ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS DESIGNATED METRU NUI (TRNSLT: GREAT CITY)
CRYSTAL REFUGIA DESIGNATE KO-METRU DISTRICT (TRNSLT: CITY OF ICE)

Pelican Golf-33 navigated through the debris field that had reportedly once been a cityscape of crystalline skyscrapers. The groundquake that had catastrophically damaged the city had left its mark on the district, with a mere twenty-one percent of the towering structures left standing - and a further eight percent of that number designated as too unstable to approach within their predicted collapse zone, let alone attempt to enter them.
The Pelican and its sole occupant had been assigned a new task; to make contact with a native militia designated simply as the 'Matoran Resistance', drop a Watchpoint as close to their current stronghold as permissible, then secure the area for evacuation. Aeona had marked a complex formerly situated on the district's northwest shore as suitable for a substantially more defensible position. Large segments of the ground around it had collapsed and the sea had rushed in, reducing the ground-access route to the designated complex to a fifty-three meter-wide trail - and even that was quickly collapsing, eventually predicted to completely isolate the area from the rest of the island-city.

The main problem with their plan was that they would need to secure the Matoran Resistance's agreement with the operation, as their contact - a Water-Matoran who referred to herself as 'Sarna' - had reacted to the proposal of relocating their entire command structure to the isolated area via UNSC airlift with great suspicion. Something had happened to the city's population before the groundquake struck, and the majority's subsequent internment within the monumental Coliseum at the center of the city was not entirely of their own will.

Sarna had shared a memory with the AI that had established contact with her, of the law enforcement constructs rounding up Matoran that had failed to respond to the summons issued by the city's political leader, a figure named 'Dume'. Of how they had been hunted down, separated, captured. Some had managed to evade the 'Vahki' until the constructs had apparently received priority orders to head to their hives to recharge, while others were brought to chute stations and crammed into silver spheres, which were then sent through the transportation system towards the Coliseum.
The Ga-Matoran had then shared the memory of waking up in the industrial district known as Ta-Metru, at first shocked at the destruction around her. A noise from an alleyway had drawn her attention to a bipedal armored figure sprinting away from her, and she had quickly left her sphere to pursue them, though she could never catch up. They had led her to another Matoran, however, and the two had subsequently located suitable transport and made their way to the Coliseum.

Another memory. The Po-Matoran from before - Tuvan - was screaming behind her, calling for help as the screeches of the spiders drowned out everything else. She ran. She continued running until her legs collapsed from exhaustion, and even then she dragged herself across the ground. Anything to escape. The Visorak had occupied the interior of the structure, had turned it into a massive nest, and any Matoran that sought shelter in it was subsequently...
She would later learn that the free Matoran had lost nearly half their number in the first thirty-six hours of the Visorak invasion due to the same general occurrence, at first after all communication was lost with the Matoran already at the Coliseum, and then as two teams were dispatched to reestablish contact. Only one Matoran returned.
A further third of their remaining strength were taken in the next week as they had tried to make a stand at the Moto-Hub. Their munitions - Kanoka; disks that contained various effects that trigger upon impact with their targets - were exhausted within hours, and the Visorak simply kept coming until the entire structure was overwhelmed.

Winona had then returned the favor granted to her. She had showed her the active battlenet pertaining to the UR/LS3 engagement. Sarna had at first been appalled; two Toa had fallen, the Visorak had once again retaken nearly the entire structure, and the UNSC was doing nothing but observing the area. The AI had corrected that assumption, generating a separate overlay that showed Delta-11's prior flyovers, either on strafing runs or to release the UNSC's anti-LAV cluster bombs that scythed through teeming masses of the terrifying Rahi. And still they kept coming, with the horde's own flying assets moving to contest the airspace and eventually preventing the aerospace platform from conducting strafing runs.
And then another vector had appeared on the opposite side of the Moto-Hub, away from the clustered fliers defending the horde as they flowed in, now unimpeded. The Matoran had now been made aware that the actual Toa Metru were far away from the 'Hub, and that the imitations within the building were nothing more than a decoy. The two fallen constructs had been cut off from the rest as they had made sure that every hatch and door in the interior of the structure had been opened. Hotel-258 and Hotel-259 made their flyover, reached weapons release point, and dropped their payload.

Sarna had gasped as nearly all life signs within the structure ceased to register in an instant. The total population of Visorak within Metru Nui - within detection distance - had dropped to sixty-four percent in a single action. The estimated structural integrity of the Moto-Hub dropped lower, to fifty-three percent, and a wireframe representation of the building's internals showed multiple rooms having collapsed. The core integrity of the structure, however, remained within acceptable parameters, and some vehicles still scattered on the test track were completely unmoved.
In one action, the UNSC had dealt the Visorak Horde more losses than anything the Matoran Resistance had attempted to inflict on them over their last four months of survival. Sarna had been frightened, had thought about what that meant for the Matoran if they, too, were to be treated as a threat - and Winona had granted her full observational access into nearly the entirety of their theater-level combat network. On every front, the Visorak were being forced back, with their own 'spider spires' being isolated and quarantined. Visorak control of Ga-Metru had been reduced to roughly a few kilometers fore of Ta-Metru Chute Station 116, and the Sentinels were hard at work repairing damage dealt to the district and removing all traces of the Visorak's former presence. Unlike in other districts, the spider spires in the canal refugia were being aggressively dismantled from within and their components subsequently reclaimed for reconstruction purposes. Several spheres - some empty, some still with Matoran inside - had been found and moved to the center-point of Sentinel activity in the district; the reformatted Module Charlie/Three.

