Hey, so you know that idea that said that I was juggling in my head last chapter? I decided that it was time for my creation to reveal itself.
Happy reading, Wolfgang.
"Eyes open, people." John said. "I don't like the look of this."
The crew had circled back around to find another way to the bridge, but it wasn't the most convenient route. They were going to have to travel a bit further than planned, but so far, the plan was going well. For lack of a better term.
They were now in an extremely narrow corridor, and it was poorly lit, the perfect place for the Covenant to stage an ambush. They couldn't turn back, because John's grenade only stalled the Sangheili behind them. Before they lost sight of the door, the hexagonal metal was being burned from the other side by what appeared to be a focus rifle. Soon, they would break through, and, even if they had enough firepower to defeat them all with ease, which they didn't, it would take too much time, something that they didn't have much of either.
"This looks like a service corridor for their Engineers," Cortana said. "Their Elite warriors will have a tough time following us."
"I can't see a thing." Polaski said. "Anyone have a light?"
"Yeah, I think..." Six said. He checked his gun for a flashlight attachment. Nope. "...or not. I have night vision integrated into my helmet, but I'm the only one who's going to be able to see."
"Not ideal." John said. "We can't fight with eight people if seven pairs of eyes are blind."
"I think I can help with that." Dave said. Six turned.
Dave had a small flashlight on the side of his helmet, a dim little thing that shined a foot or two forward. He pried it off of the helmet and pulled the glass lens off.
"What are you doing?" Locklear asked, his tone equal parts confused and snide.
Dave pulled out his knife and cut a wire in the flashlight. "Simple." He said. "I'm going to reallocate the battery's power so that the input is higher than the output."
"What?" Locklear asked.
Dave sighed, then muttered something under his breath. "Basically, in a second, you're going to have to cover your eyes."
The flashlight lit up with the luminosity of a solar flare, making everyone squint.
"Jeez, that's bright!" Clancy said.
Dave shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Six looked ahead. The entire corridor lit up as if the Sun was shining directly inside of the flagship. It was a simple wiring trick, one that he could have done himself with the greatest of ease, but he hadn't even thought of it.
"Where'd you learn to do something like that?" Six asked, curious.
Dave chuckled. "Basic training. I used to pull pranks on my friends and blind them, among other things."
"It wasn't that funny." Clancy said, not amused.
"You're just mad that the drill Sergeant yelled at you every time I screwed with his rifle." Dave replied.
"Stop here." Cortana said.
"Problem?" John asked.
"No. A lucky break, maybe. Look to your left and down twenty centimeters." She replied.
"Dave, bring that light over here, will you?" Six asked, arm outstretched. Dave handed the flashlight to Six, who shined it at the wall. He could see a small port, maybe the size of the average thumb, protruding at waist height from in between two pipes on the wall.
"What is it?" Clancy asked, leaning in to get a better look.
"That's a data port... or what passes for one with the Covenant Engineers. I'm picking up handshake signals in shortwave and infrared from it. Remove me and slot me in." Cortana said.
"Are you sure?" John asked.
"I can't do much good in here with you. Once I'm directly in contact with the ship's battlenet, however, I can infiltrate and take over their systems. You'll still need to get to the bridge and manually give me access to their engineering systems. In the meantime, I may be able to control secondary systems and buy you some time." She said.
"If you're sure." John said.
"When have I not been sure?" She replied.
He couldn't argue with that, that was for sure. He removed Cortana's chip from the port on the back of his helmet and inserted her into the port on the wall.
"You couldn't pay me to stick any part of myself in that thing." Locklear said under his breath.
Six raised his thumb up to his throat and moved it across in a slashing motion. Locklear shut his mouth fast.
"I'm in." Cortana said.
"What's it like in there?" Six asked.
"It's ... different." Cortana replied. "Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left."
The crew did so. At the point where Cortana said, there was an opening of sorts. Six waived the rest of the crew forward, and they all entered the opening, even more narrow than the hallway before. Six almost had to turn sideways.
"It's very different." Cortana murmured.
