A/N alright sorry I know it has been a long time since my last chapter on here. I have been busy with graduation and finding a job so it has taken me longer than expected to post this chapter.
CHAPTER 8 Old Horrors
Azoth was in the training rooming practicing with his plasma blades wearing a pair of cargo pants and T-shirt, when Kira walked in and saw him.
"You seem to handle those well." Kira said as he stopped and deactivated them and turned to her.
"A friend taught me how to use swords, but these are a lot lighter than the ones he taught me with." Azoth replied.
"Not many can compensate for the change in weight." Kira said as she walked up to him "Most take off their own limbs."
"Well it is an adjustment, but if there is one thing I can do it's adapt." Azoth said as Kira activated her duel-bladed light saber and struck out at him and he quickly activated his blades and blocked her strike.
"It is always better to train with an opponent." Kira stated as she swung up toward his face and he quickly blocked the strike. "You have good reflexes, almost Jedi level reflexes."
"Honed through the grind of war." Azoth said as he pushed her back and swung his blade around missing her by inches. "Without them I would have died long time ago." He said as he dodged her blade coming up from below he blocked her next strike and they swung around stopping their blades at each other's necks, giving each other a hard stare.
"Not many people can hold their own with a jedi wielding a lightsaber." Kira said as she deactivated her lightsaber followed by him.
"We were both holding back." Azoth replied as he stood up straight "Only way to find out who is better is to actually see who is left standing at the end."
"The Jedi look down on matches to the death." Kira replied as the intercom cracked to life.
"Master Yugan please report to the bridge we are coming out of hyper space." The intercom said.
"So what is the mission?" Azoth asked
"We are supposed to investigate a newly discovered asteroid belt in the outer rim." Kira said
"Alright I'll hit the shower, change over and meet you on the bridge." Azoth said as he walked out of the training room toward the locker room.
Azoth walked on to the bridge and looked out of the bridge windows and saw the asteroids then an object came into view. It looked like a metal asteroid nearly three times larger than any of the others. This sent a shiver down Azoths spin.
"Sir I am getting a familiar reading off that." Durzo said in his helmet. "It's Forerunner." At this Azoth broke out in a cold sweat.
"All stop!" Azoth demanded in tone none of them thought heard come from him, fear. "I said full stop pull back now!" he repeated as they stopped the ship.
"What's wrong?!" Kira demanded.
"Did you send anyone over there yet?" Azoth demanded
"Yes we sent a company out already." Kira said a bit worried at his reaction. "But we have lost contact with them, we were about to send another unit in to investigate."
"What were the life scans like?" Azoth demanded
"Inconclusive it is shielded somehow." Kira replied wondering why she was so easily going along with his questions.
"Damn't, give me a squad and don't send anyone else over there, and if any ships come out and you don't have contact with them blow them out of the fucking sky." Azoth demanded as he walked off the bridge. Kira looked around confused at what had just happened then went after him.
"Hey wait a minute." Kira yelled as she chased after him. She finally caught up with him in the hanger as he was getting on a drop ship with a squad of clone troopers. "The hell is your problem?" she asked
"HK let's move!" Azoth yelled as the droid walked on to the ship and it took off and headed out of the ship.
"If this is what I think it is we need to proceed with severe cation." Azoth replied.
"By shooting down our own ships?" Kira asked.
"If need be." Azoth said in a stoic voice as they came closer to the asteroid. They landed in the dark hanger and there was no sign of the company that had been sent out.
"Where is the advanced force I sent out?" Kira asked looking around.
"Pilot head out and standby for evac." Azoth said ignoring Kira's concerns. "Alright let's move and check your corners." He ordered as he headed toward the hall but before he could go down it Kira grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
"Damn't what has got you so freaked out?" Kira demanded
"I have dealt with facilities like this before." Azoth explained "I just pray that this doesn't have what the others did." He continued in a stone cold tone that gave her chills
"What was on them?" Kira asked a bit scared to know
"Let's just say the first time my people encountered a facility like this out of an entire ship that made contact only two survived." Azoth said as he pushed past her and headed down the hall.
They soon came up to a terminal and Azoth began tapping away at it through Durzo's directions. "Alright the main control room is this way." Azoth said as he stepped away from the terminal and began to walk down the hall.
"Hey, I haven't been able to gain radio contact with our landing teams since we landed, what happened to those people who first came into contact with this kind of place?" Kira called out
"They were devoured." Azoth said as he pushed on only angering Kira at his lack of information he was giving her.
"Ma'am we are picking up the transponders from one of the landing squads." One of the clones called out.
"Where?" Kira asked
"Should be up on the right." The clone said as they made the turn and slowly moved down the hall till they came across a bunch of clones on the ground. "Guys" one of the clones said as he rushed over to them. Azoth cautiously approached the scene scanning around seeing blaster scoring on the walls.
"These aren't blaster burns." Kira said looking at the wounds on the troopers. Just then they heard skittering sound.
