seeing to project itself onto the now opaque glass, and when it did, his jaw slowly inched downward in shock as the scene played out. What the hell….
The Covenant forces that were in the distance were shown magnified on the 'screen' in front of him, and rather than heading for the Autumn like he expected, two halves of the fleet were engaging each other with pulse lasers, plasma cannons, plasma torpedoes; he could even see one of the larger ships cut in half by a glassing beam while he watched. If it wasn't for the absolutely unheard of event of the Covenant massacring their own forces rather than humans, he might've even cheered when he saw two CCS-class battlecruisers wiped out in a volley of plasma rounds from a CAS-class assault carrier; most likely the flagship for whoever was in charge. He idly noted the carrier was a Kerel pattern, being one of the most powerful for it's class; meaning that the admiral, or possibly fleet master depending on the race, in command of the fleet was most likely one of their best, much to his chagrin.
He, along with the rest of the bridge crew, continued watching the battle unfold between the Covenant forces in various degrees of wonder and fear; even Cortana speechless at what was happening. After another half-hour of fighting, during which he ordered everyone onboard the ship to Combat Alert Alpha and woke up a rather special super soldier from cryosleep, the now significantly smaller half of the alien battlegroup escaped into multiple slipspace ruptures.
Captain Keyes readied for the remaining half to advance on his lone ship now that their internal battle was finished, having navigation ready a random jump in case the alien warships decided to target the lone human vessel now that they no longer had each other to shoot at. He maneuvered the ship as far away from the fight as possible in the time given to them, and tried not to go anywhere near the massive ring that the fleet was apparently guarding.
"Cortana, you have any idea what just happened?" he asked, even more cautious now that the fighting had stopped.
"I have no idea, sir. But if I had to guess, it might have something to do with that odd vessel they have positioned at the rear of the fleet." She followed it up by showing what she meant: the image of a strange, comparatively mid-sized, cuttlefish-like vessel behind the remaining warships, and she then played clips of several smaller Covenant ships taking plasma rounds or torpedoes headed in the direction of the unknown; the larger vessels in the fleet surrounding it like a wall of devastating firepower, metal, and shields.
"Well that's...weird." he said, not able to come up with anything else.
"If you think that, then get a load of this: we're being hailed."
"Wait, so there are UNSC assets in the area?" he asked, thinking it was highly unlikely.
"I never said it was a human hailing us, sir." she replied with a bit of sarcasm, possibly mixed with surprise from what he could tell. He looked at her 'body' and raised an eyebrow, eventually followed by both eyebrows as he put two and two together.
"Don't tell me…." he said in disbelief.
"Yup. I have one 'honorable Fleet Master Thavu 'Zanomee' on the other end requesting to speak to the 'shipmaster of our inelegant vessel'. Real charmer, this one." the way she did air-quotes while she talked would normally have amused him, but he was too busy trying to figure out why a Sangheili would even acknowledge him as anything other than a 'heretic' or 'devil' to notice her antics.
"Is it a possible attempt at hacking into our systems?"
"Please, sir, you don't give me enough credit. I've gone through the transmission we're receiving 96 times in the past two-and-a-half seconds; it's on the level. Want me to patch them through?"
He looked out the window one more time, noticing the significant fleet just sitting there and licking their wounds, not a single gun pointing his direction. To say it confused him to not be getting shot at by the enemy of mankind while they were a sitting duck all on their own and surrounded by aliens was an understatement. *sigh* I can already tell this isn't going to end well. If I leave, the covies get whatever that…ring is; and for all I know, it could be something as simple as an incredibly advanced space station, or a galaxy ending threat. If I stay, there's a very good chance none of us make it out of here alive. Either way, we need more intel as to just what it is before a decision can be reached, and I don't doubt for a moment that if I try anything they'll turn the Autumn into scrap without a second thought. But why would they be fighting each other? And why try talking to us instead of shooting us on sight? There're just too many unknowns here.
He frowned as that last thought went through his mind and took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to go through with. "Alright, do it."
She nodded before doing as ordered, and the next thing he saw on the window was the face of a Sangheili in shining golden armor; almost ceremonial in appearance, although Jacob was more than experienced enough to know how much looks could be deceiving in relation to Covenant tech. When he examined the Elite's face, he noticed something very peculiar about his (at least the captain assumed it was a he) eyes: they seemed to be artificial in nature, and glowing a bright blue. If that wasn't enough, there were veins of the same glowing blue cybernetics shooting out from his eyes as well; spider-webbing over the small portion of his face that wasn't covered in armor.
When the Fleet Master spoke, it was in the deep-yet-smooth baritone normally associated with his species; when they weren't roaring a challenge to any and all enemy forces in front of them that is, which typically consisted of humans as of late. "Greetings, shipmaster. I am Thavu 'Zonomee, Fleet Master of the recently rechristened Fleet of the Living Deity."
Jacob took one final breath through his nose and let it out; understanding that, if anything, the alien shown onscreen was being unnaturally polite given how most others he'd met over the coms like this did so just to call him an 'unholy menace' or worse by this point. Oddly enough, this worried him even more; but he steeled himself in time to respond to the greeting. "I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. To what do I owe the pleasure?" the second sentence came off more aggressively than he intended, but if the Sangheili noticed he didn't show it.
