V
1215, September 10, 2560 (Military Time)\Shadow of Darkness
The Shadow of Darkness shivered and rattled. Sparks sprayed as she sped through the ethers. Telek gripped his command chair with pale knuckles. He felt the ship jerk, causing him to slam his arm against the hard, metallic arm of his command chair.
"Engine 3 is sputtering," said Rolu.
"If I have to get out and push," began Telek. "I will." He leaned over, pressing a flashing button on his chair. "Cujo, tell me how you're holding."
"As good as any," said Cujo as his face appeared on the forward screen. He flenched at the sound of something crashing behind him and a white spark flashing on the ceiling. "How the hell did those assholes take out our shields?"
"I don't know," said Telek. "Tulsa, Tom, updates!"
"Bad things are happening!" Tom cried as his face appeared in the lower corner of the holographic screen. His eyes were bulging out of his sockets, his tanned face pale.
"Thanks for the update, Tom," said Telek.
"Looks like Tom is freaking out," said Tulsa.
"Yeah," said Telek, sighing as he leaned back against his chair. "I noticed. Tom, get your shit together. That's an order."
"Yes, sir."
"Give me a status update on our rescuers," said Telek.
"He said he'll be here in 15 minutes," said Tom. "But that was 10 minutes ago."
"I'm surprised we lasted this long," said Tulsa.
Telek gripped the arms of his chair tightly again as he felt his ship shake: "We'll survive the five minutes."
Tulsa grunted, leaning down as a flash sparked behind him. He covered his head with his arms. Then, he looked back up at the screen.
"If only I had your optimism, Telek."
"Telek," began Cujo. "Those assholes disabled my plasma cannon. I can't snipe them."
Telek growled, looking up at the flickering lights above. He turned to hear the sound of a bridge crew-member howl in pain. The red-armored Sangheili held to his arm, the black body suit torn, exposing his flesh. Tele slammed his finger on a glowing green button on the arm of his chair.
"Erin," he began. "Send a medic up here. We've got injured."
"Right away."
Telek turned around to the screen Tom's face was on.
"How long has it been now?"
"Two minutes," replied Tom.
Telek rose from his seat again, turning back at the sound of hooves clacking against steel and carpet. He saw his olive and gold armored head surgeon come walking in with several drab colored Major-domos in pale red. Telek lowered his seat down, waling over to help the bridge-man up.
"Thank goodness we've installed those teleporters," said Erin. "This ship is too big."
"Tell me about it," said Telek.
Erin pulled out a cooling pack, looking down at the electrical burn in the Sangheili's arm. He placed the pack upon the burn and helped the Sangheili up. Telek helped Erin lay the wounded crewman onto a hover gurney. The ship shivered again and Telek toppled over to the floor, slamming into one of the chairs where the other bridge crewmen sat at.
"Excellency," began a black-armored crewman. She leaned down to help Telek to his feet. As Telek came to his feet, he looked to Cujo's screen.
"I guess they're still after us," he said.
"That is an affirmative," replied Cujo.
"Joli, Rolu," began Telek.
"Plasma torpedo locked on our aft engines, sir," said Rolu.
"Fire aft phasers," said Telek.
"Aye, aye," said Rolu.
His black, gloved hands whirled down the hard-light panels. Upon the screen, he could see the smaller cruiser closing in on him and the reticule flashing red, centering the ship within range of the phasers.
"Target locked," said Rolu. "Firing."
Rolu could see the blue-white plasma cannon fire upon the bow of the attacking ship and the screen flickered as the beam impacted.
"Admiral," began Tom. "I have an idea. If we all get close together, I can create a Technomantic shield around all four ships. Me and the Technomancers on board can."
"No," said Telek. "You'll fry your brain doing that. I don't want you a vegetable. I like my Shipmasters to be able to command."
Tom flinched at the sound of an explosion behind him, the screen lighting up white.
"It's better than getting ourselves fried, Telek!"
"Excellency," began Joli. "If he can produce a shield large enough to protect our ships–well–it would save us. I don't know how long we can keep this up. Their weapons–are superior."
"Telek, let him," said Cujo. "Whatever they got on their ship, it's trumping even the heavy firepower of your own."
Telek took in a deep breath, his face grimacing. At first, he was wagging his head. The last thing he wanted was to loose another one of his team. Then, after a moment of silence, the Sangheili Pirate finally nodded in defeat.
"Alright," he said. "Do it."
