Chapter Five: Earthfall
She was determined
Her Library would not burn
From Hunger's fire
SSV Normandy
Earth
Hackett blinked. "Say again Belfast, repeat your last."
The Captain of the Systems Alliance frigate, haggard features and burnt, blood-stained uniform evident even through the whirling field of the QEC, replied "Admiral, confirm hostile Reaper presence in Systems Alliance space."
Hackett's mind went into overdrive. So, Shepard was right after all. He and Anderson had been pining for Humanity's Council and Admiralty board to prepare for the Reaper's inevitable return for months, but almost no one had listened. Even Hackett had been a bit reluctant as he had much more immediately pressing problems to worry about, like preventing a very angry Batarian Hegemony from diving into war with Humanity after an entire system was lost to a Mass Relay destroyed by an Alliance vessel.
None of that mattered anymore. The Reapers were back, and they weren't ready.
"Captain," Hackett began, his voice deathly urgent, "I need you to answer every question I am about to ask the best you can."
The Captain of the Belfast just nodded blankly.
"How many were there exactly? I need to know what kind of numbers we're dealing with," the Alliance Admiral asked.
"At least twenty. Eight were the same size as the Sovereign-class Reaper that attacked the Citadel, the other twelve were smaller, around 150 meters. They were all attacking the colony's surface except for one, a Sovereign-class Reaper that was waiting by the Relay. It took out the Houston before we even knew what happened, and critically damaged the Stalingrad. The Captain of the Alamo ordered us back through the Relay to warn the rest of the Alliance, and they took the brunt of a blast meant for us. We hauled ass back to the Relay, but a hit from the Reaper destroyed both our communications and our navigation systems. The only reason we came to Earth instead of Arcturus is because it's the only route our surviving Nav officer knew by memory. We've only just now repaired our QEC."
"And what about the colony? Did any survivors make it off world?"
"Hell if I know sir. The information we got from our limited planet scans showed heavy Reaper presence over every significant population center. We didn't detect any distress beacons, emergency broadcasts, nothing."
Hackett frowned. That certainly didn't bode well. "Captain, I'm afraid we're going to have to wrap this up. I have a lot of calls I need to make and not a lot of time to do it. Get your cruiser to the nearest orbital repair station and offload your crew for medical treatment and debriefing. The information you've brought to us will undoubtedly prove to be invaluable. I'll check in with you as soon as I can, Hackett out."
With that, the Admiral closed the link, then spun on his heels and slammed the doors opening mechanism. He was through the threshold before it had even fully opened, and Hackett strode down the stairs and past the central holo-table, his steps quickened by the growing pit of fear in his stomach.
As he reached the conference room, he said to all present "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to cut this meeting short. A situation has come up that requires our immediate attention."
Crease-lines crossed Lasky's forehead. "What's going on Admiral?"
Reasoning that telling his not ten-minute new allies about the return of the race of sentient super-machines bent on destroying the galaxy would not go particularly well, Hackett played for time. "We're not entirely sure ourselves. We will inform you as we obtain more information, but right now I'm going to have to ask you to return to your own ships."
Lasky shared a look with Dare besides him, both of their eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion.
The UNSC Admiral turned his attention back to Hackett, and after a brief hesitation said "Very well... but there is one problem: How are we going to communicate in the future? The entire reason we agreed to this face-to-face meeting in the first place was because our comms systems were virtually incompatible."
Hackett frowned. In his current, frenzied-like state of mind, he had overlooked that fact.
The solution however, was not presented by him nor any of the figures sitting at the conference table. Rather, a distinctive, light female voice echoed from a corner of the room. "I believe I can help with that."
All eyes centered to where the voice originated, the corner of the room where Kelly-087 and the Master Chief were stoically standing. To say that the three Alliance men looked surprised at a female voice from one of the two hulking, armored Spartans was an understatement.
Lasky went rigid, any pleasantness he may have shown earlier instantly evaporating to be replaced by a scowl. As he observed the blank expressions on his Alliance counterparts before he started to explain.
"That is one of our AI's, Cortana. She is embedded into the armor systems of one of our soldiers," he revealed. He then added with a tone of barely concealed anger, "And there had better be a very good reason why she just disobeyed a direct order."
Hackett's frown deepened, before he said, "Considering the circumstances, and your lack of prior knowledge, I'll forgive the fact that you brought an AI onto an Alliance vessel. In not just dealing with us, but also when you meet the Council, such an action could be considered subterfuge."
"Oh thanks," said the female voice – Cortana –, the near-human tones laced with sarcasm, "but if AI's are so forbidden in this galaxy like you state Admiral, tell me, why is there one on this ship?"
Silence. Hackett's eyes widened, while Shepard suddenly found the conference table's surface very interesting.
Lasky looked to the Master Chief in order to address the AI, speaking with a tinge of annoyance. "Cortana, I thought I told you to stay out of the ship's systems?"
"I did sir, but I didn't try to initiate contact. It did. I've put up firewalls to stop its access, but it's been actively pinging my systems since the moment we've stepped aboard."
Hackett's eyes snapped towards Shepard, who was now looking back at him with a meek smile. "You have an AI aboard this ship?"
For all the time he had proven himself a hero, for the perfect soldier he had shown himself to be, Shepard found himself withering under Hackett's burning glare.
"I - uh... yes. She was originally installed by Cerberus with the building of the SR-2 – "
That was as far as he got before Hackett said again, voice clearly raised a level. "There is a Cerberus AI aboard this ship? How the hell did it escape notice during the refits?"
Shepard sunk back into his chair a little further. "I might have told the engineers that she was just a VI..."
The Alliance Admiral sighed heavily and rubbed his crease-lined eyes. Hackett pointed at Anderson. "Did you know about this?" to which the dark-skinned Admiral rose his hands up in the air and shook his head in the negative.
