I'm not late. When I said "next week-ish," that could easily be interpreted as two and a half weeks.
...Yeah...
...
1034 Hours, March 6th, 2683
The Registry, Beneath the Surface of Eletania
Hercules System, Attican Beta Cluster
...
Ashley knocked on the door once it was closed. "Sealed up tight. We're good." she reported.
Chief nodded at Ashley in acknowledgement. Since the Key was the only way in here, the Spartan wouldn't have to worry about enemies pursuing the squad in here. He looked down the corridor. One hundred and twenty feet ahead of them was another door. "Move out." he said.
The metal walls, floor and ceiling of this corridor were white, standing in stark contrast with the soothing grey-blue of most Forerunner ruins the Chief had visited. "So this is the Registry, huh?" Wrex asked as the squad marched on. "I'm not impressed."
"I think this is just an entrance hall. The true Registry is likely deeper in." Liara speculated.
"The Forerunners sure did like long, arduous hallways, didn't they?" Garrus asked.
"You have no idea." Chief absently remarked in reply. "Stay alert." he added over TEAMCOM. "I don't trust Guardian."
"Why not?" Liara asked.
"Last time I trusted a Forerunner AI, it didn't end well." Chief replied.
"Well, he said he was a lesser AI." Tali pointed out. "Sounds more like a kind of VI rather than a true AI."
"Maybe. In any case, stay alert. That's an order." Chief finished as he cut the TEAMCOM signal.
The squad finally arrived at the door. It was a glass door that lead into a room with another glass door. Beyond that door, they could see the corridor continuing on, this time with windows on the side.
"Please proceed into the decontamination chamber." the Guardian's voice said as the glass door opened of its own accord. The squad cautiously stepped inside. The door closed behind them. Tiny jets then began spraying mist on the team.
"Fascinating." Cortana commented. "We're being scrubbed by some kind of molecular soap. 99.8% of all germs are being deconstructed on the molecular level."
"Is it dangerous?" Chief asked.
"No, so relax. Guardian isn't trying to kill you." Cortana reassured her Spartan. "He's just making you squeaky clean."
Chief still kept a tight grip on his shotgun. Twice before he trusted a monitor, and twice before it tried to stab him in the back. Even though Guardian wasn't as smart as Spark was, the Chief was still wary of him. He didn't want to get betrayed a third time.
After a few more minutes, the door to the other hallway opened, and the newly decontaminated squad continued on. For about half a dozen meters, this hallway seemed much the same as the last one. Then, they started passing by windows. They took quick looks outside them, seeing miniature forests out some windows and miniature deserts out others.
"These look like enclosures. Like you'd see in a zoo." Kaidan commented.
"No animals, though." Ashley remarked.
"...Keelah." Tali silently breathed as she ran ahead.
"Tali!" Chief said as he took off after her. Tali stopped in front of one the windows. It looked out on a desert enclosure, with a pond of fresh drinking water in the middle and a large tree that bore red, bulbous fruit from its branches.
"Mind telling me what that was about?" Chief asked. He didn't like how Tali just ran ahead of him like that. She could have triggered a security protocol.
She pointed at the tree in the enclosure. "That's a looshin tree." she began, her voice sounding incredulous. "There are only two places in the galaxy where looshin trees grow; the liveships in the Migrant Fleet, and the Quarian homeworld. What's it doing here?"
"Chief." Kaidan said. The Spartan turned towards the biotic, who was standing at the end of a corridor in the middle of a T-fork. He pointed down the right corridor. The Master Chief walked up to him and followed his finger. At the end of the right corridor was another glass door. The Chief could see another room through it; a room that looked noticeably different from the hallway.
Chief motioned for the squad to follow him as he made his way towards the room. The glass door lead to another decontamination chamber. After a few minutes of receiving a mist shower, they entered the room.
The chamber was massive, the ceiling reaching a hundred feet high, with rows and rows of golden slits of light along the walls. There was a terminal sitting against the wall every eight feet or so. There were several other corridors connected to this chamber, all having the same golden slits of light along their walls as well.
"It's a library." Liara concluded after taking a look around. "That's what the Registry is. A vast databank of lost knowledge."
"A keen observation, Eta-585." Guardian's voice said. The squad looked up to see another ceiling-mounted monitor casting its gaze upon them. The monitor then detached from its contraption and floated down to the squad. The floating ball, still about twice the size of 343 Guilty Spark came to a stop just a few feet above them.
"Er...I beg your pardon but, what did you call me?" Liara asked.
"Eta-585 was the designation my creators gave to your species." Guardian pointed out to Liara as he orbited around the Asari. "I'm detecting high amounts of star fire in your nervous system. You have great strength of mind."
"Um...thanks?" She replied. He moved to orbiting around Garrus next.
"Delta-702. A very fine specimen of the species."
"Thank you." Garrus replied, deciding to take it as a compliment. "I've been working out."
The Guardian moved towards Wrex next. "Delta-1404. You too have star fire in your nervous system. But I am also detecting extreme genetic augmentation. You seem to be suffering from a sterility issue. You should see a medical professional or you may not be able to breed."
Wrex growled as the monitor unwittingly struck a nerve. The monitor then floated in front of Tali. "Beta-819. You have an alarmingly weak immune system, even by your species' standards. Are you well?"
"I'm fine." Tali replied. "It's...what the suit's for."
The monitor then floated towards N'tho. "Gamma-468. Much like Delta-702, you seem to be in excellent physical condition."
"...Holy wort." N'tho breathed as the monitor observed. "I...thank you, oracle."
"And three Reclaimers." Guardian said as he turned to Ashley, Kaidan and the Master Chief. "One of which also has star fire."
"I think that'd be me." Kaidan said as he raised his hand. He turned to the Spartan. "'Star fire' must be the Forerunner term for biotics."
"It would please the Librarian, seeing that you all have advanced and prospered after she worked so hard to save you." Guardian told the squad. He turned to the Master Chief especially. "It would also please her to see the Reclaimers cooperating with the other races. So far, you appear to be living up to the Mantle bestowed upon you."
"The Librarian?" Chief asked. "You know of her?"
"The Librarian was in charge of this facility." Guardian explained. "Its purpose, in addition to studying the Flood, was to study, document and index all Tier 7 species in the galaxy. Specifically, the Librarian subjected each species to intense evaluation see if they truly qualified as being sentient, and thus warranted a place on the Ark. This database, the Registry, contains her records."