"Roger," said Tom. His brown eyes started glowing cyan blue and each sides of his face bore the single, black, triangular stripe. Telek could see the glowing cyan cord bundles grow out from the back of the human's head. Tom took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, raising his hands up. All around the four ships of Telek's fleet, grew a large, fluctuating bubble of blue-white energy, radiating out from the Silent Wrath, and covering all ships protectively. Telek could see the strain in Tom's face as he held to the enormous shield, fueling it with the power he was downloading. It was never about Tom's own personal power creating this shield, it was how much power could he download safely and withstand, how much power output he could command before the burn-out happened. The power the Technomancers seemed to all possess was unlimited, the only limitations was set by how much they could take before the power itself fried their bodies. Joli ran his fingers across the glowing panels, seeing on his screens the attacking ships continuing to fire upon them. Their weapons exploded harmlessly upon the shield.
"It's working!" Joli said.
Telek looked at the screen, seeing Tom Jimenez strain.
"Tom," he said. "Come on."
"It's–passed 15 minutes," said Tom and Telek could hear the strain in his voice. "They're–late."
"Just hold on," said Telek.
On the other side, where Tom was, his body was shaking as it started glowing blue-white. He could feel every fiber of his muscles cry out in agony, ripping as he forced the energy outward. His other Technomancers were feeding into the shield as well, helping with the load, but still, keeping such a huge shield up was even too much for them.
"Tom," began a voice–the voice Tom recognized as the Array. Though, he had to admit, this was the first time the Array decided to talk to him with such a natural timbre. Normally, it only spoke to him, feeding him hollow information. The Array actually sounded concerned. "Tom, disconnect. You're drawing too much of my power into yourself. You can't take this much."
Tom shook. Telek could see a drop of dark crimson running out of the human's left nostril.
"Tom," said the voice again. "Let go. They are here. Time to disconnect from me."
Tom felt the coldness of the disconnection as the Array itself withdrew from his mind. The glow ceasing from his body, and Tom dropped face down upon his bridge.
"Tom!" Telek called. "Tom!"
"Tom!" said Cujo. "What the hell happened?"
"God fucking damn it!" Telek bellowed, slamming his fist upon the rim of the hard light emitters. The screens vibrated when he punched one of the emitters, and the images of Cujo and Tulsa wavered and jumped, scrolling for one moment. As the emitter re-calibrated, their images became clear again. Telek looked up just as he saw something flash upon Tom's screen. There, he saw an armored being upon the screen, silvery armor and a draconic-looking helm and horns. The strange, armored creature knelt down and took Tom into its arms. Then, it vanished.
"The hell?" Telek asked. "Did Tom's ship just got boarded?" He pressed a button upon the hard-light screen. "Xebar, do you read me?"
A black and gold Sangheili appeared upon the screen of Tom's ship and nodded.
"Yes, Excellency," he replied. "Aliens, aliens boarded our ship and took our Shipmaster. They were so quick, we couldn't stop them."
"Excellency!" began Rolu. "Look!"
Telek looked to the enormous screen showing the two flanking cruisers. Then, in a bright, flash of light, one of the cruisers suddenly vanished.
"The hell?" Telek asked.
"Did you see that?" Cujo asked.
"Rolu, did that ship drop from Slipspace?" Telek asked.
"I–don't know," said Rolu. "It just vanished."
Then, the second cruiser following them vanished, followed by the third and then the fourth. Finally, it was just their ships that were left. Telek gasped as the black sky became blue, as if he was looking out at the atmosphere of a planet. The ships were bathed in the golden glow of a star. Telek looked around at the screens, seeing billowing clouds off in the distance. Though upon further inspection, Telek thought he saw two other Covenant Super Carrier over the rise of the small ridges that the clouds were rolling over. And there were two smaller ships below them. It was like he was looking at a mirror image.
"What the hell happened?" Telek asked.
"Excellency," began Joli. "I think we just landed upon a planet."
"Where the hell did this planet come from?" Telek asked.
"Is that our ships?" Cujo asked. "I'm sending a signal at them and–the signal seems to be looping back around at us. Those are our ships!"
Rolu's brown eyes looked over to a flashing pink, triangle upon the hard-light control panel.
"Supreme Commander," he began. "Someone is trying to contact us."
"Bring them up."
"Yes, sir."
A trapezoid-shaped holographic screen faded in beside Cujo's screen. The person on the screen looked to be a dragon with a humanoid-like torso and a lupine-like head covered in coppery golden scales. Golden branched, curled horns grew out from his head and his pointed ears twitched. Ornate golden beads decorated his braided, auburn and silver streaked hair. A pair of membraned red wings folded to his back. A smile appeared upon his face. Two glowing cyan eyes sparkled and Telek could see the three triangular markings upon his cheeks.
