Chapter 17: Shocking Revelations
New/Old Mombasa Connecting Bridge
Nothing horrified Mako more than to see so many brave and valiant Covenant soldiers slain and laid to rot unceremoniously on the ground. Scores of bodies belonging to the guard detail holding this side of the bridge were littered all over the entrance tunnels and the bridge itself. Not even the Wraiths and Banshees stationed here survived. To make matters worse, there was no sign of any humans except for a derelict human tank and countless bullet casings. What unnerved Mako the most, however, was the lack of any human bodies, which meant that the invading forces either found the time to move the bodies, or suffered no casualties. Mako desperately hoped for the former.
"Commander!" Another Grunt came waddling up to Mako. "Sir, we've gathered up all of the bodies, just as you ordered."
"Burn the bodies." Mako said confidently. "The soil on this accursed planet is too contaminated to touch their flesh."
"It will be done, Commander." The Grunt bowed.
"Commander."
Mako recognized the birdlike voice. It was one of the Jackals he had sent on scout duty on the other side of the bridge.
"What is it, scout?"
"Humans approach the bridge. Many of them."
"What are their numbers and composition?" Mako asked, but there was nothing but static.
"All soldiers." Mako addressed his entire unit. "Prepare for battle."
Meanwhile, on the other end of the bridge, Karla watched smoke rise from the demolished building that served as an outpost for a group of Jackals.
Old Mombasa
"Well, that's one way to take care of a sniper problem." She remarked coolly.
"Captain, I'm getting a lot of movement on the other end of the bridge." Williams glanced at the Warthog's motion sensors. "A hundred contacts, at least."
"Vehicles?"
"No." Williams shook his head. "It all appears to be infantry."
"Furm, Wrall, get your tanks up front and center."
Karla waited as Shiela and Crusader rumbled up to the front of the convoy, weapons ready and armed.
"How far can those guns shoot?" Karla asked.
"Farther than this bridge stretches, that's for sure." Wrall responded.
"Good, I want you and Furm to blow the hell out of the other end of the bridge. Anti-personnel shells, if you have any."
"Will do." Furm said.
New Mombasa
Mako ducked as another explosive shell shot over his position. Despite all of their efforts, the hastily erected barricade of wrecked vehicles and debris proved to be of little help against tank shells. What made the situation worse was that Mako had no way of retaliating against such an assault. He had lost his Wraiths in the ambush earlier in the day, and even though he had several heavy transports at his disposal, none of them were equipped with any weapons that could match the humans' range or firepower.
It was also too late to try and retreat. Leaving what meager cover they had meant certain death under the precise and destructive shelling they were suffering. His only choice was to try and weather the shelling, and fend off the inevitable infantry assault that was sure to follow.
Suddenly, the shelling stopped. Curious as to what was going on, several Covenant troops cautiously raised their heads over the barricade to see what was going on. Everything was deathly quiet, leaving the battered unit to wonder what was coming.
The distant roaring sound was faint at first, but steadily grew louder and more powerful. Some of the sharper eyed Covenant, Jackals mostly, managed to get a glimpse of what was coming. They saw a wall of green steel and black rubber racing towards them with unheard of speed. When confronted with this modern day cavalry charge, the Covenant reacted in a way countless armies did ever since the beginning of organized war. They ran for their lives.
Mako looked on helplessly as he saw the stout blue line of righteousness melt away in an instant. Scores of his troops abandoned their positions and made a run for it in a vain effort to reach the safety of the underground tunnels behind them. The few that stayed behind fired several ineffectual volleys at the oncoming wall of vehicles but were quickly cut down by weapons fire or run down by the massive vehicles themselves. The fleeing Covenant were slaughtered just as quickly.
Mako suddenly realized he was alone. All of his troops were either dead or running, and he was surrounded by scores of enemy troops.
"Stop this pointless conflict. You have the power to do so. Don't let any more innocents die needlessly."
There was that voice again. The voice that sounded just like his brother's.
"Silence!" Mako screamed into the air. "I will not listen to any more of your heretical talk!"
