Chapter 6: New Forces of the Covenant Hegemony
Covenant Holy City 'High Clarity', Sanctum of the Hierarchs, Viewing chamber of the Prophet of Truth
The chamber was immense. The sheer size of it dwarfed its occupants. It was easily large enough to contain a Covenant Supercarrier. The vaulted ceiling rose high above the main floor. The walls were featureless and flat, devoid of windows and any portals to the outside. There were only two entrances to the room; one was the large vaulted door through which any that were deemed worth entered the chamber. Stretching from that door was a single walkway slightly raised above two depressions.
In each one of these dwelled a thousand of the most highly trained, and the most fanatical of all Covenant troops. Two thousand crack Elites knelt in their position of reverence for the Prophet. They were poised to exterminate any that showed the slightest irreverence to the Prophets. Their Gold armor plating did not even shift as they knelt ready for combat.
The walk stretched the extent of the chamber, from the entry door to the raised platform that displayed the Prophet of Truth. It was almost fifty yards high, dominating the expanse of the chamber. The raised dais held a sparse elegance, there were no markings or ornamentation on it, rather it was blank. The Prophet of the Truth needed no elaborate signs to signify his status, any who made it into this chamber knew that they were receiving no greater an honor.
Beams of light illuminated the area around the top of the platform, but they did not touch the seat occupied by the Prophet, it remained in shadow. The long walk to the door was also lit brilliantly, but the Elite guards remained out of direct illumination. Only the reflected glint of their armor was seen.
The lights cast only a small amount of direct light on the room, but the entire chamber radiated a dim reflected glow.
Billions of mirrored points of light were reflected on the walls and the ceiling. The sight was truly breathtaking, the points of reflected light in the darkness. Each minute point of light was a single piece of glass, a shard of glass forged from the super-intense heat of a Covenant Plasma bombardment.
Each shard of glass from a different world 'conquered' by the Covenant Hegemony; it was a grim monument to the brutality of the Covenant and the resistance of countless races; or it was a shining example of the futility of resistance.
The Prophet of Truth sat upon his floating dais atop the raised pyramid that dominated the chamber. It's flowing robes and cloaks completely obscuring its body and hovering dais. It's face and tiny clawed hands protruded from beneath the robes. The elaborate headband it wore was adorned with sensory apparatus and antenna.
The Prophet of Truth sat on its throne in utter silence. It was in no rush to see those that were to be admitted. They were trivial creatures, not worth its divine presence at all.
Its claw twitched a scant millimeter, the signal to admit those that waited.
Two Massive Hunters stood by the doors, their natural hunched over forms bowed low in respect as they pulled open the doors. There was no sound as the doors opened to admit those given the honor of entering the presence of the Prophet of Truth.
It was small procession that marched forward, their heads bowed in mute reverence. There were seven of them.
The first in line was short, and it as humanoid. But it was not human. It was a lizard, not any type of Covenant warrior a human had before encountered. Its elaborate body paint signified its rank and position. It skittered as it moved along, it's hunched posture akin to some ancient dinosaur hunting for prey. It's eye turrets remained riveted to the floor before it as it marched. This was Fleetlord Quilltar, the representative of the Race.
The second in line was clad in a flowing orange robe. Its hood covered its head fully and left it in deep shadow. It didn't walk; it floated down the walk, bobbing up and down slightly as it moved. Its hood was bowed as well, the shadowed face cast downward. It had no name, but it was the representative of the Star Spawn.
The third in line marched with an arrogance that even this situation could not strip from him. His head was held high and he held an expression of utter disdain upon his features. His elaborate robes and clothing was rival of those that he Prophet of Truth wore. His eyes glowed slightly as he walked along. His body was that of a human, but his mind was different, he was Goa'uld.