Chief knew who the Librarian was. During the Battle of the Ark way back in 2552, a Forerunner AI named Mendicant Bias contacted the Master Chief while he was looking through a Forerunner terminal he found in a small cave. Mendicant Bias simply introduced himself as an AI willing to help the Chief defeat the Covenant, and then cut the feed without another word. Chief didn't hear any more word from Mendicant until after the UNSC-Separatist alliance secured the Ark's Cartographer. During the time spent getting ready for the final assault on the Ark's Control Room, the Citadel, Mendicant contacted the Chief again and told him everything. Of the Forerunner-Flood war, of how the AI betrayed the Forerunners to the Flood, and of the tragic love story of the Librarian and the Didact.
The Didact was the Forerunners' military leader and was ultimately the one who personally activated the Halo array. The Librarian, who was the Didact's lover, had taken up the task of making sure that every indexed sentient species made it onto the Ark safely before Halo fired. According to Mendicant Bias, the Didact pleaded to the Librarian, all but begging her to drop what she was doing and head to a shield world where she'd be safe. The Librarian refused though, determined to complete her mission.
Just as she herded the last of the sentient races through the Voi portal, landing them all safely on the Ark, the Flood began attacking the rings. Even though the Forerunners were in danger of losing the rings to the Flood, the Didact didn't want to fire Halo until he was absolutely sure that the Librarian was safe inside a shield world. But in the time it would take for the Librarian to get herself off Earth and safely into the closest shield world, the Flood would likely have already destroyed one or more of the rings, screwing up the entire plan.
And the Librarian knew it.
She destroyed her ship, the only thing that could get her off the planet, eliminating even the most remote chance that she might survive, in order to convince the Didact to fire Halo before it was too late. She sacrificed herself so that every other sentient species in the galaxy could have a future.
This place must've been where the Librarian rounded up and studied all the sentient species in the galaxy before taking them all to Earth and sending them through the portal.
"This...'Librarian' studied us?" Tali asked. "So...that one enclosure...with the looshin tree..."
"That was the Beta-819 enclosure." Guardian elaborated. "Each enclosure is designed to resemble its resident species' homeworld, including the presence of native fauna, in order to provide a familiar and comfortable environment for the resident species, minimizing stress while under evaluation."
"So a hundred thousand years ago, the Librarian kidnapped our ancestors and studied them here. Why?" Garrus asked. N'tho snarled as he punched Garrus in the gut.
"Hey!" Chief shouted.
"The Librarian didn't kidnap us, she saved us!" N'tho roared at the Turian. "Show a little respect!" Wrex laughed at that.
"N'tho! Lock it down!" Chief shouted at the Sangheili. The elite growled as he took a few steps away from Garrus, who was still coughing from the punch. The Spartan shook his head and turned back to Guardian.
"This is all very interesting, but we have a situation on our hands here." Chief began. "A Turian named Saren has been trying to get in here. Any idea why?"
"To gain knowledge, most likely." Guardian replied.
"To gain what knowledge, specifically?" Chief specified.
"I can not answer that, as I do not know the intentions of this 'Saren.'" Guardian said.
"Saren's intention is to destroy Humanity. How's that?" Chief replied, growing increasingly impatient.
"If that is indeed Saren's goal, it is doubtful that they will find anything in the Registry to help them." Guardian calmly pointed out.
"Perhaps Guardian is right." Liara suggested. "Perhaps there really isn't anything in here that would interest Saren, but Saren doesn't know that."
Chief paused and looked around the Registry. The chamber was massive, shelves upon shelves and walls upon walls of information. There had to be something that Saren wanted in here, regardless of what Guardian thinks. In fact, there probably was something in here that Saren wanted, and Guardian just failed to mention it, thinking it wasn't important. It wouldn't be the first time a Monitor failed to mention a key detail.
"Spread out." Chief ordered. "I want every file examined. If it looks like something Saren would want, report it in."
"That could take a while, Chief." Kaidan pointed out. "This place is huge."
"You have your orders." Chief sternly said before walking away from Guardian and down one of the Registry's corridors.
"I shall grant Eta-585, Delta-702, Delta-1404, Beta-819, and Gamma-468 temporary Reclaimer status to allow them greater ease of use and access to the Registry's catalogues." Guardian said as he floated back up to his carriage. "Should any of you require further assistance, feel free to ask."
...
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Nianna said as the squad of Asari Commandoes continued down the hall.
"Relax." Teyri said. "Krogan probably got into another 'whose clan is best' argument and decided to use bullets to make their points."
The previous day, all contact was lost with Gatatog Gark and the rest of the Feros Invasion force. Uncomfortable with the notion that a large army so nearby had gone completely dark, Saren decided to step up security around the whole facility. Now, there were twice as many soldiers patrolling the halls of this ancient place than usual.
Teyri and her team of eight were dispatched to this Flood containment facility, where there was a door that Saren believed would lead him to the Registry. He had previously assigned a band of Krogan warriors the task of opening the door, but contact with them was lost about half an hour ago. Fearing a security breach, Saren ordered a unit of Asari Commandos be sent in to investigate. And, lucky Teyri, she and her girls got picked for the job.
"I'm with Nianna." Xeltine said as the group passed by another window looking out on a Flood enclosure. "This place gives me the creeps."
"Yeah. Those Flood things keep looking at us like they want to eat us." Elteera added.
"That's because they do want to eat us." Teyri replied as she rolled her eyes. "Now everyone stop complaining. We've got a job to do."
The team arrived in the room where the big door was supposed to be. The first sign of trouble they saw was the shattered stasis tube. With a hand signal, Teyri warned her team to stay on high alert. The Asari Commandos immediately raised their weapons, aiming down the sights as they cautiously stepped into the chamber.
They ascended the raised balcony and found themselves in front of the door. Teyri cursed as she took in the carnage. Seven dead Krogan and a dead Flood tank form. The parasite must've broken out of its prison somehow and killed the Krogan warriors before succumbing to its own wounds.
"Xeltine. Make sure that thing's dead." Teyri ordered as she pointed at the tank form. "Everyone else, check the Krogan bodies. Maybe one or two are still breathing."
Nianna knelt down in front of a dead Krogan and inspected the corpse. "Bullet wounds." she reported. "Don't think the tank form did this."
