The Last Days of Charum Hakkor: Chapter 2

"By the Ancestors… he's shown his face."

"My lord?"

"Bring him up."

I stood by the communications station, as Lodemathan keyed in the message. Slowly, a figure rose out of the projector. The commander of the very forces that I faced; a man that I had known for many years, and now, he was here to finish the job."

"Lord of Admirals. Here we are on the battlefield of revolution."

"Didact." I deduced. "I knew you would come."

"Indeed? I had hoped to find you dead already, Human." The Forerunner scowled. "Look around you. The dead number in the millions, your ships burn, and slowly, I am already assuring that your cities, farms, and government itself suffers the same fate."

"You waste your breath, Didact." I boasted. "No man before me will trouble himself your intimidation. We are above that. We are above the fear of death."

It was a lie, but I hoped that the Didact wouldn't see through it. We were all very much afraid that we would die here this day. The Forerunner scoffed and folded his arms. Parts of his armor bounced in the air. "I had only heard that beasts like you were capable of honor. Until now I assumed you had only summoned the courage to stand on your hind legs and act as if the Mantle were yours. Maybe there is more use for you after all."

"You will not have me!" I shouted. "I will die at the bridge of this ship before I become the pet of a Forerunner!"

"You are already a pet, Lord of Admirals." The Didact accused. "But you haven't the intelligence to recognize it. All the better an irony to follow you to whatever I have in store for you. The choice is not yours. I will be arriving soon to ensure your kind does not upset the natural order of things anymore."

The final thing I saw on the Forerunner's face was a look of amusement… of superiority. "Until we meet again, Forthencho, Lord of Admirals."

Backup arrived, but I feared that there was little point to it after the Didact's ultimatum. More Fortress-class vessels arrived out of our formations and launched hundreds of boarding craft to take over other ships. More than three quarters of the ships I sent to combat the other vessels had been destroyed, and others had even begun a hasty retreat. They were blasted as soon as they turned to run. Within another hour, Subprime sections from 1 to 12 had been totally annihilated, and only achieving three of the five kills they were expected to gain.

The Tara-Neede stood though as a beacon for the other ships around her though. We fought all of them off as if we had the Ancestors themselves alongside us. Our shields took hits, but we pressed on. Our hull was dented and broken, but we pressed on. But the Forerunners had us in mass numbers where we couldn't be in spirit. Hour after hour they opened more portals revealing more ships. Thousands. Tens of thousands. More ships than I ever thought possible emerged from space.

Lodemathan stood at his position though, even as another blow broke his arm. He refused to be replaced, saying that he would die standing at his post than in a bed. I appreciated his enthusiasm even in the face of impossible odds. Young Podam moved the Tara-Neede with as much as a though. Though we presented these outward expressions of confidence, we were dying bit by bit inside. We knew that the Ancestors may have been with us, but even They couldn't help us defend against what the Didact had thrown at us. The Forerunners were not interested in simple defeat, they were looking at extermination.

More waves, more deaths, more screams over the communications. I looked and saw the Mantle's Approach itself spearing one of the few remaining Grand Cruisers. There were five more of them. Five. We started with almost fifty Grand Cruisers, but after continued weathering by the Forerunner's mass attacks, we were pushed back further and further towards Charum Hakkor.

The Ballarsde, the Ruthless, the Halbarden, the Egidenlo, and the Harkener. No! The Harkener was gone, run over by one of the Didact's bootlicking ships. I did what any logical commander would do: I ordered more and more men to their deaths, hoping that we could ebb the flow of Forerunner vessels. Already I was receiving reports from the other fleets that Forerunner cruisers had broken through their defenses! The fools! If they had only planned better! If only they had watched their flanks!

But their failing was not without justification. Millions of tiny weaponships swarmed like bugs over frightened frigates as they lanced out to protect themselves. Warrior-Servants controlled them at a ratio of a million to one! Each one had their turn cracking at the ship until its lifeless and leaking husk drifted into Charum Hakkor's gravity and burned up. I shuddered to think on where this would land.

