Part 10
Part 10
March 27th 2553 (Location unknown)
John grabbed the last alien corpse by the leg and dragged it over to the corner of the chamber, where the rest of them were piled like firewood.
The armour again seemed to soften slightly with his grip before hardening. Even when these aliens were dead their armour was still active, as though trying to protect its dead wearer from further harm.
Despite the carnage within the chamber, the Forerunner was completely unharmed, a testament to Cortana's theory that he was not really here in the physical sense. But this did nothing to help John's situation, he was still stranded on an ancient monument to advanced warfare, and although he was not completely certain, John had the distinct feeling that his dark suited opponents would be back and in greater numbers, and that was a problem.
The destruction of the Pelican and his encounter with both the sentinels and the aliens had left him with a severe ammunition and weapon shortage, which meant that his options in dealing with the aliens again would be limited.
"Chief I've been going over your previous engagement, and I think I've found a weakness."
"Go on," prompted John.
"The aliens seem to demonstrate an amazing resilience to energy weapons, such as the ones used by the Forerunners and the sentinels, but they were less protected by your attack," Explained Cortana "That's probably why they were assessing you before they attacked."
"So their armour is specifically designed to repel energy weapons, if so then why were they still in one piece when I used the M19?"
"Their power armour seems to be aimed at protecting them from Forerunner weapons in particular, but they will obviously have some inherent resistance to kinetic-based combat or weaponry," said Cortana looking at the dead aliens "That's why the M19 was more effective than the sentinel attack, and it's probably the same reason why your close encounter with the remaining alien was also more effective, they have a weakness to kinetic attacks." Stated Cortana with a smile
"But that means one thing…"
"I know chief, every encounter with them, unless you have something more powerful than a Battle rifle, will mean hand to hand combat." Interrupted Cortana
John looked around the already familiar chamber, trying to think of the next step that they should take. Whatever he was going to do it would have to incorporate a method of fighting a technologically superior enemy, and a means to reach Earth.
In hindsight, the one positive aspect to fighting the Covenant had been that although they were more advanced than Humanity, they could still be killed with a rifle and a handful of grenades. Failing that John could still tackle them in hand to hand combat, even the Elites were not as skilled or as quick as a Spartan.
But the encounter with the alien's weaponry had left John with some serious doubts. In one attack a single energy weapon had completely depleted his shields and it had severely tested his Mjolnir armour, and his own physical endurance. And that was with the computer terminal taking most of the attack. A direct would surely kill or permanently injure him. It was then that the memory of an old friend surged back into his thoughts.
John cast his mind back to his training on Reach, and to one of his most promising scouts, Fhajad.
Fhajad was naturally adept at tracking any individual regardless of the conditions, and he was an excellent scout. John had hoped to utilise his skills after they were fully trained, but unfortunately he never got the chance. Unlike the majority of the trainees Fhajad's body rejected the augmentation process and shortly after he succumbed to the onset of Parkinson's disease.
It was the image of Fhajad in a wheel chair that disturbed John the most, something he wanted to avoid, but he had to admit, these aliens were far more formidable than the Covenant had ever been.
The memory of Fhajad set off a sequence of memories of his other friends; some had been killed in action and were long gone. But the fate of some Spartans in particular were simply a mystery to him.
Fred, Will, Kelly and Linda had become the closest thing to a family that he had, but it had been months since he last saw them, and John's return to Reach after the Covenant had taken the planet seemed more like years. Even his brief reunion with Dr Halsey was a distant memory.
It seemed to John, now more than ever, that Cortana was probably the only thing keeping him sane, in a time of madness and overwhelming uncertainty.
John glanced over at Cortana who, by now, had returned to trawling the vast library at her disposal. "Cortana can you detect any more ships?"
She briefly glanced at the ceiling of the chamber before coming back with an answer, "No, according to the sensors there's nothing within a radius of thirty four thousand light years, and even then all I'm seeing is a distant Covenant outpost, less than four hundred personnel."
John stared in amazement, "You can see that?"
"I can see a lot of things, but the further out I go the less detail I can see." Replied Cortana
John suddenly realised the opportunities available to them, "What about Earth?"
Cortana's calm face turned to a look of extreme concentration, the lights in the chamber dimmed as she did everything in her power to see Earth in as much detail as possible.