"Maybe it was friendly fire?" Mellina, the new girl on the team, suggested. "Like they were panicking when the Flood thing was attacking them and they ended up hitting each other as much as the Flood."
"Doubt it. These two bodies are full of bullet holes too." Trixina reported. "Not even a Krogan's aim is that bad."
Teyri cursed again under her breath. Trixina was right. She walked up to a Krogan corpse and found a bullet hole right in its head. Only a high caliber sniper round could pierce a Krogan's head crest. It was Saren's worst fear. A security breach. Maybe even by him.
The Master Chief.
Teyri shuttered at the thought. She heard a lot about the Master Chief. His strength, his speed, his intelligence. Ever since Eden Prime, he's made it his mission in life to fuck up Saren's plans. Defuse the nukes on Eden Prime, beat Saren to that Prothean achaeologist, and possibly destroy the Feros invasion force. She doubted they lost contact with that army just because of a communications failure.
He was a freak of nature. A mistake of the universal consciousness. And now, there was a very real possibility that he was here. It was not a pleasant notion.
"We've got a security breach." Teyri said. "I'll report it in. Meantime, you girls set up a perimeter. I don't want anything else getting in-"
"Er, Teyri?" Xeltine said as she slowly backed away from the tank form, her pistol pointed at it. "It's...doing something."
Protruding from the tank form's back was a bulbous, twitching flesh sack of some sort. It slowly got bigger as it twitched and pulsated more and more. "What's it doing?" Mellina asked, starting to lose her calm.
"Something that warrants getting shot. Light it up." Teyri ordered as she raised her assault rifle and fired at the bulbous sack, her sisters in battle doing the same. The sack exploded.
Tossing several dozen...things...into the air.
One of them landed right on top of Mellina's head, who screeched as the little creature began scurrying around her. "Get it off! Get it off! Get it o-"
Mellina's screeches were cut short as the Flood infection form found her spine and burrowed in. She fell to her hands and knees as her body began to mutate, sickening cracks and crunches pierced the air as tentacles began sprouting from her shoulders.
The other Commandos would be shooting her if they weren't so busy trying to fight off the other infection forms themselves. Teyri exhausted her assault rifle trying to kill the nasty little things, using her biotics to keep the parasites at bay when her rifle overheated. An infection form lunged at her face and landed before she could swat the creature away.
It used its tentacles to pry her mouth open and slip inside. Having no bones, it was able to squeeze into her mouth and slide down her throat. Tears ran down Teyri's eyes as the taste of rotting flesh slid past her tastebuds. She vomited, but only dribbles of bile dripped out the corners of her mouth; the infection form still in her throat was blocking most of it. She felt the creature hit her stomach like an anvil.
She screamed and fell to her hands and knees as her nerves were suddenly overwhelmed with pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her sisters in battle suffering similar fates, their screams of horror ringing in her ears. She also caught of glimpse of infection forms burrowing into the Krogan corpses, which then began to twitch and mutate into something else.
Teyri looked at her hands and noticed that they were no longer a light shade of blue, the color of Thessia's sky. They were snot green now. She felt something large come back up her throat. It wasn't bile. It was something more solid. She felt her lower jaw completely split open into three different pieces.
And then, perhaps mercifully, everything went dark.
...
Tali walked down the Registry hall, observing each slit of golden light along the silver-chrome walls. She wondered if each slit housed a disc, each disc carrying a unique piece of information. It reminded her of the archive ships of the Migrant Fleet. Those ships carried with them the entire history of her people. Well...at least what the Quarians could get before the Geth drove them all off the Homeworld. According to the stories her father told her, there wasn't enough time to grab every single data disc from the original archives before the Geth could deliver the final blow. As a consequence, much of that knowledge had been lost to the Quarian race.
The squad had been searching the Registry for about twenty minutes now. Liara ended up being right. This place really was a library and an incredibly massive one at that. Tali could easily imagine spending hours in the Registry and still not find...whatever it was the Chief wanted her and the rest of the squad to find. Even the Chief himself didn't know what they were looking for; just that it was very important to Saren, presumably something he could use as a weapon. Earlier, Tali had asked over TEAMCOM how would they even know if they found whatever it is they were looking for.
'You'll know it when you see it.' the Chief simply replied.
Something had been bothering the Chief since this mission began. Something had gotten into his suit. It might have been Garrus's insubordination, but that was a couple of hours ago. It had to be something else, but what? It was hard to tell. It was always hard to tell with that Human. His voice was always flat and his body language was so subtle that Tali could barely pick up on it. She had tried asking the other Humans about him, but aside from his heroic exploits, they knew little more about him than she did.
It sometimes unnerved her, just how little she knew about the Master Chief. Back on the Rayya, she knew nearly everything about nearly everyone, and they knew nearly everything about her in turn. After a while, the Normandy ended up being little different, empty as it felt. In time, she became very friendly with the rest of the engineering team as well as Ashley. But the Chief? Even after nearly two weeks on the Normandy, Tali still knew next to nothing about him.
Even more curious was the Chief's insistence in wearing his suit at all times, even on the ship where there was no one shooting at him. She simply couldn't wrap her head around that. He was Human. His immune system was fine. Hell, it was probably better than most Humans', being a biologically augmented super-soldier and all. He could step out of his suit any time he wanted. Tali would do anything to be able to do that. So why didn't the Chief?
Tali shook her head. She was getting side-tracked by her own thoughts. She needed to focus. She still had a job to do. She walked up to a nearby Forerunner terminal and accessed it. It was an odd device. A large sphere with blue and gold streaks of light and a camera-like lens in the middle, faintly resembling a VI drone, it floated in a hollowed out part of a column. The lense served as a screen with an easy-to-understand touchscreen interface. She hoped this terminal would yield something useful. The last one held a complete biological catalogue of every organic life form from some planet whose name Tali couldn't pronounce.
The Quarian sighed as this terminal looked to be similar. Before her was a list of terms that meant nothing to her. She continued scrolling down the screen in the vain hopes of maybe finding something interesting, but all she saw was more meaningless terms and phrases. Beta-818, Beta-819, Beta-820...
Wait. Beta-819. That was the designation the Forerunners gave to the Quarians. Tali immediately scrolled back up the screen and touched the phrase 'Beta-819,' which opened an entirely different menu of audio logs, video logs, and research notes. It was an entire database on her people. She opened an audio log.
"Librarian. We seem to have a problem."a male voice said. "The Beta-819's are sick. Again."
