And now, revelation of why the Covenant came to earth.... and what the goals of the Alien forces known as the Forerunners are. It's the truth in my little Fanfic.
Chapter 12: Who are we?...What are we?
Airborne over southern Columbia, X-Com Troop transport 'Legs', 0321 Hours, December 31st
John sat in one of the surprisingly comfortable jump seats of the X- Com troop ship. They had been designed to seat troops in armor comfortably, although in MJOLINOR armor, comfort was relative.
He would have been much more comfortable fighting the Covenant forces that were on earth now. Not sitting in the belly of a shielded and cloaked transport vessel, he didn't like inaction, even if he was going to recon a vastly superior Covenant position in the jungles and Mountains of Brazil. John sighed and turned his attention to the here and now.
John looked around at the other passengers in the bay of the transport. His eyes drifted from his teammates sitting along the wall beside him to the X-Com mercenaries sitting along the opposite wall. John knew he could work with them, he knew that he could fight alongside them willingly had without doubt of their skills. But his gaze drifted back towards the occupants at the rear of the transport and fixed on the small group that sat there. They didn't look anything like soldiers for the most part. They wore no armor, and carried no recognizable weapons. They did claim to be carrying weapons though...things that looked like the handgrips of swords, but with no blades.
John ignored it. He wouldn't have to worry about them; they claimed they could take care of themselves...although these 'Jedi' seemed a little too self-assured than anyone else in this transport. He ran over their mission parameters and objectives. Silently thanking high command for placing him in command rather than an outsider. He knew he could get this mission done.
Objective one, locate the main body of the Covenant forces in the Andes Mountains.
Objective two, ascertain force strength, and force dispositions of enemy forces.
Objective three ascertain reasons and objectives of Covenant forces in this area. John nodded. These were comparatively simple objectives considering some of the missions he'd been on. He had plenty of backup if things went sour. Two full Human Alliance divisions were ready too swoop in if things got hot, apparently they claimed to be better on the offense than on the defense. They were ready for anything that was going to happen. They were ready to recon this position and find out what they could. And after two weeks of bloody fighting, all the Covenant forces in North America had been destroyed at high cost.
Now the Coalition forces were intent on finding out what had brought the Covenant to Earth. It had to be something, something important. They hadn't glassed Earth from orbit when they had the chance; they'd taken their time, and moved in ground troops. Two massive thrusts to take out the bulk of Coalition Command and Control...but their large force in Brazil was a mystery...a mystery that they were being sent in to unravel.
"ETA is five minutes Master Chief." The pilots voice hissed at him.
"Affirmative." John replied. He stood up inside the troop bay and looked back at those riding with him into battle.
"We're going to hit the objective in five minutes. You've all been briefed and know what we're looking for. Whatever the Covenant is up to, we're going to figure out what it is and shut it down." John said and received nods in response.
"Two minutes!" The pilot provided. The passengers stood and faced the front exit ramps. They knew what to do. The X-Com vets had taught the others how to get out of one of these transports in a hurry, and since they were going to be drawling a little attention with their landing, a hurry was a very good way to get out of the transport.
They were rappelling down into the rainforest. They couldn't land, and carving out an LZ would draw too much attention.
"Let's go!" John ordered and the passengers formed two lines, each one by a hatch on either side of the transport. With a hiss, the pair of hatches opened and the transport slowed considerably, going from two hundred miles per hour to dead stop in a few moments. But no one inside the transport felt a thing. X-Com had really, really good technology.
On either side of the transport descent cables dropped down to the jungles below. The Spartans repelled down first, their massive armored forms dropping through the thick canopy layers swiftly, crashing through branches and leaves to clear a path down. The X-Com troopers followed along behind them. Although they were well armored, the X-Com disruptor armor wasn't nearly as heavy as the MJOLINR plate armor; they were battered around as they fell through the gap forged by the Spartans. Finally, the Jedi dropped down, and although they seemed to be the lightest and weakest of the armored warriors, they had the least difficulty dropping down through the canopy.
With a final look, the transport pulled up the drop lines and darted away from the hotzone.
John paid no heed to the rapid dissapearance of his extraction team. There was no need to concern himself with escape unless something...unfortunate happened.
"Cortana?" John said through his helmet com.