"If you think those more enlightened than you are heretics, then you truly are lost."
Karla, meanwhile, was surveying the battle. The entire engagement had gone far better than she had expected, with the Covenant in full rout with no casualties on her side. The soldiers stationed here were obviously not the best the Covenant had to offer. Scanning the distance again, she caught sight of a very familiar looking Elite.
"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me." She said to herself.
"Sir?" Williams cocked his head curiously.
Before either Williams or Tarin could react, Karla suddenly leapt out of the Warthog. She hit the ground rolling to absorb the shock and quickly got to her feet, facing the Elite she fought against on the Cairo.
"I want my pistol back, you thieving bastard."
The crimson Elite turned to face her. Seeing its face, Karla hesitated for a moment. The Elite looked strikingly familiar.
"Holy?"
The Elite seemed to hesitate as well. Karla had the feeling that it also had some familiarity with that name. However, that moment of hesitation was not to last. Both soldiers quickly drew their weapons and fired. Karla sidestepped, dodging several plasma bolts and pumped several rifle bursts into the Elite. Its shields sparked and fizzled as the bullets bounced off. The Elite used its advantage and tried to close distance, obviously intending to use its superior strength to overpower her. Karla unloaded the remaining rounds in her clip and tossed the weapon aside. There would be no time to reload it. She drew the pistol Paccone loaned her and started firing with it. At this point, the Elite's shields were weakened by the continuous punishment from the battle rifle, and several of the pistol rounds punched into its armor, slowing it slightly.
Mako bit back the pain as the human's bullets stung into his flesh, but the wounds were trivial. He kept up his pace, intent on slaying this troublesome human. However, his plasma pistol had overheated and he tossed the weapon aside, opting for his plasma sword instead. He activated the sword and swung out in a wide arc. However, the human seemed to anticipate his move and took several steps back, successfully getting outside the range of his swing, though the trailing edge of the blade managed to slice through her pistol.
Karla cursed as she dropped the now useless pistol. Now she had no sidearm at all, and Paccone would be pissed at her for losing one of his. Fortunately, she still had one trump card in the form of her own plasma sword, though she would have to rely on surprise in order to pull it off successfully. She waited for the Elite to close distance with her, and at the last possible moment, activated the sword the lunged.
Mako was caught off guard by the blade, but managed to sidestep, keeping the blade from spearing him but took a deep gouge in his side. He was completely surprised, how could a human obtain such a sacred weapon? Upon closer examination, Mako realized that it wasn't just any plasma sword…
"How do you possess my brother's sword?" Mako roared.
"What?" Karla hesitated. She had no idea how this Elite could see the difference, since all plasma swords seemed the same to her. Even more, how it exclaimed it had a brother.
Suddenly, a small blue orb landed between the two opponents and exploded. Several of the surviving Grunts noticed their commander was in trouble and tried to assist by lobbing several plasma grenades. Unfortunately, the failed to account for the blast shoving Mako backwards. With the bridge railing long gone due to battle damage, there was nothing there to stop Mako from toppling over the edge to certain death.
Karla had no idea why, but she suddenly found herself running after the falling Elite, as if by instinct. The next thing she realized, she was leaning over the edge, clutching the Elite's arm and keeping him from falling to his demise.
"Why?" Mako managed to utter, surprised.
Karla was just as surprised as Mako was, but managed to say, "You still have my pistol you thieving bastard."
Mako managed to pull himself back up onto the bridge, but was suddenly met with the butt end of Karla's rifle. He fell backwards, dazed and saw several humans standing over him pointing weapons down at him.
"Sir?" Williams looked to Karla for orders.
"Chain him up and we'll let the spooks deal with him." Karla bent down and picked up her pistol. It felt so nice to be in her hands again.
Suddenly, Karla had the very familiar feeling that something was wrong. She raised her head, and noticed a subtle hum in the air. She looked up to the Covenant cruiser hovering over New Mombasa and noticed that its engines were beginning to glow brighter.
