Chapter 11: Fural
For most of his life, Fural had only ever seen two environments. Open landscapes too big to explore, and the tight purple rooms of Covenant ships. The inside of the hundred-thousand year old structure was both entirely familiar, and entirely new. The halls and rooms almost reminded him of being on a Covenant ship, just with grey walls instead of purple.
There were also the huge gaping chambers that seemed to be bottomless pits. If he walked to the edge and fell, he figured he'd be falling for the rest of his life, even if eventually hitting what ground was there would eventually kill him.
"Fural!" Dom shouted, though Fural figured it wasn't the first time. He had been lost in his thoughts. Maybe he wasn't the right person to send on this mission.
Fural turned away from the pit in front of him, towards the direction of his brother who had been calling his name.
"I believe I found a way down that won't break our legs," Dom said as Fural approached, there was a hint of humour in his voice.
"Yes," Fural sighed, "lead the way."
The two walked in near silence. Their footsteps echoed across the halls, the lights and machines scattered around the structure hummed and beeped as they glowed and worked. And then there were the distant gunshots and explosions of the fighting on the surface of the ring. The fighting that Fural wanted to be a part of, rather than skulking down here looking for a map.
But by the sound of it, the fighting would be down there soon enough.
Fural felt a tapping on his shoulder, followed by distant words he couldn't make out.
"Fural!" Dom said with a sharp voice. Fural realised he had been trying to talk to him. He had gotten lost in his thoughts again.
"The fight will be down here soon," Dom said, echoing Fural's thoughts, "clear your mind! The cartographer is one of the most important devices on this ring, and we cannot waste time in finding it!"
"Sorry," Fural said quietly. He didn't know what else to say.
"Come now, I think I found the way," Dom said before running ahead.
They entered another large chamber, this one with a ramp along the side leading down, but in this one he could see the floor. He thought for a second about if he would be able to jump down and land perfectly on his feet, but he didn't want to get lost again. That was happening too much now.
Static crackled through their comms, followed by a muffled voice that sounded like Jors. There was a lot of interference, but they were able to make out his voice.
"Humans are breaking through our defences, they'll be coming down to you at any minute. Get that cartographer and get out of there," Jors said.
"Already on it," Dom replied. He pressed his mandibles together, gritting his teeth.
Boring hallway after boring hallway, they eventually found it. Dom drew his plasma rifle before moving down the final hall, just in case somehow a group of humans made it down to them first. Fural followed, and pulled his carbine from his back.
And there was the cartographer. A shimmering projection of the ring that lit up the dark room around them.
"Cover me," Dom said as he approached the panel in front of it and accessed it.
Fural nodded and moved to the other side of the chamber, there was another door that opened out to a set of platforms. When Fural moved out, he saw they were back at the bottomless pit he had seen earlier.
He didn't have much time to think about it this time as a bullet from a human weapon whizzed past his head. Fural flinched and moved back, taking cover in the doorway. Not that he really needed cover, his shields were strong enough that he would be able to stand in the open and get repeatedly shot at for a few minutes before they failed. Unless the enemy was using plasma weapons of course.
He leaned out of his cover and saw three human soldiers on the platform across from him. Luckily for him, they had little cover. He raised his carbine and squeezed the trigger, the radioactive round shooting out from it and going straight through the head of one of the soldiers.
"Glad you got your fight?" Dom called from the cartographer.
Fural glanced back at him, the hologram of the ring was moving, pieces of it seemed to be getting cut out and put back into place with diagrams next to them. He was too far to be able to read anything of what they said, not that he understood much of the Forerunner glyphs anyway.
At that moment they were both perfectly fit into their roles. Dom, the zealous one, making sense of the technology of their gods. And Fural, the fighter, in the middle of a fight. Fural snorted at the thought of this perfect moment.
"Yes. Now shut up," he said, this time he was focused enough to actually respond to his brother.
Three more human soldiers appeared from an opening in the wall on their platform. The five of them opened fire, focusing to take Fural's shields down. He squeezed his trigger two more times, and two more humans fell. The remaining soldiers took cover in the doorway, and he could hear them shouting. They were probably figuring out another way to get to him and his brother. He wasn't going to let that happen.
Fural grabbed a grenade from his belt, primed it, and tossed it straight through the doorway the humans were using as cover. He heard a scream before the deafening detonation. He couldn't tell if he actually killed anyone or not, but he didn't care.
"I've dropped off some reinforcements," Jors's voice sounded again over comms, "They'll hold the entrance and set up more fortifications down there. I've also got a team taking control of the security station on the other side of the island."
"Understood," Fural replied this time instead of Dom, "we'll clear the humans out of here and be done."
"Speaking of done," Dom said from the cartographer, "I've got some important locations out. We can go, we need to get this back to the Supreme Commander."
"Let's go," Fural said. He moved over to Dom's side and raised his carbine at the Cartographer's access terminal and was about to pull the trigger when Dom furiously grabbed his hand.
"What the hell are you doing?" Dom asked, there was a hint of rage in his voice.