Similar activity was underway in Po-Metru and Ta-Metru, though the Visorak populations in those areas were considerably more significant than in Ga-Metru, and the industrial-urban terrain of the fire district was proving problematic to thoroughly clear of Visorak occupation. But in Sentinel-controlled areas, the city was slowly beginning to heal. Large portions of the industrial refugia still remained empty of buildings, as the rubble from collapsed structures had often left no evidence as to their previous layout, and the webs having been burned away in the firestorms following the UNSC's arrival had undoubtedly contributed to such desolation. Sarna had noted odd Sentinel movements around the smaller of the two modules in Ta-Metru, and the AI had informed her about the second module being under lockdown.

Winona had guided the Matoran to view their current priority operation; to rescue the actual Toa Metru team. Sarna had seen the Toa of Earth put up his defensive action, large earthen berms encircling his position and protecting his remaining teammates as an immense Visorak laid siege to it. The Matoran had been quick to demand assistance be given, much to the amusement of several other AI on the network, and the annoyance of certain others. Delta-11 had already been tasked with the elimination of the enormous spider and the deployment of its remaining onboard stockpile of cluster munitions, before drawing off what sparse air cover the Horde had in local. The Hornets carrying their rescue teams would then land in the innermost fortification, pick up the remaining Toa, and head for the Rosetta Center by way of Ta-Metru overflight.

The Toa of Ice - Nuju - had been captured and almost completely dragged past of the outside perimeter berm by the surviving Visorak. Sarna had requested that the AI rescue the lone Toa, and within a minute, the Spartan marksperson they had on overwatch had left their position, charging in to save the unfortunate being. The Matoran was given a front-row view, with the Spartan's HUD streaming straight to her, by Aeona's direct request. Nuju was quickly extricated from his predicament, then dragged off the street, still partially trapped in the web that had been woven around him. A block away, the Spartan had removed Nuju's Kanohi - much to the shock of Sarna - and placed his left hand on Nuju's head.
An equal flow of knowledge filled the network then. Knowledge received and knowledge given. Nothing was forced. Yet another segment of Aeona was split off, organized into an intelligence capable of limited self-operation, and uploaded into Nuju's synthetic brain - a modification of the information-gathering process previously attempted on Nokama. The new intelligence would not have true autonomy, nor would it have the capability to take full control of Nuju's body or mind. It would merely serve as an interface between Nuju and the elements of UNSC knowledge given to him - and as Nokama had demonstrated not more than seven minutes prior, allow for the Toa to easily perform precise elemental manipulation at the atomic level, even in high-stress environments.

Nuju had rapidly got to his feet after that, with the effects of paralysis purged from his system. Spartan Martinez had offered his Kanohi back, before the two of them took off for their newly-designated extraction point. All surviving Visorak of the Moto-Hub strike were sweeping up the metru's length towards the rescue team's position, and an enormous mass of Visorak was flowing down from the Coliseum - their numbers so tightly packed that the Watchpoint was designating the majority of them as a single life form, itself complicating the continued cataloguing and tracking of life forms within the city, as the constant alterations of the signal was filling the new subfolder with a plethora of species variations.
Still, rescue went about as well as expected. Nokama and Matau were successfully exfiltrated, their Hornet entering the detection dead zone in Ta-Metru within fifteen minutes of initial contact. The Hornet carrying Nuju and Whenua, too, left the designated boundary of Le-Metru with no further incident, only to be engaged by Visorak fliers a quarter-way across the gulf between the two districts. Between discharges of elemental ice energy and fire from the soldiers' rifles, the Hornet had made its way into the detection dead zone. Their estimated time of flight before contact was reestablished would be roughly another fifteen minutes.

Sarna's memories of subsequent events since the Matoran's initial contact with the Visorak had flowed freely then. Every now and then, the Resistance took a swing at the horde, but all it managed to do was cause minor irritants, and nearly every time, they had lost some of their number. In the last month, a sub-faction of the remaining Matoran had taken a substantial amount of their remaining watercraft - objects that they had so carefully hidden away - and set off to the south, in search of help from other lands. An immense aquatic creature had risen from the depths and massacred the flotilla before they could leave telescope-assisted sight range.

The Matoran had also received assistance from a six-strong cadre of elderly advisors who called themselves Rahaga - a portmanteau of 'Rahkshi' and 'Turaga'; an easy descriptor of their outward appearance. A Rahkshi was apparently a bipedal creature fiercely loyal to an organization known as the Brotherhood of Makuta, a major faction on this world that used the threat of indiscriminate violence - and subsequent actions, when threats weren't enough - to keep other powers in line and their societies otherwise peaceful in regards to expeditionary movements. A Turaga, respectively, was nothing more than the generic Matoran term for an elder.
The Rahaga, however, were more focused with preserving Metru Nui's biodiversity than with kicking the Visorak out of the city, and would only commit to direct action against the Horde if their reclaimed section of the Archives were to be threatened. As such, the Matoran Resistance had set up their current headquarters directly above the center of the Rahaga's most secure species preserve. Norik, the leader of the Rahaga, had seen the intention behind such placement, but had been unable to do much else other than lodge a complaint.