"What the hell…"
Sensing her alarm Mako also looked up to see the cruiser. Just by looking at it, he realized what was about to happen.
"No, they cannot forsake us like this…" he whispered to himself.
Scarab Carcass
"Okay, so what's the plan now?" Leo asked once they were reunited with the rest of the squad.
"Well, we're supposed to link up with the rest of our unit and make a drive for that Covvie cruiser floating up there." Alvarado said.
"Well, then let's get going." Paccone said as he reloaded his rifle. "Can't kill Covvies if there aren't any around."
"Hold on." Alvarado put a finger onto his headphone, trying to listen in to a transmission. "I'm getting some weird messages. In Amber Clad is trying to recover its Marines and is sending out evacuation orders."
"What?" Paccone raised his eyebrow in curiosity.
However, nobody had time to ponder over the message. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the Scarab hummed to life again, limbs and body jerking with energy.
"Shit! It must have some kind of backup!" Alvarado yelled. "Take cover!"
Within seconds, both squads made a dash for the nearest buildings. Both Leo and Sam tried to follow, but Sam looked up to see the Scarab's foot coming down right on top of them and realized they would never make it. Both Leo and Sam closed their eyes, waiting for their inevitable deaths from a several ton robotic foot.
But it never came.
Sam slowly opened her eyes and was amazed to see Scohar standing in front of her, holding up the Scarab's entire arm. With just one hand.
Scohar smiled sadly. "I'm sorry you had to see this. It wasn't supposed to happen."
The Scarab creaked again as it tried to push its leg down, but it seemed as if it was pushing against an impenetrable shield. Scohar didn't seem to be exerting any effort whatsoever.
"Who… what are you?" Sam asked in amazement.
"I'm sorry. I can't answer that, at least not yet."
"How can you do that?" Leo pointed at Scohar's superhuman feat.
"I'm afraid I haven't been entirely truthful to the both of you. I can't say much, but I can say that I was sent here to ensure that you survive this stage of your journey."
"What journey?" Sam was confused.
Scohar looked up blankly into the sky, paused and said, "I don't have much time. They know what I'm doing."
He then waved his other hand at the Scarab. The Covenant vehicle then suddenly stopped and went slack, its lights turning dark. Scohar had just disabled a Scarab with the wave of his hand. Leo and Sam just stood there, amazed.
"Oh, and Sam, before I leave, I want to tell you something." Scohar turned back to Sam. "It feels good to see you face to face again after all this time, even if it was just for a short while."
Sam was about to ask him what he was talking about but Scohar quickly turned his gaze toward the Covenant cruiser.
"It seems time is almost up." He said. "I just hope you're prepared for the trials and hardships ahead."
At that moment, Scohar disappeared in the flash of light. The Scarab leg fell and landed just feet away from Sam and Leo. Bewildered at what they saw, Sam and Leo just stood there, still as stone.
"Leo, did you just see-"
"Yes."
"So then I'm not crazy."
"I hope to god not."
"Hey!" Paccone crawled out from the building he was taking cover in. "You two okay?"
"Uh, yeah!" Leo quickly said to hide his nervousness. What the hell had just happened there?
"Holy shit, that was a close one." Kumi said as she glanced at the Scarab foot.
Apparently, since they were all in cover, nobody had seen the Scohar perform his little miracle. Probably for the best, since that would just make the moment far more awkward than it already was. Then, Paccone asked the big question.
"Where the hell is Scohar?"
Sam and Leo both stayed silent and glanced at the Scarab foot. Paccone looked at it too and his expression darkened, coming to the conclusion that Scohar was not as lucky as Sam and Leo. It was wrong of course, but it wasn't as if anybody was going to correct him.
"We better keep going." Paccone looked up in the sky and noticed something was different about the cruiser floating in the sky. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Freedom, currently in geostationary orbit above New Mombasa
"Sir." Joshua chimed. "I'm picking up anomalous energy signatures on the surface of the planet."
"What kind of energy?" Rogers took the moment to turn to Joshua.
"I'm not sure, but it's emanating from the Covenant cruiser hovering above New Mombasa."
