A/N: I was writing this and doing research for the story (I want accurate writing), and I found out that Requiem is probably a Dyson Shell, not a Dyson Sphere. I have had chapter 7 (And There Was, And She Saw Dead Covenant), where I stated that Requiem was a Forerunner Dyson Sphere, up for quite some time, and no one has corrected me. I have fixed that now, but I do want people correcting me if ever I blunder or err. I know that not everyone is into theoretical physics, but I do think that there are definitely some people who could list off the pros, cons, and description of a Dyson Net, a Dyson Bubble, a Dyson Shield, a Dyson Sphere, a Dyson Shell, a Dyson Swarm, a Niven Ring, and a Matrioshka Brain, just in terms of Type-II Kardashev civilisations. Said person would then yell at me for not going in-depth as to how the Forerunners would overcome the engineering difficulties of creating a Dyson Shell. Rant over. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Microsoft, Bungie, or 343 Industries. This is for my enjoyment and, hopefully, the enjoyment of others. I do not receive a profit.
Das Boot
Arianna felt her Human Entry Vehicle shudder violently as it slammed into the ocean. The roaring and crashing of the breakers was amplified as it reverberated around her SOEIV pod. Satan's Cradle, it was called. Now she knew why.
The pod ferried her down into hell, going much more slowly now that Requiem's unnamed ocean had all but ripped it to shreds. Arianna's sensation of gravity was all but gone, and she couldn't feel any motion from the pod. The small window on the front didn't reveal anything through the murky blue, and the video feed from the other SPARTANs' helmets had cut out while the pod had slowly sunk towards the bottom of the ocean.
Arianna just watched the water turn a darker and darker blue.
Suddenly, a great grey beast swam up "faster than greased lightning", as Arianna had heard the marines say. It came toward the small window with such ferocity that Arianna bonked her purple-and-white-helmeted head against the head restraint as her instincts caused her to jerk back even though the mass of teeth could not possibly get through the transperisteel windows or ceramic shell.
After the beast got bored of attacking the pod, it swam away. As it turned, Arianna identified it as a large fish resembling a shark. However, the fact that it was on an alien-made planet, or more accurately, an alien-made Dyson Shell, suggested that it was not really a shark. The bioluminescent spots running along its underbelly supported this hypothesis. As the beast swam away, its disproportionately large tail thwacked Arianna's pod, sending it spinning well off course.
That was the last straw. Before she got too terribly lost, Arianna engaged the blast pins built into the door of the pod. Nothing happened. Suddenly, Roland's voice came over the intercom, and Arianna was momentarily confused. How had he gotten a message to her through the ocean? "Hello. You have selected 'Exit Pod' from the list of actions you cannot perform. You guys are SPARTANs, so I guess you don't want the long explanation. Basically, water pressure is keeping you from opening the door, since you are in a one atmosphere environment surrounded by a, I don't know, a-lot-of-atmospheres environment.
"Since I figured that you wouldn't have accepted this job if we had told you exactly what you needed to do, I put this prerecorded message into your pod. Although, now that I think about it, you really do like guns, so maybe you'll like my method of escaping. Here it is. You ready?
"Shoot up the inside of your pod. Yes, you heard me right, no, I am not going rampant. All the little bullet holes will let in a buttload of water, allowing you to open your pod. Your armour should protect you. If it doesn't, well, you have my deepest condolences. This is Roland, the most awesomest A.I. ever, signing off." Arianna sighed. Only one way out. His way.
She pulled out the submachine gun nestled in her pod and emptied an entire clip into the walls of the pod. Water started leaking in, but it was slow going, so Arianna emptied another clip, this time into the ceiling. The waiting game was still too long, so she just shot all the bullets that came with the gun into the pod's panelling. Five minutes later, the pod was filled with water. Arianna slammed both fists into the door. This time, it flew off, and, after unbuckling the last of her restraints, Arianna swam out with nothing but her DMR and a Thruster Pack that had seemed an appropriate choice for an underwater fight. Her armour was heavy, but Arianna felt the gel layer of her suit inflate to create a neutral buoyancy as she swam into the water.
It was almost too murky for even her genetically modified eyes, so Arianna turned on her helmet lights. Two glowing beams cut through the dark water, revealing a large silvery fish. Its scales glimmered as it turned, swimming away as fast as it could. Arianna frowned as no dot appeared on her motion tracker. The water must have interfered with the motion tracker. As such, Arianna was surprised when she caught sight of something green and yellow swimming towards her. Unsure of how hostile the creature might be, Arianna pulled out her DMR and pointed it at the figure, which grew nearer and nearer to her. Whatever it was, it swam deliberately. It must have been attracted to the lamps attached to her helmet. Arianna promptly turned them off, hoping the beast would grow bored of looking for prey in the dark.