The fourth in the procession looked like a human. It had a human form, even something sickly akin to a human face, but it was not a human. Its body was covered in tattoos and scars from countless battles and trials. He wore no clothes beyond a simple 'skirt' around his waist. The warrior was devoid of its weapons, but still walked with an air of danger and competence that could not be rivaled by the Elite guards. This was a Yhuzzan Vong.
The fifth walked smoothly and gracefully. It's gray skin covered with a simple robe of neutral tone. It had eyes that glowed a vibrant blue; they were cast down at the ground as it walked. The creature showed the respect that the Prophet warranted. This was one of the Protoss.
The sixth in the line walked along with as much arrogance and disdain as the Goa'uld, but with a respect and humble hatred towards the Prophet that only he could detect. His green skin was similar to that of the representative of the Race, but he was much more humanoid than the lizard. He was of the Yevetha.
The final member of the line walked with as much elegance as the Protoss, yet it had a neutral demeanor that made the creature seem like it was far removed from this situation. It had blue skin and red, the gold colors of its robes giving sharp contrast to its eyes and skin. It's three fingered hands clasped before it as it walked. This was a Ethereal, one of the leaders of the Tau.
The procession walked forward, their differing styles of walk each noted by the Prophet from its perch high above them. Its beady eyes flicked back and forth across the procession. They made the distance to the bottom of the Prophet's mound in due time. They walked up the incline and stood before the Prophet of Truth. The prophet was sitting slightly higher that these inferiors.
The procession formed a line and knelt before their new leader.
The Prophet sat there and gazed at them intently. It studied them with silent disdain. He was sickened that he had to admit such savage and primitive creatures into his presence. But he had to acknowledge these new subjects, especially since they had bowed to the pure light of the Covenant Hegemony so readily, and were already fighting in the great crusade.
"So, you have finally deigned to come and see your new master?" The Prophet said, it's voice steeped in disdain.
None of those before him moved, they continued to kneel in mute silence.
"You have so willingly submitted to the divine light of the Covenant Hegemony. Your armies fight for our pure goals. You now serve in the Crusade to locate the Forerunners." The Prophet said watching them. None of them shifted.
"All of you have fought the humans. All of you waged war against them and were defeated. You cannot say that you are worthy of the respect of any Covenant warrior. I do not believe that even humans should regard you with respect." The prophet spat, it's face warped into one of disgust. None of those before him flinched.
"And yet, it has been deemed that you are still worth keeping alive." The prophet sighed slightly.
"You have all fought the humans. And you have been beaten by every different incarnation of them. True, they are formable. True, they are annoyingly innovative. But they are a pest at most. You peoples have wondered why we removed you from your own campaigns against the humans, you were unsuccessful on your own. That is why you no longer battle them." The prophet said.
Those before him shifted nervously.
"Your futile efforts are being stopped because your soldiers better serve the Covenant when they actually kill some humans. In that vein your forces are being redeployed to assist in the final assault on earth." The Prophet said. He was not contradicted, each of these alien races were fighting their own wars against different earths. The Covenant had made 'their' earth the priority.
The Prophet looked up at the glass shards that reflected the scant light of the chamber.
"Look around you." The Prophet of Truth said and moved his tiny hand in a sweeping motion. Slowly, they raised their heads and looked about the massive room.
"This is the price of resistance. See it well; know it with your very souls. For this is the fate that awaits the Humans, all the humans. They shall be reduced to cinders, the melted glass that will return to this chamber all that remains of their worlds." The Prophet said.
"But this is also the price of failure." The Prophet finished, his words hung in the air. Normally, not one of these races would have submitted to any power. Let alone the diminutive creature that hovered before them. But the diminutive thing that hovered before them commanded the power to turn planets into dead spheres of melted glass. They had all seen the power that it commanded, the power that it could wield with impunity.
Yes, their people had all fought hard against the Covenant, but it had not been nearly enough. They had been given a single option because the Covenant wielded so much raw force to use against them.
And now it was being driven home once more.