"What's so unusual about it?"
"Well," Joshua's avatar flickered slightly, "the energy readings are consistent of a ship preparing to enter Slipspace, but that's absurd. Nobody, not even the Covenant, has ever attempted to open a wormhole on a planet."
Rogers' eyes shot open. "A Slipspace jump right above the city?"
"Yes, a completely absurd thing to-"
Rogers quickly cut Joshua off and said, "If the ship were to actually jump into Slipspace, what would happen?"
"Well, there have been no recorded instances of such a thing happening, so there's no data to reference…"
"Then give me a goddamned guess. You AIs are supposed to be smart." Rogers snapped.
"Well, taking into account the massive amounts of energy required to open and sustain a wormhole, as well as the huge amount of unstable energy a wormhole releases once it opens, my best guess is that the moment the cruiser makes the jump, everything in a several dozen mile radius around the ship will be incinerated."
"What's the time window?"
"Its hard to say. Maybe a few hours, maybe a few minutes until the ship jumps."
"Joshua, scramble every Pelican and transport craft we have and get our people out of that city."
"Done."
"And what's the In Amber Clad's status?"
"My sensors indicate that the In Amber Clad is accelerating and closing distance with the cruiser."
"Shit." Rogers cursed under his breath. This was definitely not good.
New Mombasa
Karla looked up in surprise as a string of Pelicans began descending. Before he had a chance to ask what was going on, she heard a deafening roaring sound. Karla looked up to see the In Amber Clad soaring toward the Covenant cruiser.
"What the hell…" Williams cried in surprise.
At the same moment, the cruiser began to glow brightly. Karla looked on with horror as she realized what the cruiser was about to do.
"It can't be possible! It's trying to jump!"
"Yes. Our lives do not matter to them. Nothing does." Mako said sadly, as if he had just had an epiphany.
Meanwhile, just several miles away, Sam, Leo, Paccone, and the rest of the Marines were looking at the same thing. They were also scared and unsure of what was about to come.
Then, like an angry god, the Covenant cruiser seemed to explode in a bright flash of light, which slowly engulfed all of New Mombasa.
Freedom
"Joshua, what's happened?" Rogers looked down on the planet and saw a brief twinkle of light on the surface.
"I… I don't know." Joshua said.
"What?" Rogers was shaken. There weren't many things that could confound an AI.
"There was a sudden, massive energy release in New Mombasa. I can only assume that the Covenant cruiser actually made a Slipspace jump."
"The In Amber Clad?"
"Sensor records show that it was right on top of the cruiser's position. There is a chance that it managed to enter the same wormhole the cruiser opened."
"And the city?" Rogers bit his lip, already knowing he was not going to like the answer.
"Nothing, and I mean literally nothing. There's just a huge, perfectly round circle of flat dirt several miles in diameter, as if nothing were there in the first place."
Rogers slumped back into his seat. He knew elements of both his Marines and the 405th division were still in the city at the time of the jump. That meant almost 3,000 Marines, some that he had known personally, were gone in a flash.
"Joshua."
"Yes captain?"
"Find the nearest Covenant ship and unleash Hell on it."
Joshua hesitated. He had never heard Rogers speak like this. However, he carried out the order anyways. Whatever helped him deal with the tragedy.
Unknown
Karla really had no idea what had happened. The first thing she realized was the white flash that engulfed the entire city. When she opened her eyes again, she realized she was standing in a very familiar, purgatory-like white void.
"You have to fucking kidding me." She muttered to herself.
"Oh, I wish this was all a joke, but it's all painfully very real."
Karla whipped around to find the source of the hauntingly familiar voice. She then saw a small blonde-haired girl, probably ten or so, standing in front of her and wearing normal street clothes. She resembled somebody Karla knew, but couldn't quite place her finger on it. Then it suddenly hit her. The girl reminded Karla of herself and Sam.
"Who or what the hell are you?" She asked.
The girl smiled and continued to speak.
"I'm sure that you have a lot of questions about what's going on here, and I'm finally going to answer some of them."