Her skin became a blur.
"I can only see small areas at a time in detail, there are several vessels in orbit both UNSC and Covenant."
"Brute or Elite?" asked John.
"I can't be certain from this range, but judging from the lack of weapons fire I'd say they're Elite controlled vessels. They appear to be carrying out repairs on several orbital facilities including the few remaining MAC stations." Cortana suddenly smiled "It looks like the Elites are trying to make up for things."
"What about the Arbiter?"
"There's no sign of his ship the Shadow of Intent, it's possible that he may have returned to his home world or that he's simply overseeing the rebuilding phase on a different planet."
Cortana continued to search around, looking at different locations within the Sol system. For the first time in over 30 years all looked well with Humanity.
Inside John was smiling, Cortana had rerouted several systems and the display screen was now showing what she could see. John could finally see for himself that the war was truly over, and that Mankind was rebuilding again.
With that in mind John had to create another mission for himself, he needed something to do, something to strive for, something to achieve. And the aliens that he had encountered were the answer.
"Cortana we need to get to Earth, is there anything on this planet that looks like a ship?"
Cortana shifted her gaze from the deep space search to a more thorough sift inside the vast library database.
She was tempted to copy herself again, to speed up the search process but that would only quicken her advance into rampancy. So instead she opted for a slow laborious search. She had to preserve the few years that she had.
Three and a half minutes passed by before she answered.
"There's a large hangar bay another six levels down, but it's on the other side of this continent. We can reach it by a series of teleporters along the way."
"How long will it take for us to reach Earth?" said John with a hint of anxiety, the last thing he needed was some more time in stasis.
"Just over six hours" came her reply.
"Six hours!" coughed John, "Is that all?"
Cortana quickly realised that John was not able to see what she could see, "The ships that are in the hangar are not designed for long periods of spaceflight, instead they utilise the Forerunner portal system to travel around. We simply activate the portal when we have the ship and fly through. It'll take us directly to Earth."
John looked over at the Forerunner and the pile of aliens on the floor nearby, he wanted to speak directly to the Forerunner and to the aliens, but the situation, as per usual, was conspiring against him. There was simply no time for talking.
Mankind had another problem to deal with, one that they were not yet aware of. John's return would no doubt be a thing of celebration, but he would soon deliver the bad news. The only good thing would be that they would have a Forerunner vessel at their disposal.
"We'd better go."
Cortana nodded and disappeared into her chip before John inserted it back into his armour.
A series of waypoints appeared on his HUD.
After collecting what supplies he had left he steadily jogged out of the chamber, heading for the nearest waypoint.
After his small marathon, John's next stop would be Earth.
November 10th 2552 (Forerunner shield world)
It had only taken Jarrod twenty one minutes to locate everything that they needed, but time was short. His matrix and power source only had another seventeen hours of operational life left before they would degrade and eventually fail.
Catherine knew that if the situation was different and she was back in her office on Reach, a simple maintenance session would clear up the problem. Jarrod's matrix was not as refined as Cortana's, and he was not designed with field use in mind. He was a supporting and administrative AI, not a hardened creation intended for long periods of combat.
Despite his shortfalls, Jarrod was still more than capable of carrying out calculations beyond the speed of any human.
Their first stop would be a large chamber eight levels down, where they could finally make a real attempt at opening the Cryo-tubes. After that though, things became far more difficult.
The Forerunners had designed the Dyson-sphere with their final escape in mind. They would not simply turn up on foot; they would instead arrive through a series of much larger portals designed to take any vessel up to the size of a capital ship. After that they would travel around using smaller craft from the hangar that Jarrod had found.
The distance between the chamber and the hanger was over 1100 miles, and despite the presence of several teleporters and automated tram networks in between that would halve the journey, they would still need to cover 584 miles on foot.
For the Spartans this was probably nothing, they could no doubt cover it in a matter of weeks, but Catherine was no soldier.
After collecting all that they could carry, including the Cryo-tubes Catherine, Chief Mendez and the rest of the Spartans headed for the chamber eight levels below them.
The journey would be long, but as far as Catherine was concerned time was short.
