Disclaimer – No ownage of Halo here, at all.
Author's Note: Finally, another chapter is here! For everybody wishing to know what the MASSIVE delay was, there is another A/N at the end of the chapter that explains all. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, guys!
The Arbiter's Tale
Chapter 7
Rendezvous
'Thel 'Vadamee leapt from the upper level of the gondola as several criss-crossing Sentinel beams seared over his head. Landing on the ground below, Thel rolled into cover behind a section of wall that protruded out towards the gondola. The whole area had been transformed into a chaotic brawl between an Enforcer with its Sentinel compatriots and a huge number of Flood combat forms. Both groups seemed more interested in attacking one another, so Thel was relatively safe from his position.
Thel fired a round from his Carbine into an oncoming combat forms chest, popping the controlling infection form within and causing the ex-human to smash into the wall beside Thel. Another combat form nearby heard the shot and turned but it met the same fate as its companion.
An Aggressor Sentinel rounded the wall that Thel crouched behind, seeking out the source of the shots, but Thel quickly smashed the butt of his carbine into the Sentinel, causing its shields to shimmer and sending it reeling back in the air. Before it could correct its orientation Thel fired a series of shots that wiped its shielding out and caused the machine to explode, sending fragments of metal onto the bodies of the combat forms.
Hearing a loud groan, Thel turned to see a large door opening nearby allowing several Sentinels to enter the area, beams cutting down the parasitic outbreak. Quickly scanning the area to ensure that nothing was directly in his way, Thel made haste towards it, pausing only to crush the combat form bodies.
Private Lewis Cortes unloaded his shotgun into a charging monstrosity of diseased flesh and flailing tentacles. The thing disintegrated into several chunks of flesh that spattered the metal floor. Backing away, he fired several shots into a mass of the smaller bulbous forms – the infectors. Cortes knew that if one of those made contact with you, it was game over as they transformed you into an unholy freak of nature not unlike that which he had just killed. Indeed he had destroyed the bodies of several fellow Marines that had fallen to the parasitic monsters.
"Sarge! We need to get the hell out of here!" Cortes bellowed above the din of several automatic weapons; the fellow surviving members of his squad as they tried to hold back the onslaught of alien parasites.
"The Sarge is gone, man!" Another Marine called back.
Goddamn it! This situation is FUBAR. That bitch Commander Keyes ordered us here without having the goddamn courtesy to inform us about these creatures.
She probably didn't know about them either, He relented. "Still, most of my platoon is dead, or trying to kill me, and I can only assume the others have met the same fate.
The mission had sounded simple enough: Deploy into the wall and drop the energy shield that surrounded the Library so that the main force could deploy armor into the area beyond the wall and establish a fortified presence while others pushed onward to the Library to retrieve the Index and prevent it from falling into the Covenant's hands. This was to prevent the aliens from activating the Halo ring, which would kill all sentient life in the galaxy. Cortes, like everybody else, had been ready to fight the Covenant, and so that was what they expected to find, no this wholly terrifying new species of alien.
The shield had been dropped, just not by the UNSC. Cortes could only assume the Covenant were the ones who had done it. Regardless, as soon as the barrier had been disabled, Cortes and his entire unit had been beset by hundreds of the small infectious creatures. Completely unprepared, many Marines had fallen before they had even realised what was happening.
The actual transformation of a human body was the most horrific thing Cortes had ever seen in his life. The small parasites forced themselves into their human hosts' chests, causing the body to rapidly disintegrate as the skin rotted and turned into a sickly yellowish-brown sludge - the same colour as the parasites - riddled with misshapen tumours and growths,. One arm would pretty much burst apart as a number of elongated claws or tentacles forced the hand aside and the neck would be broken and pushed aside as the controlling creature's tentacles protruded out of the chest, the red ganglia apparently controlling the corpse.
Cortes' platoon had fallen into disarray, with Marines becoming scattered. Many just ran, as if that would do any good, for the parasite was everywhere. Now the terrified private was accompanied by only a couple of other survivors who, desperately tried to hold back the onslaught.