"Know it well. Know that if you fail you shall be punished for your lack of strength. If you deign to hold back with your fury, it you think that you can merely pretend to serve us, then your worlds will suffer. Then you will be annihilated, no matter what you think you are capable of." The Prophet said.
Those kneeling before him all nodded in unison. Deep within each resided the urge to kill the diminutive being before them. They all wished to free their peoples from the tyranny of this creature's kind.
But they all wished for something deeper and much stronger.
Annihilation of human beings in the universe, or the total enslavement of their race. It was a fire that burned within each of them. A collective yearning for the eradication of a species that had proven far too resilient for their own good. Humans...the primitive savages had given them far too much trouble.
"The humans have discovered just how to use the HALO network left by the Forerunners. Even as I speak, they are exploring the galaxy, making contact with other peoples. Other humans. They've defeated all of you on their own, and now they are trying to unite. That cannot be allowed to happen, now can it?"
The kneeled figures shook their heads.
"It has been decided that the assault on their homeworld is the foremost priority, and after the loss of two battle stations and accompanying armadas, it has aggravated us to no end." The Prophet said. He did not say anything about the loss of the second battle station, and the loss of the second fleet. He didn't say that Covenant vessels intent on stopping the spread of a strange alien life form that had infested the fleet had destroyed the second fleet.
Nor did he speak of the strange events reported by the fleet before contact was lost.
The crews said they were being.... hunted by something. Apparently there was something out there that was more dangerous than humans, and much more ruthless. Grizzly stories had ripped through the Covenant Legions and armadas, heedless of the attempts to squelch them.
Stories abounded of aliens that captured you alive to make you into living eggs. Stories of nightmarish creatures that could sneak up on you and capture you without giving you a chance to scream. Stories about gigantic bipedal aliens that would kill and skin elites for fun. Stories of aliens that were harder to detect than a camouflaged elite.
Covenant morale plummeted in all sectors, be they Grunt or Brute, the Covenant Armies were....scared.
And right now the newest members of the Covenant Hegemony were terrified of what was coming. Absolute terror of the Prophet of Truth, and utter glee at the chance to eradicate the human species from the universe.
AN= Sorry this is short, but I wanted to further the plot some and show you that this isn't an pointless 'everybody beats up the Covenant'. Just a breakdown of who everyone is:
1: The 'Race' is the Lizard like alien race in Harry Turtledove's 'World War' series, the premise is that aliens invade during WW 2. They have technology that's akin to the 1980's US (or year 2000+ Russian) which means humans aren't completely outclassed.
2: Think of the Star Spawn as being the synergy of every alien race presented in X-Com. I love that game series and it's one of the greatest of all time. Moving on to the story then...
3: The Yevetha are one of the aggressor alien races in Star Wars. They're from the 'Black Fleet Crisis' series of novels. They're xenophobic and believe in their divine right to 'cleanse' their star systems of all alien vermin (a.k.a Humans)
4: The Protoss are from Starcraft, it may seem odd that they're on the Covenant side, but I've already caught a ton of flak for that one, so sit down and shut up if you're annoyed. It will work itself out.
5: The Goa'uld are the baddies from Stargate SG-1, parasites that inhabit human hosts. They like to think that they're gods, and have a right to rule all of space.
6: The Tau are a mostly benevolent race from Warhammer 40K they fight for the 'Greater Good' a uniting ideal amongst the Tau. Consider them to be reluctant conquests.
7: The Yuuzhan Vong, some could consider them the ultimate bad guys, they caused the collapse of the New Republic, decimated countless worlds and systems. They look like they're in much the same class as the Covenant.
And the next chapter:
Chapter 7: A meeting that will decide the fate of Galaxy
You get to see everybody that will fight along side the UNSC against the Covenant. Some notable examples: The Asguard, the SGC, The United States Colonial Marines, X-Com, the New Republic, the Federation, the Klingon Star Empire, the Human Alliance. The list could go on and on.