Suddenly, a hand gripped Arianna's shoulder. She reacted violently, reaching back to grab the arm of her attacker. Arianna attempted to flip the arm and body over her shoulder and onto the floor in front of her. As effective as the move was on land, water resistance made the grab impossible. Instead, the hand spun her around so that she was facing . . . Juliette.
No words were spoken. None could be, but none needed to be. Instead, Arianna followed Juliette down. The water got even darker, so Arianna turned her lights back on as a supplement to Juliette's. The pair drifted down through the murk with nothing but swords of light to cut through the darkness, suspended as though by invisible wires.
At last, Pearlman and Brady reached their goal. A city of light shone through the darkness, clearly illuminating the target.
Three dark figures blocked the light, and it was to them that the women swam. When the pair got to the threesome, there was a brief moment of pause as the five acknowledged each other. Five wraiths clad in the aegis of demons then slid through the murky depths, ready to assault the city of light built by gods.
When the SPARTANs got within fifty metres of the underwater base, a group of black dots picked its way out of one of the airlocks and picked its way to the SPARTANs. A few moments of swimming brought the two parties into contact. A swarm of Jackals wearing pressure suits and wielding plasma pistols intercepted the five SPARTANs.
Pearlman didn't hesitate. She whipped her DMR out and shot at the lead Jackal. Nothing happened. Pearlman pulled the trigger again. Still nothing. Glancing over, Pearlman saw Kahn investigating his Battle Rifle, holding the gun up to the red eyes of his visor. Brady was holding her combat knife ready, Reynolds had his shotgun hefted, and Quin was checking the magazine of a MD6 Magnum since his sniper rifle's high velocity rounds would shatter when they met the added resistance of water. Water. Shit. Of course guns wouldn't work underwater. The powder was wet.
Unfortunately, Jackals didn't use gunpowder. Plasma began to boil through water as the Jackals swam closer and closer. Pearlman dropped her DMR and swam as quickly as she could toward the Jackals, trying to dodge plasma fire as best she could. Sadly, the water made her slower without hindering plasma. Pearlman's shields fell. If the Jackals had concentrated fire on her, she would have died. As it was, their fire was divided, globules of plasma being aimed at all five approaching SPARTANs. Plasma clipped Pearlman's shoulder, burning through her armour. It burned, hurting so much that it was impossible to fight the pain.
But SPARTANs were trained to do the impossible. Ignoring the panic of her flesh, Pearlman grabbed a Jackal and punched it. The Jackal went limp, allowing her to use it at a shield. Pearlman wrenched the gun from its death-grip and began to fire at the other Jackals. From the corner of her eye, Pearlman saw Brady plunge her knife into a Jackal while Reynolds slammed his shotgun into another.
Once her shields were charged, Pearlman let the dead Jackal drift. Engaging her Thruster Pack, Pearlman flew into the mêlée. She pulled the trigger of her plasma pistol and held it down. Once it built up charge, Pearlman released it into the centre of the mass of Jackals. One died and Pearlman snatched its plasma pistol out of the dead Jackal's gloved hand. She started firing at every Jackal she could see until nothing but four other SPARTANs remained alive. Corpses went drifting by and by.
Pearlman shook off a feeling of foreboding and swam for the airlock with the other SPARTANs. They faced no opposition when they entered the airlock. It was filled with water, so Kahn swam to the side in an attempt to find the control panel, allowing him to drain the airlock.
All of a sudden, Kahn flew against one wall, struggling against nothing. An energy sword appeared out of thin water and Kahn grabbed just below the hilt, trying to hold it back. After a moment of struggle, Kahn twisted the blade into his invisible attacker, causing the Active Camo to fail. A dead Special Ops Elite drifted off of Kahn. He held up three fingers. The message was clear. Spec Ops Elites traveled in threes. There were probably two more.
Pearlman whipped around, searching for the telltale haze that indicated Active Camo. Empty water, Kahn, Quin, more empty water, Reynolds, even more empty water, and then Kahn again. Nothing. Wait, a haze. As Pearlman leveled her stolen plasma pistol and was about to fire when part of the haze was replaced by a dead Elite. Pearlman was confused for only a moment, because Brady's Active Camo unit failed shortly after.
Suddenly, the bad feeling returned. Pearlman twitched, reacting to an unseen force, a feeling that an attack was coming. She began to charge one of the pistols, just in case. A single line of blue plasma flew by her head right after she moved, hit the side of the airlock, and rebounded at an odd angle. Pearlman turned, firing the overcharged plasma pistol in the direction of the shot. A stealthed Elite carrying a Beam Rifle was uncloaked by the electromagnetic pulse. While her first pistol cooled down from the overcharge, Pearlman unloaded the second into the Elite. It died and Quin grabbed its drifting bram rifle.
