Chapter One

Training

0300 Hours, October 28, 2552(Military Calendar)/

REVISED DATE Location Unknown.

Pain. He was used to it by now. Holding the damn weapon was a challenge on its own, even if he was a Spartan.

Correction: A Reclaimer.

James stood on the simulated training grounds with the Jalen, the most powerful weapon he had ever crossed upon; a weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield. The staff is a quantum capacitor, stores energy on the quantum level. Using nanotechnology, it can put out a particle pulse that is controllable in its intensity as well as its dispersal such as a shotgun burst, a beam like strike, and a 360 degree explosion. Using full intensity and fully charged, it could take out a capital ship if you hit the right spot.

If it doesn't blow your arms off with it.

The recoil was a whole different story. If not handled properly, it could kick back at you so hard it would impale you through the armor. Or if it misses your body it can literally rip your arms off.

That was the point of this exercise: to learn how to survive through the recoil on certain levels. After a few weeks of training, he still didn't have the power output up to fifty percent.

James didn't complain; he learned long ago that it got you nowhere. So he powered the training armor on, which held a fraction of the power the real one had. All it was a shell of aggregated diamond nanorods with basic training simulations. That didn't mean it wasn't hard. He hefted the staff and power flowed from the armor through the gauntlets.

Weeks he had been doing this training. Along with using the armor systems, which was even more of a challenge. The stress of having to deal with such complicated technology was extremely difficult, but amazing when pulled off right.

He didn't even want to think of the Forerunner Destroyer. The ship was thirteen stories high and almost covers an area of three football fields wide. The ship, which was usually commanded by a crew of roughly twenty Forerunners, had to be manned by one trainee.

If there was only a way to speed up this training... earth is at risk. James thought

He banished his thoughts and focused on powering the quantum capacitor. A meter on his HUD indicated his power levels. It reached a quarter charge.

That's the level he wanted. Any higher and his arms wouldn't be strong enough to hold onto the staff, not to mention for his arms to stay in their sockets without the proper training. His neural reactor uplink to the staff allowed him to use it from one thought from his mind.

That was the first thing the Forerunner now known as Chrosenthis augmented. The great thing about it was that if it was ever stolen it couldn't be used against him.

His thought of firing the Jalen turned real when eight bursts of blue energy exploded out from the shaft and vaporized the simulated flood combat forms.

boom A massive shockwave kicked back at James. His arms grabbed hold of the shaft and didn't let it fly into the opposite direct; or even into him. A few seconds later, the simulated environment shutoff.

"James, are you ready to increase the power output?" Chrosenthis asked over the speakers above him.

Finally. James thought and answered "Yes."

"Increase your power output to 45 percent."

James did a series of notions with his fingers and eyes and his HUD responded. With it, the staff hummed with more energy.

For a few days the Forerunner had broke down and unveiled the full Forerunner history and their plans for Universal order; until the Flood came into play.

"Exercise, begin."

The concrete walls and yellow lights vanished from James' feet as the training exercise began. It turned into a massive dark room with flood, grunt, and elite blood on the walls. The floor was cracked in some places, revealing even a more deathly tone to the environment. The bodies of several "present day Covenant" were on the ground; clad in Forerunner made armor.

The Jalen still hummed and glowed with energy. James bent his knees to a half crouch, with the Jalen point outwards, away from his body.

The now all too familiar screech from the bodies of the flood rang throughout his ears. His eyes darted left and right, looking for the twisted flesh and bone.

An elite combat form burst through a door on his left, and James thought about the Jalen firing a precision beam. Once again his thoughts turned to reality after a concentrated particle beam sprung from the staff and vaporized the body of a once elite.

More combat forms broke through a wall to his right. This time, the combat forms of humans and the twisted Forerunner, which was odd; James was taught that the Forerunners were either Carrier forms or Brain forms due to them not having the physical capacity for fighting,.

He squelched the thought; speculating made for a fine mental exercise, but not when feeding crazed parasites are only meters in front of you.

James did a shotgun burst on the flood forms charging him. Most of them were vaporized in the initial volley, but more kept coming; James was content with vaporizing them from twenty feet out.

Many infection forms scurried behind the combat forms trying to get a bite out of him. One jumped up and landed on James's leg. He quickly raised his wrist and spikes came out from the plates, he then brought it down upon the infection form. The flood form popped and wet flesh stuck to James's armor.

He continued to fire shotgun bursts until no more came; and the recoil was getting easier to handle. But he could feel his arms getting sore from the stress and weight. He calmly walked forward, and crept through the flood made door.