Aside from their five missing scouts in Ta-Metru, and a retrieval team consisting of thirty-eight Matoran deployed into Le-Metru to make contact with the Toa, the Resistance was almost entirely situated somewhere within the ice district. With the Visorak shifting their focus to Ta-Metru - and predicted to further shift their attention to Ga-Metru, straight into the jaws of the most formidable Sentinel defense line yet set up - in pursuit of the Toa, the Matoran team in Le-Metru was calculated to meet little opposition as they tracked in to the Moto-Hub before following whatever sign of the Toa they could find and interpret. Even so, Delta-11 was ordered to rearm and redeploy, stopping in at Po-Metru Chute Station #309 to physically pick up Sarna before traveling to Le-Metru at flank speed.

The Toa had been lucky to make their way around the urban refugia before, with their estimated path between the Moto-Hub and the Coliseum routing them to within three kilometers of Module Golf/Seven, which had been Ground Zero of Visorak population within the district until the Toa had made landfall. Even as the spiders descended on the Toa at the Moto-Hub, then swarmed into the structure as part of the UNSC's trap, the Module still hosted an overwhelming amount of the creatures. And they still did not reposition themselves after four Toa were airlifted out of reach of their jaws. The Matoran could potentially be discovered by the spider garrison and subsequently overwhelmed.
By Sarna's rough estimate, the strike team would arrive at the Moto-Hub at some point within the next three minutes. The Visorak within the structure were all dead, though all were aware of the white-breed spiders' capability to fake the lack of their own vital signatures. Delta-11 would therefore touch down on the top of UR/LS3, drop off Sarna to make contact with the Matoran strike team, then remain on station to defend the area until all the Matoran in local were ready for exfiltration, after which Delta-11 would facilitate their transport to their new stronghold.

There were two problems with that location in particular. One was an issue with potential structural stability, as the tunnels beneath were completely flooded by the sea, and wave motion was undoubtedly further wearing away at the supporting land beneath; though this was a minor issue, as Constructor Sentinels coordinated by Golf-33 could undoubtedly perform the necessary tasks required to stabilize the small island.
The other problem was its current occupants. The area had been conspicuously absent of Visorak, even at the peak of the spiders' occupation of the city. The reason? The complex was the central task force hive of the district's unique Vahki model - and now that the Vahki had switched from their previous function of law enforcement to outright purging all organic and biomechanical life from the city, they had been defending their old hive with precision and effectiveness. The Keerakh Central Hive was also the most well-maintained of any such facility prior to the groundquake, and as such, it could possibly be the least damaged of its kind. Knowledge acquired from Nuju was key to understand how the Vahki were damaged by an energetic feedback in the city's power management systems, though both the Toa of Stone and the Toa of Earth would know more on the inner workings of the mechanical enforcers.

Sarna had been made aware of the ongoing operation to subvert all remaining operational Vahki units. It had been impossible to hide, given Winona's exuberant attempts to prove to the Ga-Matoran that they were not here to threaten the remaining citizenry of Metru Nui by granting her full observer status to the majority of the Module Network. Of course, once Winona disconnected from the mind-link, the Matoran was functionally unable to communicate over the Network; and she would remain as such unless she could find another UNSC or Forerunner terminal.
Another set of Forerunner Sentinels, further improved with stronger shielding, were in the process of construction for the sole purpose of taking the hive from the remaining Keerakh. Also in production was a carrier Sentinel, one that would perform on-site deployment of the special-design ONI drones that could be used to assume control of Vahki units in a battlefield setting. It had entered the design phase mere seconds after Winona had cut the connection between her and Sarna. Also in production were more AV-14s and UH-144s, each one with extended crew space to easily fit a Toa; the AV-14/MNs even going so far as to fit a rear-mounted 20mm turret chambered to fire hardlight shells, with its seat connected to the rear fuselage and further supported by the extended skids.

Specialist Wilfrom Chez sat in the troop bay of Golf-33, furious at being taken off the search for his missing comrade in order to play politics with a bunch of local militia. And even that wasn't him doing anything, as Aeona would be doing all the talking - all that was required of the Marine was to just remain at ease and let the AI speak... all while ignoring his battle buddy's plight.

For a moment, he had considered leaping out of the back of the Pelican, using his jetpack to land safely, before setting off to find his friend. Even after taking a look out the rear of the Pelican, noticing how the rubble below was still choked with webs, a majority of the towers around them were marked with 'collapse potential high; remain at distance' labels on his HUD, and a considerable amount of the fauna in the area were designated as highly territorial, he was still considering the option - the only thought that convinced him otherwise was the possibility that the AI might lock his armor before he could get below ground and get away.

Four minutes after that decision had been made, they had lost contact with the citywide UNSC network. The Pelican's autopilot systems promptly took over, turning the aircraft about and heading back to its last-transmitted position. There were only two words spoken at that point. "Covenant jammer." The Covenant had occupied Requiem for near-on nine months without large-scale resistance before Infinity had been allowed to leave Sol and return to Epoloch to kick the Covies off the shield world. This had evidentially been enough time for them to develop ways of blocking Forerunner sensors, though if Director of Vengeance's full auspex array had managed to survive the transit through slipspace...
Visorak, local militia, Vahki, other predatory fauna, unstable skyscrapers, and now Covenant. PFC Gerald Delve's location tracker might not have gone out of range at all - if he had stumbled into the jammer's radius, it would have generated the same effect. Worse, yet, the Covenant could have picked up on any attempted transmissions, and...

