Here is 2 good 2 kill uploading the first official chapter of Forging of Empires. I would like to say as thanks for everyone who approved of the story. I will try and do my best to keep you guys entertained. Please however bear with me as I am venturing into unknown territory. I am also looking for a beta readers for this story. For all those wondering about my Inheritance Cycle and Halo crossover, the next chapter is nearly finished and it should be uploaded either this week or the next. Without further ado let's see how this chapter goes. All reviews are welcomed. Please tell me what you think of this first chapter.
Rynal Tolamee was a very proud Sangheili. He had arisen from a low clan to a Sangheili Councilor. For as long as he had been able to draw breath he had done all that was honorably possible to advance not only his family, but his clan. He had often mused that the reason that the armor forges had made the helmet so big as to not let the power of position go to their heads. Today however, what may be considered honorable may be questioned and the only way to save his species may be to enforce the power invoked by his position. Right now however he couldn't tell if he was angrier at himself or at the human spokesman whose race had been his enemy for more than a decade. He could tell that the human was of their Special Forces division just by his blank iron face. The white and yellow striped armor while appearing to be a less advance version of the Demons' was of no designation he had ever seen. When he had been inquired about the nature of the armor he had simply given its abbreviation. SPI. Semi Powered Infiltration armor. It was as if the humans weren't even trying to hide the fact that they had sent a spy into his midst.
Kai Leng eyed the head split lip in the fancy silver armor and his guards with a critical eye. Already he was working out in his mind how to kill the head honcho, his four red armored guards, and escape the Councilor's estate.
"Toss an EMP grenade forward to take out their shields. At the same time throw a flash bang behind to disorient rear guards. While forward split lips are recovering kill the guards and take the Councilor as a hostage. Position the Councilor as a shield and finish of the guards. A quick snap of the neck and all hostiles are dispatched."
"My employer would wish to speak with you." Kai Leng spoke as he extracted a Forerunner device.
Rynal had to control himself from showing any emotion at the "sacrilege". While they had been separate from the San 'Shyuum for some time the old habits still had as of yet to fade.
The device fluttered to life with a blue glow and rose off of the human's hand. It floated forward before forming into an image of an elderly human in a black suede suit. The gray hair that signified great age amongst humans dominated his scalp.
"Greetings Councilor Rynal Tolamee I am a representative of an organization most interested in your current dilemma." The human spoke in almost perfect accent of his own species.
"I know little of human courtesy, but is it not responsible of the other party to also introduce themselves?" while he now had an idea what the humans were here for it made him no less easy.
"Most people that I work with don't even know my real name. Thus I have earned the moniker the Illusive Man. I know how little this must mean too you given your species culture on names. However if the Illusive Man is too long you may simple refer to me as TIM."
Rynal had to hide his smirk as he noticed how much this Illusive Man knew about his species' culture.
"Most of your kind would rather see us dead while the others simply wish to be left alone. So pray tell, why do I come all the way out here seeking us? Seeking me?"
"I will return your question with a question. Tell me how much longer do you think that your race can old onto your civilization before your technology begins to fall apart and your society soon after? Twenty years? Ten years? Five years? The better question is why you haven't come to us for help. While we are recovering you are declining. Your thought of might before science has led to your current state."
Rynal did his best to hide his grimace. This human, this Illusive Man knew a lot that was happening with his species. For years now all of the Sangheili's technologies from an advance star ship to a simple farming machine were beginning to fail. As the Illusive Man had stated his people had placed an emphasis of martial strength above all others occupations. Without the San 'Shyuum and the Hurgok fulfilling their roles his species had to go back to their roots of fixing their own machines. Now look were there pride and arrogance had led them. It was too late when they realized that by making themselves masters they had made themselves slaves. They had grown dependent on their underlings to do the duties that they thought were unworthy.
"Guards leave us." Rynal commanded flatly.
His guards gave him stony glares that questioned his judgment, but they did not disobey their orders as the left. The doors closed softly leaving Rynal and the spy alone in the room. When all the guards had left Rynal rose from his chair, turning his back on the human to stare out from the balcony that overlooked the courtyard of his estate.
"As I'm sure you are quite aware of my society's traditions…if a council elder believes that a Kaidon is ill suited for a leadership role than he is obligated to send assassins to test his martial abilities. A Kadion who could not defend himself is ill suited for leadership."
"A man who thinks of only advancing himself is ill suited for leadership." The Illusive Man responded.
Rynal gave an ambiguous grunt in response.
"You never did answer my question. Why seek to help us and not destroy us?" Rynal asked once more.