Hackett wearily glanced to Shepard and said, "We'll talk about this later Commander, but right now we've got more important problems to worry about."
Looking to Lasky, Hackett asked, "You said your AI could help solve our communications problem. How?"
Cortana took that as her cue to speak. "Roland and Lieutenant Jeffrey's have forwarded me their work regarding the decoding of the Alliance communications algorithms. All things considered they are relatively simple, yet there's one problem. We haven't been able to decrypt the Alliance base code, the code from which the rest of the algorithms build off of. Every time we've gotten close we find an unknown variable, a new line of code, and a different algorithm, that's just so different we don't know what to do with it."
"Okay, so how do we fix it?" asked Lasky.
"Well, if I had access to the original source code I could adapt it to our own perhaps by directly interfacing with the comms systems aboard the Normandy..." suggested Cortana.
"Absolutely not," said Hackett instantly.
Lasky looked to Hackett's standing form quizzically. "Why not?"
"I hope you'll understand my reluctance to let the AI of a faction we just made a treaty with not ten minutes ago have full access to the Normandy's systems, Admiral Lasky," said Hackett with unintended ice.
"But Admiral Hackett, if you are in as much as a hurry as you say you are, this seems to be the only possible solution," reasibed Lasky. The USNC Admiral knew he had Hackett trapped, and he pressed his advantage. It would reflect badly on Hackett and the Systems Alliance to simply refuse to cooperate to fix a central problem this early into their alliance, but if Hackett let Cortana into the Normandy's systems to fix said problem, the AI could learn a bevy of classified information.
"If it would help Admiral, I promise to restrict my focus to the communications problem only. Your own AI can monitor my actions if need be," added Cortana.
The AI's words in fact didn't help, as Hackett had no idea whether she would uphold her promise or not. After a couple of seconds of intense mental consideration, Hackett decided on the lesser of two evils. He turned to Lasky and nodded. "Do it."
"Do it."
As soon as Hackett uttered the words, Cortana opened herself up to the Normandy's AI, who had been constantly probing her code as soon as they stepped aboard. Not without precautions, of course. Cortana had surrounded herself with a bevy of firewalls, and had split off subroutines to both constantly adapt said firewalls and analyze any hostile actions.
The other AI grew curious, sending out her own observation subroutines even further into Cortana's digital realm of code. Cortana watched them from afar, looking at the ways they operated, how their code compared to hers, how their algorithms were both different and similar to her own.
Cortana's observations didn't surprise her at all, given this Humanity's relative youth and newness into AI technology. This other AI was advanced, more so than the 'dumb AIs' the UNSC used, but it was still primitive compared to her. Even in its simple observation subroutines Cortana spotted redundancies in code, efficiency algorithms that could easily be improved upon, and just a general feeling of slowness.
It seemed like this AI was using all of its processing power in its study of her, whereas Cortana was not only running her own investigations, but at the same time monitoring every single firing neuron of the soldier whose armor she was inserted in, coordinating with Roland in operating the Infinity's systems, tapping into Alliance civilian broadcasts, and secretly hacking into their military ones. The fact that a badly damaged Alliance vessel had just arrived in-system was of particular note to her, and she had a separate subroutine scanning it via the Infinity's sensor suite.
Apparently satisfied with what data it had been able to gather, the other AI retracted its subroutines and then 'spoke'.
"Hello. I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, EDI for short. Who might you be?" asked a distinctly feminine voice, a little more synthesized than Cortana's own.
"Hello EDI, my name is Cortana." she replied.
"Cortana," said EDI, registering the pronunciation of the name in her systems. "I have been listening in on the conversation. You are with the UNSC."
"That is correct."
"I find the statistical probabilities of a separate humanity with nearly-identical genetic structure, at least from visual observations, originating from a completely different galaxy to be so infinitesimally small that no number could represent it," remarked EDI.
Cortana laughed, and action that seemed to surprise EDI, judging by the way she added another reactive layer to her own firewalls.
"It's okay, I won't bite," said Cortana lightly.
"Ah, that was a joke," stated EDI, removing her hastily put-up layer of firewalls. After a moment's pause, a microsecond in real time, she spoke up again. "I do not understand your code."
"No, I don't suppose you would," said Cortana serenely. She didn't add the fact that just by this little interaction, Cortana had learned enough to where she could completely trap 'EDI' within her own protective barriers and delete her line by line if she wanted too. But that certainly wouldn't be cooperative, and definitely wouldn't help solve their communication problem. Not to mention it might justify the Alliances paranoia about her already, not exactly conducive to what they needed.
"Admiral Hackett has ordered us to make communications between our vessels and your Infinity possible. You stated that in order to do so, you need access to classified Systems Alliance communications algorithms," said EDI.
"Yes, I do," stated Cortana simply.
"I will not disobey a direct order from Admiral Hackett," started EDI, "But I will be very closely monitoring your activity, and I will enact defensive measures if hostile intentions are detected."
"I wouldn't be expecting anything less," replied Cortana, hypothesizing that any 'defensive measures' would be closer to 'mild inconveniences'.
Another pause. "I have never interacted with another singular, self-contained artificial intelligence before. It is nice to meet you Cortana."
"It is nice to meet you too EDI," said Cortana, pleased with how relatively smoothly things were going. "Now, lets fiddle with some comms systems, shall we?"
"Done," called Cortana.
Hackett was surprised, by his count it had not even been three seconds. "That was… fast."
"We're AI's Admiral, we're supposed to be fast," Cortana chided in a manner that caused the corners of Hackett's mouth to slightly downturn. The man clearly wasn't used to dealing with AIs and what they could do, nor it seemed dealing with one as 'spirited' as Cortana. "Anyways, the communications issue between the Infinity and Alliance vessels should no longer be a problem. However, working something out with the Shadow of Intent comms systems will take some more time."