Ultimately though, it was a futile effort as the monsters were simply too numerous. The two Marines with Cortes went down, one with his skull smashed courtesy of a parasite-controlled body and the other overwhelmed with crawlers.
Roaring in both anger and fear, Cortes backed against a wall and fired his shotgun again and again, destroying parasites and reanimated corpses until the gun clicked empty. With no time to reload he tossed it aside and drew his standard issue combat knife, slashing away until he was completely overwhelmed.
Cortes felt an excruciating pain as one crawler managed to sink its tendrils into his back. His pain was mercifully short-lived as the parasite tapped into his spinal cord, attacking his nervous system and ending his suffering almost instantly.
Almost instantly, the crawler rapidly burrowed into his chest. Cortes' skin began to rapidly decompose as unnatural growths started to appear all over his body as he fell. Cortes' left arm exploded into a huge claw-like structure as the parasitic crawler forced his head aside as it made room in his chest, breaking bones and liquefying internal organs.
What was once Cortes climbed unsteadily to its feet, its head hanging limply beside the bulge that now housed the parasite. From this, the sensory tendrils of the crawler protruded, rapidly twitching as it detected its surroundings and decided what next to do with its host.
Lewis Cortes was now, like the rest of his platoon, dead. The former Marines body was now no more than a puppet for the exorable Flood army.
Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee stood in the centre of the cavernous bay which housed Orbital Insertion pods, only one of many such rooms in the massive Holy City of High Charity. Satisfied that all present in the room could hear him, he addressed his team: over two hundred Special Operations Sangheili and an equivalent number of Unggoy fully clad in their respective armour and laden with weapons.
"Brothers!" he boomed, his voice carrying around the launch chamber. Today we partake in the most important operation in our Covenant's history. We have the location of the Holy Ring's Sacred Icon, and it is our task to retrieve it. In doing this we bring glory to the Covenant and make the Great Journey possible, for the Icon allows us to light this most holy installation. The Journey is at hand, and it will be through our efforts that it will be achieved.
"This time, the Demon will not stop us! The Hierarch's will once again recognise the Sangheili as the iron fist of the Covenant! The Jiralhanae will be returned to the lowly positions that properly befits their savage race.
"We will be travelling to the ground by Orbital Pod, as it is imperative that we make landfall as soon as possible. As we land our forward dropship's will deploy stationery guns and combat barriers. We will set up a perimeter and await our vehicles which will be brought in shortly after. Once we are properly mobilized we shall make the push to the Library. We will be constantly reinforced as we go, as we aim to maintain a large ground presence.
"I know not what we will face, but if there is a human presence, it shall be eradicated. Such heretical creatures will not be allowed to take possession of the Icon.
"Is there any questions?" 'Vadumee's eyes swept the chamber, analysing each one of his warriors. Nobody said anything. Nodding in satisfaction, 'Vadumee turned to face the pods. "You all know what you have to do. Enter a pod and wait for my signal before launch. Dismissed."
His men immediately obeyed his command. The Sangheili entered singular capsules while the Unggoy packed into larger units designed to take four. 'Vadumee took a final look around the launch chamber, one of many in High Charity's expansive operations suites, before entering into a pod of his own.
'Vadumee waited for several more seconds, giving all of his troops time to secure themselves before activating his communications device and notifying the deckhand that they were ready to launch. He heard a short countdown, before a sudden sense of vertigo overtook him as the pod slid down the launch tube and then out of the Holy City.
The Special Operations team were now in space, at the mercy of their pods structural integrity and the ground far below. 'Vadumee was not fazed by this – he had carried out hundreds of orbital deployments in his time in the Covenant military. In addition, their pods were far safer than the human's primitive equivalent. On multiple occasions, 'Vadumee had come across mangled human insertion units, with the twisted bodies of the humans still caged inside.
'Vadumee's pod's displays gave him a perfect view of the surrounding airspace. All around him, fellow Orbital Insertion Pods streamed down towards the surface of the Sacred Ring, leaving brilliant bluish contrails in their wake. From where he was, 'Vadumee had a magnificent view of the ring stretching up from the horizon, stretching far out of his line of vision where it completed itself thousands of miles above.