"The Covenant are not aware of our presence." Cortana supplied. John nodded and gave the signal to move forwards into the jungle. The X- Com soldiers fanned out in a skirmish line and promptly disappeared. Wheither it was their cloaking units or the thick undergrowth he didn't know. Thankfully their positions were marked clearly on his HUD. The last thing he needed would be friendly fire in a firefight.
"I can feel the force...it's so incredibly strong here..." One of the Jedi said.
"Quiet." John said sharply. They weren't military, that much had been made clear. But unfortunately not much else had.
"But I can sense it...a strong energy in the force. But not light, nor is it dark. It is as though there is a great power here that has never experienced existence with the force." The Jedi said.
John was annoyed but moved on. He didn't have time for scholars to be babbling on about the 'Force' he had to worry about infiltrating a Covenant position that possessed vastly superior numbers. He didn't need this now.
"Move out." John ordered. The Jedi looked taken aback but obeyed.
"We're three kilometers out from the center of the Covenant position. Satellite and starship imagery show that there is some sort of massive excavation going on. The Covenant forces are pretty dense, but you do stand a very good chance at slipping through and infiltrating their position." Cortana said.
"Oh? A 'very good chance'? What are those odds?" John asked.
"Minor at best. But nothing more than you go through." Cortana said, and John was very sure that if she had a body she would have shrugged. John looked around at the dense jungle and wondered just what the Covenant forces were so intent on getting.
Covenant Excavation Forces, Near Brazilian border in the Andes Mountains, 0451 Hours, December 31st
Ethereal Granadon of Yetari supervised the labors of over fifty Mutons as the burly and muscular servants labored to clear another of the many passageways snaking their way through these immense mountains. Granadon of Yetari had not seen sunlight for almost a week now, and he did not wish to. The Sun on this planet was far too bright, and the sight of an enemy fleet far above at night was not comforting. The spindly and weak psychic soldier turned his weak and underdeveloped eyes to the walls of the passage the Mutons were clearing.
He looked at the delicate writing that was emblazoned on the walls, the language and symbols of the Forerunners. Granadon of Yetari did not know what the words meant. Few did. But some of the Prophets did understand the language, and the Ethereal envied them for it. He had seen many of the writings and wished he knew what they said.
But his attention was diverted when one of the Mutons reported that they had broken through the blockage. The orange cowl that covered it's head turned towards the rubble strewn hall and noted that now light was streaming through the blockage. The Mutons began to work even more furiously to clear away the rubble.
The small chink of light expanded into a passage large enough for the Mutons to force through. They retrieved their Heavy Plasma rifles and moved into the unknown. After they had formed up into a combat line, Granadon of Tetari moved forward through the gap.
He emerged in a corridor of titanic proportions. It was easily a hundred feet high and nearly a thousand long and easily wide enough to fit a cylindrical Star Spawn Battleship through with ease. The Ethereal looked about in amazement.
The strange alien architecture made it resemble a temple. The straight lines and towering design dwarfed all those that stood in it. Even if it did seem familiar, it was just as ancient and alien to him as this human world was. He turned back towards the tunnel and sent a telepathic message back to the Covenant masters that resided back on the surface.
One of the Mutons grunted as he saw something. A strange glowing orb hovered down from the high ceiling of the room. It blinked occasionally and spun to face them.
"My, my, my. It has been such a long time since we have had visitors." The glowing object said hovering up to the Elthereal's face. The soldier stopped and paused, it did not understand the words the thing had spoken, and it was not a sentient being. It could not understand what it was thinking. The Alien soldier raised it's Heavy Plasma rifle and fired off a burst of green plasma.
To completely no effect.
"Such manners. I see now that you are not sent by the Forerunner Alliance. And if you are not sent by them then you have no right in being in the Vault of Knowledge." The glowing orb said and hovered back up and away as others dropped down. These looked slightly more dangerous that the featureless sphere. They had stubby wings and looked more combative.
"Kill them and reseal the entrance." The orb ordered before flitting off. The strange hovering devices opened fire with a series of golden beams; they coalesced on one of the Mutons. It didn't have time to utter a sound before it was lying on the deck in a multitude of pieces. The Mutons opened fire on the hovering devices, destroying them in a hail of plasma fire.