"Admiral Telek 'Heros," began the dragon.
"Yeah?" said Telek. "Who are you?"
"Emperor Kedzuel Draconis."
Telek took in a deep breath and exhaled, slumping his shoulders.
"Took you long enough," he said.
"Sorry about that," said Kedzuel. "It's not easy folding space without a proper visual reference." He shrugged. "I had to grab those other ships and test them out if they belong to you. Then, I dropped them off out of slipspace and away from you."
"And did you pick up a human named Tom?" asked Telek.
"I didn't," said Kedzuel. "I sent one of my medics out though. Looks like he was trying to do something that was a bit too advanced for his level. Though he's got some spunk in him to pull it off. That, I have to admire."
Telek licked his mandibles, swallowing: "I'm hoping he's alright."
"He is," said Kedzuel.
"Thank–whoever," said Telek.
"I'll be sending over some technicians to help with the repairs, but I'm afraid for now, your ships are out of commission until they are done."
Telek settled back into his chair.
"Do they know how my ships work?"
"Megellan has informed them," said Kedzuel. "And because your ships are very similar to the Forerunner ships, repairing them shouldn't be a problem. May I ask permission to come aboard?"
"Yeah, you can come aboard."
"Thank you."
As the screen disappeared, Telek turned to the ones that still held Cujo and Tulsa.
"I want you two on board as well and in the meeting room in ten minutes."
"Yes, Excellency," said Tulsa.
"Gotcha, Telek," said Cujo. "We'll be there."
Then, their screens vanished. Telek turned to hear the sound of electricity sparking along the floor. Just as soon as the sparking happened, they flashed in. He recognized the green one with the uniform, he was just as tall as Telek, the Lengodo named Megellan. The other dressed in a little fancier clothing was the gold and copper Precursor who called himself Emperor Kedzuel Draconis. The Emperor stood a good head and a half taller than Megellan, filled out with harden muscles of a warrior under the drapery of robes. His auburn long hair was tied in those golden, ornate bobbles at the tips of his braids. Megellan waved at Telek. Telek only grunted. However, Kedzuel kept still, waiting for the Supreme Commander to make his move. All around, the Sangheili rose up, pulling their plasma rifles out, aiming them right at the two new arrivals.
"Just pop right in, that's fine," said Telek, gripping his chest from the shock. He waved at the other Sangheili, motioning them to lower their weapons. "Hardly any warning at all."
The Sangheili crew lowered their weapons and sat back down, though their dark eyes still remained upon the two Kethosians.
"Sorry about that, Admiral," said Megellan. He stepped away, motioning towards his companion. "Emperor Kedzuel wanted to see you right away and since I was the one who has been on this ship, I teleported him in myself."
"After all, your ship is inside of my ship," said Kedzuel.
"Is that what that is right there?" Telek asked as he pointed to the screen filled with the blue sky and clouds. He noticed the sun beginning to set, turning the rim of the blue sky orange. "Your ship?"
"Yes," said Kedzuel.
"You have some sort of environment inside your ship, like the Halos?"
"No," said Megellan. "This is a pocket dimension about–well now–due to what we had to jettison to make it large enough to house your ship with breathing room to spare–about 100 miles in each direction."
"A hundred miles?" Telek asked.
"It's normally 20," said Kedzuel. "Twenty miles is all this ship has the power to support aside from all the other functions. And your and Captain Jimenez's ships are about a quarter the size of my own. I had no choice but to stretch the pocket dimension, so we had to dump several levels to find enough power to fuel such a size."
"Good God," said Telek.
"And to build this–my head now hurts," said Kedzuel. He raised his claw to his brow.
"You built this with your mind?" Telek heard Joli ask. The helmsman turned around to stare at the Precursor leader with wide eyes.
"Yes," said Kedzuel.
"Shit, if Tom tried to do any of this, his brain would melt right out of his nose," said Telek.
Kedzuel chuckled: "None of that happens with me. I've had a long enough time to exercise that muscle in order to get it to work. But doesn't mean I don't get a bit of a headache from it. Once it's built, no more pain. Building is a pain. Hope you like lots and lots of grass. Cuz that's what I filled the new field with. Grass."
"I can deal with grass," said Telek.
"Good," said Kedzuel. "Best I could come up with in 15 minutes." He crossed his arms. "I'm happy enough that I didn't create a huge desert to fill the gap between the two pocket dimensions that I bridged them with. Kethoi is nothing but a giant desert–I hate deserts." Kedzuel walked towards Telek, holding his claw out. "Well–"
"It's about time we met," said Telek as he took the claw into his gloved hand.