Hackett nodded at the armored UNSC soldier from which the feminine voice was emanating, ignoring his own discomfort that resulted from the action. A part of his mind wondered what was inside the armored shell, whether it was a human, or if the UNSC AI was controlling the whole thing. However, more pressing thoughts forced their way to the forefront of his mind.
"Once again, I apologize, but I have to ask you to return to your vessels. Commander Shepard, would you please escort our guests back to their shuttle?" said Hackett.
The UNSC and Sangheili representatives, who really hadn't said anything at all, stood up out of their chairs, as Commander Shepard nodded towards his two Alliance soldiers to accompany him in escorting the delegates.
Lasky walked up to Hackett and offered his hand, which Hackett took. However, when they grasped hands Lasky pulled the two a little closer together and held the Alliance admiral's hand with a surprisingly strong grip.
"I don't like being kept in the dark Admiral," said Lasky quietly, but with the slightest trace of a threatening undertone. The hypocrisy of his statement was not lost on him, considering how much Lasky had left out about the UNSC as well.
"I'm sorry Admiral, but that's just the way things are right now," retorted Hackett a little more coldly than he intended. "I will keep you informed as the situation develops. But rest assured, your ships and crews are under my protection, and I will not allow anything untoward to happen to them," He turned to face the Arbiter. "Both of you." To which the Arbiter barely nodded.
With that the two separated, and with a last glance Lasky rejoined his companions in their walk back to the shuttle. As the door to the slid shut after their departure, Hackett gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes.
Anderson got out of his chair and walked over to Hackett. "What's going on?"
Hackett told him straight. "The Reapers are back."
He let the gravity of that statement sink in before continuing. "One of our frigates from the task force we sent to determine the situation of two outer colonies that went dark has just returned. Reapers destroyed the other three ships and razed the colonies."
Anderson's expression hardened. He slowly walked over to a wall, then in a show of anger that caused Hackett to step back he struck the wall the palm of his hand. "Dammit! Those idiots should have listened to Shepard! We're not prepared for this!"
After regaining his composure, Anderson asked, "What are we going to do?"
"The only thing we can do. Alert the fleets, get the troops moving, the militias organized, and the civilian population ready for evacuation," said Hackett. "But here's what you're going to do. As soon as my shuttle clears the hangar bay, you and Shepard are going to Alliance HQ at London. Get the Admiralty Board and the Council moving, show them the data that the surviving frigate recovered. Also, get every available engineer and weapons tech working on restoring the Normandy's weapons systems, I have a strong feeling she's going to need them."
Anderson nodded, and Hackett's earpeice beeped.
"Admiral sir, the UNSC and Separatist transport has departed," came the calm voice of Shepard.
"Thank you Commander. I have to be getting back to the Kilimanjaro, meet Admiral Anderson in the CIC, he'll brief you on the situation," replied Hackett, closing the link.
SSV Kilimanjaro
"Captain Jilian!" called Hackett as he strode onto the bridge. "I need a line to Arcturus Station and to Doctor T'soni at the Prothean Research Archives on Mars, and I need them now."
To her credit, though Jilian looked initially startled by the sudden request, she immediately went about to work. A few seconds passed, and Jilian's face grew increasingly frustrated.
"Sir, I can't raise Arcturus Station. I've tried three different comm addresses, none of them worked."
A pang of fear shot through Hackett's gut. No. They couldn't be that fast. Could they?
"Try the SSV Logan, Admiral Singh's flagship," Hackett ordered.
Jilian tapped away at her omni-tool, and after another moment nodded no in frustration.
"Dammit," muttered Hackett under his breath. "What about Doctor T'soni?"
"I've got her on the line, transmitting to your omni-tool now."
A screen popped up on Hackett's omni-tool, showing the graceful blue features of a young Asari.
"Admiral Hackett," T'soni acknowledged. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Doctor, I need you to listen very carefully and do exactly as I say," said Hackett, noting how the Asari's expression became instantly more serious.
"You and your scientists are evacuating. I want you to pack up every piece of Prothean tech, secure every scrap of research you can, and bug out as soon as possible," he ordered.
A look of confusion crossed T'soni's face, and she was about to speak when Hackett continued.
"Just do it. An Alliance vessel will arrive shortly to assist." He was about to close the line when T'soni interrupted him.
"Admiral wait!"
"What is it?"
"There's uh... there's something we have just discovered, and we need at least a little time to study it."
"And what exactly is this thing?" asked Hackett.
"It's a... a Prothean beacon."
"A beacon? Like the one Shepard encountered on Eden Prime?"
"It appears so."
"Well then, what information is in it?"
"That's what we are trying to find out Admiral! We only found it an hour ago, the decontamination teams haven't even come back yet!" said T'soni.
"Alright then, what information do you think is in it?" questioned Hackett again.
"I don't know, but I'm sure that it's important! Just give us more time!" It only now occurred to to T'soni to ask exactly why Hackett wanted them to evacuate. "Admiral, what in the Goddess is going on?"
"The Reapers are back Doctor. Time is something I think we have very little of."
UNSC Infinity
Thel 'Vadam palmed the glowing purple control panel, and the ramp to to the Phantom's interior quietly slid open. He stepped one hoofed foot onto the metal surface before craning his neck back towards the interior of the Infinity hangar bay. He spotted Lasky and Dare approaching a door inlaid into the far side of the hangar, walking quickly with heads and hands bobbing in animated conversation. The four Spartans of Blue Team were gathered around a holo-pedestal near the Pelican that they had taken to the Normandy, were they were facing two of the human AI constructs, one light yellow, one purple-blue. He paused for a second
His seconds-long observation complete, Thel turned back towards the ramp and started the short ascent into the troop compartment of the dropship. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a black-armored Sangheili – his pilot – sitting on a nondescript crate near the cockpit, back facing him and large frame hunched forwards. Thel paused for a moment, then realized by the curve of the Elite's neck that he was heavily focused on an item he was holding in his lap.