"Fret not, Keeper."a female voice, presumably the Librarian, replied. "This was not unexpected. Beta-819's immune systems work differently from other species. Rather than combat contagions, they adapt to them. All large fauna on Life World-5733 have that feature. In time, they'll adapt."
"...Perhaps we should leave them behind." Keeper suggested after a pause.
"No. Out of the question." the Librarian indignantly replied. "Beta-819 is one of the most intelligent species we have catalogued. I've projected that they'll easily reach Tier 3 within fifteen thousand cycles."
"But you're talking about putting them onto an installation with hundreds of other races." Keeper argued. "I don't think their immune systems can handle that. The Flood won't kill them on the Ark, but a sneeze from one of their neighbors might."
"Then we need to make sure that doesn't happen." The Librarian concluded. "I want a complete list of any and all forms of bacterial life that will be on the Ark. Additionally, sector three-two-dash-seven of Installation 00 will be reserved only for them. The Sentinels will be instructed to monitor their life-signs at all times and will keep any neighboring races from accidentally infecting them with a plague." For a moment, Tali heard only silence. "...Each one of these souls is finite and precious, Keeper. And I'm close. Close to saving them all."
The audio log ended on that final statement from the Librarian. Tali didn't know how to feel about this. On the one hand, she was grateful to the Librarian for saving her ancient ancestors from the Flood. On the other hand, the Librarian abducted Tali's ancestors from the Homeworld and studied them like rodents in a lab. Granted, the Quarians were very primitive a hundred thousand years ago, but they were still sentient beings worthy of dignity.
It was then that Tali realized something. In order to abduct her ancestors from the Homeworld, the Forerunners had to have gone to the Homeworld. Tali scrolled down the screen. When she finally found the file she was looking for, her heart skipped a beat.
Life World-5733.
The Homeworld.
Tali held her breath as she opened the file.
It was a text journal, detailing the Librarian's visit to the Quarian homeworld. One of her aides wouldn't stop complaining about the heat. The Librarian found the hoods worn by ancient Quarians to shield their heads from the sun fascinating, believing it was a precursor to fashionable clothing, which was a common feature of what she called a 'Tier 6' civilization. Apparently, the Forerunners used some sort of tier system to label how advanced a given species was.
Tali then saw something she thought she'd never see outside of the archive ships in the migrant fleet. A photograph of her homeworld. The sun was setting over a prairie. A gasto was flying overhead. A massive balooch was eating looshins from the top most branches of a looshin tree. Finally, just a little to the left on the ground, was a small band of Quarian nomads. Three of them were in the middle of erecting a tent made from sticks and animal hide. One was trying to start a fire before the cold night set in. Two children were playing with sticks. They all had uncovered heads.
Tali sighed as she closed the file and then the entire section on her people. The Librarian seemed to think so highly of the Quarians back then. She thought they had the potential to be a very advanced race if given the opportunity.
If the Librarian was alive today and saw the Quarian race now, she'd be disappointed. Tali wasn't looking for a Forerunner's approval like N'tho was, but that didn't make the fact taste any less bitter. She walked towards another terminal, suddenly wanting to take her mind off the subject.
After poking around in the next terminal's data files, she found that she was no longer looking at biological catalogues, having apparently walked out of that part of the Registry. What she was looking at now seemed oddly more familiar. Grav-lift engines, coolant systems, lesser AI operative systems.
It was then that Tali realized that she had stumbled upon a ship database. A crazy idea suddenly formed in her mind as she began opening and examining file after file. After a few minutes, she finally found what she was looking for.
Schematics for a slipspace engine. It felt as though an invisible force was tickling her tummy as her heart suddenly swelled with joy. She even giggled a bit with excitement. This was the perfect gift for her pilgrimage.
Not long after their brief war with the Turians, the Quarian Flotilla approached the Human Alliance, Sangheili Empire, Kig-Yar Confederacy and the Yanme'e Hives, wishing to negotiate a deal to acquire slipspace technology. A system of travel that was projected to be nearly twice as fast as eezo-based FTL? It could finally have been the lucky break the Quarians had been longing for.
Unfortunately, those governments had enough problems negotiating the legality of slipspace drives with the Citadel Council. They didn't want to jeopardize those talks by brokering deals with a universally hated race of vagrants. Lot of good refusing the Quarians did for them, though. After the Pheiros incident, the Turians were so furious that they threatened war with the 314 races if slipspace wasn't illegalized, which ended all talk of slipspace legalization in the near future, as well as ending any chance the Quarians had at getting slipspace technology themselves.
Until now. Yes, slipspace was still illegal in Council Space, but after they denied the Quarians the right to settle even temporarily on an unoccupied garden world within Citadel territory, Tali didn't much care what the Council thought. The Flotilla spent most of their time outside Council Space anyway.
The schematics were complicated though. Tali had never seen an engine this advanced. It gave the Quarian a mild headache simply trying to understand the seemingly endless stream of equations listed. It would likely take years, or even decades of research and resource acquisition before the Quarians would have their own functional slipspace drive, but in the end, it would be worth it. Ancestors among the stars be willing, it might even give her people the edge they need over the Geth and finally retake the Homeworld.
She took an OSD out of one of her pockets and slid it into the terminal, downloading the engine schematic. In just a few minutes, life on the Flotilla would change forever.
...
"Their greatest strength is their sense of unity." the Librarian said. "Thanks to their strong social bonds, hunting parties are able to take down big game with an almost military-like precision and efficiency."
"That's what worries me." Keeper argued. "They are mostly carnivorous, they are openly hostile to other tribes, and whenever they discover something new their first reaction is to throw a spear at it. They have all the makings of a hyper-aggressive military race."
"We can not predict the future, Keeper." The Librarian countered."We don't know for certain who among these souls will go on to do good and who will go on to do ill. They must all be given a chance to prosper. They deserve at least that much."
Garrus grumbled at that last audio entry regarding the Turians. Yes, they were a militaristic race, but they were more interested in keeping the peace than starting wars, unlike the Krogan. Indeed, Garrus's people ended up being the complete opposite of what the Keeper feared ancient Turians would become. The Turians saved the galaxy from the Krogan, safeguarded Council worlds from Terminus pirates, and founded Citadel Security, the finest police force in all the galaxy.
Garrus wished this 'Keeper' was alive today, so he could take all of his people's accomplishments and rub them in that Forerunner's smug prick face.