Temporarily overcome by religious fervor, 'Vadumee corrected himself and monitored the displays. They were not long from the ground. He could see a vast building in the distance. He knew this was the Library for he had been shown schematics of the exterior design prior to the drop. The huge facility screamed 'reverence' at 'Vadumee. It featured several large curved 'arms' that forked up from the base and whose tips faced one another at the apex, where a faint beam of light could be seen emanating from.
Our ultimate goal. For the glory of the Covenant.
Around the circumference of the Library was a massive wall, one which stood thousands of metres all and was designed to keep all external forces away from the Library and the holy Icon within. This was of no worry to 'Vadumee though, as a previous Covenant force had disabled the shield that had one extended from the wall to cover the Library.
'Vadumee angled his pod towards a large snow-filled gorge, and barked at his team to follow suit. The snow would cushion the impact of the pods landfall, and the gorge was open and easily defensible. Despite his command, the pods were still spread over a several kilometre radius and more than fifty percent of them missed the gorge.
'Vadumee activated his pod's landing jets which slowed down his descent, but the pod still crashed somewhat heavily on the snow covered ground. He grabbed his dual Plasma Rifles as the pods door hydraulics kicked in and sent it flying off. In a fluid movement, 'Vadumee leapt from his pod, sweeping the area with his weapons.
Around him, many more pods had landed. Thankfully most of them opened, their occupants jumping out. Some of them had unfortunately smashed into the sides of the gorge, killing the unfortunate commandoes inside. 'Vadumee eyed several corpses of his best Sangheili warriors and inwardly sighed.
The team formed up, every soldier scanning their sectors. They watched the cliff walls and caves for any signs of hostile activity. There was none. The low hum of a Phantom dropships engines met 'Vadumee's ears. He looked up and saw a trio of the bulbous ships entering the gorge. One carried several Shade guns on its undercarriage while another had a Deployable Lookout Tower. The third dropship carried several of the Covenant's reliable combat barriers which were ergonomically designed and allowed several soldiers to take cover. The Phantom's deposited their cargo before leaving to meet with other elements of the unit.
The team quickly set up their security measures. Several Sangheili jumped behind the controls of the Shades while a team of Unggoy ascended the lookout tower and set up their Plasma Cannons there. A Sangheili sniper went with them to provide over watch.
'Vadumee's second in command, Sub-commander Sila 'Cruolee stepped forward.
"Commander 'Vadumee, this sector is clear but I have received transmissions from other teams. They have spotted several human dropships and vehicles in the area. I suspect that they are after the Icon also. In addition there seems to be a heavy Sentinel presence in the area. I believe that they are defending the library, and are been distributed by those ships. 'Cruolee pointed up at the sky, and 'Vadumee followed his finger.
High up in the sky, perhaps several kilometres away, two ships hovered. They appeared to be basic in construction, yet were fairly gargantuan in size. The Sangheili race possessed excellent binocular vision, and so when 'Vadumee strained his eyes, he could see tiny dots continually leaving the ships. These would be the Sentinels, he surmised. He was thankful that they had many vehicles being deployed to the area, for a push through those numbers would be impossible on foot.
"Commander!" The sniper on over watch shouted. "We have hostile's incoming. It is the Parasite!"
'Vadumee cursed aloud. The damnable Flood parasite was once again upon them. How did they get here? 'Vadumee had a particular loathing for the Parasite. He had first encountered it during the mission at the first Sacred Ring. He had lead a mission to assist the Covenant Agricultural Ship Infinite Succor when it had been boarded in the ring's atmosphere. Initially believing it to be the humans doing, his team were faced with the horror of the Flood, an all-consuming race, the likes of which he had never come across before.
He had believed the Flood to have been wiped out by the Forerunners eons ago. The Flood consumed his entire team, and he himself had lost his two left mandibles to his own infected Sub-commander. There was no greater threat than the Parasite in the galaxy.
Were they on every Halo Ring?
Now it seemed as if the Flood were determined to hamper him, as his last mission with the newest Arbiter of the Covenant, former disgraced Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee had been complicated by the presence of the Parasite.