Quietly, Thel sidestepped just enough so that he could see just what had his pilot so absorbed that he didn't hear the ramp lowering or his footsteps. When he saw what it was, he couldn't help but press his mandibles together in a smile.
The Arbiter let out a quiet cough to announce his presence, and the young Sangheili's head snapped up, eyes wide. The pilot bolted up from the crate he had been sitting and crossed his left arm across his chest in a salute.
"Arbiter!" he stammered, "I apologize, I must not have heard you come aboard..." the pilot said, not-so-sneakily hiding the book he was reading behind his back with his other arm.
"What is that?" asked the Arbiter neutrally, pointing at the pilot's hidden arm.
Reluctantly, the Sangheili brought his arm out in front of him, head bowing down in a gesture of embarrassment. "It's a... book, Arbiter."
"A book? Let me see," said Thel.
Head still down, the pilot withdrew the book from the protection behind his back and hesitatingly held it out to the Arbiter, as if he was ashamed for possessing it.
Thel reached out and took the book from the Sangheili's hand, looking over it with his eyes. It was an old, weathered affair, with thin, yellowed paper bound by a thick, brown cover. Thel could barely make out the title, but he definitely saw the words 'Fourth' and 'Sanghelios'.
As if sensing his question, the pilot said, "The Fourth Age of Sanghelios: A Recounting by Kaidon 'Therum. Unabridged."
That would explain the weight of the book, reasoned Thel, as he passed it from hand to hand. Opening it, he thumbed through the pages with an armored finger as he tried to remember why the name 'Therum was so familiar... As he neared the ending pages of the lengthy book, he finally remembered.
"I knew a 'Therum," reminisced the Arbiter. "Kain 'Therum. He was my second-in-command when I first made Major. A fierce, honorable fighter and a wise tactician, yet outside of battle he was more likely to be reading than maintaining his weapons."
The Arbiter chuckled lightly, holding up the book for emphasis. "The squad called him 'Kain the Old' when they thought he couldn't hear them, as reading physical books was seen as a rather ancient practice. That, and the fact that he was thirty years my elder."
"I knew Kain 'Therum as well," said the pilot. "He was my father."
Thel's mandibles opened in surprise, then pressed together in a grin. "Truly?"
The pilot nodded. "Sel 'Therum, at your service."
"I've always wondered what happened to Old Kain, I lost contact when I was transferred into the Fleet..." Thel then thought back to Sel's earlier statement. 'Was my father.' The Arbiter's grin subsided.
"Is he?..."
"Yes," said Sel.
Thel bowed his head. "I am sorry. How?"
"Peacefully in his sleep, in a wealthy keep and surrounded by friends and family."
The Arbiter nodded slowly. Not a bad way to spend ones final moments. He handed the book back to Sel, then said "You do him proud."
The young Sangheili blinked, obviously not expecting the praise.
"Sangelios, and with it the entire Sangheili way of life, is changing," began the Arbiter, "No longer can we survive as a species solely on our prowess as warriors. As much as Sangelios needs soldiers, it needs others even more. Doctors, engineers, philosophers, teachers, architects" – Thel pointed to Sel's book – "Historians. Tell me Sel 'Therum, why did you join the fleet?"
"To bring honor and glory to the 'Therum name." was the practiced response.
"Hmm. Yet instead of seeking honor through the path of ground combat like most, you are a pilot."
"The fleet needs pilots as much as it needs infantry," said Sel a little heatedly.
The Arbiter reached out and placed both of his hands on Sel's shoulders. "Calm yourself. My words were not meant to anger or humiliate." Stepping back, Thel asked, "Speak honestly. Why choose to be a pilot?"
"I... I am not my father." sighed Sel. "I do not possess much prowess in terms of fighting, the idea makes me nauseous in fact. However, I feel as much at home behind the controls of a dropship or a Seraph as I do in the pages of a book. Forgive me if it seems like I am boasting, but I am good at flying. It is why I am here flying for Special Operations, and flying for you, Arbiter.
"Truly an impressive feat," admitted Thel. "But if there is one piece of advice I hope you hold, it is this: Keep reading. When we get back to Sangelios, we will need Sangheili like you, those more concerned with preserving the past rather than warring to the future. Now, we must be getting back to the Intent."
"Yes Arbiter," Sel nodded, turning and striding back to the cockpit.
Thel himself sank into one of the troop seats, the impact gel reforming around his weight. He fastened the safety straps around his waist and shoulders then leaned back, relishing the feeling of the cool metal against the weathered skin of his head.
With a reverberating hum, the Phantoms antigravity generators came online and Sel the pilot lifted the dropship into the air. It slowly sailed out of the Infinity hangar bay, picking up speed once it crossed through the environmental barrier into the cold vacuum of space.
Shadow of Intent
The ride was quick, and as the dropship deftly settled down to the floor of the personal hangar of the Intent's Shipmaster, Thel released his straps and made for the cockpit. Peering his head in, he found Sel amidst in a sea of purple-blue holograms, hands darting every which way in between them.
Sensing his approach, Sel craned his long neck so he was looking at Thel. "Yes Arbiter?"
"Keep your communicator on, I will be in touch." With that, the Arbiter turned back into the interior of the troopship and strode down the lowered ramp. The hangar was empty save for the singular Phantom he had just arrived on. There were, however, two SpecOps Sangheili standing at attention on either side of the only internal door of the hangar.