"I was about the say the same thing," said Kedzuel. "Alan was the one who told me about this civil war. And the Arbiter told me the rest. These Covenant Remnants are using something dangerous."
"Yeah," said Telek. "So it seems from what Tom informed me after you informed him. Reaper tech. Damned bastards." The big Sangheili crossed his arms. "I'm glad Otto drugged your ass out here. I need a miracle. I used to be called the Miracle Worker back during the latter years of the Covenant/Human War–when I worked with the UNSC. Seems all that magic's left me now in my old age. Now, if you would just follow me. I've told Tulsa and Cujo to get to my ship. Tom–"
"He'll be alright," said Megellan.
"I worry about the kid," said Telek. "I lost Davis–I don't want to loose him too. Without Davis' Technomancy, I never would have found Kiryuu on that planet–never would have seen King Ghidorah rise up again–having all he needed to start powering his Reapers again. This Reaper shit–it's mine and Kiryuu's fault it's happening now."
"No it isn't," said Kedzuel. "It would've happened no matter what you did."
He motioned for Kedzuel and Megellan to follow him to the tri-valve door at the end of the bridge. He heard the door chime softly and deeply, the red lights turning green and the door folding open to allow them to leave. They walked through the enormous corridors, dimly lit by the glow of pink and purple lights running along the corners of the corridor. Kedzuel looked upon the oily metallic blue walls, seeing sparks of blue race across the black corners. He could hear the soft pulse of the engines. He turned to hear the hard clack of heavy boots and found a huge, hulking creature, armored in dark blue–taller than him–walk by. The creature wore a great shield upon one arm and a canon, glowing green, upon the other. Between the armor of the creature was its orange skin, or what Kedzuel thought was skin. Another creature exactly like the first walked up behind it. Both rumbled at Kedzuel as he passed them. The Blitzardi sniffed, noticing the strange scent of sharp burning rubber and citrus.
"Lekgolo," said Megellan. "Those creatures are a colony of sentient worms. Interesting creatures."
"A colony of worms huh?" Kedzuel said. "Very strange." He leaned closer to Megellan. "Dou echixae h'xeo."
"Hi t'dau," said Megellan with a snicker.
Tele looked back at his guests: "You two behave yourselves back there. I'd hate for yuins ending up being trophies for some of my more rough crewmen."
"I think I can take them on," said Kedzuel.
Telek chuckled as he wagged his head.
"So what Megellan said about you Blitzardi is true. Try not to have too much of a hot head here, Your Highness. I'd hate to have an intergalactic dispute on my ship."
Kedzuel gave a chuckle and then rushed to the maroon-armored Supreme Commander.
"Admiral," he began. "There's something I've wanted to ask you about once I knew we'd finally meet."
"And what is that?" asked Telek.
"The Flood," said Kedzuel. "One of King Ghidorah's forms. You've encountered them much?"
"A lot, in fact, in the latter year and a half towards the war's ending, we discovered those monsters on a Shield Installation about 35 years ago when the Covenant was finishing up on glassing Harvest. And then another outbreak on Halo 04 later on in the war. But what could I tell you that you probably already don't know?"
"We don't know everything," said Kedzuel.
"You knew enough to find a cure," said Telek.
The Blitzardi lowered his head.
"We were close to one," said Megellan. "But close doesn't cut it. The Forerunners destroyed the facility on Charrum Hakkor and the files went with it."
"Megellan came close to fighting them," began Kedzuel. "I have never fought them. But you–you survived them."
"Never fought the Reapers either?" asked Telek.
"Only from the inside of a ship," replied Kedzuel. He heard a disapproving grunt from the Sangheili and the Blitzardi continued in his own defense. "Not my choice in the matter. I was under orders from the previous Emperor."
"Your uncle."
"Right."
"So, you're a little wet behind the ears when it comes to fighting those monsters," said Telek with a heavy sigh.
"Yes," said Kedzuel. "When I was informed that you've dealt with them–him–in his many forms, I knew I would need to keep a close contact with you. You can help me fill in the gaps."
"Trial by error," said Telek, turning back to the taller Blitzardi. His face grew grim. "That's all I can say. But no one outside of perhaps Kiryuu, Otto, the Master Chief, and my Shipmasters have taken such a fight so seriously. This thing that monster is, he's the stuff of nightmares. Those stupid people on the Citadel Council, they know nothing. But I can tell you. I can tell you a lot more than any other. And then there's Kiryuu. Both he and I know what it means to be possessed by that monster. He takes away the mind and leaves emptiness. Never been so scared of the dark until I came across King Ghidorah. I'm lucky I can sleep at night. If itweren't for my pickled liver, I'd be drinking myself senseless right now."