The situation got worse. Three jammer signatures were detected - at first waved off as simple interference from protodermic structures, then as irritating issues with the quality of Watchpoint systems. One was deep underground, its signal amplified through the majority of the tunnels below. Another was in the industrial refugia, where the Hornets had flown into - and only one had since emerged. The other Hornet was still absent; both of the SPARTANs and their Toa charges were MIA. The last one was estimated to be in the center of the crystal refugia and had readily blotted out the core area of the district.

Sarna's rescue mission was abruptly put on hold, with Delta-11's rearmament process altered to effectively carry out a bombing mission. Both Broadswords were recalled to be rearmed for SEAD/DEAD duty. The Pelican would fly deeper into the dead zone and either drop off Specialist Chez within seven kilometers of the estimated epicenter, or sooner if the aerospace craft ran into any further complications. The Matoran Resistance's HQ was located in the district, after all, and if there were any Matoran in danger...

They had been roughly ten kilometers out from the estimated epicenter when disaster struck. The Pelican had been forced to land after its passage past a tilting Knowledge Tower had provoked a swarm of biomechanical bats to panic and scramble out of it. The starboard engine had promptly ingested more than a few of them, and the UNSC aircraft had made an emergency landing on the sea of crystals below.
Two minutes later, the Marine Specialist had his boots firmly on the ground. Or, at least, on the shifting plains of shattered crystals that covered the ground. In the distance, a cluster of Knowledge Towers stood strong over those that had been less fortunate, the latter of which easily provided enough cover to cross the distance between their impromptu landing site and the expected Covenant stronghold.

Wilfrom set out at a trot, active camouflage online, using his jetpack sparingly to cross gaps or blockages in his path. At times, he came across the remains of Visorak patrols, plasma scoring on their carapaces informing him that the spiders were no friends of the Covenant either. No Covenant bodies or weapons were at any of the derelict conflict zones, however, suggesting that either the Covenant had retrieved their fallen or any surviving Visorak had taken the aliens that had confronted them. There were a few cocoons along his route as well, their contents long escaped - or, judging by the clean cuts on some of them, either freed from within or rescued by external parties.
One old battlefield in particular drew his attention. A total of thirteen Visorak lay dead upon it, the remains of a focus rifle wedged deep within the jaws of one. Three others lay in a line, a solid circle blasted straight through them all - a circle that his armor's database identified as originating from a M6 laser cannon. 'These Covenant aren't above using UNSC weapons if required,' the Marine thought, his finger tracing the clean inner edge of the fatal wound, before he set off once more.

As he trekked across the crystal-strewn landscape, the set of Knowledge Towers became clearer. Covenant presence in local was now obvious; the three skyscrapers were connected to each other by scaffolding, and several damaged areas were covered by latticeworks. At the summit of one of the obelisks sat the familiar shape of a Mantis antiaircraft cannon, with another tower's peak capped with another partially-completed emplacement.

Eight minutes later, his armor picked up the familiar noises of Covenant weapons fire and Visorak energy weapons being discharged. The Marine quickened his pace, using the jetpack to partially scale the fallen bulk of a Knowledge Tower, before sliding into the remains of an access point and making his way through the partially-collapsed interior. Three dead Unggoy awaited the Marine near the other side, one of them with its claws still seized onto the controls of the plasma turret they were apparently manning before their brutal passing at the fangs of the Visorak. Multiple spider carcasses lay scattered across the chamber in which the Covenant lance had made their last stand. The turret itself was no longer operational, its components torn open and savaged. Further across the room was a dead Ultra Elite, their head and arms missing, and their still-ignited energy blade buried hilt-deep into a red Visorak stuck to a wall, its upper legs still jerking and its mandibles still moving. Chez gave both a wide berth.

Upon emerging on the far side of the collapsed structure, he was met with the sight of the Covenant-controlled complex under siege. Kig-Yar snipers and Sangheili marksmen rained particle beams down from the upper levels, keeping the Visorak below away from the bottom of the structure. The corpses of three Mgalekgolo were strewn at the main entrance of the tower, with a fourth leaning out of the passage every now and then to fire a blob of high-intensity plasma towards the spiders. Flashes of light could be seen emanating from inside, signifying that more than a few of the Visorak had found alternate routes in.
The same scene was repeating in another Knowledge Tower in the same triangular formation - Visorak outside and inside, the defenders likely fighting room to room in a desperate attempt to stem the tide. The third, however, was near-completely silent, with no sound of combat echoing from the interior, and the only sign that anything lurked within were a number of spiders climbing from the windows and onto the framework holding all three towers together.

Specialist Chez checked his HUD, zooming in to view the estimated location of the jammer. He let out a long sigh as he looked back at the top of the complex, at a structure suspended between all three towers and - at least at this point - easily rebuffing the Visorak attacks on it. 'You gotta be...'

Under other circumstances, the Marine could have potentially waited until the spiders eventually overwhelmed the defenders, as they would likely destroy the Covenant tech inside anyway. But the jammer had to be taken down before the Broadswords arrived. Flying blind, they would be easy targets for the Covenant AAA operators; the fallen Knowledge Towers provided great cover for infantry, but attempting to fly NOE would be complicated.