Further down the corridor more of the drones appeared and darted towards the Mutons. The warriors opened fire without pause. Granadon of Yetari focused his mind and sent a much more urgent message to his lords. They would surely like to know that the entrance to the Vault of Knowledge left by the Forerunners had been uncovered.
Strike Team 'Phantom Observer', Far Outskirts of Covenant Excavation site, 0832 Hours, December 31st
The Covenant had plasma cleared a massive amount of jungle to make huge landing zones and encampment areas for their forces. Environmentalists would have simply gone insane over the immeasurable tracts of jungle that had been seared away beneath the plasma bombardment.
The huge forms of Covenant ships covered the cleared grounds in deep shadow. Even more of the alien ships hovered overhead, some circling the encampment in large orbits, no doubt attempting to locate any interlopers. Sepehra fighters and Banshee aircraft made their own patrols closer to the canopy.
Beneath the massive forms of the Covenant warships a large encampment had been set up. Barracks and troop shelters had been created on a massive scale. Long orderly rows of structures were laid out, and from a mile off the entire base looked like a flurry of activity and movement.
Further to the west the Jungles hadn't been plasma blasted from existence. They'd been clear-cut. Even now long lines of Covenant soldiers were snaking up the mountainsides and removing the thick jungle that had been growing for eons. From this distance it resembled a long chain of ants working back and forth along familiar pathways dragging foliage and trees down as they were cleared.
Several immense mounds of trees, brush, debris and soil were in constant growth. The Covenant were nothing if not efficient in their clearing of the jungles. The long tracts of the Covenant labor crews could be followed as they dragged large trees with Brutes and Ghosts though the encampment. Slowly but surely the piles continued to grow as more and more cleared foliage was being removed.
Three large temples were nestled in the mountains. Large Aztec ziggurats stuck out from the earth, they were completely devoid of any kind of foliage. The Covenant had been very methodical in their efforts to clear out the jungle from around them. The central temple was significantly larger than those that flanked it. Shade weapons emplacements and portable energy shields surrounded the structure on different levels. The super-sized needle emplacements that the Covenant had put on Reach were set around it. Whatever was in that temple it was pretty damn important to the Covenant.
Linda lay in the still standing tracts of jungle, well concealed from observation and watched the Covenant forces. She took in the ships with some concern, detection was likely, but they hadn't been found yet and that was a plus. Then trained a high power scope on one of the temples and watched as a very large group of high-ranking Covenant Elites made their way up the stone steps and into the ancient structure. The plethora of Gold armor plus the black armored Elites meant something important was in that temple.
Her keen sniper's eyes counted them in an instant. Twenty Gold clad Commanders and a bodyguard of forty black clad escorts.
"This is Phantom 1, I've spotted a major Covenant entourage moving into the center temple. Sixty strong, commanders and escorts." Linda hissed over the comm frequency. She lay perfectly still in her position. The X-Com Disruptor long rifle that she had been given resting on its bipod before her, carefully camouflaged with a complicated optical camouflage fabric. She was invisible at this distance.
"Affirmative Phantom 1." John's voice returned.
A flight of Banshee fighters flew overhead in a flying V formation. They didn't circle back around on a strafing run.
Labor unit 92-A, Dumping point One, 0832 Hours, December 31st
Tulom did not like this nasty labor. He and his brood mate were dragging another of these 'trezz' down from the excavations. Both of them were lashed to the immense trunk and were dragging it down. The Mutons followed along with them keeping the trunk from rolling behind them. It seemed as though this labor would never end. This work team was just one of thousands of them, endlessly marching up the hills and mountains and dragging down more and more debris.
They were soldiers, not slave laborers, and unfortunately they were being treated as such. The team hadn't slept for two days now and they were exhausted.
That's probably why they didn't see their attackers.
They'd all heard the stories of course, those strange stories about the Phantom killers that had attacked troops on one of the armadas headed towards earth. But most regarded them as mere tales to be told and laughed about. No one here really believed in them, just old soldiers tales.
But when a shimmer in the hot air sent a blue-white plasma blast into the crack between Tulom's armor plates, he was dead before he hit the ground. His body slammed into the hard packed earth in a torrent of orange blood. His brood mate swung its fuel rod cannon around but was too slow. Another plasma blast from another angle and smacked the massive form off balance. The Hunter stumbled off balance.