"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" the Illusive man responded.
"American President Abraham Lincoln. He was born February 12th ,1809, and assassinated April 15th, 1865."
"You are familiar with human history?"
"A best way to understand another species is to examine their history and the ones they idolize. During our War I made it part of my routine to study human philosophers, leaders, and wars. I still dabble in the history from time to time."
Turning his head ever so slightly to see the Illusive man he saw a smile that looked too much like a grimace. He realized that even though he might have a potential ally he might also have a potential enemy.
"As our case is new, we must think and act anew. Give me three days and I will have your answer." Rynal said flatly turning back to sit in his chair.
"Abraham Lincoln. You quote him quite well." The Illusive man commented, catching his first sentence.
"My wife believes I have turned a military endeavor into a hobby, much to her annoyance."
"I will await you response." He said before vanishing.
"My guards will escort you safely off the premise." He spoke to Kai Leng.
Kai Leng not having an appropriate response simple nodded before turning to leave.
Rynal accessed the desk controls before him.
"Truat, please have a contingent of guards escort our guest to his landing site."
"Acknowledged Councilor."
"Also awaken the scribes and tell them to send me all the information that we have on the humans."
"As you will it. If you go back to quoting humans you know your wife will be…displeased."
"A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me. I am quite aware Truat." He said finished cutting the connection.
Alone in his quarters he said this alone to himself.
"It is a game of shadows I now play."
Meanwhile, hundreds of light years away a different event took place, but one that would link the other.
A jet black pelican moved through the dark blankness of space, a shadow upon a shadow. The sole print that stood out from the darkness was three letters, ONI. The group that sat within its belly were some of the deadliest trained soldiers.
The soldiers were pressed up against one another that nobody had space for elbow room, save for the blue armored one who was given an adequate amount of space at the rear. None of them said a word out aloud as they mentally prepped themselves for the mission at hand.
One soldier curious of the blue armored Spartan sent a tight wave radio signal to a friend.
"You have any idea who this Spartan is, Rick?" the voice, while knowing the line was secure, spoke softly.
"I haven't heard much there, Hammer. Other than he simply goes by N."
"N? What kind of code name is that? Isn't he also supposed to have a number designation as well?"
"If only we could be so lucky as to get that kind of information."
"I heard he saw action back on Earth. When all the Forerunner crap was going on." A new voice interjected this one quite female.
"Rain? How much do you know about our mystery guest?" Hammer asked.
"A little here and there."
"She knows." Hammer and Rick said at the same time.
"Only a little. I could only get so much before ONI sent one of their AI dogs after me."
"Spill." Rick said.
"Well, he's had action on several different planets. Earth being the biggest. Has a kill count that makes him just sub-par of being a hyper lethal vector. He worked alongside some very impressive people, including the Chief."
"Damn. The guy met the Chief." Hammer commented.
"You have to know more." Rick said.
"Well other than that the N stands for is real name and that it was too hard to pronounce so everyone just referred to him as N."
"The N also stands for Ninja because I can be a sneaky bastard like that." A new voice broke over their comms.
The three heads turned to the blue armored Spartan who waved casually at them.
"Or nine." The Spartan said as he pointed at the white numeral on his shoulder pauldron.
"We are inbound to LZ in five. Lock and Load." The pilot's voice boomed over the radios.
The LZ as the pilot had referred to it was an was a massive asteroid that had been remodeled by Insurrectionists to suit their needs. It had taken ONI some time to find this base, but in a matter of minutes it would be clear of all hostiles. Other Pelicans had been dropped out of slipspace and were converging on the base with other strike teams.
The Insurrectionist based had no detection devices, part of the reason why they had been so damn hard to find, so the forces within had no clue until each Pelican launched its payload of missiles upon the exterior hangar doors.
N stood up from where he was, an Assault Rifle in hand. The other ONI soldiers silently stood behind him. When the doors of the Pelican opened they bounded forward into open vacuum. Any one that had not been sucked out was now still.
"Clear." The Spartan commented dryly. "Everyone understands that all targets of team Whiplash are referred to as Tangos?"
He received a series of blue acknowledgement lights on his HUD letting him know that they understood.
The team moved forward quickly to the nearest door. Within seconds their tech specialist had the doors open and they were moving in. The Spartan went ahead into the hallway acting as a shield as he was the only one with shields. Insurrectionists had formed a suitable defensive line with crates that they had quickly formed into a barricade. Bullets streamed through the air searching for flesh. The Spartan withered the barrage taking out four hostiles before having to retreat into an alcove.