Kedzuel sighed, wagging his head. He looked back at Megellan, seeing a sullen, sallow green shade growing across his cheeks. The Emperor agreed with his growing sickness.
"The Reapers did not return in the last cycle," began Kedzuel. "All because the Forerunners had created a new weapon form him to use, and it did not take as much resources to make it as it would the Reapers themselves." He flipped a lock behind his shoulder. "And King Ghidorah could spread his virus across the galaxy swiftly. I am wondering if he would choose now to use both. Has the Flood been completely destroyed?"
"No," said Telek. "It hasn't. There's still Halos left–Halos filled with the Flood. And Forerunner facilities also filled with the Flood. I couldn't even begin to count how much of it is out there. Like a bomb waiting to be set off. And then there's the Shield Installations–again–with Flood. Much like the one on Pandora and the one discovered during the glassing of Harvest. They're everywhere." He cleared his throat. "I wouldn't put it passed that snake to try and use the Flood again. Why put all your eggs in one basket?"
They finally came down to a tri-valve door and it opened up with a chime. Sitting in the room was a silver-armored Sangheili with a leaner physique than what Kedzuel had seen from many of the other Sangheili he's met. Sitting down upon the table next to this Sangheili was a blue heart-shaped stone and a rather short human with curly hair and gold eyes and a very loud, peacock blue suit.
"Damn it, Shri," began Telek. "What the hell are you–what's Casper doing here?"
"He insisted on coming to meet our guests," said Shri.
The short human stood up and walked over to Kedzuel and held out his hand.
"Hello, Emperor Kedzuel," he said.
"Hello," said Kedzuel, taking the man's hand. "Who's this?"
"Your Highness, this is former President Dunkelzahn Mountainshadow," began Telek. "Kiryuu's predecessor."
As Kedzuel took the human's hand, he noticed how deathly cold it was. The Blitzardi snatched it back.
"Yeeooww!" he called. "That's cold!"
"Sorry about that," said Dunkelzahn. "I've came up with a bad case of being deceased."
"You're a ghost?" Megellan asked. "Admiral, you never told me you had a ghost on your ship. Alan's never told me. Does Alan know?"
"The correct phrase is Free Spirit," said Dunkelzahn. "And yes, Alan knows."
"Alan's the one who fetched him outta that ghost town–Chicago," said Telek. "And that be another thing you need to know. King Ghidorah's got a bunch of monsters called the Invae under his command as well. Cujo and Alan ran into those creatures as well as my old pal Dovi 'Canthon–Shri's baby brother."
"He certainly did," said Shri. "I've never fought them myself, but from what Dovi could tell me–they were nasty creatures. And they did the same as the Flood would do–change your genetic code with a retrovirus. One bite from those creatures and you turn into giant insect monsters. The main hive mind of that group is called Megaguirus, an extension of King Ghidorah's presence in Chicago."
"So far, the Earth Technomancers have done all they could to keep that city contained," said Dunkelzahn. "But–I have a fishy feeling it's not going to last. Not with the Reapers coming. Which is why I wanted to speak to both of you, especially you Commissioner Megellan. Maybe you could shed some light on this."
Telek motioned for the two Kethosi to sit down. Dunkelzahn sat right beside Megellan.
"If I may ask, how did you die?" Megellan asked the Free Spirit.
"I committed suicide," said Dunkelzahn.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Depression?"
"No, a sense of duty," said Dunkelzahn. "As you know, King Ghidorah has a particular habit of returning to Earth every few thousand years. And as he does it–he raises the level of Mana to do it." He cleared his throat. "You see, not only am I a Free Spirit, but I am a Free Spirit of a Western Dragon. Malcho was my surrogate father and mentor during my development. I was a Great Western Dragon by the time I decided to destroy my body for I had gained enough power to completely be rid of it in order to protect Earth. It was my death–and myself as a Free Spirit that kept King Ghidorah from returning to Earth for over 500 years–long enough for humans to become what they are now."
"Some sacrifice," said Kedzuel.
"I'm proud to have done it. Though I do miss the taste of food. I have to say, since your return–I've learned something about Papa Malcho that I never thought I would. I did not know that he turned himself into a cyborg."
Megellan and Kedzuel chuckled.
"That was my sister's idea," said Kedzuel. "She had Megellan help her in his transformation. It was the only way to allow a Great Dragon to manipulate Technomancy. We could alter human DNA to use Technomancy without cybernetics, but Malcho–we found because of his–kind–how it evolved from King Ghidorah's energy, the Array kept rejecting him. So, we forced it into him. We turned him into a cyborg. I see that he used some of that knowledge and technology we built into him to help build Kiryuu with."
