1800 hours, September 20th, 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
Herald of Abundance, Covenant fringe territory.
Vado awoke inside his stasis capsule. Unlike the more primitive human cryogenic capsules, Covenant stasis was a curious mixture of light cryogenic storage and time-stasis technology. He opened the hatch on the capsule and stepped outside wearing his full suit of yellow Shipmaster's armor. He looked around and saw the date. He had been in stasis for just over sixteen cycles. That meant it was time to rotate the guards. It was considered bad form to spend more than four sixteen cycles in stasis, without leaving for a single day for the sake of prayer and meditation.
The other pods began opening, the Rangers stepping out of their pods, observing their surroundings. One offered Vado a salute, and the shipmaster returned it. The Rangers filed out and began about their duties. The leaders of the Rangers was a Duru' Griotee. An amicable Ranger, from a Keep on a remote colony world. One that hadn't even earned an official name. He'd made his position by providing Discovery with a remote location to test equipment.
The Ranger Major moved over, his grey armor marked with a single red shoulder pad to mark his status. "All systems operational while you slumbered, Shipmaster." He crossed his arms before his chest, tapping it three times. One for faith, one for service, one for honor. Or one for the trinity of gods, if he followed that particular faith.
"Excellent. Feast in the hall, and reward all who remained awake with a glass of wine, or an infusion tablet. Their choice."
The Major nodded and began moving towards the feasting hall, with Vado following.
The intercom activated, and a soft voice as smooth as velvet spoke across it. "Shipmaster, Vellana here. Helium is getting excited about something, but I can not say what it is yet. But I felt you should know."
"Understood."
Vado entered the feasting hall, seeing the awakening crew sitting down on ceremonial rugs, each with a bowl of warm stew, and a canteen of water.
The Rangers talked amicably with each other, boasting of conquests, both flesh and martial, sharing stories of conflicts on their homeworld, or of wooing maidens with great deeds of valor. One shared a particularly lurid tale about being the only male in a Keep after a disastrous war, and being sent away, if only to prevent inbreeding.
Duru was sharing pictures of his son, freshly initiated into the warrior creche of his world. The photo showed a young Sangheili boy, barely of age, holding a large chunk of bone over his head. "When I left, my youngest son returned from a hunt for a great Kraken. On my homeworld, all children who came of age in the same solar cycle head out on longships to hunt a mighty beast. They must return with a piece of bone, that they give to their father, to mark them as full adults." Duru reached for a necklace, showing twenty such bones, and grinned. "It is a good thing indeed to be the only warrior in a keep. Hah!" He slammed a fist down on the ground, the other Sangheili around him, raising fists and thumping their chests.
"Your world lets sons know their fathers?" The Evocatus asked, moving over next to the rangers and sitting down. Vado was sure that the Ultra would finally remove his helmet, only for him to merely detach the bottom portion of it, and begin eating the stew. "Isn't that a breeding ground for Nepotism? On Sanghelios, we are raised in common rooms and never know our fathers. We are all raised equal."
Duru shook his head. "We're a small world. Such a system is unfeasible for now. We might adopt it someday. But for now, I believe it works well enough. Do you have children, Evocatus?"
"I have fathered many with the women of my keep. But I know none of my children."
Vado moved to the gallery and took a bowl of soup from the Ranger standing in the kitchen. A proper field cook was a real asset to any Sangheili force, and as respected as any leader. Although, not officially. He took a bowl and nodded in respect to the Sangheili, who was still in full ranger armor, albeit armed with spoon and cooking pot.
Yapyap and Sek were both playing cards with each other, with a curious Ranger joining in, looking mighty confused at what he was doing. They were gambling over what looked like infusion tablets, Vado noted. Evidently these Rangers didn't look down on recreation in such a way.
Vado sat down and put the bowl before him, but just before he could dig in, his helmet chimed. He was receiving a message. He put his helmet back on, a message projected onto his retina.
"Come to the bridge. We found something -Vellana." He'd have to remind Vellana of proper signaling etiquette at some point.
He checked to see if nobody was looking, then held back his head and poured the soup down his throat in one massive gulp, then quickly went to the bridge. Nobody deprives Vado of his breakfast, not even a San'Shyuum.