They advanced down the even more narrow corridor, waiting for Cortana to give them further instruction. Six could hardly believe how the Engineers could use this pathway to traverse the ship, for it was much too thin for their balloon-like bodies. Perhaps they had a way of sucking in their stomachs and flying through. He wasn't entirely sure of the average Engineer's bone structure, but it could be a possibility.
"I found another way to the bridge."
"Go ahead." John said.
"Uploading the route now." Cortana said. "You should... what the...?"
"What is it? What's going on?" John asked.
"There's... another AI in the system." She said. "But it doesn't match any known Covenant or UNSC patterns. Besides, the Covenant don't use artificial intelligence systems."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Six asked, his skin getting slightly pale under his armor.
"I'm afraid so. This isn't our technology, or theirs." Cortana said.
Suddenly, the entire ship rocked to the side. Six hit the wall along with the rest of the crew.
"What in the hell?" Sergeant Johnson asked. "Who's flying this thing?"
The ship rocked and shook again, this time with much greater force.
"I don't think that was the pilot's fault." Six said. "Cortana, locate the source of the disruption if you can."
"I already have." She replied. "Multiple plasma torpedoes inbound on the flag-"
Cortana cut out, and the communications fell into static.
"Cortana?" John asked. "Cortana!"
He paused. No response.
"Shit. We need to go back for her." He said.
"We shouldn't risk it." Haverson said. "The Covenant are right on our tail. If we slow down-"
"Listen here, Lieutenant." Six said. "I appreciate the help, but we are going back there. Leaving her behind would be the equivalent to writing our death warrants. We don't know what caused those explosions outside, and, among other reasons, it would be ideal that we find out."
"You're my equal, so you can quit treating me like a subordinate." Haverson replied. "The main objective is still to secure the bridge. I'm just keeping my eye on the ball, so to speak."
"I said it before, and I will say it again. For the time being, and whether you like it or not, we have tactical command over you. Unless you're agreeing with a decision made by the Master Chief or I, with all due respect, you don't have a goddamn say over how this mission unfolds." Six said. "Cortana is a UNSC AI. If she falls into the hands of the Covenant, then they will know about everything. They will know about our fleets, they will know about Earth, and they will have information ranging from the military intelligence of ONI to the amount of freckles on your ass. We are getting her."
Six pushed Haverson to the side, and John followed behind after a moment of uncertainty. When Six got angry, he meant business, but he often took it a bit too far. Haverson glared at Six as he walked past, but sighed, realizing that the Spartan was correct, and followed.
Clancy, however, was trying as hard as he could to stifle a laugh. In his opinion, disregarding the Lieutenant's skill in combat, Haverson was a stuffy jackass with a superiority complex. He had been stuck on a Pelican listening to his orders for almost twenty-four hours straight, so seeing the guy get knocked down a peg gave him a case of the chuckles.
Six reached the corner first, where he was immediately greeted by plasma rounds firing into the corridor. He hit cover at the opening to the newer corridor and drew his pistol, loading his other clip into it and discarding the empty one on to the floor.
"Shit." Six said. He aimed around the corner and fired a shot, but the multiple Sangheili at the end of the corridor fired back what was practically a wave of plasma.
"I don't even know of they can fit into this corridor, but I'm not going to risk leaving her." Six said.
Haverson stepped forward. "Move. I have an idea." He said, attaching a module to his wrist that looked like a vambrace.
"What are you doing?" Six asked.
Haverson steeled his gaze and took a step around the corner. "Following orders."
The Spec-ops Sangheili fired plasma directly at Haverson. Six was about to pull him out of the way, but at the last second, Haverson pushed down on two buttons on the vambrace, and a thick blue shield of hard light materialized in front of him, blocking the plasma and absorbing its power.
"Come on!" Haverson said.
Six raised his hand in a fist, telling the rest of the crew to hold, and got behind Haverson, who advanced down the hall steadily.
"Where the hell did you get that?" Six asked, having to raise his voice over the loud sounds of plasma fire.
"It's an experimental prototype, something that the UNSC has been working on for ODST and Spartan use! It hasn't been distributed for field testing, but I managed to acquire one a few days ago!" Haverson replied. "In other words, its supposed to be classified, but, then again, so is the information that Cortana carries!"