"We don't want the humans accessing this thing, do we?"
"No, but that doesn't mean you can destroy it! It's an artefact of our gods!"
Fural lowered the carbine and grunted. He wasn't surprised that Dom was acting this way, which made him wonder why he was going to destroy it in the first place.
"Besides, you heard Jors. He's got more warriors holding the entrance," Dom said, the slight hint of rage was gone, "nothing is going to get past them."
"You never know," Fural said calmly, but he wasn't going to argue, "let's just get the hell out of here."
"Agreed," Dom snorted, letting Fural's arm go. The tone of his voice suggested that he didn't actually agree.
They didn't have any more time to waste talking, the humans found the entrance they used to get to the cartographer. A burst of bullets slammed into Dom's shields, and he immediately took cover.
One of the humans shouted something. Fural didn't know many human words, but he was pretty sure the one he heard meant grenade. He heard the clack of the human grenade landing on the floor. It bounced toward them.
Fural didn't have time to think. He broke from his cover and slammed the side of his foot into the grenade before it hit the ground again, kicking it back towards the humans. It exploded in the air before it could get to them, but at least it didn't explode on him and his brother.
Dom left his cover and fired off a burst of plasma from his plasma rifle. He took out one of the humans as they took their cover, and kept firing to keep them in their position. Fural took another grenade from his belt and primed it. They wouldn't be able to pull off something like what Fural did with their grenade.
Fural lobbed the grenade in the open space next to their cover. There was nothing the humans could do but die. The grenade exploded, scorching the hall around it. The sound of bodies landing hard on the floor followed it, or at least the parts of bodies.
"Go!" Dom shouted, running forward. As Dom ran into the open of the next room he was stopped by a bullet. It did little more than bounce off his shield, but it still forced him into cover.
Fural rushed into the room with the intent of drawing the fire. He saw two humans on a suspended walkway in the middle of the room, and both of them fired on him at once. He was able to find cover and look back. Dom was gone. Not gone, invisible.
The crackling of an energy sword sounded before the sound of wailing humans. Fural left his cover and both of the soldiers were dead. Dom reappeared above them and turned off his energy sword.
"We're clear, let's move," Dom said before running along the walkway.
Fural found a way up and followed. Gunshots began to sound in the corridors ahead, followed by the bursts of plasma weapons. Some of Jors's reinforcements had come to help. Both Fural and Dom activated their cloaking as they came up behind a group of humans taking cover from Kig-Yar.
At once they both ignited their swords, and they both sliced the humans apart before they had any time to react. The door behind the Kig-Yar opened and a Sangheili Major stepped through.
"Rest of the way up is clear," the Major said.
"The way down is clear as well," Dom replied, nodding. The Major returned the nod and began ordering the Kig-Yar around.
Dom jogged past the Major and Fural followed. They made it back out of the structure on the surface, there was a Zealot waiting for them underneath the Conviction. The Zealot's golden armour shimmered in the sunlight as he approached the brothers, the brightness darkened Fural's vision, making it hard to make out most of the Zealot's features.
"Reports say that was just an advance team," the Zealot said, "not much more than scouts. They have a much larger force on the way. We'll hold them off when they get here."
"What of the security station?" Dom asked.
"Still being cracked. Hopefully we'll have control of it before they get here. You need not worry, getting the data from the cartographer to the Supreme Commander is paramount."
Dom nodded. The Conviction's gravity lift activated, and brothers stepped inside.
"I seeā¦" Supreme Commander 'Vadamee's smooth voice echoed out from the projector in the back of the Conviction. Fural, Dom, and Jors surrounded it.
They had given 'Vadamee all that they had found from the cartographer, the locations of the most important sites on the ring. The four Sangheili were looking at a massive ziggurat in a remote location on the ring. According to Dom's translations, it was the control room.
"The site at which we can begin the Great Journey," Dom said.
"Indeed," 'Vadamee's projection said.
"When the humans find the control room," Fural started, "when, not if, there's going to be a fight. We should be there. We can take it from them."
"I admire your enthusiasm," 'Vadamee replied, "but no. I reviewed the locations. I found one of similar importance, and one I think you'd be more interested in."
The map projection shifted, a remote structure in the middle of a large and isolated swamp. The place didn't look nearly as inviting as the control room, but he was interested in what it was.
"A weapons cache," Dom said, circling the projection, "we all know how much you love weapons."
Dom casted a glance at Fural. Jors chuckled. 'Vadamee stood still, staring at the map as if no one had said anything.
"If we get our hands on Forerunner weapons, we can snuff out these humans for good," Dom continued. "They've become a problem since their incursion on the Truth and Reconciliation. And now they're coming to assault our positions outside the cartographer."
"And with their track record, they'll be coming after us on our way to the weapons cache," 'Vadamee said, "that's my next reason for sending you. You are my best stealth officers, this mission must be done quickly and quietly."
"I understand," Fural said with a bow.
"You'll have full disposal of our Spec-Ops personnel. This weapons cache must be ours."