"How many tangos are left guarding the barricade?" he asked as he let his shields recharge.
"I count six tangos, sir!" Rick responded from behind an I-beam.
"Time to bring Hammer out."
"Sir if you think for a second that I am stepping out…" a large explosion muffled whatever Hammer had been trying to say.
The agents peaked out to see the Spartan holding a multi-shot grenade launcher. The launcher worked on a revolver principle, which was proven evident as the casing was automatically ejected and another round slid into the firing chamber.
"Hammer meet Hammer." N said, trying to hide the humor in his voice.
"Well it is official. I have found what I want on my Christmas list."
"Enough talking." Rain said as she loaded a fresh clip into her sub-machine gun.
They entire team of twenty or so operatives moved forward throughout the base whittling through any form of defense. The team began to split off to cover more ground as the base was extensive and they needed a thorough search of any possible information that may help in the effort of quelling the Insurrectionists before the Medusas' Prerogative returned to normal space and atomized the station. The split off into teams of into fire fight teams of four. Hammer, Rain, and Rick were paired off with N.
While the Insurrectionists were quick to set up defenses the Spartan was able to demolish them in record time. Anything that got in his way was either riddled with bullets or torn apart by 40 mm of explosive rounds.
Hammer provided close up work with his shotgun while Rain and Rick provided medium range fire with an SMG and AR respectively. The three had worked as a team for years. They had understood how to work without even communicating. N was quick to catch up on this and appreciated whom he was working with.
N held up a fist signaling those behind him to stop. The team spread out through took defensive positions in the corridor.
"Do you hear that?" he asked them.
"Hear what?" Rick returned.
"Hammer, Christmas has come early." N said as he tossed the grenade launcher to the operative.
"Halleluiah."
"I'll want it back." N said as he drew his knife.
"Where are you going?" Rain hissed.
"There should be a storage room two corridor's town and ladder should take you to the upper floor. Wait there."
"What are you going to do?"
N turned his head slightly back to them. If they could see through his visor they would see him grinning.
"Be a sneaky bastard." With that the Spartan silently strode forward and took a left down the next corridor.
When the group followed to see where he was going the Spartan was gone.
"How? He was gone for less than a second. How was he so…"
"He's a Spartan. Let's leave it at that." Rain said as she took the right as the Spartan instructed.
The Spartan bounded silently down empty halls. He had heard footsteps following his team, but he had never been able to pinpoint from where they were coming from. It wasn't until he had heard soft whispers from a ventilation shaft that he had understood what was happening.
He had to give the Insurrectionists credit for being deviously clever. They had built secondary corridors within the walls. It was a near perfect plan, but even these corridors needed to be supplied with oxygen. When he had ditched his team he had snuck into the secret passage. It was not lit at all. Not that it mattered to him as he could travel by sound alone.
The bouncing rays of lights were the first indication that his quarry was close. Slipping into the darkness he vanished. He waited as they stalked his team, completely unaware of the ambush they were walking into. He silently slid the knife out of it sheath.
The first tango wept red ribbons from his throat from a back handed slash. The rear most died as quick spin of the knife dug itself deep in his head. With his hands free N parted his hands horizontally smashing the skulls of the last two against the walls. They were all dead before the first one hit the floor and the Spartan gone as they were more to hunt.
The next group to fall victim was another four member squad. This secondary corridor was considerably bigger as two men could walk side by side. None of them were aware as the Spartan positioned himself to finish them all. He had wedged himself into the ceiling. His arms and legs braced against the O-beams. When the first two had passed he dropped silently from above. With his knife he gutted one and slashed the throat of the other in one smooth movement.
The foremost tangos understood when they were under attack when they heard their comrades' fall. They pointed their guns at the sole target only to have their hands bent so that their guns were pointing at themselves. The command to stop the pull of the trigger came too late. The Spartan was gone before the pin had ignited the bullets propellant. Four bodies littered the corridor.
It occurred to the Spartan that the Insurrectionists had some UNSC training as the way they moved resembled much like the standard UNSC fire teams. N saved it away for the debriefing that would follow this mission. The last and final group was also a four man team. The route they were travelling opened into a hive like network of passages.
The four tangos proceeded down the corridor planning on ambushing an ONI team with overwhelming number of two other teams. They halted when a blue armored form blocked their progress. Before they could fire a blinding light made them flinch. Bullets were fired, but when they could look they saw that they had hit nothing.