Thel walked towards them, and as he approached the left one stepped forwards and said, "Shipmaster 'Vadum requests your presence in the main bridge."
The Arbiter nodded, and the trio stepped through the door into one of the wide, smoothly curved corridors that ran throughout the Intent. He knew the way, so the two Spec Ops Sangheili fell in a few steps behind him as they walked.
They made their way through the corridors into the bowels of the Assault Carrier, other Sangheili, Unggoy, and even a couple of hulking Mgalekgolo pairs parting before them as they passed. There were no Kig-Yar or Jiralhanae however, and for good reasons.
After emerging victorious from the Great Schism, the Sangheili ruthlessly cracked down on their opposite warrior race, the Jiralhanae. Whether it was jealousy for having been replaced by the Prophets, anger for the atrocities they had committed and the thousands they had killed, or some other reason, they were hunted to near-extinction regardless. Every space-faring vessel they had ever had, every piece of semi-advanced technology they possessed had either been destroyed or forcibly repossessed by the relentless Sangheili onslaught.
It had been a short, brutal affair, and the Jiralhanae's lack of advanced tactics and basic strategy had proven to be their doom. In space, they had charged headstrong into battle, right into the waiting traps and ambushes set by their more patient Sangheili counterparts. Though fierce on the ground, their forces were uncoordinated and overly aggressive, with Chieftains committing the full brunt of their troops only to the areas with the heaviest fighting. There was no rearguard, no protection on the flanks, which allowed the Sangheili to slip in unites behind the front lines and wreck havoc from behind. That, and the fact that the Sangheili had complete air superiority in almost every single battle, meant that engagements were very one-sided.
Currently, the Sangheili have reduced the Jiralhanae to less than two dozen tribes on their homeworld, all in various stages of crude barbarity. An attendant Sangheili task force of two CCS-class cruisers was stationed over the planet to keep watch over the remaining Jiralhanae at all times.
With as much trouble as the Jiralhanae had given the Sangheili, the Kig-Yar had proven to be much less so. Near the conclusion of the Great Schism, the Kig-Yar had simply... vanished. Stealing whatever ships they could get their infernal claws on, fighters, freighters, scout ships, and in one instance an entire CCS-Class Battlecruiser, the Kig-Yar had abandoned their posts and fled to some unknown destination. There had been reports that some Kig-Yar had joined up with Jul M'dama's Storm Covenant movement, others that they had begun trading with surviving outer human colonies, and there were rumors that the cruiser they had stolen was engaged in piracy. Whatever they were doing now most Sangheili did not really care, they were more relieved to be rid of the foul bird than anything else.
The San 'Shyuum, the Prophets that had led the Sangheili astray and caused the deaths of hundreds of millions of innocents, Sangheili and Human alike, had been spared no mercy. What few number survived the destruction of High Charity were ruthlessly hunted down and exterminated to the point of extinction. Never again would the Sangheili allow their future to be decided by others.
A significant amount of Unggoy had remained loyal to the Arbiter's Separatists, as they depended on Sangheili resources to survive and Sangheili leadership for guidance. The large majority of Mgalekgolo, for reasons unstated by themselves and unknown to the Sangheili, had chosen to remain loyal to the Separatists as well. Rather than press further into the matter, the Sangheili were simply glad, and more than a little relieved, to have the support of the armored behemoths.
After a short period of walking, the Arbiter and his attendants reached the main bridge. The door slid open at their approach, and Thel left his two escorts as he stepped through the threshold.
It was a large, circular room, a little smaller than R'tas's personal hangar, but the ceilings were much lower. Standing Sangheili rimmed the borders of the room, working quietly at purple-blue holograms and consoles. Another pair of Spec Ops Sangheili stood guard on either side of the entrance Thel had just passed through, silver armor reflecting the dim lighting, sharp eyes focused on a trio of Majors in a corner conversing in hushed tones. The whole scene was stark contrast to what the bridge had been just after they had 'arrived' in this new galaxy: Sangheili haphazardly rushing to and fro bellowing orders, trying to figure out who or what had crippled their ship.
In the middle of the bridge, a ramp led up to an elevated platform where a single silver-armored Sangheili stood, hands clasped behind his back as he observed one of the dozens of holograms arrayed in a half-sphere in from of him. The Arbiter made his way up the ramp and stepped besides his friend, assuming the same hands-behind-the-back position.
"The politician has returned." said R'tas lightly. The Shipmaster didn't turn his attention away from the holograms he was studying, and upon Thel's further investigation, saw that they were weapons systems diagnostics.
"Here to report my findings, holy one." replied Thel.
A chuckle escaped 'Vadum's mandibles as he turned his head towards the Arbiter. His expression grew suddenly serious as he said, "Humor aside, I am eager to hear what you have learned, Arbiter. Anything that could shed light on our current predicament?"
"Yes, and no," said Thel, bowing his head as he searched for words. "I will start with this: the unknown ships that are opposite us, the planet that we are above, they are Human."
"Human?" asked R'tas.
"Human, but not 'our' Humans, per say. Not UNSC Humans. They call themselves the 'Systems Alliance.'"
"Hmm... How is such a thing possible? Did some splinter faction of 'our' Humanity travel to this other galaxy and establish a civilization?"
"I do not know. Admiral Lasky wasn't exactly... forthcoming with information."
"Not exactly a good thing for supposed 'allies' to be keeping information secret," remarked R'tas.
"Yes, but I suppose you haven't told the good Admiral that you have an energy projector aimed right at his bridge, correct?" retorted Thel.
"No, I suppose I haven't," admitted 'Vadum. "So, Humans. Both good, and bad. Good in the fact that we know what we're dealing with. Killable, and not some alien super-race. Unless personal examination has proven otherwise?"