"Damn't." Azoth said pulling up his blaster as his motion tracker light up
"What is it?" Kira said getting up activating her lightsaber
"Night Angel those injures are consistant…" Durzo began but was cut off by an ear-splitting screech.
"I know, I have seen them before and I know that scream anywhere." Azoth said out loud "fall back!" he demanded but it was too late as infection forms poured out of the vents and engulfed the clones. At that Kira went to help but was grabbed by Azoth and pulled back. "They are gone." He yelled as he fired at the convulsing bodies as they began to stand. He then turned and began to run down the hall followed by Kira and HK.
"Where are we going what are those things." Kira demanded.
"We are going to the central control room." Azoth said as a door next to them opened and a carrier form rushed out, and Kira went to swing at it with her lightsaber. "NO!" he yelled but it was too late as it exploded and he was able to jump out of the way but Kira was thrown down to the ground. He quickly recovered and began blasting the infection forms but to his surprise they ignored and skittered around Kira as if they had no interest, going straight to him. He quickly blasted the infection forms as they rushed him.
"Damn thank you." Kira said as she got up but he aimed his blaster at her. "What…"
"What are you?" Azoth demanded "They should have infected you but they ignored you like you were last year's fruit cake, at a turkey dinner."
"What?" Kira asked confused, there was another screech from down the hall.
"Damn't I'll have to figure it out later, we have to move." Azoth turned and ran towards the control room and quickly ran to the control council and pulled out Durzo's chip from his helmet and plugged it into the council.
"Alright let's start by locking this room down." Durzo said as he appeared on the council and the doors locked down with secondary heavy doors.
"Who is that? What were those things? What is happening?" Kira demanded getting up in Azoths face.
"Fine you want the truth?" Azoth shot back
"You know that is all classified." Durzo said
"Well it won't make a difference if the Flood gets loose in this galaxy." Azoth shot back. Getting a confused look from Kira.
"Question: master what are you talking about what is this flood you speak of?" HK asked
"What he said." Kira added.
"Truth is I'm from another galaxy." Azoth said getting Kira to give a look of shock and disbelief.
"What? No, traveling galaxy to galaxy is unheard of." Kira said
"Well believe it." Azoth said "If we do get out of this you can't breath a word to any one, the only people that know are Kenobi, Yoda, Windu, and that Ashoka kid."
"Why her she is just a padawaan?" Kira asked
"She was one of the first I came into contact with along with Kenobi." Azoth explained "But any way I'll give you the short version, in my galaxy our first contact with an alien race was the covenant an alliance of aliens that only had one mission once they found us and that was the complete annihilation of the human race. They spent twenty-five years massacring our people, but towards the end of the war one of our ships came across an installation built by an ancient race that the covenant saw as gods. After coming into contact with it one of the races saw that their leadership had lied to them and the changed sides and helped us survive the rest of the war and defeat them. After that we found a map from the forerunners to this galaxy, and I'm part of a recon ship to look for new planets to colonize. I got separated when I saved Kenobi."
"Well what are those things out there?" Kira asked
"Those are the flood, an infectious hive mind that nearly wiped out all life in my galaxy thousands of years ago. But the Forerunners made a super weapon that destroyed all life in the galaxy and starved the flood to death and then was repopulated. One of their back up plans was to come to this galaxy and we just followed their directions." Azoth explained
"That sounds crazy." Kira said
"Well it is true." Azoth said then turned to Durzo "Now what have you found out about this place?"
"Well it is a research facility looking for a cure for flood." Durzo said
"Well it failed obviously." Azoth sighed
"Actually they did find one." Durzo said getting a shocked look from Azoth "They developed another enzyme to combat it called Midi-chlorian."
"What?" Kira asked in shock
"What you have heard of them?" Azoth asked
"Yes they live in all living beings and what allows us to connect to the force." Kira replied.
"Well that would explain a lot." Durzo said "I have been looking into this force thing. But it all makes sense now the flood is a hive mind, so they are able to connect to each other through it. So the flood already perceive her as being infected because of the Midi-chlorians."
"But how was Kenobi able to connect to my mind so I could understand their language. Since I don't have any of those enzymes" Azoth asked.
"Well your record shows you were on delta halo as well as the ARK, and you came into contact with the flood there. So you may have inhaled some of their spores while there, not enough to turn you but enough for Kenobi to connect." Duzo offered "However that is just a theory from the information I have. But now on to more important we need a sample of this to bring back to the UNSC so we can get rid of the threat of the flood for our galaxy if we ever get back to it."
"Well it isn't a complete cure those clones seemed to be susceptible to the infection." Azoth said
"Well maybe because it was a diluted form of the Midi-chlorians and are no longer immune to it." Durzo replied "So that means we need a pure strand or at least as pure as we can get it. Hold on." He said as he closed his eyes and began to go through the files.