To be continued…
Part 11
The New Age of Truth, following the Great Schism. (In orbit of Suban)
The Arbiter cast his eye over the hard crust of the moon, its small size and cracked surface gave the impression that at any moment, the Shadow of Intent would be engulfed in a storm of debris. But despite its appearance, Suban was a sturdy rock that had withstood several millennia of warfare.
Thousands of years ago Suban had been one of the main focal points for combat. Unlike its more distant partner Quikost, Suban's close elliptical orbit around Sanghelios made it a point of strategic interest, and a scene of some of the fiercest fighting in Sangheili history had ensued as a result.
This of course, as all Sangheili knew, came to be known as The First Age of Conflict, a bitter and destructive war between the Sangheili and the devout San 'Shyuum, who later became the most influential species on the now disbanded council.
A lone Jiralhanae cruiser had maintained a commanding position in the shadow of Suban throughout the Great Schism, but its fortune was now at an end as the shadow of Intent and twelve other ships of various classes, were closing on the heavily damaged vessel.
The cruiser had remained undetected for several hundred cycles, but a single impatient call for assistance from the Jiralhanae commander, had alerted several nearby Sangheili warships of its presence, which then proceeded to bombard the cruiser as it sat silently in one of the many craters that covered the surface of Suban.
Only an order from Rtas Vadum to cease fire had prolonged the inevitable.
Although the Shadow of Intent was smaller than most of the other vessels in pursuit, Rtas wanted the kill for himself as did the Arbiter. For years they had fiercely defended the path of the Great Journey, enforcing the will of the Prophets whenever it was needed.
But now things were different, now the lies were gone and poisonous stench of the Prophets had been driven away.
"Helm get us closer, I want to see the defeat in their eyes." Bellowed Rtas Vadum
The Arbiter looked silently on as his friend and ally pushed the will of his ship and crew in an effort to seek revenge. "No, not revenge," he thought "Justice."
Revenge would solve nothing here, the Arbiter knew that. Although as soon as the conflict had been won on Earth he was tempted to lay in a course for the Jiralhanae home world of Doisac and glass the planet beyond recognition, but his first concern was his people.
Each Arbiter that was chosen rarely survived to see the end of any war. They were instead chosen for exactly the same reason as he was, for suicide missions, a chance to reclaim honour.
He thought it odd that the Prophets could even use such a word as a reason for his current position, but then of course the Prophets had lied. They had lied since the start of the war against the Humans; they had lied about the Forerunner technology and its origin. It seemed that all the Prophets had been good at was lying.
As a result the Covenant had been thrown into turmoil, millions had been killed. Not to mention the cost of fighting the humans.
"Prepare to fire!" ordered Rtas
The Arbiter thought of his old enemy.
They were an odd species but a courageous one, even in defeat they continued to fight. Even when all appeared lost they stood their ground against an enemy that was far greater, both in numbers and firepower.
They were a worthy adversary and were even more valuable as allies, if any species deserved a place in the Covenant and a seat on the council it was they.
But there was one comrade in particular that was in his thoughts, one soldier who had consistently caused the Covenant the most trouble throughout the conflict, the Spartan that the humans called "Master Chief".
In the early days of the war Mankind had little to offer in terms of interest, but the stories of "Demons" soon became a topic of conversation among many Sangheili.
At first it was rumored that the Demons were living machines much like the lumbering hulk of a Mgalekgolo. Humanities' own heavy armour.
And for years these stories seemed unfounded, escalating into myth and legend. But then one day a blurred wash of reconnaissance footage was circulated throughout the higher caste members of the Sangheili council. In the short burst of imagery was the now unmistakable shape of a Spartan warrior.
Unlike the many previous encounters with Humans, these soldiers were more resilient in combat and far more effective.
In every documented case given to the council came the same result of every battle involving these Demons, the Covenant lost.
More and more footage surfaced, showing them sweeping aside hordes of Unggoy and kig-yar. And more alarmingly even Sangheili warriors were being defeated.
The council deemed these Demons a level of heresy above that of a regular Human that they were not to be captured and used for intelligence, examination or sport.
They were to be killed on sight, preferably vaporised.
In all of his time the Arbiter had only seen one Demon, the Master Chief, but previous intelligence reports had suggested that there was more than just one Spartan.