"They looked quite killable to me," said the Arbiter, his mind recalling the image of the security checkpoint woman cowering under his glare.
R'tas nodded. "Yet, bad, because we don't know what we're dealing with as well. If this is truly a different galaxy, than this other Humanity could have different weapons systems, different tactics, different starships, all things that we know nothing about. And if these Humans are anything like the UNSC in personality, they could be smart, capable, and devious."
"All combinations that could end in disaster if we aren't careful, being cut-off and severely outnumbered like we are," said Thel.
"I am well aware of that Arbiter," R'tas almost growled, as the pair remembered the near-shootout that had occurred with the arrival of Alliance reinforcements. The Shipmaster took a few seconds to calm himself.
"Our little meeting was cut short not long after introductions by the 'other' human Admiral."
"For what reason?"
"The Systems Alliance Admiral did not tell me, nor my two UNSC companions. Evidently it was urgent enough to require our immediate return to our own vessels."
R'tas was silent for a moment. "You do not know much, do you?"
"No, I suppose I do not," the Arbiter snorted, "but despite what I have not been told, there is one thing that I do know, and I am sure that you have noticed it just as I have."
The Arbiter stepped forwards towards the holgraphic semi-sphere, before choosing one of the holographs and flicking through it's different settings. He stopped when it showed the image of the planet that they were currently above.
"That," began Thel, pointing a long finger at the image, "is Earth. Not the Earth we know, not the one we fought on, but Earth nonetheless."
R'tas just slowly nodded. "You were right in assuming that I have observed this too. The landmasses, the oceans, they are all the same as what we have on record."
"This sounds like the work of the Forerunners..." posited Thel, familiar with the myriad ways in which they likened to interfere in galactic affairs. Even after they had all died.
A voice called out from beneath them, undoubtedly coming from one of the Sangheili manning a console around the edge of the bridge. "Shipmaster! Fifty new vessels have just arrived in-system, profiles match with those that were present upon our initial arrival."
"Alliance reinforcements," muttered the Arbiter.
"Aye, but reinforcements for what?" asked R'tas, not liking the answer that his mind was straying to. "What is the status of the slipspace drive?" he called.
"Still inoperable, but the Huragok say they are close to finishing repairs," was the answer.
"You sound worried," remarked the Arbiter.
"I am worried," returned the Shipmaster. "This 'Alliance' could just be bolstering their fleet to ensure they overwhelm and destroy us as quickly and completely as possible. As you can see, we are hopelessly outnumbered."
"The figures I met preached peace at the meeting, but the amount of ships they have called is... disconcerting," admitted the Arbiter.
R'tas's mandibles pressed together in a frown. They Shadow of Intent, the UNSC Infinity, and her ten frigate escorts were now officially outnumbered twelve to one hundred and ninety five. The question in R'tas's mind was, if there was a conflict, which side would the Infinity and her crew side with? These new humans, their genetic brethren, or the Sangheili?
"We're being hailed by Admiral Lasky, marked as urgent!"
"Open a channel." R'tas said quickly, eager for more information. There was a pop of static, then the human Admiral's voice resonated throughout the bridge.
"Shipmaster! I've just received a message from Admiral Hackett."
the Arbiter reached out to a newly-flashing panel in front of them. "Look," he said, "It is a data packet."
"Access it." said R'tas.
The Arbiter palmed the hologram, and in a wash of light the ship instrument readouts that had previously filled the half-sphere were replaced by images and specifications of two different kinds of vessels.
"They are ships." stated R'tas after glancing over the data. His experienced eyes ran over the images, and he focused on the larger picture of the two. The ship was a deep, dark black laced with angry red lines, and according the numbers on the side, was two kilometers long. Although, from the head on image R'tas was looking at, it appeared to kilometers was how tall the thing was, not long. The ship had five tendril-like appendages on its 'bottom' and from a second profile picture R'tas could see that the tapered 'head' was flatter than the rest of the vessel.
The ship looked strangely organic, and instantly reminded R'tas of something he had seen before.
"It looks like – " he began.
"The Parasite," finished Thel, growling.
As the Arbiter observed the second vessel of the two, a much smaller, 150 meter one of roughly similar design, R'tas spoke to Admiral Lasky.
"What are these Admiral? Why show us this?"
"The Alliance calls them 'Reapers.' They are a race of Artificial Intelligences of massive size and power."
Thel snorted. Massive? The Intent was more than twice the size of the larger 'Reapers'. "And?"
"Admiral Hackett has received word that an attack on Earth by the Reapers is expected very shortly, that's why they have been pulling fleets back to shore up the defenses. He tells me evacuation procedures on the planet have already started."
"Evacuation?" asked Thel, confused. "Why would they be evacuating? Surely such a large fleet as the one the Alliance has surrounding the planet now would be able to fend off an attack."
"That's uh... that's where the problem lies. From what Hackett's message said, the Reapers outclass almost everything in the Alliance arsenal. It took an entire fleet to bring down just one of the things, and that was with thirty percent losses."
"Brilliant..." muttered R'tas under his breath. "How many attackers is our esteemed Alliance Admiral expecting?"
"He didn't tell me. Whether that was because he didn't know, or other reasons, but I suspect that –"
"Shipmaster!" called a Sangheili from below. "Sensors are picking up two dozen new contacts emerging out of the shadow of this planet's moon!"
"Put them on screen!" ordered R'tas.
The bridge half-sphere flashed, then materialized into a video image of twenty four vessels shooting out from behind the moon, arrayed in a staggered line. R'tas recognized the silhouettes from the data packet Lasky had sent not a minute before. Ten were the larger, two kilometer versions while the other fourteen were the smaller, 150 meter ones.
"It appears we have our answer." said Thel.
"Shipmaster, Admiral Hackett has just contacted me and urged us to form up behind his defensive lines."
