*****AOMNH: When Everything Changed, Part 1*****
AN: Hope you guys don't mind a Christmas present in the shape of a content drop. Also, wow! Lots of reviews! While this makes me very happy (which is an understatement), it also means a long review section, so apologies ahead of time for those that just want to get into the story itself.
Cooldude101011: Short answer? Yes. Still working on the specifics of what that entails, so bear with me.
eyeswatcher: Like I said in those pm's: I'll try to make everyone/thing act more alien, for lack of a better word. Thanks for pointing out that novel for me to look over; I'll try to apply what I see there to here.
shypunk, Guest 2, Firehelper: Thanks! Even if it'll take me a while, I'm happy to say I do intend to finish this story someday; so I hope you're willing to stick around for the ride!
Guest: Heh, thanks. Might've let a bit of my preferred writing style slip in when making that, but at least you seem to enjoy it.
Smokinbarrel: Thanks for the kind words! As for what you asked, well…it's complicated. It is, and at the same time isn't accidental: the Reaper was putting itself back together again when it discovered the indoctrination system was still up-and-running. Rather than deactivate it after this, it allowed the process to continue. Anyway, the other questions will be answered in due time.
Guest 3: Yes and no. Yes, ME is far, far, lower on the totem pole than Halo, but in some areas (biotics, for example) the franchise makes up for it. Of course that won't do much to help this Reaper's situation, but I'm glad to say I finally have plans for how to resolve that issue, and they're…well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out.
Prometheus-777: Glad to see you enjoy the character that is Fleet Master 'Zonomee. Still working out his backstory, but it should be quite the doozy now that you've expressed such an interest (hey, you're an awesome reviewer, so it's only fair). An embarrassed and bashful Reaper…crap, do I have some out-there ideas or what? Hey now, this is Halo of all places; just how could I fit…"personalities" like them in here? Never mind the fact it's rated T! Not every story I make is going to have characters that get more of "that" than James Bond!
Guest 4: Yeah, it is; however if 'Monarch' was scrambled before (as in by what caused it to deactivate in the first place) then the Halo array passing through it was like taking a sledgehammer to an already broken laptop. We'll see about cloning a body; no real reason for it to do so at the moment. I agree on that, with a small exception: where Mendicant Bias and human AI's can separate themselves to focus on multiple tasks, once repaired the Reaper would be able to handle just as many tasks without doing so simply thanks to its nature; being comprised of billions of minds tends to do that. As for sheer processing power…we'll see.
edboy4926: Ch1 review: Thank you. Ch2 review: Thanks again, and I will.
Blaze1992: While I, personally, will try to avoid that, it ultimately depends on where the story goes as I tend to let my muse wander where it wishes to go. Some form of twisted logic may play a part in the decision on the Reaper's part, but likewise it may develop a sense of morality (one quite possibly confused and/or strange compared to our own) that would keep it from doing so.
Blackberry Avar: Higher priorities. Chase down pathetic human ships for righteous extermination, or investigate a vessel possibly made by the god's themselves? Never mind how they didn't have any orders or knowledge of what to do after having found a Halo Ring aside from "Stay put and wait for reinforcements." So yeah, easy to decide which is more important from their superiors' perspective.
BlueWay: *embarrassed blush* I-er-um-thanks. Love your own Halo/ME fic btw; can't wait to see what happens next in the misadventures of Mai and JD. Yours and a couple other stories are what got me hooked on the genre in the first place.
Tom712: *narrows eyes at the 'nice' and decides to ignore it* As far as my research has shown, they have, in a way: the Covenant knows of the Flood's existence, but only so far as the Forerunners fought and won against them, 'transcending' to godhood as a result (you can blame the Halo Arrays for both of those misconceptions).
And that's the reviews handled. Right, so, long story short about the wait: stuff happened irl, I had trouble finding the drive to write this, and I allowed myself to be distracted by reading other fics in the meantime. Hopefully, that won't be a repeated issue.