The Arbiter was disturbed from his thoughts as Rtas gave the order to fire, but he only wanted the engines and weapons to be targeted. No doubt so he could board the vessel and seek out his enemy in person.
In the time that he had spent with Rtas, the Arbiter had seen a dramatic change in his behavior.
When the Covenant had invaded Earth and during other encounters with Humans, Rtas had been an ambitious and ruthless warrior.
Many Humans had died at his skillful hands. But the alliance had changed that much to his surprise. He went from a brash and eager commander to a more assured and patient leader.
Since the Great Schism though, many of his old habits had returned, something which was now evident through his half-jawed grin.
The shadow of Intent gently shuddered as a precise volley of plasma was launched at the escaping cruiser, its surface rippled with the impact as the failing shields gave way.
The engines and weapons were hit with ease and the ship suddenly slewed to one side as the previous momentum of its now dead engine room carried it forward.
The ship started to roll.
"Status of the Jiralhanae vessel." Ordered Rtas
"Their weapons and engines are destroyed, but they have minimal life support and the majority of their gravity plating is intact." Informed Kelic Til, the Operations officer.
Like many of the crew Kelic was young, but his actions in several previous battles had seen him promoted in rank more than once in just a short space of time.
He was a reliable and steadfast warrior who had been more than happy to help end the reign of the Jiralhanae.
"Good," Gleamed Rtas "I'm not one for floating around in combat, but they won't need their life support for much longer."
A quiet murmur of approval sounded around Rtas.
Rtas turned to face the Arbiter, "I would be honoured if you would join me in boarding the cruiser Arbiter."
The Arbiter looked at the twisted form of the cruiser on the display screen, several large chunks of metal and even some of the superstructure was floating away from the hull, she was heavily damaged.
Even though not a single escape pod was launched, evidence that they were still eager to fight.
"No Rtas, the honour is mine." Smiled the Arbiter as he activated his energy sword
The light of the blade filled the bridge with a deceptively soothing wash of Cyan.
"Then let us finish this war." Replied Rtas
The Arbiter followed Rtas and several other Sangheili out of the bridge, towards the hangar decks.
The hangar bay of the Shadow of Intent was filled with Soldiers all wearing their full armour. There were even several Sangheili warriors dressed in honour guard uniforms.
The hall of warriors roared and cheered as Rtas and the Arbiter entered, immediately the Arbiter felt a rush of pride and excitement in his chest.
All along the far end of the bay were more than twenty boarding craft. The Arbiter thought at first that this number of craft was overkill, but then the Jiralhanae had given no quarter nor showed any respect when they came to power to do the bidding of the Prophets.
The only sight in the hangar that was different was a small group of loyal Unggoy and a single Huragok that was floating around one of the damaged Spirit drop ships, making repairs.
"To war!" shouted Rtas
The crowd of warriors erupted with a deafening roar causing the Unggoy to move back slightly. But the Huragok carried on oblivious, busying itself in its duties of maintenance and repair.
Rtas and the Arbiter boarded the nearest craft followed by three squads of Sangheili warriors, all brandishing plasma rifles and Carbines.
The remaining soldiers then filled the remaining boarding craft before they floated from the deck and then headed out through the energy barrier, towards the crippled Jiralhanae cruiser.
The boarding craft would smash into the enemy vessel and they would fill it honourable Sangheili warriors.
Then they would show the Jiralhanae the true path of the Great Journey.
To be continued…
Part 12
After a brief journey from the Shadow of Intent, the first wave of boarding craft slammed into the Jiralhanae vessel. The impact should have been enough to throw every assaulting Sangheili onto the floor, but the on-board inertia field had reduced the impact to nothing more than a faint shudder.
The Arbiter stared at illuminated forward section of the boarding craft; the energy field was already cutting through the hull of the ship, providing them with an access point and an air-tight seal.
In previous wars with the races in the Covenant, boarding craft had rarely been used, even against the San 'Shyuum. Ship to ship combat had been the preferred method of fighting. But the war with the Humans had seen an increase in the use of boarding actions, in an effort to gain intelligence. Even Humans had secrets that the Covenant wanted to know, mentions of Forerunner technology and the origin of the various demons that were encountered in the last few decades were among the main areas of interest to the council.