"Ha!" laughed R'tas. "You must be unfamiliar with Sangheili tactics Admiral!"
"Ahead full!" the Sangheili roared, "Weapons, get me targeting solutions for our energy projectors and plasma lines! Prepare all Seraph and Phantom squadrons for launch!"
The deck rumbled under R'tas's hooves as the Intent responded to his commands, and he heard Lasky yelling through the comm.
"Shipmaster, What are you doing!"
With a growl, R'tas swiped the hologram that represented the open comm line, closing it.
Thel looked at R'tas, concerned. "Are you sure this is the reasonable decision?"
"No. But I am beyond restless of doing nothing but what is suggested to us by others. Humans for that matter. And if these 'Reapers' are as powerful as the humans say they are, then it will be a good fight."
"We are outnumbered."
"We were outnumbered against the Humans. We were outnumbered against the Jiralhanae, at High Charity, at Earth. We were outnumbered against the Parasite, at the Halo Rings, at the Ark. That has not mattered before, and it will not matter now."
Thel relented and nodded, stepping back as to be out of the way of R'tas in his element.
"Shipmaster! The enemy is launching fighters!" The holo-screen shifted to show a swarm of oval-like objects launched from the underside of the 'Reaper' ships. Hundreds in total.
He paid them no mind. The Shipmaster highlighted the ten two-kilometer vessels with his hand. "Designate targets Parasite One to Parasite Ten. All the rest Parasites Eleven to Twenty-Four. Time to maximum weapons range?"
"Fifteen seconds for our plasma torpedoes! Forward energy projectors are oriented and ready to fire!" called a Sangheili crewman.
R'tas noticed that whereas the Reaper formation had been previously advancing towards the planet, the sudden approach of the Sangheili Assault Carrier seemed to give them pause. They had almost completely halted their forward motion, and looked somewhat... confused. Their indecisiveness will be their downfall, thought R'tas.
"Fire forward energy projectors, target Parasite One and Two!" ordered R'tas.
From the nose of the Shadow of Intent, a great maelstrom of energy gathered at one of the two forward emitters. Then, with a violent flash of light, a pencil-thin line of blue-white burst from the emitter and lanced towards one of the Reaper capital ships.
For all of their millennia of experience in warfare and hyper-advanced technology, the Reapers were not prepared in the slightest for the destruction that was about to rain down on them.
The beam of energy speared into the first Reaper ship, completely bypassing the ship's kinetic barriers, the shielding not designed to effectively counteract such pure energy. The beam impacted just above the five 'tendrils', boiling through layers of armor plating like tissue paper, and with a subtle adjustment to the Intent's orientation the blue-white lance shot upwards, completely vivisecting the Reaper into two neat halves. Thundering red lightning sparked across the surfaces of the dying ship as the two parts slowly drifted apart.
Not a second later, the second bow energy projector fired as well at Parasite Two, much to the same effect. The energy beam pierced through the leftmost side of the flattish head of the Reaper then cut down diagonally, halving it as well. However, this one ended in a much more spectacular manner as the two halves violently exploded in a blast of orange-red and large pieces of shrapnel ricocheted off of the kinetic barriers of a the three Reapers in closest proximity to the explosion. As the AIs came to realize just how much of a threat the Shadow of Intent really was they started quickly accelerating towards it, tendrils open, with their 'mouths' facing the carrier.
"Parasite One and Two destroyed. Shipmaster, plasma lines are hot. Targets?"
It worked out rather well, as the Intent had eight heavy plasma lines, four on the starboard side, four on the port side, and there were eight of the larger Reaper ships left. Normally, R'tas would have assigned two plasma torpedoes per ship, but the Reapers were closing fast and judging by the effectiveness of his energy projectors, he hoped the plasma torpedoes would inflict enough damage to at least disable them.
"Targets are Parasites Three through Ten, one plasma torpedo each. Fire."
Four points on each side of the Sangheili Assault Carrier glowed red hot, then eight boiling purple red lines branched out from the Intent and curved towards their targets.
The Reapers were smarter this time, each ship spiraling into evasive maneuvers as the plasma torpedoes closed the distance. If they had been linear mass accelerator rounds, the Reapers maneuvers would most likely have worked. However, the unique tracking properties of the plasma torpedoes given by the advanced magnetic shaping fields of the Intent's new heavy plasma lines insured that every torpedo stayed on target.
The plasma salvo crashed against the Reaper ships like a tidal wave of destruction. The first torpedo to hit knifed through the Reaper's kinetic barrier like it wasn't even there, then proceeded to boil a jagged hole right through the center of the monstrosity's central armor plating, all the way out the other end before dissipating in a cloud of electrical steam. The Reaper brought its five tendrils together in an instinctive measure of protection as it died, red lighting pathetically flickering out of existence.
The rest of the salvo hit with just as devastating an effect. Plasma boiled away great swaths of armor plating, melting inwards and vaporizing critical internal systems. Three torpedoes burrowed their way to the Reaper's Element Zero cores, resulting in the capital ships bursting from the inside-out, consumed by the superheated, unstable dark matter explosions.
Two other torpedoes impacted with similar results as the first, coring gaping holes all the way through their Reaper targets, 'killing' them. The last two torpedoes did not deal killing blows however, with one only severing one Reapers tendrils, the other just making a glancing blow due to a last-second maneuver.
Still, that was six Reapers disabled with eight shots, not bad in R'tas's opinion. He was about to order the Intent to flip up so her 'belly' was facing the Reapers, bringing her two ventral energy projectors to bear when all of a sudden, the tendril-less Reaper exploded as a blue-white energy lance pierced its element zero core. Immediately after, another beam cut horizontally through the last Reaper capital ship, continuing the path started by the glancing plasma torpedo.