Dunkelzahn smiled, nodding.
"Yes, without Malcho's own genius, Gordon Knight would never had been able to bring Kiryuu to life."
"So, you've also faced King Ghidorah," said Kedzuel.
"I have faced him in his astral form," said Dunkelzahn.
"I suppose you can accept him as another who's got some info on how to fight King Ghidorah," said Telek. "I've never fought his astral form before. Though, I've seen it–a lot. When he possessed me, it was Dunkelzahn who helped snap me out of it. And Dunkelzahn who kicked my but out into space again to go find Kiryuu–which led me to Alan–and that led me to Kiryuu."
Kedzuel turned back to the ghost: "Then, I am glad to meet you. I've never fought his astral form either."
"Your input into this would help a lot," said Megellan. "If there is a way we can defeat King Ghidorah on all fronts, not just in the physical–" He broke off, lifting an emerald green claw to his black hair, combing it through. "The Shi ships are specially designed to banish him from the Prime Plane. Where we send him–well where we attempt to send him is back to the Far Realm."
"Do you just send his body there?" Dunkelzahn asked.
"Yes," said Kedzuel.
The Great Western Dragon in human form wagged his head.
"So long as one piece of him stays here, he just reforms again in the Astral Plane. That is where I held up the bridge between him–his Horrors–and Earth. There is something about that planet he's so interested in. What is it? Surely, your species has noticed he comes in waves when Mana rises."
"We've noticed," said Kedzuel. "Which is why my uncle took a particular interest in Erde-Tyrene when he approached it with the idea to give it Technomancy. When we decided to leave, we gave the humans what they needed to defend this galaxy with–but it was also so that they could defend their world with as well–to stop the Reapers from returning."
Dunkelzahn leaned in closer to Kedzuel: "Tell me–why does he come to Earth? What's so special about my home planet? Why does he want it?"
Kedzuel's lips parted, attempting to take hold of a thought in order to answer, but as he was about to speak, the door opened again. There, two Sangheili warriors came in, dressed in gold armor.
"Ah, Cujo and Tulsa," said Telek. He stood up. "Your Highness, these are my other two Shipmasters, Cujo 'Mentatl and Tulsa 'Durosh."
Kedzuel stood to shake their hands. Then, Cujo and Tulsa sat down. Dunkelzahn smiled when he saw Cujo, his face greeting him like an old friend he had not seen in a while.
"Cujo!"
"Hey, Mr. President Dragon," said Cujo. "Behaving yourself for Telek?"
"He does not," said Telek. "Casper's hauntin' every bulkhead–I think a few weeks ago he tried to pretend he was the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come a few times as well. Not the original Dickens version–the Bill Murray version with the CRT-monitor head. I think he had the indian chief test pattern up too and it was talkin' to me!"
"Creepy," said Cujo. "Now, why would you do that, Big D?"
"I thought it would make a cool Halloween costume," said Dunkelzahn. "Guess Telek didn't like it."
"It ain't Halloween yet, Casper," said Telek. "And besides, you're technically in costume wearin' that human skin of yours."
"I guess so," said Dunkelzahn.
Telek turned to the other two Shipmasters: "So, what's the report?"
Cujo wagged his head: "It's going to take some time to repair our ships, Telek. I don't think we've got the firepower against them right now. There is something on those ships they're using!"
"Reaper tech," said Telek. "Which is completely outlawed by the Council on Sanghelios."
Tulsa leaned over, holding his head in his black-gloved hands.
"I don't fucking believe this!" he said. "Reaper tech?" He looked back over at Telek, his yellowish-green eyes widening. "Are those idiots crazy? Do they have any idea what that stuff can do to them if they remained exposed too long?"
"From what the Arbiter told me," began Kedzuel. "This Jul 'Mdama and his little band don't believe a word about the Reapers." He leaned to Telek. "Kiryuu told me New Llanelli was a base for Cerberus as well, but they abandoned it when the Covenant glassed the planet."
"It was," said Telek. "This was back when Cerberus was in fact a covert operation within the Office of Naval Intelligence–and when those jokers were taken their orders from President Kiryuu Knight and not the Illusive Man. Let's just say when they lost their funding after the war was over, none of them wanted to give up their special talents–which is why the Illusive Man is their boss now. He funds them. Where he gets that funding, I don't know. Not even Kiryuu knows and he usually is the one who knows everything and everyone. He even knows what your shit smelled like the night before–and what you ate because of it. Nothing gets passed Kiryuu Knight. Some how, this joker has."