'Vadumee had served under Thel before, and knew him well. He was a good friend, and having witnessed his trial and subsequent branding, 'Vadumee believed that he had been judged too harshly over the debacle at Halo. However, it wasn't for him to say.
'Vadumee roared at his men to ready themselves. They had just finished taking up defensive positions when the first group of Flood crested the hilltop.
Wave after wave of the small Flood infection forms tumbled down the hill towards the Covenant defences. The small creatures all swarmed dogmatically towards their targets, not thinking or conducting any tactical genius – they were driven purely by their instinct to infest the Covenant troops.
The Covenant didn't need a command; they simply fired as the Flood came into view. Streams of plasma lashed out destroying swathes of the frail infection forms. Each time one was popped, several nearby forms would be similarly destroyed by the miniature explosion. This made it even easier to hold them back. More and more seemed to come however, and the snow was soon dusted with brownish smears of ichor and pieces of destroyed skin.
"Look, more approach from the cave!" howled 'Cruolee. Several troopers, 'Vadumee included turned to look. Surely enough, more Flood was pouring in from the small opening. This wave didn't include just infection forms however. 'Vadumee spotted several misshapen humanoid figures. They resembled human soldiers, but the Sangheili knew better. They were combat forms. Specifically infected humans. 'Vadumee saw the infection form nestled in the chest, the useless head hanging limply to one side and the thick, mutated clawed arm on one side of the corpse.
The other arm was relatively unchanged, and some of the combat forms wielded weapons in these limbs. Thel noticed that one or two carried human rocket launchers.
"Watch yourselves!" bellowed 'Vadumee. "Many of them have human heavy munitions. Target them first!"
Even as he shouted the order, he saw a rocket fly out of one of the launchers. The targeted Shade had no chance; the explosive completely destroyed it, sending pieces of metal and the charred corpse of the unfortunate Sangheili flying.
'Vadumee's dual Plasma Rifles blazed in concert with the rest of his unit, continuing to tear large gaps in the Parasite's numbers, but their numbers seemed to be infinite. He heard a horrific screech behind him, and turned. More Flood forms poured down the snowy embankment to the unit's rear, and the battle was joined.
Thel's Plasma Rifles were out of ammo, and his Carbine was running dangerously low, so he feared that he would have to scavenge a human weapon off one of the Combat Forms. Normally, such an action was unthinkable to a member of the Covenant, as it was considered a terrible notion to use a human-manufactured weapon, and a warrior would sooner die then pick one up.
Thel, however was no longer burdened by such dishonours. He had already endured his greatest shame in failing to protect the first Halo ring, so the use of a human weapon to aid him would not be able to bring much more dishonour to his name. In addition, it was crucial that Thel was to survive to retrieve the Sacred Icon from the Library, and he couldn't do this without a weapon.
Thel heard gunfire ahead, and he cautiously made his way towards the source. His communications unit crackled, but he was surprised when it was not Tartarus' voice, but that of a human. His translation software converted the human transmission into intelligible words, and Thel heard what sounded like desperate orders being given.
"Proceed to the objective, we'll hold out as long as we can!"
Thel reached a gap in the corridor's wall, and he looked across an open chasm towards an identical opening in the opposite side. Although his view was obscured by smoke, he could see gunfire and the shapes of several human soldiers as they tried to fight off a large group of infection forms and combat forms. Even as he looked, he heard pained screams as the infection forms latched onto the living humans.
"Argh! Argh! Get it off me!"
"Suppressive fire! Suppressive fire!"
More desperate gunfire erupted, before dying down as the humans were overwhelmed. Thel watched as many humans began to transform into combat forms. Turning away from the gruesome scene, Thel's eyes came to rest on a human shotgun lying beside the corpse of its previous owner.
The shotgun was the weapon in which the humans continued to use to their massive advantage in close quarters engagement with Covenant forces, and Thel had seen the damage it inflicted on those unlucky enough to be on its receiving end. In a second he had reached down, picked up the human weapon and scavenged several of the strange 'shells' that it used for ammunition.