"Hey Garrus."
The Turian jumped a bit at the disembodied female voice suddenly greeting him. He looked around to make sure no one was within earshot before replying. "At least warn a guy before you do that."
"Sorry." Cortana apologized. "Master Chief hasn't found anything interesting yet. Anything on your end?"
"Well, I've been learning some interesting facts about my people." Garrus replied. "For instance, this 'Keeper' guy thought ancient Turians were a bunch of savages and would evolve into an empire of space savages."
"Yeah. I've been poking through the Librarian's research notes as well." Cortana said. "Looks like Keeper was her right hand man."
"He was also a prick." Garrus said.
"That too." Cortana quipped. "That said, it sounds like you're indulging your curiosity more than looking for anything mission-relevant. You really should stay more on task. You're in enough hot water after giving the Chief some lip back on the Normandy."
"I know." Garrus replied. "But we can't risk Saren getting away after all he's done, especially now that we're so close. I had to say something."
"...You know, in a few ways, you actually remind me of John." Cortana said with a warm, friendly voice. "You're a man of principals and conviction. So is he." The AI sighed. "Now if only he could see that."
"...Well, you and Chief keep looking. I'll search some other spot. Vakarian out." Garrus said as he cut the COM. He was about to walk down another corridor when he saw Liara and N'tho approaching him. "You two find anything yet?" Garrus asked as he walked over to them.
"Nothing related to the mission." Liara admitted. "But I did study the Librarian's research on ancient Asari. Our intellect and eezo-resistance were well-noted but, strangely, there was no mention of our natural biotic talent."
"Really?" Garrus asked. "Weird. That's one of the Asari's hallmarks."
"Indeed. This discovery implies that our latent biotics are actually a very recent development in our physiological evolution, within the last eighty thousand years or so if I had to guess." Liara speculated. She put her knuckle to her chin in contemplation. "I should forward this information to paleontologists back on Thessia and see what they think. This discovery could have a significant impact on current theories regarding Asari evolution."
Garrus nodded at the Asari, who now looked to be lost in thought, and turned to the Sangheili. "So, what did you find out about your people's past, N'tho?"
"So far, nothing." N'tho grunted in annoyance. "I've been searching this place high and low for data on ancient Sangheili, but I haven't found anything."
"Well, we really should be looking for something mission-relevant instead of indulging our curiosities." Garrus said, remembering Cortana's advice. "Maybe you should give up for now."
"No way." N'tho replied, seemingly on reflex. "This is where the Librarian herself studied my race. Anything and everything she said about the Sangheili is theologically significant to us in ways you wouldn't get. I have to find the Sangheili files."
"Tell you what. I just finished inspecting the Librarian's research on ancient Turians in the terminal over there." Garrus said as he pointed a thumb at the terminal in question behind him. "Maybe you'll find what you're looking for in there. Meantime, Liara and I will head down the other way and comb through those terminals."
"Don't bother." N'tho said as he shook his head. "Me and Liara already combed through them. Nadda."
Liara sighed as she looked at the ceiling. "This place is enormous. It's a miracle we found as much as we did. What makes the Master Chief so certain we'll find something that leads to the Conduit?"
"Because Saren seems pretty sure and, apparently, that's good enough for Chief." N'tho replied.
"We just need to keep looking." Garrus said resolutely. "I agree with Chief. There has to be something in here. And we need to find it fast. Saren's still out there, and I doubt he's just sitting around on his ass."
...
Saren Arterious sat on top of a crate in the middle of the Grand Hall, twirling a pistol around in his talons. He ground his mandibles in annoyance.
It's been well over twenty-four hours since Saren last received a report from Gatatog Gark. Last he heard, the Master Chief had landed on Feros and foiled an attack on Zhu's Hope. After that, there was nothing. No good news. No bad news. Feros completely went dark.
The Master Chief must have attacked the ExoGeni building and somehow shut down FTL communications. Hopefully Gark's forces had already taken care of that bothersome little Human by now and were working on getting communications back up. Nevertheless, Saren felt the need to step up security on Eletania as a precaution. The worst case scenario, unlikely though it was, could be that the Chief had defeated the Feros invasion force, somehow found out that Saren was here, and would soon be coming for him.
That is, if he wasn't here already. The Krogan warriors Saren sent to open the door to the Registry hadn't reported in for nearly an hour now. He sent a team of Asari Commandos to investigate. They hadn't reported in for nearly twenty minutes. The former Spectre had half a mind to head in there himself to see what the hell was going on.
And if it was indeed the worst case scenario, the Master Chief infiltrating the facility, then it looked like Saren's problems had only just begun.
A band of Krogan warriors approached him, this time lead by a Krogan Battlemaster; a biotic. "You called for us, Lord Saren?" the Battlemaster asked.
"Teyri and her team haven't reported back yet." Saren said. "We can now safely conclude that we have intruders. Go to the Registry entrance and deal with them."
"Your will be done." the Battlemaster said with a bow. He then lead his team of a dozen fellow Krogan down a corridor. Saren watched the pack of Krogan trot off before turning to a Geth prime that had walked up to him.
"I'm starting to think this whole operation may be compromised." Saren told the towering synthetic. "Position the bomb. Be ready to arm it on my word."
The Geth nodded its head before marching off down a different corridor. Saren continued to idly twirl the pistol. Unfortunately, it was looking less likely with each passing minute that he would access the Registry.
And if he couldn't access it, no one could.
...
Chief downloaded the schematics to a Forerunner weapon he found in the terminal on Cortana's suggestion. According to the AI, the Forerunner weapon used a form of hard light as ammunition. They didn't know if Saren's forces had the ability to mass-produce their own firearms, but if they did, weapon schematics like this would make a tempting prize. One that needed to be kept out of Saren's hands.
This is what the Chief and Cortana have been doing for nearly an hour now. Weapon designs, star charts, planet indexes, anything that could even be theoretically used by Saren against Humanity was downloaded for later study. Unfortunately however, the Spartan had yet to find anything big.
Not for the first time, he took a look around the Registry, taking in just how large it really was. Kaidan ended up being right. This really would take a while.
Feeling that there was nothing useful left in this terminal, he moved on to the next one, which was at the very end of another long corridor. He accessed the terminal and found that it held a list of odd terms. Paladin's Hand. Place of Shadows. Ghibalb's Fury. Lifeworker's Credge. Maginot Line. Path of Deconstruction. Excavating Truth.
