All Roads Lead to Earth
It only took the Spartan moments to adjust to the familiar lights of the docking station aboard the Cairo. The large retractable passageway firmly attached to primary hull door on the great forerunner ship and a slight shudder from the spacecraft indicated that they were now connected to the defense station. John glanced over at his prisoner who continued to slouch over his hovering platform, breathing softly, but still soundly unconscious. In a move of diplomatic genius, the Chief gestured for the golden elite to walk forward and said, "Truth is our prisoner. Bring him in with me so that my people will see what we're capable of … together."
The commander was stunned and only thought such honor capable by his fellow Sangheili. He expected to be presented to the human command as a prisoner himself, along with the prophet. His deep hatred for the Chief was fading as he replied, "Demon, you continue to surprise me. This is a generous act of honor you're bestowing on us, something I thought impossible of your race."
John smirked inside of his helmet. "Life's full of surprises." Turning his attention to the marine ODSTs with them, he continued. "Alright marines, move in the back and follow us up!"
Snapping to attention, a unified yell of "Sir!" signaled that the command was to be obeyed. They walked to the back of the column in four rows of six, weapons at marine attention, standing straight, proud and strong.
The march began after John's first step. Next to him was the limp body of the prophet of Truth and aside from the prophet, the golden armored elite followed step in unison with the Chief.
Looking through the windows on the docking pathway, the flight of dozens of heavy UNSC battle cruisers were easily discernable as they circled around the Cairo. Although it was a rather large security measure, the exiled covenant seemed to be more drawn by the image of Earth. John heard one of the elites comment how much Earth looked like their own world. However, the other side of the passageway had all of the Spartan's attention as he prepared himself for the reception they were all about to encounter.
------------------------------------------
The sight of his ship traveling through the wormhole of slip space was commonplace for the Arbiter. The Faithful Blessing was on an urgent trajectory to Earth, the home of Sergeant Johnson and Commander Keyes. Remembering how his fleet once decimated the human fortress world of Reach, the elite sighed at the assumption that Earth would look nothing more than an incinerated shell, empty and dead, with humanity gone with it. From High Charity to Earth, the journey would take upwards of twelve hours, about four hours faster than the human's best ships. Due to the travel time, much of the crew was asleep, preparing for the worst when the jump was complete.
While his body ached with fatigue, the Arbiter had difficulty letting sleep take hold. There was great pressure and sadness on his shoulders which kept his mind occupied. Looking left and right, he saw how the bridge was devoid of life besides for himself. The two humans were sent to a special quarters for rest, much of his crew was asleep, and the holy oracle was busy exchanging information with the human construct, Cortana.
His hands began to move towards the side locks on his armor, and with a slight click, the ceremoniously decorated chest plate dropped to the floor revealing the elite's darkened and scared chest. Without conscious thought, his eyes moved towards the scar borne over his heart forever marking him as a heretic. The stigma burned into his soul and flooded him with disgrace and shame. Thoughts and images flashed through his troubled mind.
Two sacred rings have been destroyed, one by my neglect, one by my own hands. The holy city, the sanctum of the Arbiters, home to the spirits of fallen brothers, all erased from this world. I was responsible for it all, I've caused so much shame for the ancestors. What we always held dearest, the Great Journey, everything, all a lie, and for that, the blood of innocents has been spilt. What is the point of my life? Why was I placed on this world to only create such destruction and only dishonor my brothers and sisters? Is there any possible way I can ever try to redeem what I've already taken away…?
Picking up his fallen chest plate, the Arbiter attached it back on, once again covering the great mark of shame. He knew what he had to do to make things right once again. It wouldn't be easy, but it had to be done. Leaning back and sitting in his command chair, the lone elite let sleep blanket his thoughts as he finally began to make peace with himself.
------------------------------------------
Sergeant Johnson wasn't one for long periods of sleep. Used to the nearly constant fighting over more years than he wanted to admit, he had perfected the technique of short power naps. After resting for about three hours, he woke up, saw that Commander Keyes was still sound asleep in the adjacent room, and decided to stretch his legs. Walking out of the chamber and into the hallway, Johnson instantly felt the silence around him. What was worse was that the feeling was not new, he had felt it before. Years back, before the battle of Paris IV, there was the same exact silence. It was the quiet before the storm, or rather, the quiet before the category five hurricane.
Johnson's aging body ached of the numerous engagements he had fought on, of all the wounds he had suffered, and of all the marines that he had lost under his command. Drifting in his thoughts, he accidentally walked into one of the many small medical stations throughout the ship. As the door's motion sensor let out a little beep, Johnson snapped back to reality only to see in front of him Ferrunee addressing the wound to his right forearm while Nuyac frantically searched through several drawers.