But here they were boarding another covenant ship; they were here to remind the Jiralhanae what honour and loyalty were and what they meant. Since the Jiralhanae had joined the Covenant, they had employed their ancient pack like attitude to those around them. Their grasp of technology was limited and they showed general discomfort towards any form of authority, including the council.
This had not gone unnoticed though; the council deemed that any Jiralhanae ship would not be allowed the use of her plasma batteries or certain ship functions that required the use of advanced Covenant technology. And for a time it remained that way.
Then the war with the Humans started, and the Covenant mustered all of its members, including the Jiralhanae against this new threat, this new abomination. Humans were declared a heresy to all that represented the great journey, and for that they were to be wiped from the face of the universe.
This dramatic shift in the council's attitude evoked a change of procedure for new arrivals into the Covenant. Instead of waiting decades or even centuries till their loyalty was assured, the Jiralhanae were presented with a fleet of fully functional cruisers and capital ships, and the means to maintain them. They were given too much too soon.
The ambitions of the Prophets matched that of the Jiralhanae, and once that was recognised by each side, then the integrity of the Covenant was doomed. But the Sangheili were different, for them loyalty and honour were of paramount importance, they were the foundations of their society.
"Prepare for deployment!" growled Rtas
All around the Arbiter were hordes of eager and honourable warriors; some were veterans of a thousand battles whilst others had only experienced a taste of things to come. But in this case the only thing that mattered was the destruction of their enemy.
The front of the boarding craft grew dark and silent. They were secure.
The energy barrier sprang into life as the forward section opened like the petals of a flower. Through the shimmering field, the Arbiter could make out the familiar sight of the dorsal command corridor, a long shaft that stretched almost the entire length of the cruiser. This would give them greater access to the other areas of the dying ship.
"This is it warriors, take the life from our enemy and give them no quarter, make them regret the mistakes that they have made in life so they can think hard in death." Bellowed Rtas, before charging through the energy barrier and into the corridor of the cruiser
The Arbiter and the remaining Sangheili warriors quickly followed, all of them roaring in anticipation of the coming battle.
Rtas and the Arbiter turned right from the boarding craft and headed down the corridor towards one of the many junctions that littered the ship. Several of the other warriors turned left towards the cruisers engine section, whilst the remaining Sangheili followed the Arbiter and their determined Ship Master.
The junction was devoid of any Jiralhanae and their Kig-yar sidekicks, so they moved on to the next corridor.
The walls of the corridor that had once been covered in a gleaming blue-purple sheen were now adorned in a series of small dents, and a thin layer of dirt and a thick black greasy liquid. Several of the lighting orbs within the walls were not functional as was a computer interface along the wall of the second corridor.
"Obviously the Jiralhanae care nothing for maintenance, or the daily labours of crewing a Covenant cruiser," muttered Rtas "They live like the primitives we know them to be."
"And they will die like them." Voiced the Arbiter
Around the next corner was their first sight of the enemy, four Kig-yar and Two Jiralhanae soldiers stood half way towards the main assembly and council chamber on the ship.
The Kig-yar were equipped with an assortment of Beam rifles and plasma pistols, whilst the two Jiralhanae soldiers were holding a typical choice of Spike rifles. They looked fatigued and disorderly, and were slow to react to the sight of the twenty five Sangheili warriors that were now rushing towards them.
The four Kig-yar were quickly cut down by a rapid volley of Carbine fire, whilst the two Jiralhanae succumbed to several shots from the Arbiters plasma rifle and then a finishing lunge with a crackling energy sword.
Rtas swept passed the small pile of dead soldiers and onwards to a small corridor that moved away from the main access way. As he rounded the corner he was greeted by Jiralhanae captain in gold armour. His rank was unimportant as Rtas fired his plasma rifle at the bulky figure. The alien officer attempted to recover from this unexpected encounter but Rtas followed up with several swift strikes with the butt of his plasma rifle. The Jiralhanae captain tried in vain to parry the attack, but Rtas was too fast for his opponent and knocked him to the ground before rendering his face unrecognisable with another shot of superheated plasma.
The Arbiter and the rest of the boarding party quickly followed, moving into the next corridor.