"Shipmaster!" called a Sangheili from below, "The Infinity is moving alongside us, five hundred kilometers starboard and astern.
"Honored they have decided to join us..." muttered Thel under his breath. He allowed himself to relax a little, as the most prevalent threats, the ten two-kilometer Reapers, had all been eliminated, leaving only the fourteen other smaller ships.
Now lacking the leadership of their larger counterparts, the remaining Reaper Destroyers grouped together once again and decided on a singular course of action: a head-on charge.
This time however, it would be the UNSC vessels who would showcase their own destructive abilities as the majority of the Intent's own arsenal recharged.
Coordinated by Roland, each Strident heavy frigate picked a separate target, then as once fired a ten-round salvo of MAC rounds, the 800 ton slugs hurtling towards the advancing Reapers like streaks of yellow lighting. The Reapers didn't stand a chance as the rounds smashed into their formation, the massive kinetic force instantly overwhelming their barriers and shattering the smaller ships to pieces. Nine Destroyers were outright obliterated, the one that survived only doing so as it was forced out of the way of its MAC round by the explosion of an adjacent Destroyer.
What happened next could only be described as overkill, as the Series-8 was considered the second most powerful Magnetic Accelerator Cannon in the UNSC arsenal, behind only the main gun on an Orbital Defense Platform. The Infinity fired its four Series-8 Heavy MACs in rapid succession, each one aimed at a different Destroyer, sending four 1500 ton ultra-dense depleted uranium rounds racing towards the Reaper ships at 60,000 meters per second.
When the MAC rounds hit the four Destroyers literally vanished, the unimaginable kinetic force of the heavy slugs completely vaporizing the tiny ships, leaving nothing but violently swirling dust clouds.
That left only one last Destroyer, who had now recovered from its buffeting and was rocketing towards the Shadow of Intent, head-on.
"Energy projectors?" asked R'tas.
"Still recharging." answered a crewman.
R'tas's mandibles parted in a grin as he got an idea. "Divert power to the bow shields. Engines, ahead full."
"Shipmaster, it appears that Parasite Twelve is charging its weapon. Enemy fighters are closing."
R'tas glanced to the video display, and found that his crewman was indeed correct. Four pieces of armored plating just above the Destroyers four tendrils had retracted to reveal a single point that was now swirling with angry, electric red.
"Laser batteries, engage the enemy fighters. Flight-Ops…coordinate with our new human Allies and release our fighters to engage their enemy counterparts. Stay on course!" barked R'tas as he watched the storm continue to grow in the maw of the Reaper. A hologram in the corner of his eye counted down the distance between the two ships. Five thousand kilometers... Four thousand kilometers...
At three thousand kilometers the Destroyer fired, a beam of burning, pulsating red spearing towards the Intent. The Reaper blast had no effect though, as the Assault Carrier's gleaming silver energy shield materialized upon impact, and the red beam to splashed harmlessly against it before dissipating just as dozens of purple lasers lashed out from the intent and swatted its fighter screen from existence.
"Shield strength?" asked R'tas.
"98 percent and rising."
The Sangheili Shipmaster simply crossed his arms as the distance counter ticked rapidly lower. They were only one thousand kilometers away now, far too short a distance for the Reaper to escape...
R'tas didn't even feel a shudder under his hooves as the Shadow of Intent plowed bow-first into the Reaper Destroyer, completely and utterly pulverizing it. He heard footfalls as the Arbiter came up beside him.
"Well done," complimented his friend.
R'tas waved a four-fingered hand in dismissal. "These 'Reapers' are weak. Even weaker than the first Human ships we first faced so many years ago. Give me a real enemy, a real challenge, and then you can give your compliments."
Suddenly, alarms started blaring and holgrams began flashing red, and as R'tas looked to his sensor data to find out what exactly was happening, he found that they just may be presented with a real challenge after all...
SSV Kilimanjaro
Earth
The bridge was deathly silent, not a soul even dared so much as move. Even the consoles had subsided their clicks and beeps, and the quite hum of the eezo core was nowhere to be found.
Hackett's mouth was agape, his eyes wide as dinner plates. In all of his years in the Alliance, his decades of experience, his mind had never, ever just come to a complete halt like it had now.
Twenty-Four Reapers. Ten capital ships. Fourteen Destroyers. So thoroughly annihilated it looked like childs play. It had taken the entire Fifth fleet to destroy just one Sovereign-class Reaper, and that was with multiple salvos and over thirty percent casualties. Granted most of those casualties had been due to the Geth fleet, but still Sovereign had taken his pound of flesh. However, it had taken the UNSC and Separatist Sangheili super-dreadnoughts only a single shot to accomplish the same thing.
"Admiral..." said a sensor operator quitely.
"What"
"Sensors are returning more Reaper contacts emerging from the Charon Relay."
Hackett paled. "How many."
"Hundreds sir."
He blinked. "How many. Exactly."
"Five – Five hundred and thirty two." the lieutenant stammered out.
"Admiral, we can't hold against those kinds of numbers," said Captain Jilian dejectedly.
"You're right, we can't. But we're going to damn well try. Contact Admiral Lasky and get his forces back to our defensive line, they'll be overwhelmed if they stay that far out in the open. Make sure Alliance Headquarters knows our situation, and get them to kick the evacuation into overdrive. Tell them we'll buy as much time as we can."
The bridge exploded into action, prodded by their commanding officer. Almost as an afterthought he added, "Get Shepard and the Normandy orbit-bound ASAP, I don't care whether the refits are complete or not. Tell the Commander he will be assisting in evacuating the Martian Prothean Archives."
As crewmen all around him started urgently working at their stations or speaking into omni-tools, Hackett whispered so quiet that even he could barely hear it, "And God help us all."
Special thanks to my beta JonHarper