Into the Storm

Lesser Ark, Unidentified Mountain Pass

97,445 BCE

I underestimated the distance. Really underestimated it.

The measured distance for the facility did not factor in the terrain. Smooth and undisturbed patches of ground gave away to a deep crevasses without any sign of warning. Many times I narrowly escaped falling down, only being saved by machine reaction times and reflex.

It became evidently very quickly that the builders had not designed the area with walking in mind. Around halfway through it started to snow heavily.

The monotonous chore of checking for unstable areas wore on me quickly. Not too long after I started to make my way outwards, I discovered that there was little to no topographic information on the land around the central control room. The other Ancillas didn't help either. All I was told, was that the region was prone to snow storms and freezing temperatures. Understatement of the year

Things could be worse, like being stuck in the vacuum of space. Subzero temperatures had nothing when compared to space. And while having a consistently forming layer of wet snow was exasperating, there was barely any drain on the armor's life support systems.

Low power equals an unhappy Ancilla.

I stopped on occasion to recheck my route and the weather configuration. After ensuring everything was satisfactory, I continued on. Some particularly beautiful views revealed themselves from time to time, but I mostly saw snow, piles of it.

The heavy snowing turned into a roaring blizzard, leaving me completely reliant on semi functional sensors. My earlier foray in the debris field had ended up damaging the armor.

A few more hours passed and at long last, I saw the faint contours of the facility.

The 'facility', if it could even be called one, was a relatively compact maintenance structure. Specializing in all sorts of things related to repairing damaged substations. A short uninteresting conversation with the automated onsite systems showed a small crewed compartment inside.

Shaking off as much snow as possible, I made a run for the entrance.

(^*^*^*^*^*^)

The door slammed shut as soon as I was inside, cutting off the noise of the howling wind.

Almost immediately the snow covering the outside of the armor began to melt. Many new things came to my attention, the most notable being a pleasant increase in ambient temperature.

I was in a small control hub, displays were scattered on one side while containers were neatly packed together on the other.

The walking was over. Now I needed to find a way to repair the armor.

Time to list some things out.

Location? Upkeep Station L1967

Structure? Two rooms, one accessible for personnel and the other for automation.

Refit capabilities for personal armor? Err… no?

Did Chakas give me the wrong location?

I accessed the onsite systems again. Nothing related to armor was in referenced in the system search I preformed. Maybe I just need to use a more broad search term?

My modified request turned up nothing.

Did I just march 17 miles to come up with nothing?..

Chakas may have just made a mistake. But monitors couldn't make mistakes. They were designed and built to be flawless. So it couldn't be a error.

Was there something here that I could use then?

Automated construction and maintenance docks for Sentinels and other miscellaneous drones. Material fabricators.. Rapid drone replenishment system.

Wait a minute.

A Rapid drone replenishment system?

The system defined it as a fast method of restocking and recharging Sentinels for short notices. Recharging.

It sounds insane, and it probably is. But in theory, I could divert the energy directly into the armor's reserves. This did not come without risks however, risks relating to power overloads and fatal malfunctions.

Enduring is going to scold me to hell for doing this. But what other choice do I have?

A simple reconfiguration of one of drone replenishment units should do. Then I would need to place an arm close enough to one of the energy transceivers. I approximated less than a second for the process to be completed. If I remained in contact with it any longer than a second, a fatal end waited for me and Enduring.

Once this was over, Chakas and I would be having a nice chat concerning potentially fatal power fluctuations.

I moved through the control hub to the other room. The hum of machinery seemed to fill the air of the cramped room. Structural beams crisscrossed the room. Mechanical manipulator arms and various contraptions were arranged in close proximity.

Amongst the mess I was able to spot it: a discrete cube like frame with glowing internals. As I accessed the unit and reconfigured it, I got some second thoughts. What if this actually kills me?

Dying to electrocution seems like an awful way to go.

I thought about it some more.

But then again, freezing up outside is worse.

Is it better to go quickly or slowly?

I needed to act before hesitation could stop me.

Nothing hard, just stick an arm close to the frame and pull away.

Milliseconds to spare.

Here goes no-

Everything bursted into incomprehensible light, and darkened simultaneously. Pain and numbness, but mostly pain.

Every thought I had was sliced apart. In my moment of shock, I maintained contact.

Need… to.. remo-

One last desperate thought, and I collapsed to the floor.

(^*^*^*^*^*^)

Critical System Failure

Extreme Power Fluctuation

Designation 12-358 - #*#*#

System Corruption Detected

Initiating Recovery

…

…

All I could hear was an unending chorus of ringing and a thumping sensation.