Hearing a clatter of a weapon they turned to see a lone assault rifle and their compatriot missing. Another clatter of a weapon and only two were left. They looked around frantically. The beams from their flashlights traced over every nook and cranny. The Spartan was always several steps ahead.
"Here." A voice called to them.
They both turned their weapons and sprayed in short controlled bursts. With each flash of light they saw that the Spartan had shifted position and that none of their shots had hit him. The Spartan knocked them both aside and took one into the dark.
The last tango got up and looked around frantically. Reaching for two of the assault rifles he began to spray as many bullets as possible. He didn't stop until all the bullets had been spent. Even as the assault rifle clacked empty he never removed his fingers from the triggers.
"Boo."
The tango turned to see the Spartan hanging from the ceiling. It was the last thing he ever saw.
"Ha ha! Takeit!" Hammer yelled as he fired grenade after grenade from his position.
The Insurrectionists had dug in deep into the storage area. It was one of the last rooms protecting the invaders from breaching one of the bases terminals. Not only did the Insurrectionists have troops in the labyrinth of crates, but also in the rafters. Fire from every weapon rained on their position. Only Hammer and his Hammer were able to keep the tangos at bay.
"How many of them are there?" Rick asked as he let loose another burst from his Ar to keep the tangos from becoming to brave.
"Shut up and shoot! You can do a head count after there all dead!" Rain said as burst from her SMG took down another tango.
The doors behind them opened and them all turned weapons at the ready. The Spartan stood for a moment before he rolled into cover as every tango fired at him.
"Sometimes it is not nice to be wanted." The Spartan commented as he pressed his back against the cover that the squad was using.
"I'll say. Look." Rick said as he looked over his cover.
The group peeked over to see two tangos brining out rocket launchers.
"Hit the deck!" Hammer yelled as he and the group jumped into the corridor that the Spartan had come from.
The Spartan did the exact opposite of that as leapt into the trajectory of the rockets. He deflected one with his left hand to the crates and the other he caught with one hand. Using the jet pack he maintained his altitude and used it as a pivot point to send the rocket back to sender. The resulting explosion killed the rocketeers and brought the flaming wreckage of the rafters down upon the men on the crates.
Dropping back into cover he waved the others to join him.
"How did you do that?" Rick asked.
"Deflecting and catching rockets is part of a Spartans training."
"Really?"
"Of course not. Playing with rockets is a very dumb idea."
"Then why did you?" Hammer asked.
"Well I thought I would put the millions of tax payer money to awesome use."
"I'm not going to complain with the results." Rain said as she went over her cover with a double burst, bringing down two men.
The four continued to rain fire from above, but the crates offered the tangos a great deal of cover.
"Rain see if you can disable the gravity to this area." N said as he pointed to a nearby terminal.
"On it sir."
"Wait," he yelled to her before he moved, "give me your SMG."
N traded his assault rifle for the SMG.
"Trading down sir?" Rick asked.
"Every weapon has its purpose. Hammer can you also give me your pistol?"
"Certainly, sir. Though do you mind grabbing it yourself?" Hammer responded as he fired several grenades on the tangos to keep their heads down.
N took the pistol off Hammer's hip.
"Rain don't turn the gravity until I tell you." N commanded.
"On your go, sir."
N nodded before leaping down to the main level with his weapons magnetically strapped to his thighs. As the foremost tangos turned their weapons at him he charged the nearest crate. With a powerful shoulder check he bulldozed into a crate squashing two Tangos.
"Now!" he yelled.
Rain turned off the gravity as soon as the remaining tangos got bead on him. With his already powerful legs the Spartan shot into the air. Without the effects of gravity to hinder his momentum he went straight to the ceiling. Curling forward he changed his vector so that his feet were on the ceiling and the floor was "above" him.
Staring down at the tangos who were still recovering he fired both weapons. The tangos went down in a hail of gunfire, instinct forcing them to grip on their triggers. Pushing forward with his feet he "glided" over the rest of the cargo raining fire as an angel of death.
A stray bullet caught Rain in her shoulder causing her to jerk her fingers over the pad. As she cried in pain a command was sent in and the gravity restored. However, the polarity was reversed.
The Spartan noticed the gravity coming back on but in its opposite polarity as his course began to drift back down to the ceiling. Putting his weapons away he grabbed the nearest beam and put his body in a hand stand. As the crates that weren't strapped down fell to the ceiling the Spartan never moved. Two tangos fell onto either side of him, both of them upright and grinning as they leveled their weapons. Faster than either could react he bent lowered his body into a sweeping kick that took both men off their feet. Rising into a crouch he turned a crushed the skull of a first man with a punch before turning and doing the same to the other.
