Prologue
Tartarus'
hammer crushed the elite's chest as if the thick armor was made of
tin foil. Tartarus brought the giant weapon up around his head and
let it fall crushing the skull of an elite sneaking behind. He pulled
his hammer from the ground and swung it like a club sending another
elite sailing through the air.
The Arbiter watched, angered with
each failed attempt to kill the brute leader. He loaded his carbine
and jumped down into the ensuing battle below. He unloaded the fresh
clip into the back of the hulking beast's head, the rounds merely
gaining the brute's attention as they bounced of the shields
emanating from the hammer.
Tartarus turned, glaring down at the
Arbiter.
"You insolent little worm. The Prophets should have
killed you," he said turning and starting towards the Arbiter, "I
will enjoy watching you die," he said grabbing the Arbiter by
throat and lifting him to eye level.
Suddenly out of nowhere,
three particle beam shots hit Tartarus in the face, killing his
shields and knocking the Arbiter from his grasp.
"Hey, ugly,
how'd that taste?" The human yelled from the platform above. The
Arbiter grabbed his fallen and empty carbine by the barrel and
brought the butt of it over the unshielded brute's head, shattering
the weapon to pieces.
"Is that all," Tartarus laughed getting
up from his knee, the shield flickering back into existence. The
brute sent his hammer flying, sending the Arbiter into the air and
then into a wall.
Arbiter looked up in a daze as the huge beast
came walking forward, laughing. Tartarus bent down to pick the dazed
elite back up and finish the job, when three more shots rang out,
killing his shielding once again. He looked up to see the human once
again but this time smiling and waving down to him.
The Arbiter,
still in a daze, found a human weapon immediately to his right.
Seeing his chance, he pulled the weapon to himself and pumped it as
he saw hundreds of humans do before. He stood up shoved the barrel of
the weapon into the brute's muscular stomach. Tartarus, realizing
what was happening, looked back at his foe in shock.
"For all my
brothers blood you have spilled," the Arbiter said with malice as
he pulled the trigger. The weapon erupted and spewed forth fire and
shrapnel into the living wall of pure muscle that was the brute's
torso. The weapon shredded the skin, penetrated the muscular armor,
and attacked what ever vital organ lay between the barrel and the
beasts back. Tartarus stood for a moment before finally falling
backwards, his huge bulk making the floor tremble beneath the
Arbiter's feet.
"Good-bye Tartarus," the Arbiter said
turning to see the female human remove the Icon from its cradle. The
station trembled for a moment and returned to normal. Seven holograms
of the other ring worlds appeared, hovering where the Icon sat prior.
The other human, clinging to the Oracle, floated down to meet the
female.
"What is it?" the female human asked as the Oracle let
the other drop off.
"A beacon," the Oracle replied hovering a
foot over the humans heads.
"What is it doing?" the female
asked, entranced with the rings hovering peacefully. 'It's hard
to believe anything so beautiful could be so destructive,' she
thought to her self.
"Communicating at super luminal speeds with
a frequency of…." the Oracle replied amused at the human's
apparent admiration of the stations.
"Communicating with what?"
the female asked firmly trying to resist pulling the insane light
bulb apart piece by piece.
"The other installations," the
Oracle replied, confused as to why the humans would ask such an
obvious question.
"Show me," the female demanded, calming down
now that the machine was starting to give her answers.
"Failsafe
protocol, in the event of an unexpected shut down the entire system
will move to stand by status. All remaining installations are now
ready for remote activation," he responded pondering why the humans
of all creatures would not know the protocol.
"Remote
activation, from here?" the female asked confused.
"Don't be
ridiculous," the Oracle cackled from above.
"Listen tinker
bell, don't make me…." the other human began as the female
rested a hand upon his shoulder, implying to calm down.
"Then
where? Where would someone go to activate the other rings?" the
female asked calmly.
"Why, the Ark of course," the Oracle
replied, finally realizing why the humans seemed so puzzled, why the
Reclaimer resisted activating installation 04. It all made sense
now.
"And where, Oracle, is that?" The Arbiter asked limping
behind the humans