I felt feverish, overheated, as if I had gone through an inferno. Kind of like Bornstellar..

My entire body ached badly. Everything around me resembled dark blurry shapes.

In the vast emptiness that I seemed to be centered in, I heard faint voices.

The far off voices slowly grew in volume, and soon I was able to decipher what was being said, despite the droning ringing.

"Please just do something else for the time being."

"..I don't have enough time. You know how things are these days."

"It'll take your mind off for a little. This isn't healthy."

"I never said it was."

"…"

"….Alright.. next week then?"

"Sure thing. And uh.. I'll be there, for the funeral."

"Yeah."

"Sorry.."

"It's fine."

"This whole thing must be-"

"I said its fine. Look.. next week okay?"

"..Alright."

Some more was said, however the voices lowered until I was no longer able to hear them properly. Everything after that was an incomprehensible mass of noise and an unending void.

I thought of what I heard, and found that whatever thoughts I could conjure, quickly dissipated into nothing. Something amounting to dread took its roots within me. No matter what I did, nothing mattered. I was insignificant, a small speck struggling to survive, to exist.

The ringing increased steadily in pitch, drowning out the pounding I felt.

The previously uncomfortable temperature increased to an unbearable scorching.

A cool 'wind' swept around me, a soundless breeze.

And it was over.

Recovery.. Successful

Ancilla Designation 12-358

Assigned to Enduring Passage

Power Fluctuation Rerouted

System Ready

…

(^*^*^*^*^*^)

I'm alive.

Wait I'm actually alive?

Pitch black darkness. The only color that I could see.

Probably due to internal damage caused by the overload.

I was on the floor, again, and in a small room too. This kind of reminded me of a similar awakening not too long ago. Only this time I was completely responsible. I attempted to access the armor's external sensors, only to find.. nothing.

The power surge really screwed things up. The majority of the internal systems were non responsive, more victims of power overloads.

Fortunately, the energy reserves were refilled, so not everything was going horribly astray.

I tried to sit up, and promptly failed. My poor effort at recharging the armor may have broken more than just the sensors. No movement, no vision. Just freaking great.

Without a way to move around, the only option left was Enduring, assuming he was still alive.

I carefully increased the power supply for the life support system. During stasis the system had switched to a low energy consumption mode. Slow and steady..

By some measure of luck, the life support system managed to survive relatively unscathed. It might stay that way, unless a particularly clumsy Ancilla happened to overload it by accident.

I waited.

And waited some more.

..Yeah he's dead.

"..I'm dead?"

The relief I experienced at hearing his mental voice left me stumbling to formulate an acceptable response.

I was relieved.

"Oh uh.. hello."

"What happened?.."

Enduring's voice was sluggish, probably still recovering from an long period of stasis.

"I'll explain soon, just uh.. try to move?"

"Move?"

"Yeah, just get up."

"I cannot see anything."

"Just get up first."

He complied hesitantly, awkwardly rolling onto his knees and standing up. Movement still worked, for him at least. I disengaged the helmet seals.

"Now remove the helmet, you won't be able to see with it right now."

Enduring removed his helmet, and went to his knees almost immediately. Judging by his wheezing and gasping, he had probably come out of stasis far too soon.

"What in the… where are we!"

He went back to coughing.

"We got rescued."

"And now where are we?"

"How about you catch your breath before asking any more questions?"

"Where are we!?"

It was Enduring alright. In one piece, along with his overreactive personality.

"Look around you. We're in a maintenance shed."

"A shed?"

"I brought us here to get the armor repaired."

Oh how well that went.

"Did you get the armor repaired?"

"…Enough for you to be revived."

Something approximating a mental sigh came from Enduring, there was even something close to an exhale. His previously panicked mind had calmed down, mostly. Halfway through I had instinctively tried to administer relaxants, and was subsequently slapped with another inoperable armor function.

"Everything feels stiff."

He complained while bending his fingers on one hand.

"I regret to inform you that the armor will no longer function to it's full potential."

"Full potential?"

"Anyway.." I ignored his protests and kept on speaking. "Walk around, get some feeling back into your legs. We'll probably have to walk all the way back, without the armor being functional."

"What did you do."

"I might tell you later, when you're more.. stable."

No. I was most certainly never going to tell Enduring what happened. Nope.

What did happen?

I must've suffered a near fatal system overload. But other than that, what?

In my moment of overwhelming agony and stupidity, I experienced something unusual.

An unending expanse with no outlines or details, and somewhere within that void, I heard something.