Rain recovered and repolarized the gravity setting. That which was on the ceiling sunk back to the floor. When the Spartan hit the ground he was once more caught between two tangos. The one to his left fired a burst from his battle rifle. The first bullet struck his shields, but the second and third grazed by him and embedded within the opposite tango. In one smooth motion the Spartan used his left hand to draw his pistol and shoot the offending tango in the head. When the casing hit the floor the Spartan was the last one standing.
"Clear. One more room left and then we can all head back for ice cream. Sound good?"
"I'm more of a yogurt kind of girl." Rain replied.
"Sounds good to me Spartan." Hammer said.
"Do we have cookies and cream?" Rick asked.
The remaining Insurrectionist waited within the terminal room their guns trained on the sole entrance. This was their final stand and they knew it. With this knowledge in mind they planned on taking as many with them as possible. A rumble in the ceiling above them had their attention shift upwards.
"They're in the vents!" one yelled.
All the members in the room fired into the ceiling. Bullets blasted their way through into the vents destroying whatever was in. They didn't stop until they needed to reload. While they were reloading the door that they should have been watching opened and two small disks like objects sailed into the room.
There was a general look of shock before the flash bangs went off blinding all those within. The Spartan and ONI operatives entered and fired at the men as they were caught off guard. Within seconds the last of the defenders were cut down.
N moved up to the terminal and took out his own PDA and began to hook it up to the terminal. Activating the PDA he let it run its program.
"Clear of hostiles in sector Zulu." The Spartan transmitted.
"Understood." Came the crisp voice of the Captain of Medusa's Prerogative.
"Group Whiplash please report to your Pelican. The Spartan can take it from here."
The three confirmed before turning to leave.
"Remember Spartan you still owe us that ice cream." Hammer said as he turned to leave.
"Wait." N called.
They turned to see N holding his outstretched hand.
"I believe you have something of mine."
Hammer sighed before reluctantly turning over the Hammer. N tossed him the pistol which Hammer caught by his finger. Spinning it several times he placed it back in its holster.
"I'll get one eventually."
"I'm sure."
"Good luck Spartan." Rain said as she turned and exited.
Rick nodded before turning to leave as well.
"Don't you think it is odd that we are leaving the Spartan?"
N couldn't help but silently agree with his question. Turning back to the job at hand he began to watch the progress bar as it showed its advance in hacking past the firewalls.
As time passed N began to watch as the progress bar for hacking turned into the progress of an upload as his PDA sent the information to the ship. Along with video files of hangers absent of the black ONI Pelicans.
"Spartan, you are in serious danger." A female voice crackled over his radio.
"Identify yourself." The Spartan challenged the unknown voice.
"I don't have the time. As soon as that upload is finished you and everything on that base will be blasted to dust. The Pelicans are already gone. You have to trust me on this. Proceed to the escape pod at these coordinates." The unknown female continued.
N watched as a blue marker appeared on his HUD. He had to give the Insurrectionists credit for getting into his helmet.
"I doubt any Insurrectionist ship will attack with Medusas' Prerogative in system." He said smugly thinking that this was some poor attempt at leading him away from his post.
"You fool! Medusas' Prerogative is the ship that is going to destroy you."
"What?" he said stunned.
Before the woman could say more N had raised the ship.
"Sir, are you charging the MAC round?" he said raising the ships bridge.
"Yes Spartan. We are just waiting on your upload."
"Sir where are the Pelicans? I'm still on the base."
"How did you…Never mind, on behalf of ONI we thank you for your long career and thought the most appropriate way to celebrate this occasion is to send you off with a bang."
Turning to the pad he saw that he had only 10% left on the upload. Knowing that if he unplugged the PDA the ship would fire anyways he let it be as it was the only thing granting him what time remained. As he ran he uploaded the estimated time for finish onto his HUD. Fiddling with his radio he appropriated it back to the frequency that the female Samaritan had contacted him on.
"I'm on my way to the pod."
He heard a double click in reply. Believing this as a sign that they understood it he hightailed it to the escape pod.
When he got to the escape pod he had 3% till finish left. Getting into the pilots seat he activated the systems. When the progress was down to one percent he hit the ignition button and rocketed into space.
The Medusas' Prerogative fired its MAC at the base. The ship detonated similarly to a grape fruit being shot by a bullet. The Spartan's escape craft was lost in the ensuing debris. With its task finished the UNSC ship activated its slipspace drive and left the system.
With no hostiles detected the escape vehicle activated its own slip space drive and headed on a new programed course.