The blue armored elite instantly looked at Johnson and their eyes met each other. A second of uncertainty passed until Johnson broke the ice.
"What happened to that arm of yours? Seems like a nice little piece shrapnel found a home."
Knowing that he was caught and hiding the wounded arm any further was pointless, the elite shook his head as if embarrassed and replied, "While we were removing the Jiralhanae filth from this ship, I was caught unaware by a blast from one of their grenades. My shields were recharging after the battle and the blast sent a shard of metal into my arm. I will not go to the medical wing and have it looked at, I will not be thought of as weak."
Nuyac turned around to see what the discussion was about and instantly dropped some bandages on the ground the second he saw Johnson. Deathly afraid of the marine, the grunt slowly walked back against the wall.
Upset by the creature's lack of courage, Ferrunee barked an order at Nuyac to pick up the bandages and bring them over. Before the terrified grunt had an opportunity to move, Johnson strode over to the bandages and picked them up. Looking straight at the him, Johnson calmly said, "Relax, will ya'? I'm not going to hurt you. Those days are over, and it's about damn time."
Turning his attention to the injured elite, Johnson picked out a pair of tweezers from his personal med-kit and signaled for him to hold out his arm.
"Come on, I was trained in medicine during basic, let me take that metal out of your arm."
As Johnson reached over to grasp the elites arm, Ferrunee whipped it back and growled, "Don't you dare touch me."
His temper rising, Johnson shot back, "Look tough guy, you can just leave that crap in the wound, let it get infected, and when they have to amputate your whole arm you can look even more like a prideful bastard. Now let me see that wound."
Ferrunee slammed his healthy arm in exasperation and held out the injured one. Johnson immediately grasped on to the wrist with a firm hold and after a quick inspection, inserted the tweezers into the cut flesh. The elite clenched its mandibles together in discomfort but after a few seconds, the marine pulled the tweezers out with a small, jagged shard of metal on the other end. Reaching into his med-kit again, Johnson put antibacterial cream onto the bandage and wrapped it around the elites arm.
"There, how's it feel now? And don't tell me it's worse otherwise someone is going to get it."
Ferrunee looked at his mended forearm. It felt innumerably times better and he could already begin to move it as he would with a perfectly healthy one. Looking back at Johnson, the elite took in a deep breath and replied, "It feels better, thank you sergeant."
He proceeded to get up and walked out the door with Nuyac following behind. Surprising the battle harden marine, the grunt looked at Johnson before he walked out the door and waved. Although the grunt had its breathing mask attached over its face, Johnson could have sworn that the creature had just smiled.
------------------------------------------
The blast doors on the far end of the passageway groaned as countless gears churned, pulling the heavy metal pieces apart. John immediately recognized the large room as the primary hanger for the pelicans and heavy equipment. Rather than being filled with transports, scorpions, and warthogs, the room was instead hosted by a semicircle of hundreds of marines on the floor and many more standing at attention on the balconies.
Admiral Hood and a man wearing a white laboratory jacket whom John didn't recognize stood in the center.
The marines first gazed at Master Chief and the unconscious form of Truth hovering next to him and then at the golden elite to the far side. The atmosphere was extremely tense and besides for the sound of foot on metal floor, the drop of a pin could have been heard. Each marine had their fingers next to their triggers, eager to blast the enemy into pieces if they made the wrong move.
The elite commander paid no attention to the marines surrounding them and kept his eyes forward. However, this didn't stop the covenant behind from looking around. They nervously marched ahead, expecting to be obliterated in a hail of bullets. As the last ODSTs behind them marched into the room, the blast doors rattled again as they began to shut.
The echo of the closed doors resonated around the room until the tense silence took over. Admiral Hood made the first move and walked over to the Chief. "Great job, Chief, in securing the objective." The Spartan instinctively saluted the admiral and received one in reply. Admiral Hood then walked over to the golden elite and calmly said, "This is quite a surprise. After so many years of war, I hope that your own may decide that peace might be desirable. Due to your assistance in capturing the Prophet of Truth, you will all be allowed to participate in his trial. For now, living quarters have been assigned, but the prophet will go to a holding cell. Please be prepared to go to the surface tomorrow so we can find out what started this war after all. However, this is all on the assumption that hostilities will cease between us."
The elite smoothly replied, "Thank you for your hospitality. Although I can not speak for all of my own, I am sure that the truce will be agreed on. I only hope that in time we will be able to atone for the crimes we've committed against your people."