Also, probably going to go back over the previous two chapters and see if there's any terms that need to be 'alienified,' as apparently days are called cycles by the Covenant species, and unless the source I'm using is mistaken, their version of hours is actually known as units (while minutes apparently don't have a Covenant unique variant, as far as I can tell, hence I'll still use minutes and seconds) never mind a dozen other small corrections I need to make to have it be more 'in-line' with dialogue for the various Covenant species. So yeah. Fun stuff. For sake of convenience, however, I'll still use hours, days, and what have you for the appropriate time stamps; just not the alien character dialogue itself.
Now then: I'd say it's about time for the chapter itself. Oh and I suggest playing your favorite combat score, preferably from Halo but others work too, when they step onto the Reaper itself. One with a slow build-up before it takes off would be best. If that wasn't enough of a clue: expect some action this chapter.
"Ready?" Jykan's team leader asked, getting pings in the affirmative from him and the six other members of their SpecOps team. "Good."
They continued in silence, though he felt his hearts pump and blood stir in anticipation of combat like any true warrior should, until finally, the short trip ended with a thud; indicating they'd docked with the Righteous Vindication. They didn't wait for any further orders – unnecessary considering their previous one's were abundantly clear – and walked onto the Battlecruiser through the connecting umbilical.
Once they were on the other side, he noted the team leader connecting to the battlecoms with the other SpecOps teams; he didn't know the exact number, but there were at least ten teams gathered for the mission, possibly more. If not for what his team had been informed of regarding why they were here, he would've thought that such a number was unnecessary. An entire vessel's crew abandoning their duty; relocating to this unknown vessel for reasons similarly unknown; and now possibly infected by whatever this virus is that requires our attention. What a mess.
They made their way to one of the docking umbilical's that connected the Vindication to the Unknown, and made one final check of their equipment. During that period two more SpecOps teams arrived, and they exchanged nods of mutual respect before finishing their checks; now joined in that by the new arrivals.
When everything checked as being in working order, they stood at the ready: waiting for the doors to open so they could begin their cleansing mission. A minute later and they did; and the gathered teams exchanged a final look before pulling out their weapons and moving forward.
They soon came upon an unusual twisting intersection with four branches, including the one they arrived in, and the leaders of each team came to a silent agreement: his team taking the branch to the right.
For several minutes they continued on in operational silence, making sure to avoid going near any piece of alien technology that looked even vaguely functional so as not to catch the 'virus', until finally, the warrior on point informed them of an Unggoy shambling around ahead of them and mumbling to itself. As per standard procedure in a stealth op: each of them engaged their active camouflage now that a hostile target had been discovered.
"Take it down, quietly. I do not wish our incursion to be discovered just yet." the team leader commanded. Jykan watched as the outline of the warrior on point closed in on the Unggoy from behind, and, without any warning, snapped the alien's neck with a near soundless crack; lowering the body down to the floor without making any noise.
The rest of his team made to advance now that the problem had been dealt with, but a moment after the Unggoy's death a previously unseen door opened: revealing a Sangheili Minor, a half dozen Kig-Yar, and twice as many Unggoy on the other side. The Minor tried saying something for a moment, only to interrupt himself at noticing the shimmer of active camouflage and the recently made corpse.
"DEFILERS! PROTECT OUR GOD!" the Minor yelled out in sync with a burst from his immediately drawn Plasma Rifle aimed at the still cloaked SpecOps on point, breaking the camouflage and alerting the rest of the hostile group to his team's presence. Fortunately, the SpecOps' shields held long enough for him to get into cover; using the odd internal design of the ship to his advantage; followed by Jykan and the rest of the team.
The Kig-Yar were the next to react, quickly aiming at the nigh invisible blurs as they moved towards cover to the best of their ability; and thanks to their species' impressive eyesight and natural dexterity, managing glancing shots with Plasma Pistols or Needlers on three of the SpecOps not fast enough in moving to cover, deactivating their camo as a result.