"What are these?" Chief asked Cortana. He knew enough about Forerunners to know they were names, but of what, the Spartan didn't know.
"Translating." Cortana replied. "Hm. Odd. These files are encrypted."
That caught the Chief's attention. You only encrypt files that you don't want someone else reading. "Can you crack them?"
"Naturally." the AI replied with trademarked haughtiness. "But it's still odd. All the other files we've been thumbing through weren't encrypted at all. I was wondering if maybe the Librarian deliberately left them that way so that someone else could discover them. Like she wanted us to learn this place's secrets. But if that was the case, why are these files encrypted?"
"Easy." Chief replied. "Unlike all the other terminals, this one has secrets the Librarian didn't want us to learn."
"Well, I'm done decrypting." Cortana said. "It's a list of other Forerunner stations. Flood containment facilities, military bunkers, shield worlds...uh-oh."
"Uh-oh?" Chief asked. There were precious few times Cortana ever said 'uh-oh.' Chief never liked what followed after she uttered those words.
"I think I found what Saren is after." Cortana said. She forwarded the files to the Master Chief's HUD. The Spartan didn't make much sense of all the text within the little screen on the bottom-left corner of his HUD, but one of the pictures did stand out.
One of a ring.
"Halo..." Chief quietly said. And here he was, thinking that he wouldn't have to relive that particular nightmare anytime soon. "You think this is what Saren's looking for?"
"I'd be willing to bet." Cortana said. "Though he probably doesn't know what Halo's true function is, he probably does know it's some kind of weapon. And if he thinks it's some kind of weapon, then how much you wanna bet he intends on using it against Humanity?"
"I already destroyed two Halos." Chief said. "Three if you count 04B."
"Which leaves five rings unaccounted for and presumably intact." Cortana replied. "These files probably contain their current locations."
"Where are they?"
"Unknown. The files on Halo are still heavily encrypted, even after I unlocked everything else in this terminal." Cortana explained. "It would take me a lot longer than a few minutes to decrypt these files."
"Can you delete the data?" Chief asked. He didn't really need to know where Halo was. He just had to make sure Saren didn't find out.
"Negative. I don't see an option to delete anywhere. The Librarian didn't want just anyone accessing this data, but she didn't want to delete it either. I suppose it was in case, God forbid, it becomes necessary to fire Halo again."
"Then we'll take it with us." Chief said as he pulled out a spare data crystal chip and plugged it into the terminal. After ten frustratingly long minutes, the download was complete. Chief grabbed the chip and palmed it while he checked the terminal one last time to make sure he got it all. Sure enough, the data on Halo was gone from the Terminal.
Chief looked down at the chip in his hand. Inside its white crystal was the location of Halo. The gun pointed at the head of the universe. His first instinct was to crush it in his hand. With no physical copy of the data left, there'd be no way for Saren to find it. However, one question, one unknown, nagged at him. What did Halo have to do with the Conduit?
Did Saren abandon his search for the Conduit and switched gears to find Halo?
Did Saren think Halo and the Conduit were connected somehow?
Were Halo and the Conduit, in fact, one in the same?
The Chief resolved not to destroy this data. At least not until he's taken a look at it himself. He slipped the chip into a pocket in his utility belt. Once he was back on the Normandy, he'll have Cortana begin decrypting it. Right now, there were more pressing matters to tend to. With his secondary objective complete, it was time he moved on to his main objective; get Saren.
"All squad, report back to the entrance." Chief ordered over TEAMCOM. "I found what we're looking for." Everyone winked green, except for Kaidan who winked orange.
"I think I just found the facility's surveillance system interface." Kaidan explained. "I think I might be able to locate Saren with this. I'm combing through video feeds right now. I'll let you guys know once I've got a fixed location."
The Spartan winked green and then jogged back up the corridor to the entrance. This was excellent news. First he secured mission-relevant data, and now the Chief would have a hard fix on Saren's exact location within the facility. This mission was actually going better than anticipated. He couldn't get cocky now though. Like any military operation, this assignment could still turn south at any given moment. When he arrived, he found the rest of the squad waiting for him, except for Kaidan of course.
"So, what did you find?" Garrus asked.
"The coordinates to Halo." Chief said as he pulled out his data crystal chip.
"What does Saren want with a ring-world?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know, but it can't be good." Chief replied.
"Maybe he wants it because...you know...superweapon." N'tho said.
Garrus groaned. "We've gone over this, N'tho. Halo does not kill every sentient being in the galaxy, because big rings in space that make things die somehow is just plain stupid."
"Hey man, I'm just saying that Halo-"
"Lock it down. Both of you." Chief interrupted N'tho and Garrus while pointing two fingers at each of them. "Now, has anyone else discovered anything of significance?"
"I think I might have." Tali said as she stepped forward and pulled out an OSD from one of her pockets. "I found and downloaded schematics for a Forerunner slipspace drive."
"Slipspace drive?" Chief asked.
"Yes. Like the ones you Humans had in your ships prior to joining the Citadel races." Tali replied. "Think about it. Slipspace is easily twice as fast as traditional FTL. With it, the user can outmaneuver any Council ship, including the Destiny Ascension."
Chief nodded. Next to Halo's location, a slipspace drive blueprint was definitely something Saren would be interested in. It was easy for the Spartan to imagine that worst case scenario; Sovereign. Fully capable of slipspace jumps. "Good find, Tali." the Spartan said as he reached his hand out.
The Quarian looked down at the Chief's hand. "Er...wait." she said, confused. "You want me to...give it to you?"
"...Yes." Chief slowly replied.
"...Oh." Tali said. "Well...it's just...this would make a really good pilgrimage gift...I mean, we Quarians could really use our own slipspace drives..."
"Keeping that data out of Saren's hands is more important right now." the Spartan bluntly told Tali. "It'll be safer with me. Once this mission is over, I'll run this by ONI. If they give the okay, you can have a copy of the data to take back to the fleet."
"If?!" Tali blurted out. "Chief, they WON'T give the okay, and you know it. You can't tell them about this!"
"Easy." Chief said as he held up a hand. "Look, that's Forerunner technology you're holding in your hand there. You can't just slap it inside a ship without knowing how it works. It needs to be studied."
"And it will be studied." Tali replied. "In a Quarian research ship."