"That is good to hear and maybe someday, we can put this all behind us." Turning back to the Chief, Hood continued, "Master Chief, this Lieutenant wants a word with you." He gestured for the man in the lab coat to come over and Adam quickly obeyed.
"Wow, it's an honor to see you, sir! I have something that you may find very helpful. Come this way please!" Adam said with an obvious tone of excitement. The Chief followed him out of the large room and through a door to the far right.
Focusing his attention back on the Covenant, Admiral Hood ordered the ODSTs to escort them to their holding quarters. The prophet, however, was taken to a very secure prisoner cell to wait for his journey to Earth and bring to light what so many were asking.
------------------------------------------
The Arbiter awoke as Cortana's voice played over the speaker system, "We'll be leaving slip space in approximately 30 minutes."
Quickly shaking off his drowsiness, the elite picked up the microphone to his side and added on, "Everyone back to their stations. Be prepared for anything the moment we exit. If we're lucky, the humans will have wiped out most of the prophet's forces."
Setting down the microphone, the Arbiter scanned the bridge as elites began to filter in to their stations. He couldn't take his mind off of the thought that Earth would be put to fire and that Truth was nearing the ark, preparing to fire the remaining halos. The anxiety continued to eat at him as he desperately wished for the ship to hurry up.
It only took a few minutes for the sleeping ship to be at full alert. Johnson and Keyes returned to the bridge and Cortana welcomed them with a great big, "Good morning!"
Facing the two humans, the Arbiter gravely spoke. "You are all aware of what may be awaiting us once we exit slip space, correct?"
Miranda calmly replied, "Yes, and I do hope things got better. With the Chief joining the fight, I'm sure that they're doing alright." Then she kicked herself for saying that. There were many Spartans when Reach fell, and even they weren't able to repel the Covenant armada. What possibility does the Chief have to do such a thing on his own?
Johnson, almost reading her mind, tried to calm her and said, "Don't worry 'mam, I'm sure that we were able to throw some surprises at those bastards. If I heard Admiral Hood correctly, he mentioned some kind of secret weapon on the Cairo. Maybe the defenses held out."
"Let us only hope so," the Arbiter commented. "Construct, were you able to find out where exactly this ark is from the holy oracle?"
Cortana's voice emanated from the central control board and replied, "Yes, although it was a bit difficult to be honest. That machine was very reluctant at giving up any of its core knowledge. It did mention that due to the shifting of Earth's tectonic plates, it'll have to scan a few possible locations until it finds the right place."
"Very well," replied the elite.
The remaining time in slip space was marked with a nervous silence. Although they all expected to see Earth utterly defeated and destroyed, there was a glimmer of home in the hearts of them all that Earth would still be defended and that the last bastion of humanity was still standing.
------------------------------------------
Admiral Hood returned to the command post aboard the Cairo. There was so much to take care of. It didn't help that ONI was trying to swarm the defense station and get their hands on the captured prophet. Although he did not know anything specific, he suspected that the some deep, dark, and mysterious project revolved around the covenant and ONI and all of the attention his new prisoner was receiving further justified his idea. Despite all of their attempts, Hood swore that it would be his hands to bring the prophet down to Earth so that everyone would be able to hear the truth about this cataclysmic war.
Just as he took a moment to relax, a nervous voice rang out, "Sir, there are whispers straight out from our location. Looks like something or some things are about to leave slip space."
Quite surprised, Admiral Hood ordered, "Man your positions, I want to know who and what is there when they leave slip space"
"Yes, sir!"
The detected whispers were accurate and moments later a large covenant battle cruiser punched through its shortcut in space only to behold the great defensive wall surrounding Earth still intact. Admiral Hood took a step back and then just shrugged his shoulders. Although it was very uncommon for covenant ships to fall victim to the slight delays in slip space travel, this must have been one of the rare occasions.
"Wait for my signal and blow that ship to pieces like we did the rest," commanded Admiral Hood. Although instinct told him to rip the ship to shreds, something inside of him said to wait and find out for sure who was on that ship. Sure enough, an officer at the communications station yelled aloud, "Sir, I think you might want to listen to this."
"Ok, play it on the main speakers."
Everyone's eyes burst open as the voice of Cortana rang throughout the room. "This is Cortana aboard the covenant ship, Faithful Blessing. The covenant aboard are friendly, I repeat friendly, so please do not fire."
Admiral Hood answered with great surprise, "Cortana, can you tell me what you're doing on that ship!"