The Mutons behind them scrambled for their weapons to return fire. But another of the shimmers had dropped down and was working furiously with its bladed staff. Several of the Mutons fell, and the hold on the log faultered.
It started to side down the hillside. It's weight knocking most of the Mutons on one side to the ground and crushing their bodies. The off balance Hunter struggled to hold onto the weight and keep from being drug along down the hillside. It regained it's footing and held it's ground, slowly dragging the dead weight back up to level ground.
One of the shimmers stood before the struggling Hunter, the target hard to miss. With one swipe the Hunter brought it's massive armored forearm down towards the attacker, and missed.
With a hollow alien laugh the Yautja brought it's staff up and hacked the Hunter's head off. It's lifeless body tumbled backwards down the embankment, drug along with the heavy log it had been dragging.
The Yautja let out a roar of satisfaction and returned to the slaughter of the Mutons that had been laboring along with his comrades. The Yautja hunters were keen to eliminate this threat to the Archives.
Strike team 'Hidden Fist', Covenant supply depot, 1553 Hours, December 31st
It had taken them most of the day to make their way through the hive of Covenant troops without being detected. They'd managed it through skill, luck and something the Jedi called the 'Force'. Considering what they'd manage to do to get this close to that Aztec ziggurat there had to be something powerful going on.
Whither it had been the Covenant patrol that happened to look in the opposite direction long enough for them to slip past, or the soldiers that had seemed to conveniently fell asleep. Something was working for them, something powerful.
Right now the team was hidden amidst the shipping containers of a Covenant supply depot. They were all concealed rather easily, and no one seemed to be concerned with investigating the supply depot on any kind of patrol.
That seemed odd considering the ever increasing sounds of weapons fire, both from Covenant sources and some...unknown force. Linda had reported that there was a lot of shooting going on all over the encampment. The labors still continued, but more and more of the workers and soldiers were dying.
It was a good distraction.
Plus, there were a lot of ground transports moving up the hills now as well. Carrying supplies and materials up to the ziggurats the Covenant were excavating. The plan was pretty well mapped out; they'd hop into the back of one of the Lizard transport trucks, and ride it up to the temple. Then they'd storm the temple and find out what the Covenant was so interested in.
All the while, calling in the final assault from the Coalition forces that had been massing around the position in preparation for the final destruction of the Covenant forces on Earth.
"Let's move." John said softly. The troops nodded and moved quickly and quietly through the stacks of containers and supplies. No one was deep in the supply complex, but as they neared the loading areas Mutons and Jaffa hauled crates and other containers into the backs of transports.
John nodded and pointed towards one of the less guarded trucks on the end. The others nodded and readied themselves to storm the truck. But before they could, the Mutons that stood watch over it abruptly walked away. John hesitated thinking it was a trap.
"Go, it's clear." One of the Jedi hissed. John didn't pause, he moved forward, covering the few meters of open space and getting into the back of the transport. The others piled in and shifted the crates to make it seem as though the transport was full. Then they settled in to wait.
One of the Jedi shifted and motioned his hand. The truck rumbled to life. John glanced at the other human with a stern eye.
"What are you?" He asked quietly. Whatever had been happening, these Jedi had something to do with their luck.
"I am a Jedi. Servant of the light and wielder of the Force." The man said.
"What?"
"The Force. It's something that exists in all things, it connects us, binds us and flows through us. I use the force to manipulate the weak minded and aid us in our mission." The Jedi replied.
"You've been doing this?" John asked glancing about at the four Jedi. They nodded.
"The force is a powerful ally." One of the Jedi replied.
"Right..." John said. The force seemed to be an intangible thing. It sounded quite suspect to him. He'd take an MA5B in his hand any day to something he couldn't touch. But these Jedi could use it, and it was helping them so he accepted it.
"I can sense your apprehension, but the Force exists in all living things. Yourself included. You may not be able to sense it, but it is still ever present." The Jedi said. John looked at them silently.
He didn't know what they were talking about. But so long as they fought, if they believed in the force didn't matter to him.