Covenant Holy City 'High Clarity', Sanctum of the Hierarchs, Viewing chamber of the Prophet of Truth
The chamber was immense. The sheer size of it dwarfed its occupants. It was easily large enough to contain a Covenant Supercarrier. The vaulted ceiling rose high above the main floor. The walls were featureless and flat, devoid of windows and any portals to the outside. There were only two entrances to the room; one was the large vaulted door through which any that were deemed worth entered the chamber. Stretching from that door was a single walkway slightly raised above two depressions.
In each one of these dwelled a thousand of the most highly trained, and the most fanatical of all Covenant troops. Two thousand crack Elites knelt in their position of reverence for the Prophet. They were poised to exterminate any that showed the slightest irreverence to the Prophets. Their Gold armor plating did not even shift as they knelt ready for combat.
The walk stretched the extent of the chamber, from the entry door to the raised platform that displayed the Prophet of Truth. It was almost fifty yards high, dominating the expanse of the chamber. The raised dais held a sparse elegance, there were no markings or ornamentation on it, rather it was blank. The Prophet of the Truth needed no elaborate signs to signify his status, any who made it into this chamber knew that they were receiving no greater an honor.
Beams of light illuminated the area around the top of the platform, but they did not touch the seat occupied by the Prophet, it remained in shadow. The long walk to the door was also lit brilliantly, but the Elite guards remained out of direct illumination. Only the reflected glint of their armor was seen.
The lights cast only a small amount of direct light on the room, but the entire chamber radiated a dim reflected glow.
Billions of mirrored points of light were reflected on the walls and the ceiling. The sight was truly breathtaking, the points of reflected light in the darkness. Each minute point of light was a single piece of glass, a shard of glass forged from the super-intense heat of a Covenant Plasma bombardment.
Each shard of glass from a different world 'conquered' by the Covenant Hegemony; it was a grim monument to the brutality of the Covenant and the resistance of countless races; or it was a shining example of the futility of resistance.
The Prophet of Truth sat upon his floating dais atop the raised pyramid that dominated the chamber. It's flowing robes and cloaks completely obscuring its body and hovering dais. It's face and tiny clawed hands protruded from beneath the robes. The elaborate headband it wore was adorned with sensory apparatus and antenna.
The Prophet of Truth sat on its throne in utter silence. It was in no rush to see those that were to be admitted. They were trivial creatures, not worth its divine presence at all.
Its claw twitched a scant millimeter, the signal to admit those that waited.
Two Massive Hunters stood by the doors, their natural hunched over forms bowed low in respect as they pulled open the doors. There was no sound as the doors opened to admit those given the honor of entering the presence of the Prophet of Truth.
It was small procession that marched forward, their heads bowed in mute reverence. There were seven of them.
The first in line was short, and it as humanoid. But it was not human. It was a lizard, not any type of Covenant warrior a human had before encountered. Its elaborate body paint signified its rank and position. It skittered as it moved along, it's hunched posture akin to some ancient dinosaur hunting for prey. It's eye turrets remained riveted to the floor before it as it marched. This was Fleetlord Quilltar, the representative of the Race.
The second in line was clad in a flowing orange robe. Its hood covered its head fully and left it in deep shadow. It didn't walk; it floated down the walk, bobbing up and down slightly as it moved. Its hood was bowed as well, the shadowed face cast downward. It had no name, but it was the representative of the Star Spawn.
The third in line marched with an arrogance that even this situation could not strip from him. His head was held high and he held an expression of utter disdain upon his features. His elaborate robes and clothing was rival of those that he Prophet of Truth wore. His eyes glowed slightly as he walked along. His body was that of a human, but his mind was different, he was Goa'uld.