Pressing forward, Thel came upon several more combat forms which were no match to the pump-action shotgun which destroyed their bodies. The gunfire attracted more from ahead, and these too met their end at Thel's hand. After moving on some more, he came upon the location where the humans had been overwhelmed. The ground was smeared with the humans red blood, and the walls were pockmarked with bullets testifying to their last stand.
The Sangheili encountered more combat forms, as well as several Sentinels ahead, and he was content to cloak himself and wait for the two sides to whittle one another down before mopping up survivors. He also came across several carrier forms, but the bloated Flood incubators were easily put down at range, and the infection forms were easy prey for the shotgun's wide spread.
Eventually finding another piston, Thel activated it and jumped down. He found himself on a ledge which extended out over a large chasm – another gap in the expansive Sentinel Wall. Thel had an uneasy feeling that in powering down the shield to the Library, he had unleashed the Flood parasite. He felt a moment of dread, realising that the Flood could easily spread as it had done on the first Halo ring, and once again he could be accountable for failure.
No. He told himself. Not this time. I shall not fail this mission. I will retrieve the Icon and in doing so, will allow the Covenant to begin the Great Journey.
The ledge was thick with Flood combat forms, which lurched about and did battle with several golden-plated Sentinels and an Enforcer which hovered out of the Flood's reach. The entire area was filled with criss-crossing projectiles, Sentinel beams and heavy needles. Occasionally a barrage from the Enforcer would come crashing down on the clustered Flood forms.
Deciding that engaging in combat was too risky, Thel triggered his active camouflage and darted from cover to cover across the room, giving the ancient armours cloaking time to recharge. Eventually he found another piston with the mangled remains of a human soldier lying nearby. Thel decided against wasting any time and he opened the piston before slipping in.
The first thing he noticed is that the area was heavily saturated with Flood spores – evidence that the Parasite was starting to terraform the area. Huffing in frustration, Thel ensured that his personal energy shield was fully powered, especially enhancing the shielding around his face to ensure that he didn't breathe any in. As a result of the parasitic infestation, visibility was very poor, with the only source of illumination being a glowing green conduit ahead. Thel made out a large pile of human military crates ahead and shambling about nearby was a number of combat forms.
There was no way that Thel would be able to sneak by with his limited active camouflage so he crept up on the nearest Flood form and blew it apart with the shotgun. The human weapon's booming report alerted the others in the room, and they soon began to swarm his location.
Backpedalling, Thel racked the shotgun's chamber and fired, tearing more combat forms apart. The Flood forms seemed to keep coming, and Thel's shotgun began to run out of ammunition. Firing his last couple of shots into onrushing combat forms, Thel tossed the empty weapon aside and lashed out with his large plated boot, disintegrating a final ex-human. Looking around, Thel picked up a human burst fire weapon. Known as a 'battle rifle' to the humans, the gun packed a surprising punch and was useful in putting combat forms down with a single burst aimed at the controlling infection form.
Thel followed the conduit to the right, proceeding carefully down the strange Forerunner ornamental wall sections and standing pillars. It was the perfect place for an ambush, and several times Thel was beset by lurking infection forms and combat forms leaping down from above.
Eventually making it to a small interior bridge, Thel moved hastily across, aware that there was nothing stopping him from taking a sudden plummet into the depths of the yawning gap except for his own carefulness. On this part of the wall, there was already combat raging, as evidenced by the sight of Sentinel beams and projectiles flashing in the otherwise dull, foggy room.
Thel was surprised by the sudden whine of plasma fire, and he looked up to see a burst of blue plasma bolts connect with a Sentinel, contorting it's structure and causing the small machine to crash to the ground. Rounding the corner to confront the source, Thel found himself not finding any Covenant soldier, but yet another combat form. Unlike the ones he had been fighting up until this point, this was not a former human soldier.
It was a mutated Sangheili. Even though it was facing away from him, he could tell by the size and the fact that it was still adorned in pieces of Special Operations armour. In addition, he could see the dead Sangheili's head facing him, the neck bones having being liquefied during infection. The watery eyes seemed to bore into Thel's. He knew better; the head was useless to the combat form. Sighing, Thel opened fire on it. The Flood form twisted around, and raised its weapon.