"Speaking of, keep pushing!" Six said loudly.
The plasma was turning the shield purple before, but now, it was a pale pink. Just a few more feet and Cortana would be in reach, but Six had a feeling that the shield wouldn't last forever.
"Haverson!" Six yelled. "Is the shield supposed to be changing colors like that?"
"It operates similarly to Covenant dropshields!" Haverson replied. "Once it gets red, it breaks down, and needs to recharge!"
Six looked at the port, just two feet away, then looked at the shield. It was turning red.
"Grab her!" Haverson shouted. Six ejected her chip from the port, and the two ran back as fast as they could. As soon as they were ten meters away from the rest of the crew, Six readied himself to throw Cortana to John.
"John!" Six shouted. He threw the chip, and John caught it in his right hand, sliding it into the back of his helmet as the ship rocked again. What was it that Cortana had said? Plasma torpedoes?
Who was shooting plasma at a Covenant vessel?
Just then, the shield broke, and a stray shot of plasma hit Haverson in the thigh. He collapsed, his leg buckling from the pain, and fell directly into Six. Six holstered his pistol, grabbed Haverson and tried to pull him around the corner with one arm, putting all of his weight into pulling as Haverson pushed with his other leg. John grabbed Haverson as well as they reached the opening into the corridor.
"C'mon, get up. You'll be fine." John said.
The connection with John's suit and Cortana reestablished, and the familiar sound of her voice came from the coms.
"We may have a problem." She said. "I'm detecting dozens of cruisers outside of the flagship. As in multiple dozen, at least forty or fifty more than before. About twenty are of Covenant origin, but the others, I'm not sure."
"Hold that thought." Six said. "We need a direct route to the command center, as fast as possible."
"Follow this corridor and take a right, take your first left, then continue forward from there. It shouldn't be hard to spot, the interior of this flagship is similar to that of the Truth and Reconciliation.
"We're on it." Six said. "Let's move, people. We still have a job to do."
"Can you tell how many are inside from here?" John asked. The crew stood outside of the bridge, ready to blast the door open. They could hear loud noises, including explosions and gunfire, coming from the inside. Had the other force boarded the flagship?
"Negative, they've disabled the bridge sensors." She replied.
"You heard Cortana." Six said. "Expect anything."
"Roger that." Sergeant Johnson said. "In position and ready to kick Covenant ass."
"Chief," Cortana said. "Hurry! Covenant cruisers are targeting the flagship. They know we're here!"
"Plasma grenades on my mark." John said.
After a moment, he backed up and motioned towards the doors. "Mark!"
Six and Dave drew plasma grenades that they had looted off of a near empty ammo cache down the hall and chucked them at the door. Six had never liked plasma grenades, mostly because of how loud they were, which didn't help him on stealth missions, but after he lost his arm, he downright hated them. He had to admit, however, they were useful for blowing things to high hell in three seconds flat, a quality which he himself found quite redeeming.
The grenades stuck to the alien metal and exploded, but when the faint smoke and electric-blue plasma glow faded, the doors were intact.
"What the hell was that supposed to do?" Locklear asked.
"A hundred grenades wouldn't blast through these doors, Locklear," Dave said. "But when Covenant plasma grenades detonate, they release a short-wavelength electromagnetic field that disrupts the operation of electronics."
"English, please?" Locklear asked.
"What part of that was hard to understand?" Clancy muttered.
Dave sighed. "Grenade goes boom, electronics stop working. Does that help?"
"Whatever." Locklear replied, slightly embarrassed by his comment.
"I was just trying to elaborate, you don't have to be an assho-"
"Lock it down, both of you." Six said. "Not another word unless it's while you're watching each other's backs."
"Observe, Corporal." John said to Locklear. He dug his fingers in between the doors and pushed outwards, slowly prying them open. When the doors opened enough to where sound had the ability to escape though, all was silent on the other end. John was surprised; just a moment ago, there had been explosives going off on the other side of the door. What changed? John faltered while he pondered, then continued to open the doors.
Clancy could hear a light humming from inside. He had amazing hearing, and it was easily the most powerful of his five senses.
"Shh!" He hissed lightly. "Does anyone else hear that?"