Damn Kig-Yar! Jykan growled mentally when a needle hit near his position and detonated; the shards forcing his own active camo to switch off thanks to the perceived danger; even as he slipped a well-aimed shot from his Carbine through the helmet, and subsequently head, of one of the offending avians; doing so just before it activated its Point Defense Gauntlet, or PDG, with its final act in life.
Only one more Kig-Yar suffered the same fate – Jykan not being the one responsible this time – before the remaining four turned their PDG's on; and his team switched their focus to clearing out the dozen Unggoy before the pests could become a greater nuisance. He killed two personally, one of them with a shot into its methane pack and the other to its head (he thought he heard a strange noise like a celebration for a moment, alongside some sort of confetti appearing out of nowhere only to then disappear, but he brushed it off as a trick of the ambient light) and all but five were dead before the Minor managed to corral them behind cover.
The Sangheili in question, in spite of whatever it was infecting him, further proved to be an issue when he accurately tossed a Plasma Grenade near where two of the remaining SpecOps that still maintained their cloaking fields were in cover: forcing the pair to relocate and their active camo to switch off to avoid the power strain on their shields so they could absorb the brunt of the grenade's blast.
Jykan was about to respond with a grenade of his own when he noticed the outline of their team leader displayed on his HUD: the man directly behind the enemy position and with his camo still in use.
When the Minor died from an invisible energy sword being shoved through his chest, Jykan allowed himself a short roar in victory; replacing his Carbine and igniting his own sword in the process, being joined by the rest of the team. The leadership – and only real threat, if he was being honest – being dead meant the Kig-Yar and Unggoy were uncoordinated, and the eight SpecOps warriors then proceeded to charge at the final grouping of enemies; their shields shrugging off with contemptuous ease any plasma or needles that managed to hit them.
The remaining cannon fodder were overwhelmed by the sudden melee assault and dead in moments; heads, arms, and sometimes even entire torsos separated from their opponents' bodies.
As Jykan powered off his blade and reattached it to its magnetic strip, he reached for a pair of Needlers from the slain Kig-Yar – thinking the weapons would serve him better than his favored Carbine now that stealth was no longer an option for them, as there was no doubt that the skirmish had been noticed by the other hostiles nearby – only to stop as he remembered the possible contaminant carried by the Vindication's former crew. Keeping this in mind, he also made sure to avoid the pooling blood that seeped from their corpses.
"Damage? Injuries?" the team leader inquired, getting a string of confirmations that they were all fine. "Excellent. Prepare to-" the man never finished, as a green explosion replaced the area he was formerly standing in; nothing left of his body remaining when the green flash subsided.
Jykan wasted a short moment staring in shock at the area where his leader used to be before taking charge and barking out orders; as he was the squad's second-in-command. "Fuel Rods! Disperse and take cover!" he ended it by following his own advice: ducking back into the same wall cutout he'd used in the previous engagement.
Once in cover he pulled his Carbine back out and tried to locate the origin of the explosive ball. He did, and found himself wishing that the thing to fire it was only a Fuel Rod Gun. Gods… Truly, I have been cursed with misfortune this cycle…
"Mgalekgolo pair!" one of the SpecOps yelled into their squad comms; doing an admirable job of not sounding afraid of the incredibly dangerous walking tanks. A brave warrior. If he performs well and survives, I should see about placing him as my second.
He brought his mind back to the present and probed the hulking figures for any weaknesses through his Carbine's sights: rewarded by seeing a small bit of orange flash beneath the purple armor. He sighted it and fired twice, once more rewarded with a pained rumble from the Mgalekgolo, only to be forced to duck as a glob of explosive energies was fired his way. It missed his cover by a fraction and continued on: hitting another of the odd wall extensions the builders of this vessel seemed so fond of. To his surprise, rather than destroy it entirely, the metal plating merely darkened at being exposed to the incredible heat from the blast; performing as well, if not better than the Covenant's own nanolaminate armor.