"Tali. Most of your people's technology is three hundred years behind everyone else's." Chief pointed out. "Your research labs can't handle this."
"And Alliance labs can?" Tali asked.
"Yes. That's my point." Chief argued, his patience growing thin.
"And my point is that if you hand this data over to an Alliance lab, I'll never see it again."
Chief groaned in frustration. "Tali. This is more important than your pilgrimage."
"It's not about my pilgrimage!" Tali suddenly shouted. "It's about my people! For as long I can remember, other races have always looked down on the Quarians! I've heard countless stories of Quarians being beaten, cheated and even enslaved before they were able to complete their pilgrimages.! I myself was called a...a...suit rat on my own pilgrimage! No species has ever shown my people the slightest bit of kindness; only cruelty! Why would this 'ONI' be any more charitable to my people?!"
"You're being irrational." Chief replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "You're letting your own personal biases color your judgement."
Tali took a few deep breaths to calm herself before continuing. "Please Chief...you can't tell them. My people need this."
Chief walked up to Tali and held out his hand. "My people need it too. Hand over the OSD." he said. "That's an order." he added.
Tali hesitated for a second. Then, slowly and with a heavy heart, gave the OSD to the Chief. He took it and slid it into his utility belt. He turned to the rest of the squad. "Anyone else find anything?" he asked. The other squad members silently shook their heads. "Alright then." Chief said.
"...I thought we were friends." Chief heard Tali whisper. Chief sighed at that.
Sorry Tali. He thought. But I'm not here to make friends.
"Uh...Chief." Kaidan's voice came over TEAMCOM. "You might wanna come over here."
Cortana took the liberty of highlighting Kaidan's position on Chief's HUD. The Spartan followed the arrow down a corridor where Kaidan stood in front of a particularly large terminal. From its screen, the terminal projected several other holographic screens. Each one looked out on a different room in the facility. The rest of the squad caught up to the Chief a second later.
"Okay. Good news and bad news." Kaidan began. "Good news is, I found Saren." He then touched one of the holographic screens, which then grew bigger, making the others shrink. On the screen was Saren walking down a corridor with a pair of Geth shock troopers at each of his sides. "He's on this level." Kaidan said as he pointed to a specific spot on a three-dimensional map of the underground complex at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. The biotic then activated his omni-tool. "Sending coordinates to all squad now."
With that, everyone else's omni-tools lit up and beeped in confirmation of acquiring the coordinates. "And what's the bad news?" Chief asked.
"This." Kaidan said as he touched another screen. On the screen were several dozen Geth as well as a few Krogan warriors, all of which were guarding an object about the size of a car. An alarmingly familiar object about the size of a car.
"Oh crap, that's a nuke." Ashley said as she too recognized the object. "Same model as the ones they tried to use on Eden Prime. Except bigger."
"A nuclear bomb?!" Liara gasped. "That's insane! This place is full of forgotten knowledge! And Saren would just destroy it all like that?!"
"Well, he is a fan of scorched earth warfare." Kaidan pointed out. "It's what he tried to do on Eden Prime and Feros. Once he had what he came for, he'd try to destroy it to keep anyone else from getting it. Thing is, I wouldn't think he'd bust out a nuke until after he's accessed the Registry and found what he's looking for."
"He can't access the Registry." Chief stated. "We're only here because we had a key and Saren didn't."
"So he's broken out the old 'if I can't have it, no one can' villain cliche and plans on turning this place into one big crater." Garrus said.
"So what do we do?" Kaidan asked.
"Stop him." Chief replied. The Spartan looked up to the ceiling. "Guardian. Does the Registry have its own teleportation system?"
"Affirmative." Guardian replied in a calm, relaxed tone of voice. "Simply enter the facility coordinates, and it will take you there. Allow me." A series of golden bands of light suddenly appeared on the floor, leading down another hallway.
"Come on." Chief said as he began walking down the marked path at a brisk pace.
"Wait, we're leaving?" N'tho asked.
"Yeah." Chief replied.
"But we can't leave!" N'tho protested. "I haven't found anything on ancient Sangheili yet!"
"Tough. We have a bomb to disarm and a rogue Spectre to apprehend." Chief said.
"But-"
"We're leaving. That's an order."
"No! I'm not leaving the Registry!"
Chief stopped dead in his tracks, as did the rest of the squad. He turned around, focusing his visor on N'tho. The other squadmates slowly inched towards either side of the corridor, suddenly not wanting to be standing between the Spartan and the Sangheili.
"...What." Chief said.
"...I'm sorry Chief, but I'm not leaving the Registry." N'tho apologetically stated with a bowed head. "This...this place is where the Librarian herself studied my race. Her notes on my species are in here somewhere and this might be the only chance I'll ever get to see them. I'm sorry, but...I'm not leaving until I find that research. I need to know how the Gods saw my species."
The Spartan clenched his fists. For the last thirty hours, this squad had been suffering a serious insubordination problem. Unauthorized executions. Questioning of his authority. And now, open defiance of a direct order. This was the final straw.
"...N'tho, I'm going to say something to you that I've been wanting to say to an elite since 2525." Chief began as he all but stomped towards the young Sangheili. Just like on Trebin, he grabbed the collar of the elite's chest piece and pulled down on it, bringing the elite eye-to-visor with the Chief.
"The Forerunners are not gods." the Spartan said. "They did not ascend to a higher plane of existence. They were wiped out by the Flood. They didn't want you worshipping them or the broken toys they left lying around, and they sure as hell didn't think your species was somehow unique from the others. You know how the Forerunners really saw your species? You know what they really saw when they looked at you split-jaws a hundred thousand years ago? They didn't see the beginnings of a noble race of warriors. They saw a race of savages who were still trying to get the hang of making fire, and didn't stand a chance against the Flood. They didn't ennoble you with some kind of divine destiny. They took pity on you. Now, we're on a high-profile mission to track down a rogue Spectre and bring him to justice, which means we don't have time to entertain an ancient squidhead fairy tale. Are we clear on that?"
There was a tense, shocked silence in the air. Chief took a drink of water from his suit's liquidation system, his throat suddenly sore.
"Crystal." N'tho snarled in response. Chief shoved the Sangheili away and resumed marching.
"The hell did THAT come from?!" Cortana demanded. "You told N'tho that he's wrong to worship the Forerunners? What's next, you're gonna tell some old religious lady that there's no God and Jesus was a con-artist? Or maybe tell a little kid that there's no Santa?"