Everyone halted except for John, who stopped after the doors were pulled open about a meter. Clancy was right. Everyone else heard the humming now, too. John stepped through the doors and immediately he lowered his gun.
"Jesus." He said.
Six stepped into the room. Purple-blue, green and orange blood caked the floor and walls all around the bridge, the fresh fluid still wet and shiny against the light. The bodies of Covenant Sangheili, Unggoy and Engineers littered the bridge like trash that had blown in the wind, pools of blood growing under the gruesomely mutilated corpses.
"What the hell...?" Six asked. "Cortana, are you seeing this?"
She stayed silent for a moment.
"Yes." She replied.
The rest of the crew walked in, and each held the same feelings of equalized disgust and awe when they saw the blood and bodies.
"There is a single hostile in the middle of the bridge, unidentifiable in origin." Cortana said. "Be careful, everyone."
The humming was getting closer. And it was coming from the middle of the bridge, where the supposed hostile was. Six's heart was racing. He saw only Covenant corpses, none of any other faction, and Cortana said there was one unidentifiable life form left in the room besides them. That meant one of two things; either the Covenant killed each other or themselves, or this life form slaughtered them all. Immediately, his mind raced to the Flood, and his heart rate increased. He then realized that the Flood couldn't be here. Cortana would have known, and the Flood didn't know how to pilot ships, or at least they didn't appear to.
Six looked towards the center of the room, a raised platform connected to stairs on three sides. He could see the light of a holographic terminal at the top of the stairs, the direction from which the eerie humming emanated.
Suddenly, the humming stopped. Whatever life form stood at the top of the stairs sniffed the air, then exhaled.
"Don't be shy." A light, female voice at the top of the stairs said.
Six froze. How did it already notice their presence?
"Come." It said. Its voice sounded similar to the flutter of wings. It was calming, yet, at the same time, it was chilling to the bone. Six was sure that he was being a bit irrational, but he almost thought that he could feel it whispering in his ears.
Both ears.
Six stepped forward, his feet hesitant. He stepped on to the first stair, and the creature chuckled. He steeled his nerves and continued climbing the stairs, the rest of the crew in close stead. As he neared the top, he saw a black armored, humanoid figure. Wrapped around its neck was a tattered, blood-red and black cloth, and from its shoulders hung the same fabric. Six reached the top of the stairs, John at his side, and stood staring at the figure. Its back was turned, and it was hovering over Covenant data and files.
The figure looked up, sniffing the air again.
It turned.
He started at the form of a large humanoid. Six hadn't seen many before, but he recognized it to be a female Sangheili. Her dark armor was strangely ancient, and spattered with multiple colors of blood. He realized why she was wearing the fabric as soon as he saw her.
Enclave. From Reach. From the Truth. From the Pillar of Autumn.
Six drew his gun and squeezed the trigger.
The Sangheili moved at a speed that Six could not comprehend, bending the force of the very air around her as she moved. The bullet fired into the wall behind her, and the Enclave Sangheili batted the gun away, knocking it out of Six's hand, on to the floor and down another flight of stairs. The rest of the crew raised their guns, in defense of Six and themselves. The Sangheili raised her hand in response, pointing it horizontally towards the crew, and flicked her wrist. Everyone, including Six, flew backwards down the stairs, tumbling on to their backs and some dropping their weapons. She didn't even have to touch them. The Sangheili took three steps down the stairs, one foot on a step higher than the other, and raised both of her arms out in what was almost a motion of greeting.
"Humans," She said, her voice smooth like silk. "No harm shall come to you unless you fight."
"Oh yeah?" Six asked, grunting. "Says who?"
The Sangheili grimaced. "Me." She said, clenching her hands and putting her fingers together.
"I am Hom, the Enclave's prophet."
The Enclave are no longer novelty. In my head, I thought of them as a rebellion, as a cult, and, at one point, as a plot device. No longer. They are no normal obstacle. They, like the Covenant, are an immovable barrier. Unlike the Covenant, however, they tolerate humanity. Will they help our heroes, or will they hurt them?
A few wrong moves, and things could go from good to absolute shit in a minute flat.
Have a good day, Wolfgang.
~Husky