We were one of a handful of ships left. Traitors fled, but many of us died in the skies above the capital we were sworn to protect. It wasn't just the capital I was worried about, but the Ancient One we sent our best warriors to guard. Even that delusional fool Yprin Yprikushma, the Morale Leader for the whole Empire thought we would be able to hold on to it.

We ordered the fleet of a hundred behind me to follow our lead as we slipped across the horizon to hit a Forerunner battle group firing at ground targets. With a quick blast, our combined fire broke one of their Fortress vessels in two, and we made quick works of its escorts.

"Keep it up! We can have them beat if we stick to hit and run tactics!"

"We're still losing ships, My Lord!" Podam cried from his station. "Our best bet is to target their troop carriers and give the ground armies less to deal with!"

I ran to the scanners to see he was right. More damned Warrior-Servant weaponships were chasing us as we ran to attack them. Alright. It was time to get creative. "Chief of Signals, order the rearmost ships to flip around and serve as rear gunners, tell them to overload their weapon safeties and fire on any weaponship that dare approaches the fleet!"

"They won't last forever." I was told by the man's grave voice. His war paint shimmered with his sweat.

"Don't question my wisdom, Deckmaster!"

"I'm not, my Lord… but… we have lost so many ships already!"

"And we'll lose many more if we do not act! No do as I command!"

Lodemathan met my eyes for a short moment. "I… I will command, Lord of Admirals."

To this day, I wondered if those men are braver than I. I saw as they carried out the orders as I commanded. I saw fire streak from their hulls as they tried to overcome the millions of locust-like craft that stabbed at their shields and tore at their hull. One of the commanders detonated his vessel, taking out scores of Forerunner smallships. Ahead of us, we blasted through enemy ships like a plough through snow, but our morale was eliminated when we saw the next series of portals winked into existence.

"No! No! Tell me this isn't happening!" I heard a commander cry in horror!

"Where do they get more ships?!" another asked.

These thoughts went through my mind as well, but I dare not speak them to the crew. When the first assault started three years ago, ten million ships roamed the skies of Charum Hakkor. Now… "How many ships remain in the area?"

"In the solar system?" He saw the figure. "My Lord, only 22,000 remain."

A knife to the heart. Our fleet was only a fraction of what it was before. "How many defense stations?"

"Ten…" he paused. I expected him to continue.

"Ten… hundred?"

"No, my Lord. Just ten."

Ten. Ten! There was no more orbital defense.

"How many ships keep coming?"

"Innumerable, my Lord." Lodemathan announced. "Smaller portals are continuously opening all over the area surrounding Charum Hakkor. "Reports are unclear, but splicing together the numbers from other scouts… I can wager than over five million ships are bearing towards the planet."

I actually weighed the odds. Twenty two thousand against five million. I've heard stories in my youth about small groups that were so determined they could hold their own against armies, but will had little use in the vacuum of space. Tactics, weapons, and hull density were all that mattered, and it seemed I was being countered at all fronts. Very well. If they wanted to have Charum Hakkor, they'd have to take it from me at the very end.

"Give the order to the fleets, Pilot. We're taking the Tara-Neede into the atmosphere." I walked to my command station and braced for the sudden acceleration. Podam looked at me and said, "Sir, can the Tara-Neede survive an entry into an atmosphere?"

"We'll be fine, Pilot. Now take us to ground."

I could imagine the Didact's surprise as we turned towards the planet. Perhaps he thought we were running away. No… this planet was our territory and we knew it best. Not to mention we could use the Precursor structures on the planet as cover, since conventional weapons would do nothing to them. Perhaps the Didact knew this.

Where there was void, there was air now. Burning black clouds whipped by us signaling the destruction that would follow. Out of the haze came one of the Towers of the Precursors. I found it odd that in our hour of terror, the artifacts of a race long gone would survive us. Some of the ships in the fleet took cover behind it and fired at some of the Forerunner vessels that pursued us. Some of it was to great effect, but the ships themselves were blasted as soon as the enemy realized what was happening.

Most of the Forerunners seemed to not even bother. They stayed in orbit raining down fire onto our cities. We should have stayed up there, but the meteors raining down in the distance changed my mind. I knew these fireballs were what was left of our fleet. They threw the carcasses down just to spite us.

"My Lord, the fleet's ready to make their stand at Parad Hakkor." Lodemathan had announced.