"We're nearing the ziggurat." Another of the Jedi said. The truck was slowing in it's climb. John nodded and motioned to the others.
"X-Com, you boys hit the Shade emplacements and cover those upper tiers with high explosives and disruptor fire. Spartans, we're going up the stairs and taking that entrance. Jedi, you're with us. I hope your swords can do some good." John said and was answered with nods all around.
The truck stopped with a rumble and there were sounds of movement and labors around the vehicle. John nodded and the stowaways sprang into motion.
With one hand motion from a Jedi, the few crates at the back of the transport flew out and battered the workers moving them to the ground. The humans sprung out, igniting their lightsabers and landing amidst the confused and disoriented Covenant soldiers. The Spartans and X-Com mercenaries piled out just as quickly.
"LETS GO!" John shouted and sprinted for the bottom of the stairs. The Spartans follwed along behind their new weapons firing rapidly. The X- Com weapons were familiar enough that the Spartans used them easily. The Disruptor rifles were vastly superior to anything the UNSC issued.
John leveled his weapon and started to track his fire on one of the Shade emplacements. John's shielding units were tough, along with the X- Com troopers' shield units but the Jedi didn't have any armor on.
The purple energy fire lashed across one of the weapons positions before the Elite that manned it even knew what hit him. John aimed and fired an Elerium grenade from the launcher beneath the barrel. The Shade bore the brunt of the fire and it tumbled off the ledge it rested on. The ensuing explosion knocked out several of the energy shields and sent quite a few Elites flying off the edge.
John noted the other fire raking the emplacements along with explosions of flame and explosions of the bluish gas that they used against aliens. The Covenant defenders had been caught off guard, but that was changing fast. The rag-tag defense was replaced with sheets of plasma fire raining down as the Covenant guards got themselves together.
John flung himself towards cover as far too many plasma blasts connected with his shields. The other Spartans did likewise, but maintained their fire. Fred and Will fell into place along side him. Their large forms pressed against the ancient stone as they fired from behind the scant cover. They had to move before they got pinned down.
John looked back at the transport. The X-Com mercs were dug in amongst the shipping containers. They were pinned down, irregardless of their advanced shields and cloaking devices. The Covenant were throwing around a massive amount of plasma, and they were getting by on volume.
John looked about for the Jedi and spotted one.
Just as he leapt nearly fifty feet on one direction, landing on the level right above the trio of Spartans.
"What the..." Cortana said, not believing her own sensors.
John leaned back and fired off another grenade and a volley of disruptor fire. It silenced another Shade emplacement. He glanced up and saw the three Jedi fighting with some kind of energy swords.
They were cutting a fairly large swath through the Covenant troopers, only slowing when they ran into the occasional plasma sword wielding Elite. They even looked like they were deflecting the plasma fire directed at them. That was impossible...
But it was happening and there were a lot of Covenant soldiers being taken down by it, so he wasn't about to complain.
He made a rapid hand gesture and the other two Spartans nodded. As one they leapt up and landed on the next tier. Then, with another leap they landed on the next tier amidst a large number of Covenant defenders. As one the three massive Spartans leveled their weapons and opened fire with a full auto barrage of disruptor fire.
It was wholesale slaughter; some of the defenders were dissolved under the torrent of fire, ripped to shreds in sprays of blue and purple blood. Bodies were sent flying and smashing into the ancient stonework. Stone liquefied beneath the disruptor fire through the sheer amounts of heat and impacts.
After raking the section of ziggurat thoroughly no one was left standing to oppose them. John glanced back, the Jedi were finished with their level and the X-Com troopers were simply charging up the stairs. They shrugged off the few plasma blasts sent there way and stormed up to the top of the ziggurat.
The Spartans moved as one and leapt up to the top level to complete their own charging. The Jedi followed along soon after, covering the distance in a series of springing leaps. They landed and rushed into the shadowed entry under the thick covering fire of the Spartans and the X-Com mercs.
"Alright. I want the Mercs and two of the Jedi to stay here and keep them off us. The rest of us are heading down to find out what the Covenant are so interested in." John said. There were nods and the X-Com personnel moved to set up a defensive position to hold off the likely counter attacks.
John turned to the dark stone steps that decended into the deep shadows below and began to walk.