He filed away his musings as to what the material was made from for a later date; focusing instead on the pair of highly dangerous targets in front of him. After making sure the rest of his team was still alive, Jykan took stock of their situation: watching the two Mgalekgolo to see if he could locate a gap in their defense.
As he did, a SpecOps leaned out of cover and peppered the side of one of the walking tanks with their Needle Rifle; the subsequent detonation from the crystal munitions making it rumble in pain. Jykan was about to order them back into cover when the other Mgalekgolo turned towards the Sangheili and fired, and the latter wasn't fast enough in getting back down as it eviscerated them; most of their upper half a burnt ruin of bone and metal. Dammit!
"Stay in cover; do not expose yourself!" Jykan ordered. The team complied, and he switched his active camo on and used his Carbine so he could examine the pair of hostiles in relative safety; knowing his shields wouldn't survive a direct hit from their Assault Cannons even at full power. The Mgalekgolo on the right was the one he and the now dead SpecOps had managed to shoot, and he noted with a small measure of satisfaction that it was being far less aggressive in its actions now: hiding behind its shield and remaining stationary rather than expose itself further by advancing. Its bond brother, however, was forcing the entire team to stay in cover with sporadic and deadly accurate shots; managing to aim its cannon just right to catch a SpecOps in the explosion: breaking the warrior's shields and singing their armor, though it fortunately held up and kept them from being truly injured.
Desiring to cut the number of enemies they needed to deal with in half, Jykan focused on the wounded Mgalekgolo and watched it closely; eventually spotting an exploitable weakness. He put the Carbine back on its magnetic strip and grabbed two Plasma Grenades – one in each hand – and started giving orders to his squad. "Focus fire on the rightmost one! On my mark, all who can, throw a grenade at it; no need for a specific target, just make sure they land near it!"
He received five pings in the affirmative, and two of the squad laid down a steady barrage on the wounded Mgalekgolo with Plasma Rifles while the other three readied a grenade each. "Mark!" Jykan said, and the three tossed their grenades while the other two switched fire to the so far unharmed enemy.
All three grenades flew in a perfect arc and landed either on or near the Mgalekgolo: one on its shield and two on the ground in front of it. This being the opportunity he was trying for, Jykan waited for it to 'bunker up' so as to withstand the explosions, and after it did so, he threw his own pair of grenades at the alien; one on both its left and right side; meaning that no matter which direction it faced, two Plasma Grenades were going to tear into its weakly armored underbelly. The target of the grenades seemingly realized this as well and tried jumping away at the last second, but its bulk slowed it down too much for the maneuver to be successful; proving fatal a moment later when the grenades went off and burned gaping holes in the Mgalekgolo.
The damage was enough to make it slump to the ground like a boulder. And if this wasn't enough confirmation, its bond brother roared and fired multiple shots off in quick succession; hitting Jykan's cover with one and launching him back a short distance due to the shockwave, and he felt the extreme heat on the surface of his armor as his camo and shields depleted instantly. However, just like with the previous SpecOps warrior to be indirectly hit, the armor held, but judging from the sudden jolt of pain, he was positive he received slight burns to his right forearm in spite of that.
Jykan sprang up the moment he recovered from the explosion, and fully intended to repeat the successful takedown process on the now enraged Mgalekgolo; but before he could issue any orders to that effect, a translucent and glowing blue wall of energy blinked into existence between the Mgalekgolo and his team.
Undeterred, the SpecOps (aside from him) and Mgalekgolo continued to shoot at each other, only for the energy wall to block every plasma and needle round fired. At seeing how ineffectual the barrage was, the SpecOps ceased firing; and while the worm colony did so as well, it began to instead pound its 'fists' against the shield.
In spite of this also proving ineffectual, it continued to do so until something happened that no one present expected: a number of figures appeared coming down the hall the Mgalekgolo pair and the hostile group before them entered through, and before Jykan could get a closer look at the newcomers, a booming voice echoed from seemingly everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. "ENOUGH!"