The Master Chief ignored the AI's scoldings. "Here's the plan." Chief said. "Alenko. I want you to take the rest of the squad and assault the bomb's position. Get to that bomb and disarm it by any means necessary. I'll deal with Saren."
"All by yourself?" Garrus asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"All he has are two Geth bodyguards." Chief said. "I can handle him."
"Permission to make a suggestion, Master Chief?" Kaidan cautiously asked.
"Granted." Chief replied.
"You've got a lot of mission-critical information on your person, sir." Kaidan pointed out. "Maybe you should hand it all over to one of us for safe-keeping."
"Negative. I'll only be dealing with three combatants while all of you are going to assault a well-fortified position. The data is safer with me right now." the Chief said.
The group arrived at the teleportation system, which was basically a larger-than-average teleporter with a control terminal next to it. Kaidan walked up to the Terminal and typed in the coordinates. The teleporter beam lit up. "I've programmed it to transport you about fifty meters ahead of Saren's current location. That should give you a few minutes to set up a decent ambush." the biotic reported. The Spartan simply nodded as he leapt through the beam.
...
Chief's surroundings changed within nanoseconds. He now found himself in the middle of a large, empty corridor. He took cover behind one of the columns that lined the wall and withdrew his assault rifle. As of yet, he didn't hear anything.
"Accessing coordinates." Cortana reported. "Saren is this way. I recommend caution in moving forward."
An arrow appeared on the Spartan's HUD, pointing the way to the rogue Spectre. "Oh and, for the record, I share Garrus's concerns." Cortana added. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Taking on Saren all by yourself?" Chief turned off external speakers to avoid his voice carrying and revealing his position.
"This is a job for a Spartan." the Chief said. "Not a marine. Not an ex-cop. Not a merc, migrant, scientist or idiot. Besides, I move faster on my own."
"Watch what you say, John." Cortana replied. "Remember what happened to the last Spectre who said that."
Chief checked his motion radar in the bottom-left corner of his HUD. Seeing no red dots, he came out of cover and moved down the hall, leap-frogging from column to column, moving ever closer to his target.
...
The Krogan Battlemaster squeezed the life out of the trigger like it was a Salarian's neck, as if squeezing it any harder would somehow make the shots more powerful. But no matter how hard he squeezed the trigger, the horde of parasites kept coming. The tank form, the infection forms, even the combat forms, some of whom were once his own warriors. They all charged at him, completely oblivious to the bullets piercing their hides.
The Flood had him cornered in a room with a large window that looked out on a Flood enclosure. A combat form that used to be a fellow Krogan charged at him. The Battlemaster reared his head back and headbutted the Flood form with all his strength, knocking it down. He filled its chest cavity with ammo to keep it down. He biotically pushed away another combat form while he waited for his rifle to reload. Another combat form, this one a former Asari, began to flow with a biotic aura. The Battlemaster didn't know if the Flood could use biotics or not, but he wasn't keen on finding out as he unloaded another round of shots into the Asari Flood's abdomen.
Amidst all the chaos of having to fight off various forms of the parasite, it was easy for an infection form to avoid the Krogan Battlemaster's notice and sneak around him. It lunged and adhered itself to the Krogan's hump before burying in. The Krogan Battlemaster howled in pain as the infection form burrowed past several organs before finally finding a nice cozy spot in the Krogan's chest cavity from which to mutate the body further. Tentacles sprouted from the Krogan's hump as the Flood's 'head' emerged from the Krogan's mouth, separating the lower jaw from the upper one with a sickening crack.
The newly-infected Krogan combat form then turned towards the glass and began headbutting it, as did the other Krogan combat forms. The Asari combat forms began launching biotic warps at the glass, weakening its structure. Then, with a mighty roar, the tank form punched a hole in the glass, allowing the infection forms inside to pour out and join them. The horde then moved on to the next Flood enclosure.
If the plague was to spread, they would need to bolster their numbers.
...
Alert: Containment has been breached on research level 9. Research levels 4, 5, 7 and 8 contain life-forms with sufficient biomass to facilitate wide-spread infestation. Planetarium of Ages at 93% risk.
All main levels contain life-forms with sufficient biomass to facilitate wide-spread infestation. Parasite has not reached main levels yet, but it is projected they will in 17.10522222 minutes.
Threat Level: Orange
Accessing the Sanctum of Defenders.
Sanctum of Defenders accessed.
Accessing top-level automated security. Top-level automated security accessed and approved.
Objective: Eliminate all Parasites and sources of biomass. The infestation must be contained at all costs.
Objective received.
Prometheans are online.
...
I really only have one complaint about Halo 4; the redesigns of the Covenant races.
Sangheili: Was very iffy on this. When I first saw it I was like "Woah...Sangheili are totally ugly now." I suppose it wasn't terrible, but it certainly a far cry from the dignified saurians we saw in Halo 3.
Next, the Unggoy. They look like reptiles, with scaly-looking skin. Which is weird cuz I think I read somewhere that Unggoy are actually more like Earth's arthropods than Earth's reptiles or mammals. But hey, maybe the Unggoy are arthropods...with scaly skin. Also, their breathers don't encompass their mouths anymore, which I guess is kinda interesting and would certainly make eating food in non-methane environments more convenient for them. But I dunno...I mean, would YOU go into a non-oxygen environment with your nose covered but not your mouth? Seems like the old breather apparati were more efficient because they don't restrict the user's breathing to one orifice.
Finally the Kig-Yar. THIS was the redesign that finally got a "What the Hell, 343?" out of me. I might be biased, because the Kig-Yar are actually kinda my favorite Covenant race, but the Halo 4 Kig-Yar don't even look avian! They look like monitor lizards with serious underbites. That's NOT how Kig-Yar should look, 343!
Thank God Halo 4 isn't canon in this fanfic's continuity. All the Kig-Yar in THIS fanfic are gonna be sporting those big, beautiful beaks we all fell in love with in Halo 3. And before anyone mentions that they didn't have beaks in Halo 1 or 2, I would like to say that I only became a Halo fan in 2007 after buying Halo 3 after hearing so many good things about it. I bought Halo: CE on XBL a few years later and I've never played Halo 2. Kig-Yar had beaks when I was first introduced to this franchise, and I LIKED them that way.
BEAKS FOREVER!
...I should stop posting chapters at two in the morning. Makes me prone to nerd rage