Covenant Ground Command Center, Brazilian Excavation location, 1733 Hours, December 31st
The Prophet of Knowledge was not pleased. Of course, setbacks were expected. Problems always occurred. But there were bright points, there were no flood life forms inside the Forerunner archives and there was no major Human interference.
At least, identifiable 'major' Human interference, there was much occurring that was difficult to attribute to the primates, no matter how resourceful they were. The unit that had made it into the Archive entrance was a major concern at the moment. But even that major concern was overruled by the problems that were being placed by the phantoms that seemed to be running through the encampment and slaughtering anyone they came across.
It was just like the second fleet all over again. Things were killing soldiers without being stopped. The attacks were aimed at disrupting their operations somehow. They seemed as though they were trying to hold up the operations in the area.
The Prophet of Knowledge ignored the attacks. Right now, they were so close to their goal that everything else that could possibly occur fell aside. The Elites were inside the temple and descending deeper within the archives. Once they reached the final level they would unlock all the knowledge that the Forerunners had stored here.
All their knowledge.
Despite the set backs, despite the attacks and the humans, the Prophet of Knowledge was ecstatic.
Entrance to the Temple of the Knowledge of the Forerunners, Brazilian Excavation location, 1739 Hours, December 31st
Riuma 'Oltane stalked down the halls of the ancient Forerunner temple. His footfalls sounding crisp in the quiet halls. Well, they were quiet now that is. They had been dealing with nearly constant attacks by the defenses the Forerunners had for almost an hour. His original detachment of sixty was now down to eighteen. But after that last battle, they'd broken through the final line of the Forerunner defenses and were making good progress.
The Gold sheathed elite looked around the gently descending corridor.
Had he heard something?
Had that been a clicking noise from somewhere above?
The Elite looked up and around. The high ceiling ascended into the deep shadows. Something could have been lurking up there, but he wasn't sure. The Elite allowed his gaze to track around, but looked back down towards the path.
It had be-
The Elite felt the massive form of something drop down next to him. He spun in slow motion towards whatever it was and raised his Plasma rifle. The blur that stood there wasn't moving in slow motion, it was moving all together too fast. Something swung out fast and smacked the warrior in the face.
The impact carried enough force to flip the Elite back and send him spinning in the air. At the apex of the spin, a pair of curved blades flashed out and cracked through the hard armor plating with ease. Blood spilled out onto the floor as the Elite slammed back down.
That wasn't the only death; the rest of the Covenant expedition died in a torrent of bladed discs, plasma fire and spear thrusts. After a few moments, the Yautja defenders returned to their positions and waited for the next group to come along.
The one that the Monitor had said the Reclaimer would be leading.
Entrance to the Temple of the Knowledge of the Forerunners, Strike team 'Hidden Fist', 1800 Hours, December 31st
John moved through the halls of the ancient structure with a rapidly building sense of unease. He didn't like the silence. Not one bit. There should be some sort of noise, especially considering what they had run across.
There had been a running battle through these halls between Elites and the defense drones that the Forerunners used. Broken drones littered the ground, along with dead Elites. It was pretty easy to follow along in this wake of destruction and find out what the Covenant was so interested in.
Whatever it was, it was deep. Very deep. Cortana estimated that they were nearly half a kilometer underground. This facility was extremely extensive as well. They hadn't veered off the paths that the Elites were following, but if they had they might have been lost in this labyrinth for years on end wandering aimlessly.
John led the team, Will and Fred followed along, and the Jedi trailed at the rear. He liked it that way, the three that knew how to fight were at the forefront. The 'mystic' was behind them.
"I can sense something." The Jedi said quietly.
"What?" John hissed.
"Up there." The Jedi said pointing up into the gloom high above.
John looked up but didn't see a thing. As far as he was concerned the pile of dead Covenant Elites was more worrisome. Whatever had attacked them hadn't been scratched at all; it had managed to take out the entire Covenant unit without any difficulty.
"I don't see anything." John said and looked ahead.
"Wait, there." The Jedi said and pointed. John looked back up and saw it; a small pulse of blue light dropping down from high above. The small dot grew rapidly and came into an all too familiar form.