He entered into a dark hallway with the sickly yellow-green blood of the flood all over the walls. The ceiling was thirteen feet above him; not exactly a lucky number. More bodies of the Forerunner Coalition were on the ground. The Reclaimer-in-training realized that using the Jalen in the hallway would bring down the supports; bringing the roof down.

James smiled; this was to test his CQC abilities with the spiked end of the Jalen. Which was also his first training with the weapon: holding and using it in close quarter combat. It was more of an art, rather than methods for killing endless amounts of foes. He crouched with the spike ended thrusted forward.

Success is your only option.

The omnipresent voice returned again. James counted that this was the fourth time it had come to him while he was training. Chrosenthis told him it was "the lost souls of time". But that just sounded like something out of a child's novel.

The screech of the parasite came once again and James got eager to put his CQC abilities to the test. The first wave of combat forms rushed him. One of them jumped six feet into the air and lashed with its tentacles. The ex-Spartan brought the Jalen to bear, and struck upwards, slicing it in half and destroying the infection form inside it. He did a one eighty turn and did a diagonal slash at the one that tried to flank him.

For several minutes he did a combination of lethal swipes, stabs followed side steps; and then repeated the process. The simulation ended. The once dark hallway collapsed and morphed into a steel room which was one square kilometer in size.

Blue tiles and transparent panels filled the room and created the realistic environment. A door at the far end opened and the Forerunner A.I. hovered into the room. Its shoulders were more sagged, and the bags under its eyes were more pronounced. James was amazed at the technology behind it; that it could actually do something such as physical features that change.

James lifted his helmet off his head and walked toward Chrosenthis. The once Forerunner warrior stopped where he was, signaled for James to follow him, and then walked out the door. James shrugged in the half-ton armor and continued to walk on.

He exited through the door and Chrosenthis was waiting for him. "Follow me," he said "I have to show you something."

"What?" James asked

The Forerunner said nothing in return. He was being incredibly stubborn this morning. Maybe something was bugging him, maybe something happened. No matter what, James would do something.

"I have to take you deeper into the structure." It explained

That's a surprise. Maybe something did happen. James pondered

"How much deeper?"

"Deeper."

I just can't get anything out of him.

"Ok, does it have something to do with Installation 04 being destroyed?"

It studied James' face, and their eyes locked. It was looking inside of him, trying to figure out what drove him; what made him. It finally answered "Yes, but not everything. I can't see the Prophets destroying something they treasure; so that only means one thing. You humans have found it; and what you say is true about most of your race not knowing about your past, then you would see it as a threat. Considering the amount of power it holds."

"I see. I think I know who," James put the pieces together in his mind, and the Forerunner noticed his long exhale. "Remember when you went over the stellar coordinates of the Halo's with me a few days ago?"

"Yes."

"Well, when the Covenant invaded one of our planets, the team I was part of found a granite rock that the Covenant was particularly interested in. On this rock, was the coordinates for Installation 04. But I didn't know at the time for obvious reasons. We took it and the coordinates were given to our team's A.I. for safe keeping until we got to our base planet Reach." He paused, remembering the fallen as they walked towards a grav beam that would take them further into the structure. "When Reach got glassed, the ship my unit was on must've escaped to Halo using those coordinates. Like you said, considering the amount of power it holds and the flood, they most likely destroyed it."

Chrosenthis nodded at James in approval. "Do you think the old members of your unit survived?"

They both walked into the grav lift.

James stared at the helmet he held in one arm in thought. "Yes, I full confidence that they did."

"Never rely on hope, rely on facts." It coldly stated.

James didn't take it personally, so he moved on. "So why does all this secrecy have to shroud 04 being destroyed?"

"I told you, it's just not about Halo 04 being destroyed."

"So? Was another Halo destroyed?"

"No, but one was activated, and then put in standby mode."

"Which one?"

"05... you know what the means?"

"Yeah, they found another Halo, and somehow they figured out how to activate it using the index but then stopped it. Most likely being forced by the Covenant since we are the only ones allowed to activate them, as per protocol."

"Not only that, but the shield world and the Ark have been activated."

"What? We're running out of time." James exclaimed

"We are and that's why I have to speed up your training."

"You are?"

"Yes. We're headed to the intensive care medical wing right now." It said as it stepped off the lift.

A/N: Well there you have it! Chapter one is up! I hope you guys enjoy. This chapter fleshed out my ideas of forerunner; more in particular Chrosenthis. You can see after what he has been through he is a realist. As always Read and Review.

Forerunner Armor, and weapons are a product of the mind of HavocLegionnaire and his trusty Weapons Consortium.