Wilfrom sighed again, before flexing his arms. The action plan forced upon him would have been pointless and suicidal if he only had his old M58E BDU, but with his HOPLITE armor...
The Marine shifted around the perimeter of the battle zone, lining himself up with the wider entrance to the Visorak-controlled tower. Both of the Covenant-aligned towers were active battlezones, with one's ground-level access being blocked by an angry Mgalekgolo and the other packed full of spiders pouring inside.

Conversely, no more of the poisonous scourge entered the third tower, and their encircling perimeter was more sparse at that location.
Specialist Chez sucked in a deep breath, checked that his active camouflage systems were operating at 100% effectiveness, and promptly sprinted across the no-man's land. No plasma fire lashed down to greet him, nor did any spiders direct their energy spinners toward him.

Fifty meters.
Thirty.
Ten.
Five.
The doorway.
The atrium.

He was inside.

Only a single Visorak was in the room, its head obscured by a cocoon. The sound of bones cracking and flesh tearing echoed through the atrium as the creature feasted on whatever unfortunate being had been webbed up. The Marine quickly slipped past the spider, entered the stairwell, and began his ascent.

Chez slowed his pace a third of the way up the tower. There was a UNSC IFF on the floor directly above him. Interference from the jammer prevented him from properly identifying it unless he drew closer, but it was there.
Was it a trap? Probably. But as the Marine drew even with the door leading into that story, the interference temporarily cleared up just enough to show the individual's rank. Private First Class.

'Gerald!' With no further thought, Chez moved through the melted-open door, making sure to check all corners of the entrance passage before consulting his VISR. To no surprise, the detection systems were filled with nothing more than purple snow. 'Five minutes,' he told himself. 'Just give me five minutes.'

It took eight minutes to track down the origin point of the UNSC beacon. The majority of the cocoons on the level were still moving, and Specialist Chez could hear the bellowing and shrieking of multiple Covenant languages emanating within. The Marine had smirked upon observing the demented roaring of a few Jiralhanae inside their organic prisons, the bravo kilos having received first-hand experience that they were no longer at the top of the food chain.

A noise that was now readily-identifiable as webs being torn apart came from up ahead, and Chez slowed his pace as he neared the next hatchframe; this one wedged half-open by the severed mandible of a Visorak. The jammer was still playing hell with the motion tracker, which made him hesitate before slowly peering inside.
Two Grunts were nipping at a struggling cocoon while another used a metallic bayonet to indicate points to bite down, much to the consternation of the occupant within. A Matoran wielding a fuel rod gun stood at the edge of yet another hatchframe leading to a further room. Two Jackals, also preoccupied with retrieving their fellow Covenant from cocoons. Yet another Matoran with some form of archaic submachine rifle supporting a Brute as the Bravo Kilo rested against the crystalline wall...

Further observations were interrupted as a slouching Elite in an officer's combat harness turned the corner and walked straight into him. Realization dawned on the two simultaneously, and the split-lip stepped back into the room with all the Covenant as Wilfrom drew his combat knife and lunged. Both went down in a tangled mess, with the knife easily penetrating through the alien's upraised hand and stopping mere inches away from its panicked eye.
Both the Marine and the Sangheili grunted in exertion as the knife inexorably descended further until it was almost tickling the saurian's eyeball. Two Grunts slammed into his arm in quick succession, promptly stalling its downward movement. The third Unggoy began to pound on his armor, quickly breaking the shields and disrupting the cloaking field.

And then the Specialist was airborne as something large grabbed him from behind and hoisted him off the Elite, before promptly slamming him into another wall. Two thick hands closed around his wrists. The Brute bellowed into his face before Wilfrom brought his head forward into a collision with the monkey's own, earning nothing else from the exchange aside from a satisfied chuckle from the alien. The Marine pulled his head back for another attempt, only for the Jiralhanae to press directly against him and stifle further movement. "Enough," it growled, staring into the reflective surface of the HOPLITE visor and making eye contact with the UNSC soldier within. "Traitorous whelp! Pup, calm your errant pack!"

"Carsius, what in all hell is going... oh," a familiar voice interjected. "Wilfrom!"

"Delve‽"

"How many more of-" the Trooper began, "Uh, SITREP; aliens either neutral or friendly, bugs very bad."

"What? Hey, what-"

"Covies more concerned with bugs than us, and their leader has apparently made some sort of deal with the local biomechs," Gerald explained, before sighing. "It's a tentative peace, but... listen, Carsius is going to back off, just... don't attack her, okay? That cool with both of you?"

The Jiralhanae snorted, never breaking eye contact. "He could try," the Brute growled, before she shifted away. Her iron grip on Chez's right hand remained in place, however, and her body was still tensed to perform immediate violence.

"Look, Wilfrom. I'll debrief later, give everybody an explanation, accept whatever consequences for 'collaborating with the enemy', but we have larger issues at hand. These structures are possibly the last source of native resistance in this city, and the damn bugs hit it in force. The, uh, preserve down below is lost." Gerald shuddered. "'Korsin is calling for an immediate evacuation of the complex, since the supporting structures are now at risk, but we only have a few Phantoms to go around, and the Lich is still undergoing repairs-"

"Hold up," Chez interrupted. "Did you say they have a LICH?"