Guilty Spark. The Monitor from HALO, the organism that had tried to wipe out all life in the galaxy, and in retrospects probably the universe. John felt a flush of both anger and confusion, the Monitor had died on HALO, it couldn't be here.
Could it?
John stepped back into a firing position, Fred and Will did the same and the Jedi ignited his lightsaber.
"Ah. Finaly you have arrived." The Monitor said.
"You're dead." John said.
"I am? I shouldn't be, my systems still read as being functional. I shall check again." The monitor replied. It paused for a few long moments.
"I am still functional, I believe you are mistaken."
"On HALO, nothing could have survived that blast." John said.
"Ah, you must mean one of the Monitors. We were created with the same superficial specifications of course. It is easy for someone to confuse the fact. He was a research and combat construct. I am an analytical and archive construct. There is a distinct difference." The hovering...thing...said. John was unmoved.
"Right, and you would be?" John asked.
"I am Librarian. I tend to the repository of the Knowledge and Hope of the Forerunner Alliance." The entity – Librarian – said.
"I see. And what exactly do you do?" John said.
"I defend this final hope of the Forerunner Alliance for the defeat of the Horde." The Librarian replied simply.
"What?"
"Ah, come, come. You are the Reclaimer, you possess an Index and can unlock the knowledge contained within." Librarian said. In a flash of orange light, they disappeared. All four of them vanished from the watchful gaze of the Yautja sentries high above.
The Temple of the Knowledge of the Forerunners, Strike team 'Hidden Fist', 1809 hours, December 31st
It could have been moments or eons that they waited in transport. That was how things worked with the teleportation net the Forerunners used. But they rematerialized in one piece and were fine, if not slightly annoyed.
John blinked a few times and realized that he wasn't anywhere familiar. They were in a small room, surrounded on all sides by monitors and large curved windows that looked out at a massive room. It was epic in scale beyond the glass. Off in the distance, it stretched far into darkness, illuminated by silent points of light. From what little anyone could see they were hovering amidst the dark void of the chamber.
"Welcome to the observatory." The Librarian said cheerfully.
"Right. Now that we're here, wherever here is, tell me a few things." John said.
"Most certainly Reclaimer." The Librarian replied.
"Who or what is the Forerunner Alliance?" John asked.
"They were the brightest light of hope in the Galaxy. They were an alliance of several of the most highly developed species that the Universe had created. The Forerunner Alliance was formed 5,042,234 Years, three months, five days ago, local time. Their intent was to bring civilization and order to all the Universe by combining the skills of the enlightened races they had." The Librarian said.
"Who were the original races?" John asked.
"The primary race was the Airlia. They conceived the notion with the Ancients. Under their leadership they united with the Orions and the Antarans, ending their brutal civil war and bringing peace between them. Each race held their own special component in the Alliance. The Airlia and the Ancients led the Alliance, the Orions led in science and the Antarans made up the Military. Beneath their enlightened rule life within the galaxy flourished in a renaissance of interstellar proportions." The Librarian said.
"Where are they now?"
"I do not know. No one does. They disappeared after the war against the Horde. As far as any of the constructs in the HALO net can decide, they were wiped out by the Horde over three million years ago."
"Who are the Horde?"
"None have been able to decipher who they are. The Orions made several speculations to the fact. They believed that the forces were of a parasitic nature made up of several different groups of diverse background benath the command of the semi-sentient 'Harvesters'. They attacked the dominon of the Forerunner Alliance four million years ago. We believe that all vestiges of the Forerunner Alliance were either pushed from known space, or annihilated. Specimens of the Horde were taken and set in the HALO network that was created as a final measure to halt the Horde."
"Why didn't they use it?" "Unknown." "Where is the Horde now?" "Unknown." "Why weren't the HALO nets used against the Horde?"
"Unknown. We believe that they were set in place along with the Final Solution." The Librarian said. John did not like the sound of 'the Final Solution', capital letters and all.
"What is the Final Solution?"
A desperate measure by the Forerunner Alliance that was set in place knowing that they were going to be destroyed. It is the last act of vengeance upon the Horde as it were."
"You didn't answer me." John said.
"Alas, I did not did I? But I suppose I should explain even if it is a cause of duress for your kind." The Librarian said.
John was about to speak up but the Librarian continued.