Kahn swam over to the panel and hit a button. The outer door slid shut and the water began to drain. Five SPARTANs swam to the surface. A set of stairs that started just below the water level was carved into the circular wall. The SPARTANs ascended the stairs and found themselves on a solid metal catwalk that wrapped around the airlock. A door stood near the stairwell. It opened silently, admitting Brady, Reynolds, Quin, Pearlman, and Kahn.
The Forerunner installation was made of their sleek metal and had an omnipresent glow that lighted the area without casting a shadow.
"So what? Search every room?"
Kahn replied to Brady's query. "No. I have a better idea. Let's find the control room. I think I can hack the security cameras in here to find out if Glassman went this way. Palmer did say that there were security cameras here that allowed Roland to find this place, right?"
Pearlman sighed. "Yes, but why would we need to go down here if Lasky had eyes everywhere?"
"Because of the water. Duh."
"The Forerunners can build planets. I'm pretty sure they can overcome water garbling transmissions."
"Can't hurt to try," Kahn said as he shrugged before heading down the hall. Everyone followed behind him, stolen weapons at the ready.
Kahn led the way, taking twists and turns with hardly a moment's pause. When questioned about it, his only response was, "The airlock's mechanism had a map, and I have an uncanny memory."
After several more turns, the first challengers to be met were a group of Grunts pushing a series of crates along. Brady dashed forward, taking them all by surprise and gently lowering each body to the floor. Her boots were the loudest sound during her ordeal. Brady casually wiped the blue blood off of her knife on the body of one of the Grunts as she asked, "So, why are there so few enemies?"
As Reynolds conveyed her question to Quin, Kahn spoke up. His deep voice seemed to have gone up an octave and he stuttered a bit as he spoke. "Um . . . Maybe it's a . . . uh . . . skeleton crew. You know . . . not many people because . . . uh . . . its top-secret or . . . you know . . . not busy. I hear that after twenty-seven years of war, things can . . . kinda dip into recessions."
Reynolds passed the message on to Quin and replied in a guarded voice, "Yeah, maybe."
A few hallways and a group if dead Jackals later, Kahn had successfully led Fireteam Nebula to the control room. The door admitted them, revealing six Elites in golden armour working diligently at consoles. Suddenly, an alarm at one of the consoles began to beep. The Elite turned and roared a challenge at the five SPARTANs. Even a Pearlman brought her plasma pistol to bear on the Elite at the nearest set of controls, it turned, drawing a storm rifle and leveling it at her head.
All hell broke loose. Brady's jumping at the closest Elite seemed to trigger an all-out, every-man-woman-and-child-for-his-or-herself, good-old-fashioned brawl. Even as she drove her knife home into the chest of the Elite, it pulled the trigger on its rifle, quickly depleting Brady's shields with a hail of fiery death. Another Elite slammed into Brady as she got up off of its dead comrade. The pair flew a metre or two away and the Elite drew its energy sword and lifted it in preparation for stabbing Brady, who was a bit stunned by the blow.
Pearlman fired her Thruster Pack, causing her to fly into the Elite, headbutting it off of Brady, who got up and picked up her knife. Pearlman found herself on top of the Elite, so she punched it once in the face before sticking her plasma pistol into its mouth and blowing its brains out execution style.
Rising, Pearlman saw Kahn and Reynolds ganging up on one of the four remaining Elites, circling round it and firing solicited plasma weaponry at it. It couldn't run the risk of charging at one of them without the other getting behind it and assassinating it. They were fine. Brady was going knife to energy sword with another, and two were ganging up on Quin. Normally, he would be able to headshot the both of them with the Beam Rifle, but these Elite Generals would each take three shots, something that Pearlman knew couldn't be done with a beam rifle. She began charging both plasma pistols, firing them across the room at the Elites stalking closer and closer to Quin. The moment their shields overloaded, Quin took two headshots and two bodies fell a moment later.
In quick succession, Reynolds and Brady each felled their opponent, and the room was cleared. Kahn rushed to one of the consoles and began hitting hard-light buttons. Although he had pressed about eight different controls, nothing had yet happened, no screens had popped up.
Reynolds asked, "Well, do you have security camera footage or not?"
Kahn replied, "I don't, but that isn't my goal." He hit one last button.
"Then what was?" Reynolds inquired.
A new voice, feminine, came from the shadows. "He was saving me."
A/N: I did it! I had a cliffhanger! Mostly because the underwater portion was fun to write, but it took a while, so I didn't want to leave you for too long. As always, please inform me of irregularities, grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, factual errors, etcetera.
On that note, I noticed that I capitalise the names of some weapons and not others. Would someone please tell me the rules for capitalising weapon names since I can't find those rules? Thanks!