One of the officers present on deck jabbed the other in the side and whispered, "If she says 'finishing this fight,' you owe me a new warthog."
The A.I. responded hurriedly, "Sir, I'm with Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson. We have with us an elite named the Arbiter, one who seems to have the command of rest. We also have information regarding the ark, the control room for every halo, and we're here to stop the Prophet of Truth from activating it on Earth."
"Cortana, Master Chief and members of the exiled Covenant captured Truth and we have him in custody here aboard the Cairo. We successfully destroyed his fleet so this ark you speak of has not been activated yet."
There was a brief silence and then a strong, deep, and unknown voice replied, "This is good news. I am the Arbiter, commander of this vessel. It pleases me to see that you repulsed his fleet. Do we have permission to enter your space and board the Cairo?"
Just as the Admiral began to reply, Johnson's voice kicked onto the speakers. "Holy shit! Are you telling me we actually won that battle! See, I told you Earth would be alright! Those nasty gorilla bastards aren't that tough."
Hood chuckled. "Sergeant, nice to hear your voice, and I'm glad Miranda is alright, too. Arbiter, you have permission to place your ship in stationary orbit around Earth and then board the Cairo. Have Cortana send the coordinates the secondary pelican entry bay."
The elite simply answered, "Appreciated," and the conversation ended.
The old Admiral had seen many strange things during his days in the navy, but today just made up the rest of the cake. This whole sudden climax at the end of the battle, humanity actually winning decisively for once, followed by the proposition of a possible truce between some of the members of the Covenant made things weird enough. Now the news of an ark, an activation complex on Earth made the man's head spin even more. The Admiral lifted his cap and brushed the sweat from his forehead. At least this beats fighting….
------------------------------------------
Lieutenant Adam Mitchell hurriedly paced down the hallways in the Cairo to his own lab. The pace of the scientist surprised John as even he had to pick up his pace to keep up with him. John noticed how the blood and bodies of both covenant and marines had been largely cleaned up. The damaged and bullet ridden hallways were being patched up and people quickly milled about trying to clean up the mess that followed after the covenant had boarded the station.
They finally reached their destination and Adam swiped his security card through the I.D. panel. The affirmative beep and a green light indicated that the security clearance was granted and the doors whipped open. A rather small and messy room with decent lighting appeared. Adam walked in and commented over his back, "I'm sorry, but if I was expecting company earlier, I would have tidied up a little bit."
The Chief didn't bother answering but kept his eyes pealed on everything he saw in the room, absorbing all his eyes could see. Finally turning his attention back to the frantically moving scientist, he watched as Lieutenant Mitchell cleared off a large desk, placed two large pieces of metal standing upright onto it, and then preceded to hand the Chief a covenant plasma rifle.
"Ok Chief, I bet when you saw the aftermath of the battle, you had several thoughts swimming through your head. One might have been, how could the Cairo take such a beating of plasma without falling apart? Well, here's a demonstration to answer that thought. Please fire at one place on that piece of metal."
Complying with the scientists' wishes, the Chief aimed and let lose a concentrated stream of plasma fire onto one section of the metal. The metal absorbed the first two bursts and began to glow red hot after taking in a few more. After about ten shots on the one location, a small hole could be seen going through the metal plate. Adam commented, "You see Chief, that is what you're used to seeing. It's an half inch thick plate of Titanium A, and it does a reasonably good job at handling limited bursts of concentrated plasma fire before it starts degrade. Now do the same exact thing on the second plate."
Not seeing where this was going, the Chief opened fire on the second plate. Unlike the reaction with the first plate of metal, this sheet took in about ten shots to even show any signs of reaction. John halted his fire to let the plasma rifle cool back down and looked at the metal. He noticed a very slight, bubble like expansion where the plasma hit, but it miraculously flattened out as his plasma rifle cooled. Not sure what to do, John looked at Adam who in turn handed the chief two brute plasma rifles. "Hey, I just got my hands on these from the ships they captured a little while ago. Try it again."
The Spartan dropped his plasma rifle and took the two brute plasma rifles. Their reddish hue was indication enough to the Chief of their improved firepower. As he learned the hard way while on High Charity, these things could chew through shielding much quicker than the other plasma fire he had previously experienced. Their impact on the flesh was even worse as one direct burst could eat right through a part of unprotected body.
Focusing on the same spot as before, John opened up again with a deadly hail of red fire. Releasing the trigger just before the guns overheated, John anxiously looked to see the crisp hole that should have been present in the sheet of metal. He dropped his two weapons as he noticed the same effect as before. Although the expansion appeared to be about a millimeter or so thicker than before, it began to reshape again before his eyes.