"Knight's loosing his touch," said Cujo. "People aren't scared of him like they used to be. At least humans aren't. The Citadel races, that's a whole new story. They absolutely hate him–especially when they all found out he was involved with the SPARTAN Project and helped Halsey kidnap 6-year olds to be turned into cyborg soldiers. They all think it's an AI trying to turn humanity all into machines too."
"And from what I got from Malcho, both he and Kiryuu were blackmailed into the project," said Kedzuel. "I'm more inclined to believe Malcho than those assholes at the Citadel."
Telek sighed: "I never agreed to that project when I discovered what it was, but I met one of the best human beings because of it–John-117. If you ever run into him, Your Highness, shake his hand. You'll be grateful for doin' it. I know I did when I finally won his trust."
Kedzuel nodded: "I'll be sure to do that." He looked to Cujo and Tulsa. "As for the Reaper tech, this is why I wanted to rush out here as fast as I could. I want to know how they got the Reaper tech and where they got it from."
"I think we can do something about that," said Telek. "With our ships out of commission right now, we ain't goin' anywhere."
Kedzuel chuckled, placing a claw upon Telek's shoulder.
"That's alright, you can all bunk with me," he said. "While my crew are helping to repair your ships, we all can go down there and find out for ourselves what the deal is with New Llanelli. Maybe we can find some proof down there that will finally put 'Mdama and his friends behind bars and this war over with."
Telek nodded, rising from his chair: "I like the sound of that! Alright, looks like we've got a plan now."
Kedzuel smiled, seeing the sparkle in Telek's blue eyes. Megellan's glowing cyan eyes suddenly became distant as a message was sent to him from the infirmary. Then, his eyes blinked and he looked back at Kedzuel.
"Um, Tom Jimenez," he began. "The head surgeon says he's coming around now."
"That's good!" said Telek. "Can I see him?"
"Yeah," said Kedzuel. He stood up and held out his coppery golden claw. "I'll take you to him. Megellan, stay with our guests. You know them much better than I."
"Sure, Kedz," said Megellan.
Dunkelzahn turned back to Megellan: "You can tell me why Earth is so important to King Ghidorah, Commissioner."
Megellan dipped his head, swallowing hard: "I'll try my best."
Telek and Kedzuel backed up and the Blitzardi took hold of the Sangheili's shoulder again.
"This might tingle a bit," he said.
"Alright," said Telek. Then, his vision was filled with a great, blinding, flash of white light. As it cleared, his perspective changed. He found himself standing in the middle of a massive, coppery-golden palm and fingers tipped with onyx colored claws. Telek's eyes widened when he looked up to find Kedzuel now in his true size–a towering giant of over 250 feet in height.
"The hell?" he said.
"Sorry about that," said Kedzuel, his voice a great thunderous boom now to the tiny alien in his palm. "When we got Tom out of his ship, we didn't have much time to make the proper adjustments to his size, and we did not want to injure him any more than he was. So, we left him in his true size." The Blitzardi turned and smiled. "I'm sure he would rather see a familiar face that's close to his size as well."
"I guess," said Telek. "So, this is how big you are?"
"Yes," said Kedzuel. "Surprised?"
"A little, but I've been around Kiryuu Knight in his true size," said Telek. "I have to admit, you're taller than he is. But my ship's still bigger than you."
"And my ship's bigger than yours."
Telek crossed his arms and let loose a good, hearty, belly jiggling laugh: "I guess it is! You win, Your Highness."
Kedzuel turned and slowly lowered him upon a slab of strange black, granite-like platform. As Telek stepped upon the platform, ripples formed out from under his feet as if he was walking on water–water that was both solid and liquid. There, he found Tom Jimenez lying upon a long, draping silvery cloth. Looming over the human was an enormous Lengodo Kethos, dressed in muted colors much like Erin wears. Telek guessed this was Kedzuel's head medical officer. Filaments of glowing cyan flowed around Tom's body, streaming out from the neck of the Lengodo. Though, he also noticed that Tom was also Connected, his cords were out, the markings along his cheeks were there. Telek ran to him, kneeling down beside the human.
"Tom!" he called. "Disconnect, you idiot!"
"It's alright," began the Lengodo. "I forced a Connection to help him heal. It is perfectly normal."
Telek turned to look up at the green Precursor, breathing heavily. Then he turned back at the towering Emperor beside the Lengodo.
"I'm sorry, but Connecting kinda hurts the little fella," said Telek. "His brain was hemorrhaging."
"I know," said the medic.
"It has to do with we not teaching them all our tricks," said Kedzuel. "Including the ability to stay permanently connected to the Array without any ill effects. He tried to download too much of Takhisis' power all at once in order to save you."