"My God has given me the task of protecting His holy vessel until it has been fully repaired. If you wish to know about those other ships, I have been allowed by Him to inform you of their purpose. The explanation is quite simple: they were sent to reinforce our position above the Halo. While they traveled here, one of the shipmasters in my battlegroup discovered the resting body of our new deity and awoke Him from His slumber. At first I ordered them detained to be tried as heretics, but once I thoroughly examined His vessel myself, word of His magnificence quickly spread among the rest of my fleet, and now we serve Him. When I explained that to the reinforcements, the ignorant fools labeled me a heretic rather than seeing for themselves the majesty of His being as I had done; which led to the battle for supremacy that you just witnessed the final moments of. A pity that I couldn't convince those shipmasters of the righteousness of our new god over the long dead Forerunners, as each officer lost was an honorable Sangheili worthy of song that fought until the end; but what's done can no longer be undone." The man paused, apparently lost in thought for a moment, and Jacob did his best to try and decipher what was just told to him.
Hold up: so they found a living Forerunner? Or did they find something besides a Forerunner and convert to whatever belief the being told them to follow? And what's a Halo supposed to be anyway? That massive ring perhaps? If the Covenant sent a fleet of this size to guard it, and still decided to send in more reinforcements to back them up….whatever it is, it can't be good.
While his thoughts were traveling a mile a minute, with Cortana's going at the speed of light in a quite literal sense, the Fleet Master focused back on the present. "That brings me to why I sought a conversation with you, Shipmaster Keyes. My God wishes to speak with you; He noticed the presence of a powerful construct aboard your vessel, and expressed interest in meeting both it as well as a Human for the first time." 'Zanomee finished with a tone of near fanatical reverence, and it was only then Jacob understood what he'd been saying; his eyes widening when he registered that something was able to detect Cortana aboard the ship.
"Wait, exactly what is your 'god'? An AI?" said artificial woman chimed in, voicing his own concerns in the process. The Sangheili looked like he didn't mind being asked such a thing by her, though if Jacob had to guess, his mandibles spread into some facsimile of a grin.
"Far more than that, construct. Far more. His glorious visage is something to behold, not that a mere mortal such as myself could properly portray that. In all my years of worshipping the Forerunners, only He has stirred my soul to such an extent; something that not even a thousand sermons from a hundred different San'shyuum has managed in all that time..." he trailed off again, seeming to look off into the distance in awe. Among the humans and sole AI scattered around the Autumn's bridge, one thought was universally shared at that moment: 'He's a cultist that found a new religion.'
While Captain Keyes had experience with fanatics to be sure, with those of the alien variety only being the most recent in his many years of serving the UNSC, there was something different that he noticed in the artificial eyes of his counterpart: someone speaking with first-hand experience. This was further compounded when Cortana sent him an image via his neural lace; it attached to an intelligence report ONI had on the fleetmaster, as they tended to keep track of any known Covenant commanders wherever possible; and what he saw confirmed it.
The eyes belonging to the man in the picture were a vivid green-gold rather than an almost pale bright blue, even though the rest of the face matched up, bar the cybernetics of course; and unless the Covenant could no longer replace lost body parts with cloned versions of them, then whatever this 'god' was, the alterations made to the Elite proved it was real enough in the physical sense. Some unknown alien race that managed to achieve technology of a higher level than the Forerunner's own? Doubtful; they'd have conquered most if not all of known space by now if that was true. A rampant Forerunner AI? Also doubtful; 'Zanomee went out of his way to show clear disdain for his government's own gods, which include their AI, and I doubt that if it was rampant, it would be capable of communicating with anyone without trying to kill them in one way or another. What could it be then?
As it turned out, he realized there was a simple way to receive an answer: simply ask. "You said it-er, he, wanted to talk to us. Is he available now?"
'Zanomee scoffed, not mocking him, but rather like he asked a question with an obvious answer. "He is always available, unlike the arrogant Forerunners that have ignored their follower's prayers for a millennia. Please wait a moment; I shall transfer you over to His channel."
Jacob nodded, and silently motioned for the audio from their end to be muted for a moment while the alien admiral was distracted. "Cortana, no matter what it is, I want you to make sure it can't come anywhere near our vital systems; understood? If it tries to breach your firewalls, you have permission to run your cyber-warfare suite accordingly. If necessary, shut down the power to the bridge until we can be sure it's contained and/or purged."
"Will do, Captain." she replied, wholly serious at the moment. He unmuted his end of the call, just in time for the Sangheili to look back up at him.
"It is done. A pleasure meeting you, Shipmaster."
Rather than correct him, he went along with it like the first time, and responded. "Likewise, Fleet Master."
The screen cut to black for a second, and he held his breath in anticipation. What greeted him when it turned back on was….not what he expected, to put it mildly. But if one thing could be said about whatever it was on the other end, it was that they knew how to impress.
At least we know why they think he's a god….nothing quite like effortlessly floating in midair and having your entire body literally glowing like it's a Christmas tree when you're talking to a religious zealot.
So, penny for your thoughts? Let me know where you think I can improve, or even if you have ideas for where this could go; because if I'm being honest, I only have a vague idea myself.
If all goes well, this should be updated fairly regularly; with the chapters being relatively short to allow a semi-constant schedule of at least one every other month at minimum (unless something changes in my personal life, of course) to be maintained. Sorry if you like them longer or faster, but in the end, I'm going to have a whole lot more fics to work on soon enough if I go through with my current plans, so I simply won't have the time to pump out 10k or 12k monsters for this like I occasionally do for TBR; with 5k probably being on the upper end of chapter length for this and the other stories I have in the works.
As I always say at the end of a chapter, and considering this is technically the first time I'm doing it for this fic: I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!