Adam whistled out loud and commented, "Master Chief, you are witnessing history. From the dawn of time, humanity has learned to adapt to kick its enemy's asses. This, you see, is what is now coating every defense platform and nearly every heavy battle cruiser orbiting Earth. Welcome to the blissful world of Titanium A plus! Its creation had something to do with my work with plasma allowing ONI to focus the rest of its scientists on an improved version of the titanium armor. This was the result, perfected only several months before. Its molecular anatomy contains an extra set of empty, high energy orbitals which can absorb an incredibly large amount of energy. As the atoms absorb the energy of the plasma, the electrons jump to this higher energy orbital, expand, but then retain their integrity as they release the heat and cool off. Unless the covenant bombard the same exact spot of a ship with about a dozen or so heavy bursts, nothing is going to penetrate its hull. Oh, and don't let me forget that the metal is just as strong against bullets as before. Isn't chemistry amazing?"
John never took any really deep classes in such subjects, but he was thoroughly impressed with what we witnessed. It would indicate why so many ships survived the assault from the covenant armada.
Still smiling, Adam opened another door and gestured for the Spartan to follow. "If you thought that was cool, you should see this."
The next room was even smaller than the one before, and much of the space was comprised of large computer equipment. Opening up a holographic display which also lit up the room, Adam started a program. "You see Chief, this is my little toy, although it was many, many years in the making." Pointing to a display on the projection, he continued, "Each covenant capital ship has a primary plasma turret which is capable of launching out streams of super heated plasma. We managed to figure out how it works and even make a few improvements. As you might have seen while on that large spacecraft, these computers control the next generation of the MAC weaponry. How it works is more fancy chemistry and physics which I'll tell you later if you want, but the idea behind it is that with our own magnetic fields, fusion energy, and this nifty new material I created, we can throw at the covenant plasma bolts exponentially more powerful than anything they have. Its success here will probably imply that it will be implemented onto the rest of the spacecraft and this can only mean that we may be victorious in this war after all!"
John blankly stared at the scientist trying as best as he could to understand all of the information presented before him. He finally managed to comment, "Yeah, this is amazing."
Adam, still smiling from ear to ear led the Chief out of his small control room. "I'm sorry if this was out of your way, but I just wanted to show you these cool things. Thanks to your bravery, courage, and willingness to fight, you've not only been an inspiration to us all, but you've been a great help to ensure our survival long enough for us to bring back the offensive!"
As John walked down the hallway, he calmly replied, "I'm glad that you were able to repel the covenant armada. It lifts a lot of the burden off of my shoulders."
A door behind the Spartan closed and looking back, the scientist had gone back into his room. Turning around, John continued to move back towards the bridge. Although he was a bit tired, he had a feeling inside of his gut that there was going to be even more excitement.
------------------------------------------
The phantom slowed its speed as it approached the entry bay of the Cairo. Inside, 343 Guilty Spark, Sergeant Johnson, Miranda Keyes, Cortana, and the Arbiter patiently waited to arrive at the assigned location. The elite thought it would be unwise to board the ship with a whole team of his brethren by his side and therefore suggested that he alone join the two humans and their construct. The oracle was busy hovering about and commenting how exciting it was going to be to find the ark and see the human race. Johnson covered his hears and tried to ignore the slightly annoying machine, but Keyes and the Arbiter seemed to be doing fine, quietly sitting and awaiting to arrive at the defense platform. Cortana was driving the phantom manually and expertly maneuvered the craft into the docking bay.
Her voice sprang up on the com-link. "We're home! Please don't forget to extract me before you leave."
The gravity lift came to life and Miranda walked into the pilot room, inserting the female A.I. back into her transport device. Lining up before the gravity lift, the Arbiter looked back at the two humans.
Johnson nodded his head forward and commented, "Don't you worry, they know you're coming and you won't be hurt. Marines are tough bastards, but we aren't stupid and shoot at anything that moves."
With the human's encouragement, the Arbiter took a deep breath and jumped down the gravity lift followed by the rest of the crew.
------------------------------------------
Authors Notes: Funny how these chapters get progressively longer. This chapter tries to portray the title and have a bunch of individual accounts diverge ultimately into one (which will be completed at the beginning of the next chapter). I don't know how effectively this device will be apparent to you readers, but hey, I tried! Hope you enjoy the science background. Oh, and don't worry, think of this chapter as a cinematic scene in the actual story. The action will be picking up again very soon! Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!