Two distinct speakers, separated only by their differing tones of voice. One sounded haggard while the other possessed a lifeless quality. The strangest thing out of all, was that one of the two was so alike to myself. The vocal pattern was extremely similar to my own mental 'tone'. I would have mistaken it for myself, had there not been an almost disturbing emptiness. Devoid of emotion, desolate. A machine, a cold and logic driven persona.

I was disturbed, not by the emotion itself, but by what could cause it. To bring someone to the edge, to leave them as an empty husk. A living thinking being, working full time on autopilot. I was composed of data and metal, the textbook example of a machine, but I was alive. Figuratively I guess.

I always thought of myself as 'living'. Even if I was confined to the cold metal alloy of an armor, I wasn't going to just give up right then. Life, in all of its crazy and convoluted possibilities, passed by close to me. Where Enduring went, I came along. I may have not had a choice in where he took me, but that didn't mean that I wasn't free to have my own thoughts. I debated and considered what came to my attention, and I made my own decisions, when I could.

I chose to stay by Enduring, to keep him alive and 'mostly' safe. Even when faced with immeasurable odds and ends, I chose to continue on. I refused to join Mendicant's cause. I chose to be upfront and honest with Enduring.

Where difficult choices awaited me, where it would be simpler to choose the other, I chose the hard way.

Where it would be logical to take the most efficient route on the Greater Ark's transit rail, I took the detour. Not because I wanted to experience the view, but because I wanted to see Enduring's reaction. All for a short moment of amusement.

A strange quirk, for an Ancilla at least.

One way or another, the war would end. With galactic scale destruction or parasitic assimilation.

I could either spent the rest of my days in a dull repetitive existence, or I could try to find something enjoyable to do. Something to keep myself occupied. Something interesting if possible.

I'll probably work on it.

"Let us leave."

Enduring had finished his short sweep of the facility. Evidently now, he probably just wanted to meet another living being. I wouldn't blame him. A near death experience mixed with a uncomfortable revival tends to do that.

I was unable to establish a stable connection with the facility's sensor array. Which meant two things were about to happen when we exited. One, we get buried in a harsh blizzard. Or two, the storm somehow miraculously dies down during my little hiatus.

"Leave when ready. Do be aware that-"

My words got cut off as Enduring headed straight for the entrance.

"Does a blizzard seem dangerous to you?"

"A blizzard?"

"You don't know what a blizzard is? I guess I'll have to properly educ-"

"I know what a blizzard is!"

"Oh great. I just wanted to let you know that potentially life threatening weather conditions await you outside."

"And how would you know this?.."

"I walked in during a blizzard."

"…"

The door opened as we approached. Instead of being immediately blasted with a face full of snow, a cheery sun presented itself. No storm then. Light glimmered and danced across the piles of snow scattered around outside. Due to the intense glare given off by the snow, Enduring had to cover his eyes. Taking care to avoid being blinded, Enduring looked around us.

"Can you get us through this?"

"No functional navigation or long range communication capabilities."

"..So you don-"

"Turn 30 degrees to your right and go straight, take care to avoid falling."

I still recalled the tenacious route that had brought me here.

"This ground is difficult to traverse." Enduring was having a hard time treading through the snow. The lack of powered assistance from the armor would no doubt leave him at a disadvantage until we could get it repaired.

"You didn't get used to wearing a nonfunctional suit of metal then."

"No."

After an awkward silence, Enduring notified me of the weather, which turned out to be rather alright. The 'sun', if it could be called that, was out and shining clearly without obstruction. With the surreal landscape now illuminated fully, the chances of falling into a crevice were low, assuming if Enduring stayed aware of where he stepped.

I was content to watch and only lend a hand when he really needed it. By lending a hand I mean telling him to be careful, I couldn't physically do anything else.

The weather was nice, according to Enduring, and showed no signs of turning for the worst. Things were going well. For the time being.

Since I had no other choices other than to wait in silence, I decided to chat with Enduring.

"I'll give you the full briefing on what happened prior to you waking up."

"..Go ahead."

"Ah, so.. uh.."

A/N: Improvisation is fun, mostly. More and more bits of the past will arrive, soon.

Anyways.

Leave a comment or question if you want, I'll answer, if it doesn't result in a catastrophically world ending spoiler.

Q/A: "Please avoid fatally ripping the fabric of reality apart. I only have so much superglue to fix it"

Viper752 - I don't plan on the story ending after the Forerunner Flood War. It will continue on. As for your SI OC suggestion, it intrigues me. However my knowledge of properly writing combat scenes and military jargon is lacking.

Just a reader - Monitors are a type of Ancilla, so the OC technically cannot become one. As for Enduring… he'll be alongside for a while. The Human Covenant War.. interesting. I started this story as a fun exploration into an idea I had. Expect the story to continue on beyond the current time.