When he reached the bridge, Vellana and Helium were both looking over a large holographic image of a nearby gas giant. There was a sizeable glowing dot, marked with the forerunner glyph for "Unknown." Vado walked up to look at what they had found, but could not discern anything. "Why did you call for me?"
Vellana tapped in some runes, zooming in on the object around the gas giant. "We found a ship adrift in the gas giant of the system."
"What kind of ship are we dealing with?" Vado asked.
"Unknown. Its design pattern does not match any known ships. We might be dealing with a new species. It is small, however, barely any bigger than our own."
"Excellent!" Vado exclaimed, slamming a fist into an open palm. "More adherents for the faith. Tell me more."
Vellana paused, looking at Helium as the Huragok made a series of gestures and high-pressure whistles. The prelate nodded at each movement, craning her head, and making hand signals back. After a short but frantic conversation, she turned to Vado. "Unknown, but it uses technology akin to what the Citadel uses. Shall we place a beacon, and inform Discovery. Or do you want to examine it?"
"You disturbed my breakfast. Let us see what this ship has to hide." Vado said.
-
Ten minutes later.
With the herald moved into docking range, it was time to examine what they had found. Vado stepped out into the airlock, followed by Vellana, Sek, Yapyap, the Ultra, and the Rangers who had just woken up from their stasis capsules. Duru and the others were at the ready but remained aboard the Herald.
"Clear the airlock," Vado said.
There was a sharp hiss, and the outer airlock opened. Vado hopped out into the black void of space, his thruster pack propelling him closer to the unknown ship. Its design looked organic, but its construction was, without a doubt, metallic. This design intrigued him, for reasons he couldn't quite find out. He hovered close to the hull, moving towards what looked like an airlock.
"Bring in the entry kit." He said over his radio, motioning for the Rangers.
One of the Rangers was carrying a sizeable metallic case, which he opened and took a large piece of blue plastic from it. Upon removal from the case, the plastic immediately unfolded into an emergency airlock, which the rangers began moving into place against the existing airlock of the ship.
One of the rangers examined the magnetic seals of the airlock, then applied adhesive paste to secure the connection. After checking the seal and giving a hand signal, one of the rangers opened a panel on the side of the emergency airlock, and attached oxygen tanks to it. After checking the seal, the Ranger opened the valves on each container. Vado opened the airlock and floated inside. He was followed by everyone, except for two rangers that guarded the entrance. The ship did not have artificial gravity, which could make exploration more difficult.
The door closed behind them, and the air began to equalize.
Vado took a fusion torch offered to him by a Ranger and began cutting the existing airlock open. Two rangers grabbed his legs with one hand, then a handhold with the other, so he wouldn't be pushed away by his tool. He drew a perfect circle, as he'd learned in his calligraphy classes as a young child, then pushed onto the metal. There was a brief rush of air as the atmospheres equalized.
Vado's helmet lights activated, and he floated through the hole he had created, moving the former airlock out of the way and into a position they could always retrieve it so they could re-seal the ship.
The first thing he saw was bodies. There had to be hundreds of mummified skeletons of some insectoid race, all having collapsed in positions of what looked like peace? None of the corpses seemed to be fighting or trying to do something about their lack of air. They all looked at peace with their state.
Vado didn't know whether to respect or be disgusted by such actions. Either respectfully accepting the end, or refusing to fight to the bitter end. He put it aside as he moved through the ship, looking for anything worth his time.
"Sek. Find something worth salvaging." Vado ordered.
"On it, boss!" The T'vaoan said and hovered past, his pressure suit's thruster pack letting him move with ease through the ship. The needle-rifle in his hands was scoping out the area. Vado made hand signals to order two of the Rangers to follow.
"Rangers, Yapyap, guard the entrance. Evocatus, Vellana, with me. I want to see if there is anything out of the ordinary about this ship."
Vellana nodded, lighting her energy lance and moving forward, her gravity belt and thruster pack, as well as augmented brain, letting her move through zero-gravity as if she had been born in it. Then again, many San'Shyuum -were- born in Zero-G to relieve pressure upon the mothers.
The Ultra merely grunted in annoyance and moved ahead.