The fourth in the procession looked like a human. It had a human form, even something sickly akin to a human face, but it was not a human. Its body was covered in tattoos and scars from countless battles and trials. He wore no clothes beyond a simple 'skirt' around his waist. The warrior was devoid of its weapons, but still walked with an air of danger and competence that could not be rivaled by the Elite guards. This was a Yhuzzan Vong.
The fifth walked smoothly and gracefully. It's gray skin covered with a simple robe of neutral tone. It had eyes that glowed a vibrant blue; they were cast down at the ground as it walked. The creature showed the respect that the Prophet warranted. This was one of the Protoss.
The sixth in the line walked along with as much arrogance and disdain as the Goa'uld, but with a respect and humble hatred towards the Prophet that only he could detect. His green skin was similar to that of the representative of the Race, but he was much more humanoid than the lizard. He was of the Yevetha.
The final member of the line walked with as much elegance as the Protoss, yet it had a neutral demeanor that made the creature seem like it was far removed from this situation. It had blue skin and red, the gold colors of its robes giving sharp contrast to its eyes and skin. It's three fingered hands clasped before it as it walked. This was a Ethereal, one of the leaders of the Tau.
The procession walked forward, their differing styles of walk each noted by the Prophet from its perch high above them. Its beady eyes flicked back and forth across the procession. They made the distance to the bottom of the Prophet's mound in due time. They walked up the incline and stood before the Prophet of Truth. The prophet was sitting slightly higher that these inferiors.
The procession formed a line and knelt before their new leader.
The Prophet sat there and gazed at them intently. It studied them with silent disdain. He was sickened that he had to admit such savage and primitive creatures into his presence. But he had to acknowledge these new subjects, especially since they had bowed to the pure light of the Covenant Hegemony so readily, and were already fighting in the great crusade.
"So, you have finally deigned to come and see your new master?" The Prophet said, it's voice steeped in disdain.
None of those before him moved, they continued to kneel in mute silence.
"You have so willingly submitted to the divine light of the Covenant Hegemony. Your armies fight for our pure goals. You now serve in the Crusade to locate the Forerunners." The Prophet said watching them. None of them shifted.
"All of you have fought the humans. All of you waged war against them and were defeated. You cannot say that you are worthy of the respect of any Covenant warrior. I do not believe that even humans should regard you with respect." The prophet spat, it's face warped into one of disgust. None of those before him flinched.
"And yet, it has been deemed that you are still worth keeping alive." The prophet sighed slightly.
"You have all fought the humans. And you have been beaten by every different incarnation of them. True, they are formable. True, they are annoyingly innovative. But they are a pest at most. You peoples have wondered why we removed you from your own campaigns against the humans, you were unsuccessful on your own. That is why you no longer battle them." The prophet said.
Those before him shifted nervously.
"Your futile efforts are being stopped because your soldiers better serve the Covenant when they actually kill some humans. In that vein your forces are being redeployed to assist in the final assault on earth." The Prophet said. He was not contradicted, each of these alien races were fighting their own wars against different earths. The Covenant had made 'their' earth the priority.
The Prophet looked up at the glass shards that reflected the scant light of the chamber.
"Look around you." The Prophet of Truth said and moved his tiny hand in a sweeping motion. Slowly, they raised their heads and looked about the massive room.
"This is the price of resistance. See it well; know it with your very souls. For this is the fate that awaits the Humans, all the humans. They shall be reduced to cinders, the melted glass that will return to this chamber all that remains of their worlds." The Prophet said.
"But this is also the price of failure." The Prophet finished, his words hung in the air. Normally, not one of these races would have submitted to any power. Let alone the diminutive creature that hovered before them. But the diminutive thing that hovered before them commanded the power to turn planets into dead spheres of melted glass. They had all seen the power that it commanded, the power that it could wield with impunity.
Yes, their people had all fought hard against the Covenant, but it had not been nearly enough. They had been given a single option because the Covenant wielded so much raw force to use against them.
And now it was being driven home once more.