"The Final Solution was enacted by the Orions shortly before we lost contact. They gave the HALO net and it's associated research and fortress worlds the order to engineer a life form capable of battling the Horde. The same genetic code was used to engineer the species. Millions of different galaxies were seeded with limitless derivatives of the genetic strain. As the strain evolved through an accelerated process, probes and hidden factors manipulated the growth patterns of different lines to see what results could be achieved. Technological levels were changed, events and happenings regulated, all geared towards creating races that would some day fight the Horde." The Librarian said.
"Unfortunately your arrival has disrupted that fact. You were not supposed to be alerted of the presence of the Horde, or the truth behind your existence for some time. The presence of the 'Covenant' has caused much duress amongst the networks. This Civil war that you are experiencing is a titanic threat to the Final Solution. If it drags on as it has been, then there is the possibility that the Horde will return soon, possibly as soon as a Million years from now, and catch you unawares." The Librarian said.
Johns head was spinning. He'd just had the history of humanity turned upside down by that short speech. Everything that had ever happened to humans had been designed to guide them towards becoming better warriors so they could exact vengeance against an ancient enemy that had defeated some of the most powerful races in the galaxy.
"This archive contains all the knowledge gathered from the test worlds and samples of the best warriors and commanders available. Shall I present samples?" The Librarian asked.
"What?"
"I shall present you with an example." The Librarian said and turned to face the limitless depths of the chamber. Outside the small room a golden halo of light came into being and a clear egg appeared outside.
The egg shaped container was transparent, making the figure floating inside plainly visible to those inside the room. It was a human, he looked to be about 5'10", appeared stocky and not exactly in the pinnacle of physical shape. His eyes were shut but he seemed as though he was ready to awake at any moment, irregardless of the clear fluid that he was suspended it.
"One of the more promising Tactical and Strategic commanders we have available. Genetic cells and brain waves harvested from Subject world 947653-425, at local year 1944 at time of death. Mental reconditioning and retraining constant, current status is green. He is able to be revived without problems." The librarian said.
John looked at the figure. He recognized the face from somewhere, somewhere far back in his mind... Even his augmented memory was having trouble dredging up the information. He stopped trying and faced the Librarian.
"Who is that?" John asked and turned his vision towards the figure.
"Library subject 937530285-3242432-285753. Local rank and Name, General Erwin Rommel." The librarian said. John blinked, he blinked hard...he did know that face, and he really did know that the Librarian wasn't lying. He knew who that was...
General Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox; the German general that had pushed back the British during the Second World War, only finding defeat because of his own superiors and lack of supplies.
John was at a loss for words.
"The Forerunner Alliance left orders that those which possessed superior combat abilities, scientific skills, or leadership traits be studied harvested and cloned at this facility. Then if the need to combat the Horde returned, we would be able to field a large cadre of skilled leaders retrained with abundant skills and ready to fight."
John looked at the floating form of one of Nazi Germany's most skilled Generals and then back to the Librarian.
"How many more?"
"9,242,626...A full catalogue is available." The Librarian said. John looked around the immense space. This is what the Covenant was after. A storage site for the most skilled commanders and warriors from history...from all...histories...
"Librarian, you said that the genetic seed was the same for all the races spawned?"
"Yes Reclaimer, that is true."
"What of the Covenant?"
"They are merely an evolutionary branch from the original architecture of the Final Solution. They were bred to be much more oriented towards physical combat and had curbed technical and scientific abilities. Of course, this was all deliberate." The Librarian said.
"So, Humans, and Covenant are from the same genetic code?"
"Yes Reclaimer." The Librarian replied. John felt nauseous. He had always thought of the Covenant as being alien, completely and totally alien in his existence. Nothing closely related to the Covenant was closely related to him or any human. But now, now he learned that the Covenant and Humanity shared things down to the Genetic level. That was deeply unsettling.
John looked back out into the caverns. Suddenly he realized that there was so much different between the Covenant and humanity...it was exemplified within this room. The Covenant wanted this room to crush all humanity and all sentient life in the Universe. Humanity wanted to keep it from Covenant hands.
"What are we?" John asked.
"Weapons, Reclaimer. The Final Solution has produced the Best weapons of war the galaxy has ever seen. You and your kind."