As they moved through the ship, they continued to pass through the same sights they had seen before — mummified remains and decaying electronics. Vado did not care particularly about the bodies but felt he should complete at least a routine examination of the ship.
They entered the cargo hold, but unlike the rest of the ship, this one was devoid of bodies. All that the chamber contained was a single large cylindrical storage device. Vado leaped down into the cargo bay and moved towards the container. Vellana and the Evocatus followed. He hovered close to the container, and rubbed some dust from it, noting it was see-through. Inside there was a large egg, surrounded by a shimmering blue field.
He looked over his shoulder at Vellana, who leaned forward to watch as well. Her body language was changing to match her surprise. She activated the hard light sleeve on her right arm, and examined the pod. "Power supply will last another century. Life signs strong. Fully vacuum sealed. Whoever made this had exceptional engineering."
"Prelate. Which Covenant law would apply to this situation? I am inclined to report this to Discovery. But this is a new species. Who do we inform?"
Vellana thought it over for a second. "All new species are to be reported to the Ministry of Conversion without exception. Failure to do so is punishable by castration to full removal of the degenerate bloodline." She paused for a moment. "We should mark this location, and inform Discovery. He can put this through to the proper ecclesiastical authorities."
Vado nodded. "I defer to your expertise. Plant a beacon, and report this to Discovery. He will know what to do. Then we'll continue on our way."
He put a hand on the side of the container. "May your slumber be sweet, young one. Your salvation has arrived." He told the egg.
-
1830 hours
Covenant Sector FA-1562-IT-S Supercarrier Sublime Transcendance.
Another patrol.
Fleet Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree stood on the bridge of his ship, arms crossed behind his back. A skeleton crew was at their stations, working to keep the Supercarrier Sublime Transcendence operation. The city-sized ship took constant, careful adjustments to stay operation, with everything from sanitation to the food supply requiring as much maintenance as an entire CCS-class Battlecruiser. Sublime Transcendence had tribes of Unggoy who had never been beyond their section of the ship, all living in the same part their tribes bred. He had enough Huragok aboard his ship to supply a ship, and the Transcendence still needed constant maintenance.
He had been the greatest Sangheili Admiral in a thousand years, crushing a dozen warlords within his first decade of service, and bringing the northern fringes of the Covenant Empire to heel. He'd broken the Yonhet and brought them into the Covenant by force when they refused to acknowledge the faith. A rebellions crushed merely at the prospect of his arrival. With energy sword and plasma pistol, he'd personally slain a rogue Yanme'e queen that had attempted to launch a rebellion in the Southern parts of the Covenant Empire, using twisted hybrid abominations of Yanme'e and thinking machines.
And he was patrolling for pirates.
Xytan's rage burned in his chest. His assignment to the frontiers was an exile, nothing less. His crime had been his success, his faith in the gods, and the love and devotion the Sangheili gave him. The Hierarchs had felt threatened by him, and they had cast him out to the frontiers. Too afraid to make him an Arbiter like other Sangheili before him.
They were right to fear him. If anyone had attempted to make Xytan an arbiter, they would not have lived to tell the tale.
Xytan knew much of the Covenant and the Sangheili. He knew the secrets that were only spoken of in hushed whispers by the sages of the remotest keeps of Sanghelios. Where they spoke openly of the origin of their race, and the war with the San'Shyuum. How what was once heresy -the dismantling of forerunner artifacts for study- became accepted practice when the Sangheili signed the Writ of Union. Knowledge of this event was only known to scholars that risked their lives to record this history — and known to only a few. But Xytan had known when his uncle had told him the secret tales.
There was a sickness in the Covenant, Xytan thought to himself, one he sometimes wondered if he was the only one to see it. The only one who knew of its true extent. He knew how the Sangheili had had their greatness stripped from them. -They- should be the dominant people of the galaxy — not a Covenant of priests and bureaucrats, but one of the skilled warriors that made it possible.
But he knew better than to speak those words. He had to be careful not to give the Hierarchs an excuse to move against him.
Word had already filtered into his fleet about this "Citadel Council" and how they had allied with the humans. Of the crushing defeats suffered by the Covenant. How the Ministries had been ordered by the Hierarchs to disperse and guard the frontiers, with Sangheili asked to raise larger defensive forces.