"Know it well. Know that if you fail you shall be punished for your lack of strength. If you deign to hold back with your fury, it you think that you can merely pretend to serve us, then your worlds will suffer. Then you will be annihilated, no matter what you think you are capable of." The Prophet said.
Those kneeling before him all nodded in unison. Deep within each resided the urge to kill the diminutive being before them. They all wished to free their peoples from the tyranny of this creature's kind.
But they all wished for something deeper and much stronger.
Annihilation of human beings in the universe, or the total enslavement of their race. It was a fire that burned within each of them. A collective yearning for the eradication of a species that had proven far too resilient for their own good. Humans...the primitive savages had given them far too much trouble.
"The humans have discovered just how to use the HALO network left by the Forerunners. Even as I speak, they are exploring the galaxy, making contact with other peoples. Other humans. They've defeated all of you on their own, and now they are trying to unite. That cannot be allowed to happen, now can it?"
The kneeled figures shook their heads.
"It has been decided that the assault on their homeworld is the foremost priority, and after the loss of two battle stations and accompanying armadas, it has aggravated us to no end." The Prophet said. He did not say anything about the loss of the second battle station, and the loss of the second fleet. He didn't say that Covenant vessels intent on stopping the spread of a strange alien life form that had infested the fleet had destroyed the second fleet.
Nor did he speak of the strange events reported by the fleet before contact was lost.
The crews said they were being.... hunted by something. Apparently there was something out there that was more dangerous than humans, and much more ruthless. Grizzly stories had ripped through the Covenant Legions and armadas, heedless of the attempts to squelch them.
Stories abounded of aliens that captured you alive to make you into living eggs. Stories of nightmarish creatures that could sneak up on you and capture you without giving you a chance to scream. Stories about gigantic bipedal aliens that would kill and skin elites for fun. Stories of aliens that were harder to detect than a camouflaged elite.
Covenant morale plummeted in all sectors, be they Grunt or Brute, the Covenant Armies were....scared.
And right now the newest members of the Covenant Hegemony were terrified of what was coming. Absolute terror of the Prophet of Truth, and utter glee at the chance to eradicate the human species from the universe.
AN= Sorry this is short, but I wanted to further the plot some and show you that this isn't an pointless 'everybody beats up the Covenant'. Just a breakdown of who everyone is:
1: The 'Race' is the Lizard like alien race in Harry Turtledove's 'World War' series, the premise is that aliens invade during WW 2. They have technology that's akin to the 1980's US (or year 2000+ Russian) which means humans aren't completely outclassed.
2: Think of the Star Spawn as being the synergy of every alien race presented in X-Com. I love that game series and it's one of the greatest of all time. Moving on to the story then...
3: The Yevetha are one of the aggressor alien races in Star Wars. They're from the 'Black Fleet Crisis' series of novels. They're xenophobic and believe in their divine right to 'cleanse' their star systems of all alien vermin (a.k.a Humans)
4: The Protoss are from Starcraft, it may seem odd that they're on the Covenant side, but I've already caught a ton of flak for that one, so sit down and shut up if you're annoyed. It will work itself out.
5: The Goa'uld are the baddies from Stargate SG-1, parasites that inhabit human hosts. They like to think that they're gods, and have a right to rule all of space.
6: The Tau are a mostly benevolent race from Warhammer 40K they fight for the 'Greater Good' a uniting ideal amongst the Tau. Consider them to be reluctant conquests.
7: The Yuuzhan Vong, some could consider them the ultimate bad guys, they caused the collapse of the New Republic, decimated countless worlds and systems. They look like they're in much the same class as the Covenant.
And the next chapter:
Chapter 7: A meeting that will decide the fate of Galaxy
You get to see everybody that will fight along side the UNSC against the Covenant. Some notable examples: The Asguard, the SGC, The United States Colonial Marines, X-Com, the New Republic, the Federation, the Klingon Star Empire, the Human Alliance. The list could go on and on.