"Wow this whole thing is a bit much to take in." Kira said
"Yeah just remember you can't tell anyone about it." Azoth said taking off his helmet and sitting on the counsel. "I'm trusting you with all this."
"Fine I will keep your secret." Kira said "But that is only if we are able to get out of here."
"Found it." Durzo said getting them to look up at him. "I found the lab with the pure strand of Midi-chlorians in it."
"Alright lead the way." Azoth said as he put his helmet back on and pulled out the AI's chip and put it back into his helmet.
"Oh yeah and who the hell is he?" Kira asked
"He is an artificial intelligence, but instead of inhabiting a droids body he is on this chip and can hack any computer system." Azoth replied.
"Pride: he can't hack my systems." HK replied
"Of course not HK." Azoth replied
"With out even trying." Durzo said to Azoth with his own pride. As a door opened up on the opposite side of the control room and a way point appeared on Azoth's HUD. They slowly made their way down the halls and down a few elevators till they came to what looked like a lab.
"I'm surprised we haven't run into any resistance." Kira said as they went into the lab and Azoth plugged Durzo into the counsel.
"Well they only have had the company of clones you sent in for them to infect." Azoth replied.
"Alright I have all the data." Durzo said
"Alright let's get the hell out of here." Azoth said
"However we need a pure sample and we can't just take one out in a vile." Durzo replied
"What why not?" Azoth asked
"They need a host of some sort, while in that machine they are alright but without a host they die" Durzo replied
"And let me guess I'm the only viable host." Azoth sighed "Because he is a robot and she already has the shit in her." He said gesturing toward HK then to Kira.
"Yes." Durzo replied "Sit down on the lab table and I will inject you with the dose."
"Caution: master I believe this is a very high risk that you don't need to take." HK said "What if he is wrong and you turn into one of those things."
"Then you have my permission to blast me." Azoth replied taking of his helmet "But if it gives my people just the slightest chance of ridding the threat of the flood I will do it. My oath was to lay down my life for my people without hesitation and without regret. I even went as far as becoming a helljumper and then a Spartan to up hold that oath." He said as he sat down on the examination table and a machine came down and injected him in the neck where it was exposed. Once it was injected it took a moment and his body began to convulse then went still.
"Azoth are you…" Kira asked as he shot up gasping for air.
"Holy shit what a rush." Azoth said gasping.
"How do you feel?" Durzo asked
"Like everything is moving in slow motion." Azoth said looking around "Even after the Spartan augmentations it wasn't even this much of a change." He said as he got up and walked around a bit "And I don't know but I just have a strange feeling it's just weird. Like I can see her without actually looking over at her." He said pointing over at Kira.
"That is what we call the force." Kira said
"By the night angels this is strange." Azoth said still trying to recover.
"Well you need to pull yourself together." Durzo said "I am setting the timer to blow this place."
"What?" Kira asked in shock
"We can't let the flood get out." Durzo said
"Or let your politicians find out about this they may try to weaponize the flood in some way." Azoth added
"What? They wouldn't be that stupid." Kira defended
"Oh so innocent." Azoth cued as he put his helmet back on and pulled Durzo out of the council and put him back in his helmet. "You really believe that? Has there never been an incident where a politician has done something stupid that could have or did get people killed because they thought they could handle something that was so far out of their control?" he asked getting her to pause for a minute.
"Alright." She sighed "but what will our story be?"
"Simple we ran into a defense system that activated a self-destruct sequence." Azoth replied
"Seems you thought this through pretty quickly." Kira replied
"Always have an alibi for when shit hits the fan." Azoth replied as he headed out the door they made their way through the facility and passed by flood forms that seemed to have no interest in them.
"Odd I can't sense them through the force at all." Kira said
"Maybe that is why they aren't attacking because they can't sense us either cause of the Midi-chlorians." Azoth offered, as they finally made it to the hanger and they radioed the drop ship.
"Dropship this is Night Angel we need pick up." Azoth called and a moment later the dropship came into the hanger. The moment it touched down they heard the screech of the flood and saw a horde rushing toward them.
"The hell are those?" one of the clones yelled.
"Later just fire." Azoth yelled as he turned and fired himself and stepped on to the dropship and it took off.
"Sir the hell was that?" the pilot called back
"Nothing you didn't see anything." Azoth said to the whole crew who all nodded and they made their way to the ship as the facility let off a bright light and exploded in a brilliant flash.
END CHAPTER 8
A/N alright I have had the thought of explaining the force in this way for a while and it does kind of connect if you think of it. Connect to all living being, sounds like a hive mind, and the Didact seemed to use telekinetic powers against the chief in the fourth game. Also I know someone is going to try to call out Azoth's spar with Kira but they were sparing and they weren't going all out for it, and non-force sensitives have been able to take down Jedi in the past, in legends Boba dueled Vader to a tie. I just know someone is going to cry about it. The levels I see it is basic clone troopers= marines, ARC troopers= helljumpers, clone commandos/ lower level jedi = spartans