Jykan reached for his Carbine by reflex, knowing it wouldn't do anything against the shield but wanting the comforting weight of his rifle in-hand; however, as he was about to draw it, something painfully slammed into him that kept his arm from moving. At first he panicked and tried to roll out of the way of the perceived threat, only to discover his body refused to follow his desires; every limb unmoving as if they no longer listened to his commands.
It was about then that he noticed nothing had actually hit him physically, due mostly in part thanks to the sudden and disorienting pressure he felt inside his head. What is this?! I cannot-
His thoughts were interrupted by the slamming of the Mgalekgolo, and at that he looked around at his fellow SpecOps; quickly realizing that they, too, were struggling to move.
"I SAID, ENOUGH!" the booming voice repeated, and he winced at the volume of it; but his HUD made no sign of picking up any potentially harmful sounds, confusing him when he noticed.
This time, the Mgalekgolo also froze up – mid-strike, even – and it lowered its arms jerkily. It then turned around, ignoring his team entirely, and did the last thing Jykan expected it to in its maddened state: it lowered itself to the floor and kneeled in the direction of the vague figures.
After that frankly disturbing display of subservience, the figures continued on through a connecting hallway that Jykan couldn't see properly; and when they were no longer in sight, he felt the pressure lift almost immediately. He stood up – not having realized at first that he had fallen to a knee alongside his fellow Sangheili – and shook his head to clear up the quickly receding headache he felt.
The Mgalekgolo stayed kneeling for a long moment before standing up itself; turning to 'glare' at Jykan and his team with its blazing green optics in obvious rage. Yet, it didn't continue its previous actions, and remained in place on the other side of the shield.
Jykan spared a glance at the silently fuming alien before looking back the way his team had come through, and, as expected, a translucent blue energy wall greeted him. It would seem this vessel is less inactive than we were led to believe. But exactly what…what was that? And who were those figures?
Whatever the answer was, Jykan knew one thing for certain: whoever the mysterious figures were, they were undoubtedly far more than what they seemed. And he had no desire to experience that voice in his head again.
And that's chapter 3. Considering I try to keep this fic's chapters trimmed down to allow for semi-regular updates (emphasis on semi-regular) I decided to cut this into two chapters; leaving us with this: the first of, undoubtedly, many action scenes to come. In related news: sorry about how short this is. The second half should be put up in a few days, and will finally rap up the 'prologue' segment for the fic before getting into the real meat of it. What'd you think? Anyway, time to explain a few things about this ch.
The way I look at it: if TIM (aka: The Illusive Man) could control Shepard and Anderson at the end of ME3 with those Reaper implants of his, just how much more effective would the mental control of an actual Reaper be upon the poor SOB's that happen to be inside of it? Food for thought. And yes, I fully intend to abuse this mechanic.
As I said at the top AN: sorry about the long wait. If it makes you feel better, I'm posting this alongside the first chapter of a new Mass Effect story I've been working on: A Cursed Existence, an SI that's…a little different compared to most others you've read, or at least that's my intention with it. Go check it out! Also, for those of you waiting on chapter 22 for The Broken Reaper, I'm working on it as we speak, so keep an eye out for it!
Now, I'm sure at least some of you are going to say "Wait, how could the Reaper stop plasma just with kinetic barriers? Without proper energy shields, wouldn't it pass through for the most part?" Well, yes, but actually no. Allow me to simplify (and not make myself look like an idiot by trying to do so using scientific terms): personal kinetic barriers would protect your average foot soldier from plasma about as well as a sheet of paper keeps a steady stream of water from leaking through. A hundred sheets on paper on the other hand… See where I'm going with this? Naturally this principle won't do much when faced with capital-ship-grade plasma weaponry, as the power scale increases accordingly, but when facing a solid wall of kinetic energy with handheld plasma weapons, even explosive ones? Well, need I say more?
You know, considering that I don't think most of the combat scenes I write are as good as they could be, I'm actually rather proud of this one. What do you guys think? Please leave a review to let me know if it's any good and where I can improve!
Right, with this finally put out there, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!