Ahead of them this time was a sizable squad of Kig-yar, Unggoy and Jiralhanae, all assembled around a makeshift barricade.
A Captain-Major was leading this pack and they seemed to be more organised than the previous group. The Kig-yar were all equipped with shield gauntlets, and on seeing the approaching threat, they were immediately activated.
The Unggoy laid down an uncoordinated volley of fire from their plasma pistols, causing Rtas and the Arbiter to dive for cover. Several of their following Sangheili warriors immediately returned fire, downing three of the squat aliens with their carbines.
The residing Jiralhanae opened fire with spikers and maulers, but their aim was off and their pattern of fire was ineffective.
"Grenades!" ordered the Arbiter
Six Sangheili warriors in blue armour immediately stepped forward and threw a handful of grenades at the barricade. Most of them landed in or around the makeshift position but one grenade stuck to the Methane tank of an exposed Unggoy, who promptly panicked and ran towards the Jiralhanae captain. Another grenade stuck to the arm of an overconfident Kig-yar in the middle of the group, both exploded in a cloud of blue fire, sending body parts in all directions.
The only survivor was a lone Jiralhanae stalker, but he was injured and dazed by the huge explosion that had just occurred, the Arbiter quickly put him out of his misery with a lightning fast slash with his energy sword, the stalkers chest armour crumpled and his rib-cage exploded in a shower of gore.
With the current threat neutralised, the Arbiter and Rtas carried on with their squad towards the bridge which was now only three corridors away. Any further resistance that they would encounter would no doubt be far more determined, and with the boarding action well under way, far more prepared.
The arbiters concerns of stiffer resistance the closer they came to the bridge, was more than justified. The next corridor was filled with three separate squads, all laid out in a more thought out and effective manner. The first squad was a mass of thirty or so Unggoy along with several Kig-yar and a single Jiralhanae stalker.
The second squad was a mix of twenty shield bearing Kig-yar and a dozen Jiralhanae minors and several stalkers lead by a lone captain.
The third squad although smaller than the first two presented its own problems, four stalkers and ten bodyguards surrounding a blue suited Ultra ranked Captain were a formidable force, but a flanking pair of loyalist Mgelekgolo brandishing fuel rod cannons were the main cause of concern. Their heavy armour and imposing size would be problematic as the boarding action had been swift and probably carried out with too much eagerness and impatience. As a result they had no heavy weapons to use on the Mgelekgolo at the end of the corridor.
"Warriors, target the Unggoy," Instructed Rtas "Rapid fire!"
Two squads of blue suited Sangheili moved forward into a better position and fired at the squabbling horde of aliens.
"Specialists, target the second squad. Keep their foul heads down and their weapons silent!" instructed Rtas
A further squad of Sangheili in dark armour moved to the right of the first and opened fire on the wall of Kig-yar shields and Jiralhanae. Some of them found their mark before the loyalist soldiers ducked behind the shields for cover.
"Carbines fire on the third squad!"
The remaining Sangheili fired at the more distant third group of Jiralhanae, there was little chance of removing the Ultra Captain's entire bodyguard at this distance with the amount of barricades and bulkheads in the way, but they could at least keep them in position, giving the Arbiter and Rtas time to formulate a plan of action.
The first squad was relatively easy to deal with, those Unggoy that were stupid enough to charge were quickly killed while the ones that retreated were mown down by their Jiralhanae masters. The lone stalker in the first squad was the first to be targeted followed by his slow short soldiers.
Rtas and the Arbiter moved forward to the now vacant barricade, narrowly avoiding a determined volley of plasma from a pair of Kig-yar in the next squad. The arbiter responded with his own rifle and one of the ugly creatures fell to the floor, clutching the area where its left leg used to be.
The rest of the Sangheili moved forward, several were caught out and fell to the floor with gaping holes in their armour, and another two were hit by spiker fire.
The second position was too well defended and they had to reserve their grenades for the Mgelekgolo, the only way to shift them would be a head on charge to smash the shield wall apart and then engage the Jiralhanae in hand to hand combat.
"Prepare to charge this vermin!" The Arbiter informed
Rtas glanced back at the Arbiter with look that most of the other squad was now displaying, excitement.
The Arbiter readied himself for the engagement before giving the order to charge.
To be continued...