Before it could get off a shot from its Plasma Rifle, a burst from Thel's rifle had already destroyed the infection form in the former Sangheili's chest. Without a sound, the corpse dropped to the ground, the Covenant rifle sliding out of its grasp. Despite the effectiveness of the human burst-fire weapon, Thel knew that if he did encounter any surviving Covenant forces, it wouldn't do for him to be seen using a heretical weapon, so the trade was necessary. He checked the charge.
84 percent. Good enough.
Satisfied, Thel raised the Plasma Rifle and pressed onwards, determined to see the end of this godforsaken wall.
The situation at the Covenant rendezvous zone was looking dire. Despite their best efforts to hold back the tide of Flood, they seemed to be forever flowing in to assault them. Wave after wave of infection forms, combat forms and carrier forms continually rushed the line, with only several pauses of a couple of minutes occasionally. The number of remaining Covenant defenders was starting to dwindle, as Flood poured down the embankments on all sides of the camp, as well as from the various caves in the area and the large door that led to another section of the quarantine zone.
Even worse, among the waves of attacking Flood, the commander, Rtas 'Vadumee began to see former Sangheili turned into combat forms. This was a sure sign that other Covenant forces had been overrun. Due to the large numbers of Flood attacking his camp, this seemed all the more likely.
A loud rumbling filled the air, momentarily distracting 'Vadumee from the ongoing battle. He looked up into the sky to see that one of the two large Sentinel producing ships had been struck by several plasma mortars. The ailing ship, which now had flame billowing from it, began to plummet towards the surface of the ring, leaving a thick trail of smoke in its wake. Who had shot it down, whether a Covenant unit, or the Flood was unknown to 'Vadumee.
"Commander!" shouted 'Cruolee. "I have received word that we have Phantoms inbound with vehicular support. They will be with us in several minutes."
"Good! But we must hold out until then." 'Vadumee replied, firing several bursts from his rapidly depleting Plasma Rifles. The numbers of Flood attacking, many with heavy weapons had taken its toll – the Special Operations team was down to a dozen Sangheili including the sub-commander and himself, and several Unggoy.
'Vadumee watched as several attacking Flood turned their attention from the team towards another threat. Plasma fire lashed out of a nearby cave, melting down the closest combat forms. The rest were put down by 'Vadumee's team. The Special Operations Commander watched as a Sangheili warrior adorned in strange, ornamental armour came out of the cave, followed by three more Sangheili. His eyes widened in surprise.
The Arbiter!
Thel ran up to the familiar Sangheili in silver combat armour, who looked at him in confusion.
"Arbiter!" Special Operations Commander 'Vadumee said. "What are you doing here?"
"My brother, I am on a mission directly from the Hierarchs themselves. I am to push through to the Library and retrieve the Sacred Icon. I must get there, for the hopes of all the Covenant rest upon depend on it."
"Ah!" Commander 'Vadumee nodded his head in acknowledgement. "It seems our objective is the same then, for we have been sent down from High Charity in order to secure a rendezvous zone before making for the Library. However I have lost many of my team to the Parasite's onslaught."
Suddenly an ear-splitting scream echoed through the valley. The remaining Covenant Special Operatives all raised their weapons in anticipation for the inevitable assault.
"The Flood is upon us!" called the sniper from the nearby Deployable Lookout Tower as he started to fire his Particle Beam Rifle at the Parasite.
"We must hold this camp until reinforcements arrive!" The Commander shouted to his troops, before turning to Thel. "We have vehicles coming in momentarily. We cannot hope to push through this quarantine zone without them."
So, at long last, another chapter is up. Due to such things as finishing secondary school, working over the summer and starting a University degree course, I have had very little free time. Certainly not enough time to get these chapters produced as speedily as I would like. Semester 1 is almost over (hooray!), just the final exams to go and then its holiday time! Hopefully another chapter will be uploaded at some point during the holiday as I will have so much glorious free time (when I'm not playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection, however ;) Thank you 343 Industries!) Right, enough of this rambling from me, hope you enjoyed the chapter!