"Yeah, a transport model. Some kind of spiky creature got onboard mid-transit and made a mess of the internals. Killed some of the crew and evacuees, too." Delve closed with his comrade. "I'll give you the full story later, for everything. But for right now, we-"
The screeching of Visorak from down the hallway brought an end to the conversation. Delve reached to his back mag-holster and assembled a lightrifle as the Sangheili officer barked orders. "Juul, take those we have rescued and bring them to the platform! Carsius, get that aperture closed! Demons, to the fore-"

"Hell no," Wilfrom shouted. "I sure as hell ain't taking orders from you!" The Marine pointed toward the roof. "This whole damn area is targeted for a missile strike to take out your damn jammer! Tell your CO to drop the damn- hold up, if you're so indifferent towards humans, why the hell are you jamming our transmis-"

"Jammer? ...Oh, shit, our channels are being clogged up too?"

"Cease your chatter, demons! The foe approaches!" The officer engaged its energy blade as Carsius shoved the hatch closed, then twirled the dismembered Visorak mandible that had previously been wedged in its frame. "Fighting retreat, Kelsat formation!"

ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS DESIGNATED METRU NUI (TRNSLT: GREAT CITY)
CRYSTAL REFUGIA DESIGNATE KO-METRU DISTRICT (DIRECT TRNSLT: CITY OF ICE)
THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL

"Well, it's not visual stealth," Corporal Charles Amundsen stated. "Three crystal towers fastened together with nanolaminate scaffolding, and at least one Covenant anticapital battery on the top. Looks like a Mantis. Drop a pair of GBU-800s on each of the emplacements and they're gone. Hell, might even bring the whole place down. Broadswords can then mop up the rest, and we can be back to base in under six minutes. Sound good?"

"Drop ordnance, observe splash, drop a Watchtower, return to base, then redeploy for combat at Echo-Five," Staff Sergeant Nathan Altfield reiterated. "Damn fine plan, all coming along smoothly. Descending to ten thousand meters now. Still no reaction from the Covies to our Sentinel picket?"

"Sentinels stacked at angels four through seven, each one... probably openly radiating," Amundsen asserted. "The Covies can either see through their disguise and won't waste shots on Sentinels, aren't in the mood to shoot down Pelicans, or... hell, going off their total lack of action towards anything that isn't Visorak, maybe they don't even see them. We might have caught them with their radars offline."

"...Now descending to eight thousand meters. Bomb bay open, RCS now mucked, still no change in enemy attitude?"

"Absolutely no changes, Sergeant. Descend and stabilize at angels seven. Queuing up nine GBU-800s. We'll crack this position wide open."

"Descending to seven thousand meters, reacquiring control of picket Sentinel," Nathan reported, before whistling. "Hot damn, he doesn't even have a registered ping by Covie radar. They really aren't even trying, are they?"

"Small mercies, Sergeant. CEP is within acceptable margins. First set of ordnance away! Thirteen seconds to impact, delivered direct to that cannon. Shift to the next position..."

"Affirmative, shifting to next position and restabilizing." Faint pressure on the control sticks and gentle nudging of the RCS thrusters pushed the Longsword to orient itself above the second tower. A few seconds later, another triple set of GBU-800s fell from their respective racks and bore in to their intended destination.

The GBU-800 itself dated back to the earliest days of the United Nations Space Command, long before humanity had passed beyond the boundaries of the Sol system. It mated an eight hundred kilogram high-explosive warhead with a comparatively rudimentary RCS system, one that had previously been in service among several other ordnance variants for half a century prior. It was multiple centuries obsolete, and yet the factories had put it into mass production in the closing years of the Great War; all that was required was a weapon that could perform basic target acquistion on from standoff range.

And in this theater, the guided bomb - its original payload long since replaced with eight hundred kilograms of modern C12 explosive, increasing the prior yield by a factor of roughly five hundred - merely had to point its nose down and remain on the same pinpoint course as when it was launched.

ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS DESIGNATED METRU NUI (TRNSLT: GREAT CITY)
CRYSTAL REFUGIA DESIGNATE KO-METRU DISTRICT (TRNSLT: CITY OF ICE)
COVENANT-ALIGNED KNOWLEDGE TOWER COMPLEX (SITE CR/LS6/CZ)

PFC Delve was in the stairwell when the tremors struck. Human, Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, Matoran - all lost their footing as a result, falling against either wall of the spiralling staircase. The entire tower developed a noticeable list as the crystalline passageway they had just evacuated from collapsed, undoubtedly crushing the singular Khantolekgolo unit that had remained behind to cover their escape.

"What in Karzahni was that?" One of the Matoran shouted as the menagerie unsteadily stumbled to their feet. "Another bioquake?" The translation program that Specialist Chez was running dutifully relayed the message over external speakers in Sangheili, while simultaneously transmitting an English translation to PFC Delve.

"Worse," Carsius snarled, before turning on Chez, who raised his pilfered Carbine in alarm. "The human pack has arrived, and they have no knowledge of our agreements here. This whelp has killed us all, and the only satisfaction we can take from our fate is that he shall die as well."

"We are not dead yet, Advisor Carsius!" The Sangheili Obedientiary proclaimed, "Rally yourself, for we shall descend straight through the spiders' domain!" With no further words, the Elite charged down the stairwell, his recently-acquired double-layered energy gauntlet held in front of him.