It was disgraceful. The full force of the Covenant should have marched to face the humans and their new allies in combat, not wait for the enemy to strike first. It was just more of the machinations of Truth and that blind old fool Mercy. At least Regret had martial spirit and carried a sidearm. Xytan had once seen Regret gun down a San'shyuum acolyte for misspelling a forerunner glyph. At least one Hierarch had some martial spirit.
He waited for the call to action, to be asked to lead his fleet.
The Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose was an anachronism. It was a fleet dedicated purely to border defense and pirate raiding, but not part of the Ministry of Resolution, the one devoted to anti-piracy efforts.
No, the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose was a glorified penal colony. A place where the highest-ranking Sangheili would be assigned if they started asking too many questions. One that the Prophets could easily pick from for Arbiter candidates if need be.
The thought made his mandibles bristle with rage. He was a true believer in the faith of the gods. But he'd lived far too long, and seen far too much corruption ever to believe all the San'Shyuum had the best intentions for the Covenant, let alone the Sangheili. One day this would come to heed, and he would be ready for it.
The metallic frame that forced his back to always be in a stiff upright pose was starting to become uncomfortable, even if he did not show it. His status as the demigod like Imperial Admiral was primarily his own making. Careful choice of dress, posture, and wearing platform soles that made him just a tiny bit bigger than he usually was. He was the Imperial Admiral, the paradigm of all things Sangheili, and he carefully cultivated this view. He often wouldn't require such things, but even a moment of laxity could break the facade.
The Gauntlet on Xytan's left arm carefully times sonic-frequency to his inner ear, so only he would hear the message.
"Seven"
Xytan's armor was the most exceptional Sangheili harness in the Covenant, covered in purest silver, and engraved with Forerunner glyphs of myriad meanings, all of which told the story of his life when read in the right order. It was inlaid with solid gold, molten down from the heathen statues of a dozen fringe-world faiths that had been declared heretical. It was not his ceremonial dress, but it suited him for when he commanded his Supercarrier. For important meetings, he had beautiful robes, solid golden armor inlaid with a thousand gemstones, and helmet large enough that it could function as a throne for a Jackal although Xytan would skin any Jackal who even joked about such a thing.
Not seeing anything that required his attention, Xytan walked off the bridge and headed to his room.
It was a small ascetic room, with a single bed large enough for his massive frame, a desk, and a rack that could contain two dozen high-capacity datapads.
It was also the heart of a widespread network of spies and inquisitors, one that permeated most levels of Covenant society. His way of keeping tabs on the Covenant as a whole. He grabbed the third panel on the fourth row, and activated it, placing his thumb on the hidden scanner.
It was a message from his agent aboard the Fleet of Particular Justice. The fleet the one engaged with the Humans, and their new allies.
"Truth is lying about the humans and their allies. They are supremely formidable, and a real threat. Truth knows and is sabotaging the war effort." There was a pause of one cycle before another message. "Truth is ordering more high-risk attacks upon human targets. Several generals dead. Nobody is asking questions. Anyone who does so sent on a suicide mission. There is grumbling in private about the war."
Xytan thought it over.
Something was going on, something of which he could not find the source. But it was starting to grate slowly at the Imperial Admiral. His bond was to the Covenant, yes. But not to the San'Shyuum. And certainly not to those who'd cast him out on penal duty.
He replied, sending a message that would be passed around between agents and intermediaries before being sent on its way. Xytan had spent too long preparing his network of agents for this. "Monthly pings. Bi-monthly updates. Blood of your ancestors be with you."
He leaned back into his chair, thinking over the progress he had made so far. Everything so far had been built towards one goal. His agents in most major fleets, the way he'd carefully cultivated an image, a network of friends and allies throughout the San'shyuum and Sangheili hierarchy, they were all in preparation for what was to come. Something was going to happen to the Covenant. He could feel it in his bones. Many Sangheili did, although few states so out loud. Centuries of political influence, red tape, and bureaucracy were all starting to pile up. He was worried a new age of strife was inevitable. But when it did, he would be ready.