This is another Shadow Team-centric chapter.
Episode 11
Shadow Team's dropship tore through the air, following the trail of the Warthog that had fled from the city. Or rather, trying to.
"What do you mean, we can't pinpoint their location?" Shade asked the pilot.
"I'm not sure. There's something that keeps bouncing the signal around." The pilot said. Just then, the sensors beeped and got a lock on the Warthog's position. The pilot, copilot and Shade looked at the display for a moment.
"That can't be right." The copilot muttered as restarted the scanning process. It came up with the same location: the Warthog was apparently parked right in the middle of a nearby ocean.
"How the hell did it get over there so quickly?" The pilot asked.
"Teleportation, in all likelihood." Shade answered, "That ODST was transported several dozen miles away from the bunker we encountered, after all." The pilots thought about that, then nodded. It would explain how the Warthog got into the middle of the ocean within half an hour.
"So, I assume we're heading there?" The pilot asked. When Shade confirmed it, the dropship took off in the direction of the signal, and soon Shadow Team found itself overlooking a large facility built on the water surface.
"I don't see any Warthog." Nye snarked as they observed the landing site from the rear bay door.
"And how exactly would it have been able to get here, anyway?" Fade asked.
"I don't know." Shade said, "But something tells me this place is important to uncovering whatever is happening on this planet."
The team leapt off of the ramp and landed on a platform that overlooked the sea. The team split up, and soon all of them had either found or (in the cases of Thul and Dread) made their own entrances into the facility.
Inside the complex, the team found various barracks, offices, labs, all the sorts of rooms you would find in a military-run research facility. What they didn't find, unsurprisingly by this point, was a sign that anyone was here.
No living beings, no corpses, nothing.
"I don't know about you, but this place gives me the creeps." Said Nye over the comlink. No one felt the need to disagree with that assessment. After 5 minutes of searching, their comms activated.
"Shadow Lead, we're getting a transmission from the Eye of Intent." The gunship pilot reported excitedly.
"Copy that, put them through." Shade said, glad to get some support now. The face of Captain Kre'lye appeared in the top right hand corner of Shade's HUD.
"Good to hear from you, Shadow Lead."
"Likewise, sir."
"Now, I think it's time you bring us up to speed." The Captain said, his tone turning grim.
"Of course." The human responded, "Approximately half an hour ago, we engaged a horde of creatures that resembled Necromorphs and Reaper husks. We found the artifacts that were creating them and neutralized them."
Kre'lye blinked rapidly before responding. "Shadow Lead, let me get this straight. These creatures only resembled Necromorphs and Husks? You're sure they weren't actually the real deal?"
"Positive. They were physically weaker than the actual creatures." At that moment, the voice of Gerald interjected into the conversation. "He's correct, Captain. The probes have detected no Necromorph, Reaper or Flood present within this sector."
"There's more, sir." Shade said, "It seems this world used to be an Ancient fortress of some kind."
"An Ancient fortress?" The Bothan repeated in surprise, "Copy that, we're sending troops and scientific personnel to the surface. Search and recovery teams will be on planet shortly."
"Understood. Shadow Team out."
"Well, it's good to finally have some backup." Fade muttered.
"Shadow Lead. I believe I've found something." The Sangheili said. The rest of the team rushed to his position and they found themselves at the entrance to an elevator leading down underwater.
"Gerald, we've found the entrance to an underwater structure." Shade said examining the control pad.
"Standby. Uploading my subroutines into your armor... now." Gerald installed a part of himself into the suit of Shade and reached out to the systems and overrode the lock on the elevator. Shadow Team entered the elevator and Nye pressed the button that said "down."
Soon they found themselves watching their descent into the blackened and empty ocean depths. Even down here, there were no fish swimming by, which worried the squad to no end. More pressing however, was the fact that Dread could see a group of smaller man made structures built on the ocean floor... and most of them were flooded.
"Heads up. We might need to go for a swim." The Yautja grumbled. He wasn't exactly equipped for deep sea exploration.
The rest of the journey was spent in silence, and soon they had reached the bottom of the facility. The elevator opened into another hallway that led to a secure doorway. Shadow Team exited the elevator and walked to the other end of the tunnel. Breaking through the encryption on the door, Shade led his team through it, which promptly sealed behind them.
Unknown to them, a figure in green armor appeared in front of the elevator, watching the entryway seal itself. The figure allowed itself to smile. It had not been easy to fake the Warthog signal that had led them to their enemy's doorstep, but now the gambit would pay off.
The enemy and Shadow Team would destroy each other.
The figure vanished.
Meanwhile, the squad had found themselves right in front of yet another door. Only this one was something they knew quite well. The door was clearly Forerunner in design, trapezoidal gray metal with a holographic console in the center of it. Allowing Gerald to access to the console, the door unlocked itself and opened into a massive Forerunner complex.
The team slowly traversed through the gleaming silver hallways, on alert for any threat that might attack them. The journey was thankfully uneventful and soon the squad had reached a massive room, with large waterfalls pouring down from the ceiling. Finding a holographic console at the precipice of the ledge, Shade activated it, and a blue hard light bridge leapt to life in front of them.
Shadow Team crossed the bridge at a brisk pace, as none of them wanted to be on the beam of light if it went out. Just as they reached the opposite end of the bridge, a group of Aggressor Sentinels appeared out of several Sentinel launchers that had been hidden behind the waterfalls.
The Forerunner automata quickly circled around them, cutting off any retreat. Dread activated his plasma caster, causing the triangle-shaped targeting lasers to appear on one of the Aggressor's casing.
"Hold your fire, Dread." Shade whispered, pulling the energy rifle from his back. "Let's not give these guys a reason to hurt us."
"We might not have a choice." Thul said, drawing one of his energy swords, "I've seen this type of behavior before. Whatever they're guarding here, they won't just let us in."
"What if we ask nicely?" The young Chiss responded, readying his grenade launcher.
"Be quiet Nye." Dread growled before Fade cut him off.
"Actually, that might work." The asari said, violet energy swirling around her as she regarded the Sentinels, "If we tell them we know of the Ancients, they may let us pass."
"It's worth a shot." Shade responded, "Gerald, how do we get their full attention?"
"One moment, Shadow Lead," The AI said, his voice emerging from Shade's helmet, "Transmitting request into the Forerunner network... now."
The effect was immediate; the Sentinels closed in on the team and blue scanning beams emerged from them, sweeping over Shadow Team multiple times. After that, the Sentinels retreated a slight distance and pointed their underside energy beams at the group on the bridge.
"Gerald, what are they doing?" Fade asked, as the entire team tensed up in preparation for a fight. Before things could escalate, a mechanical voice emerged from the Forerunner guardians.
"You are not authorized to be here. By the order of the Ancients, turn away now." The Sentinels ordered. Fade and Thul looked at each other. Their hunch had been correct.
"We're not your enemies," Shade insisted, "We've been following your maker's instructions." The Forerunner guardians almost seemed puzzled, then they started speaking again.
"Transmit security codes, or you will be considered hostile." The voice blared through the Sentinels.
"Gerald, what's the code for Ancient security?" Nye asked.
"Broadcasting it now." The AI responded. A moment later, the mechanical guards relaxed their stance and turned away. As the Sentinels took off into the bowels of the facility, a small floating, green-glowing orb made its way toward them, pausing a meter in front of the team.
"Greetings. I am 763 Outbound Guardian. I am the Monitor of Research Facility Alpha."
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.
Reviews are always welcome.