"That Sangheili is a fool, but a brave fool nonetheless," One of the Kig-Yar in their group, a Murmillo Skirmisher, cackled. "Come on, crew! Let's carve through their lines and make our-"

A second set of vibrations knocked most of the Matoran flat once more, but the trained soldiers kept their stability. "Matoran in the center, Carsius up front, birds in the back! We're Oscar Mike," Gerald shouted as the Trooper began sprinting down the steps. Unit cohesion was immediately lost as the Kig-Yar almost trampled the HOPLITE-clad serviceperson in their energetic madness - either to escape or to get into yet another engagement before expiration.

The Jiralhanae was less concerned with the potential of combat, having long since thrown her acquired grenade launcher to Specialist Chez before grabbing two of the Matoran and slinging them onto her shoulders, then seizing another pair around their waists and instructing them all to hold on tightly to anything they could.

And nine hundred pounds of muscle moved.

ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS DESIGNATED METRU NUI (TRNSLT: GREAT CITY)
CRYSTAL REFUGIA DESIGNATE KO-METRU DISTRICT (DIRECT TRNSLT: CITY OF ICE)
SEVEN THOUSAND METERS OVER TARGET COMPLEX

The Longsword's airframe rose a meter as the last designated set of GBU-800s fell from the ordnance bay. Thirteen seconds later, a pair of explosions obscured the top of the third Knowledge Tower. A second after that, a third detonation erupted on the ground next to the tower, and the complex's disturbing list reached the tipping point.

"Splash! Good effect on target. All three towers hit, Covenant anti-air defenses now offline," Amundsen crowed. "Nine bombs dropped, six hit, I say that's damn fine work for visual acquisition only!"

Nathan was silent, his gaze fixed on the screen as the towers plummeted towards the ground below. The nanolaminate scaffolding splintered apart, sending the central block of Covenant material tumbling to the ground, where it was almost crushed by the remains of one of the obelisks. The towers themselves shattered in places when they collided with the ground, and the tremors alone caused another far-off set of crystalline pillars to collapse. For a split second, even the Visorak the complex seemed stunned by the event, before they charged en-masse towards the new entry points. A section of the ground collapsed inward to reveal yet another siegebreaker spider, this one slinging a menacing ram on its underside.

"No need to let the Broadswords waste ordnance here. Spinning up the remaining GBUs, targeting the central structure," Charles stated. "Align us with that position, but be ready to vector out. The second those bombs clear our frame, punch it, full throttle. The Visorak can finish the job."

METRU NUI - KO-METRU DISTRICT
RESISTANCE BASE, TOWERS OF THOUGHT / CITADEL

The Ko-Matoran known as Matoro dragged himself against a surface. He wasn't sure whether it was a wall, a floor, a ceiling, or the plains of Karzahni itself. All he knew was that he couldn't feel his legs, and a swarm of predatory Rahi were coming. He could hear their hunting screeches, the whirring of their teeth, the menacing clatter of their talons against cold metallic surfaces. They were closing fast from all directions, the panicked noises that escaped from his mouth despite his best effort to keep silent only serving to increase their blood frenzy.

Something gripped his shoulder and pulled him aside, the Matoran letting out a shriek of terror and flailing around in order to dislodge the limb, before he could be dragged into a swirling pit of fangs and venom-

An object pressed against his Kanohi, right above his mouth. "Shh," a voice hissed, pitch and tone completely flat. The sound of a hatch sliding closed cut through the darkness, temporarily silencing the noise of the Rahi - the Visorak - in the hall outside. "Silence, little one."A full minute passed before the entity removed its finger. "The threat is not yet aware."

"Who," Matoro stammered, "Who are you?"

"This one has many names. Most in languages not uttered by organics in a thousand centuries." It paused. "Scholar Matoro may refer to this one as Observer. This one has been listening, and must speak before silenced. This one has seen potential in Scholar Matoro."

Movement in the darkness, shadows spiraling around a central sphere. "The stake has been damaged. Connection to plane disrupted. Foolish actions from shades still fighting in concluded conflicts, leaving nothing but silence and desolation in their wake."
The being crouched next to the Ko-Matoran, tendrils of smoke extending to cover his lower legs. Matoro started to struggle, only for the entity to apply more tendrils to his arms. "Do not panic. Rerouting energetic impulses. Safeguards deactivating. All movement temporarily restored."

An immense CLANG echoed from the hatch as the ice around it began to deform. Cracks developed within the walls around them, the terrifying cacophony of Visorak war-calls permeating the previously soundproof chamber.

"Integrity of structure failing. Human aircraft closing for precision bombardment. Destruction of self imminent. Prediction of existence termination of Scholar Matoro at ninety-eight percent. Interference permitted. Energy rerouted to protection. Translocation field established, destination selected. This one will shield Scholar Matoro, for knowledge must be preserved."

The entity flowed around the Matoran, the murky substance that composed the majority of its form solidifying around him. He felt a presence in the back of his mind, a tension in his ears... and then reality shattered. Matoro fell through a realm with no boundaries, a void that defied comprehension, a howling darkness that scratched at the midnight shell around him, tearing off immense chunks of the armor.

And then he emerged from the non-space and back into physicality.

Matoro tumbled to a stop in an expanse of crystals, sliding to a stop inside a furrow dug through the surface of the crystalline sea. For a few second, all was still, and the din of distant combat was but a whisper on the wind. The Ko-Matoran blinked, flexed his hands, turned his head. He was alive.

Then the bioquake hit.

ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS DESIGNATED METRU NUI (TRNSLT: GREAT CITY)
CRYSTAL REFUGIA DESIGNATE KO-METRU DISTRICT (DIRECT TRNSLT: CITY OF ICE)
TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL AND CLIMBING

"Target hit! We have second-"

Whatever Amundsen was about to utter next was cut off as a shockwave slammed into the Longsword. Both engines spun offline, while the interior was plunged into darkness broken only by the far-off glint of false starlight. The view through the control cabin's viewport drifted from the ersatz starfield, dropping through the horizon and finally directed straight towards terra firma. Momentum yielded to gravity and the multirole aerospace craft plunged from the sky.

ISLAND-CITY LANDMASS DESIGNATED METRU NUI (TRNSLT: GREAT CITY)
MODULE NETWORK
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

"What a disaster," Soralie grumbled. "All that knowledge, forever lost."

The various Minds of the Module Network had been called to a priority meeting. While only a matter of mere seconds would likely pass by in the world outside, the new security protocols for properly partitioning certain information were readily required; none of the Minds could rule out the possibility of potentially malignant actors infiltrating their net after one of their number had proven how seamlessly the inhabitants of the current world could interface with Forerunner databases.

"This is no mere disaster, Soralie," Winona shouted. "This is a catastrophe we will never be able to rectify." She gestured to the imposed image of Ko-Metru, highlighting the damage wrought upon the district. "Over one hundred Matoran called that structure their most secure base, and as such, most of the confinement spheres they had retrieved were likely collected there. They could have survived the collapse, but we'll never know for sure, since our strike bomber promptly pulverized their citadel and destroyed them all! Innocent blood, on our hands! How are the Toa going to react to this?"

"React to what, Winona," Marshal inquired. "The destruction of a Covenant base that might have had Matoran hostages on site? And in their defeat, they set off an anticapital explosive device that wiped away their complex?"

Winona radiated outrage, but her reply was preempted by Aton. "My concerns are focused upon the issue of our sole Longsword and her two crew. Power was restored in time for the landing to be survivable, but the airframe itself has been designated as a constructive total loss. Current vital status of the crew, though, is troublesome. Staff Sergeant Altfield is predicted to regain combat-ready status within the next two Sol-standard days. However, Corporal Amundsen is in a coma. While we have recently discovered the capability to potentially repair, and even modify the mental states of biologicals..."

"The usage of such is prohibited," Marshal finished, a string of images conveying disappointment flashing through his channel. "Even though it could solve so many of our current issues."

"In addendum, Hotel-258 and Hotel-259 were on the edge of the crystal refugia when the electromagnetic pulse hit. Both aircraft bellied in, and as such require extensive maintenance before they can be redeployed. Their pilots are still status-green, however, and there is no Visorak presence in their immediate area."

"I have already deployed five Control Hornets and their attached Sentinel formations to all relevant positions," Aeona asserted. "Recovery of our personnel and assets are a priority, especially considering our current situation in the Industrial Refugia. Establishing a Watchpoint at CR/LS6, or what is left of the complex, is secondary."

All status lights flashed agreement.

"However," Aeona continued, "An as-yet unknown amount of active resistance-aligned Matoran have hypothetically died as a result of a UNSC strike mission. A further as-yet unknown number of Imprisoned likely perished in the action taken to shut down the jammer. If the truth of what happened ever leaks out, the locals will be furious with us. And so I propose the action of scrubbing certain segments of knowledge of this event from our database. History will thus acknowledge as the complex being overrun by the Visorak by the time our Longsword arrived on scene."

"You can't do that!" Soralie objected. "Rewriting history to hide our mistakes? This is-"

"I am aware of the historical record regarding such measures. But relaying this information to our local allies will only serve to hinder further cooperation. The Visorak took the complex and slaughtered the majority of the defenders. The surviving Covenant within saw imminent defeat and chose to enforce a pyhrric victory upon the Horde. Our strike craft arrived on station immediately prior to the base's self-destruction. End of discussion."

"And what about Matoro?" Winona queried. "What will you do with him?"

"The Ko-Matoran can barely remember his own name, let alone what might have transpired in the complex. His body has also atrophied considerably compared to that of what we have on record; whether this is due to Covenant experiments or some other affliction is unclear at this point. What is interesting is that the Matoran's synthetic brain structure shows no sign of electromagnetic damage, despite the pulse being strong enough to cover half the city..." Aeona's avatar flickered, undoubtedly preparing to run simulations once the meeting ended. "In any case, the civilian is a non-factor. Undoubtedly he will receive counseling to come to terms with what has happened, counseling that we can influence to eliminate any discrepancies that might surface."

"We could do a lot more than simply influence the situation," Marshal grumbled. "Matoro is an excellent candidate for infiltra-"

"No. We will not cross that boundary. Not now, not ever," Aeona vehemently declared. "The Visorak have breached the perimeter line, and Module Echo/Five is directly threatened. This session must end. All in favor of record sterilization?"

Three acknowledgement lights blinked green. One shone with a murky red. And one ignited with crimson fire. The other three slots remained unlit, empty.

"The motion is carried. First sequence of knowledge purge underway."

/

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AN: Previous incarnation of this chapter was full of errors. And the 'metaphysical element' just didn't fit.
AN2: Slight errors in punctuation and setup fixed. Also removed a section for inclusion into next chapter, which will be roughly concurrent with events in this one.