How appropriate. The fleet of Humanity making its last stand at the capital. I was ready for him. Come Didact! Forthencho will not bow to you in life, and certainly not in death!

The capital city lay on the edge of the Eastern Ocean. Precursor Towers extended into the distance and served as small fishing communities that harvested from the waters. Towards the land though were the great Palaces of Charum Hakkor where our government decided the fate of worlds. The Fleet held position, waiting for them. All the while, I expected a bolt from the heavens, but it seemed that the Didact had other plans. Perhaps he wanted to finish this man to man.

I received my answer. His ships descended from the clouds, still in formation. Despite the death and destruction around me, it looked like tales from the old stories where two armies would face one another. Beams of light cut through the clouds and burned fleeing ships as they tried to run from the disaster. It seemed that billions would call this world their grave.

Still I waited for the instant death that never came. I knew what the Didact wanted though: Me.

The Mantle's Approach melted out of the fog. Its angled shape shunted aside the clouds.

Lodemathan caught my attention. "My Lord… the Mantle's Approach is hailing us."

I walked to the front of the bridge and stared out over the ocean. I knew this water well. I grew up staring out across it as a child. I knew the Precursor Columns as they rose into the sky for kilometers. But today, this scene was as alien as any other world. Today, the ocean burned with tens of thousands of hulls of ruined starships. Many of them Human. Thousands of Forerunner vessels as well though.

"Very well, Chief of Signals. Let me speak to him."

"I will obey." He spoke.

The Didact's shade materialized. "I am willing to offer you a last chance to surrender, Lord of Admirals. Your fleets have been annihilated. There is not one of your ships left to defend Charum Hakkor. If you allow your ships to stand down, I swear by the Mantle that I will not let my Prometheans… punish you too harshly."

I barked at the Forerunner, "I've seen enough of what the Mantle has done to us. The precious Mantle that you claim… 'Shelters All'" I waved my hands, and the Didact scowled. "I've seen how you treat those inferior to you, when we were doing all we could to stop the Parasite before it got to you."

"You took the Mantle upon yourself when you were clearly unworthy of it, Human."

"All we sought was to save as many lives as we could."

"You sought to destroy, as Humans always do."

"And now YOU are the destroyers." I motioned to the Weaponsmaster. I held up my hand, telling him not to fire yet, but be ready. He responded with a nod. We were ready to fight if necessary, and it was looking likely that it would be necessary.

"The Mantle shelters all, but it is up to you whether you want to feel its embrace."

"You made it this far. You won't stop now."

"Sacrifices must be made. Regardless, the galaxy will not weep for Humanity's passing." Those strange quills on his head bobbed in anticipation. "I have waited long for this moment." He shouted in Digon, one of the languages used by his Prometheans. I couldn't speak it, but I know what he said. Before I could give the order, Forerunner cruisers opened fire on our ships. Many winked out of existence in balls of fire.

"Move the fleet! Engage targets at your discretion!" I called out.

"Aye, My Lord! Transmitting!" Lodemathan nodded, bracing for the sudden acceleration. Pilot Podam fired up the engines, bracing at his station The Tara-Neede veered off following the coastline while our aft batteries pelted away at the Forerunner ships.

The Weaponsmaster communicated with teams all over the Tara-Neede. I could barely hear him as I shouted commands to Podam as he did his own job.

"Weapon station 15, correct your firing vector fifteen degrees! You are going wide will all of your shots."

"Apologies, Weaponsmaster! We attained damage to our firing generators!"

"Get it under control! We're taking hits along the hull!"

"We're trying our hardest!"

Within seconds, Weapons station 15 burst into flames, and the Tara-Neede began to list.

"Fix it!" I called to Domad. The Pilot struggled not to fall down the tilted deck. "Fix it!"

"I'm trying, My Lord!" Podam urged. He overrode controls to emergency thrusters to bring the ship back into balance. Domad succeeded and blasted us over the battle fleet of the Forerunners. We scored many kills in the dogfight that followed. We made the Grand Cruiser partake in maneuvers that were more suited for a fighter less than a hundredth of the size. I held my breath as parts of our ship stopped only mere feet above the oceans.