"Who's power?"
"The Array," said Kedzuel. "And we'll leave it like that."
Telek sighed, wagging his head: "Look, I don't care whatever it is–what the Array is–or what it does. I just worry when it hurts members of my crew like that when they use it."
"Skipper?" moaned a soft voice. Telek looked down to see Tom opening his eyes up, they were glowing cyan like the Precursors'.
"Tom!"
"I'm–alright," he said. "Told you he'd make it."
"I know," said Telek. "You saved all our hides back there. I couldn't ask for more than that. You did well, son."
"Thanks, Skipper," said Tom.
"Sure. Just get some rest. We'll be outta the woods in no time."
"A couple of hours should do it," said the Lengodo. She turned to Kedzuel. "To reduce the swelling to his brain."
"Sounds about right," said Kedzuel. "I'll leave it in your hands, Doctor." He held his claw out to Telek again. "Admiral, come on. Captain Jimenez needs his rest."
Telek rose up, giving Tom a positive thumbs up.
"Thanks, Skipper," said Tom, giving him the thumbs up back.
Telek turned to the Lengodo: "You take care of him, ya hear?"
"Of course, sir."
Kedzuel held his claw out to the Sangheili and Telek hopped back in. As they left the infirmary, Kedzuel snapped his fingers and the Sangheili disappeared out of his claw. Suddenly, he reappeared again, this time just only a head shorter than the Emperor himself. Telek gasped, feeling his sides.
"The fuck was that?" he asked.
"I need your help with something, Telek," began Kedzuel. "When this ship drops slipspace, I need your help to guide her to New Llanelli."
He motioned for the Sangheili to follow him down the corridor. They passed through walls, rippling in between the spaces until they arrived into a large chamber of the same granite-like substance.
"Where the hell are we?"
"The ship's bridge," said Kedzuel. "Here, I fold space." The cyan cords flowed out, latching upon the walls around him. Telek looked around as the walls themselves seemed to disappear, folding away panel by panel to reveal the blackness that was slipspace. Kedzuel motioned and soon everything was filled with stars. "There we are. Out of slipspace." He turned back to Telek. "In order to fold space, I have to see a clear path."
"Where are we?" Telek asked.
"Middle of nowhere," said Kedzuel. "As to what distance we are to New Llanelli, I don't know. That's where you come in."
"Alright."
"I don't use spacial coordinates to travel," began Kedzuel. "I use visual coordinates. You know what New Llanelli looks like–and because of that, you're the only one who can properly direct me in folding space to get to it."
"And how do I do that?" asked Telek.
"Connect with me."
"Oh no!" said Telek, waving his hands. "I'm not gonna end up like Tom!"
"You won't," said Kedzuel. "You'll be sharing my connection. I can take the brunt of it, but I have to see where I'm going to fold space. You know where it is, so I need that knowledge."
"Alright," said Telek, sighing as he scratched his head. "Let's do it–I guess."
Kedzuel smiled and then two fibers of his cords floated on down around to the back of Telek's neck. Telek felt a horrible sting upon his neck as the cords inserted themselves into him. The Sangheili grunted. His eyes started glowing cyan, much like Kedzuel's. The Emperor's eyes widened when he realized just how easy it was for Telek to link up to his cords, his mind not even fighting against the Connection.
"You've done this before!" he said. "With your human Technomancers?"
"No," said Telek.
"Then, where?"
"Long story," said Telek. "Too long to tell right now. Maybe later. So, how do we fold space?"
"Picture New Llanelli in your mind," said Kedzuel.
Telek closed his eyes and began to imagine the planet, a desert planet with a scar upon its face. It was a Covenant glyph that was burned upon the face, a circular glyph with a jagged line through it and two dots. It meant 'Heresy'. Kedzuel saw this planet in his mind as well as he drew the image from Telek.
"Now, I will bring that planet to us," said Kedzuel. He reached out with his claw and as if he was taking hold of the fabric of space itself, Telek saw the stars wrinkle up like a dinner cloth. The Blitzardi tugged hard upon the cloth that made up space-time and drew it close to him. Telek's eyes widened just as he saw a distant star draw close to him, and then a planet, the planet with that scar on its face. The movement was swift, sickeningly swift and the Sangheili felt his head swim from the motion. Within just a second, they were there, orbiting the planet. Telek fell to his knees, gasping for air just as the cords unhooked themselves from his neck.
"Now," began Kedzuel. "We go and discover what mystery this planet has."
"Give me a moment," said Telek. "I think I'm about to lose my lunch."