Chapter 8
Council ships had spent months trying to get through to Batarian systems only never to return or send back any signal, not even ones to say they arrived in Batarian space. After seven months it finally happened, they finally got through and into Batarian space. What they found was shocking, something they hadn't expected. They had expected a vast fleet of warships ready to bring war to Council space. What they found was empty planets. No trace of civilisation, no fleets, nothing. The planets weren't just abandoned but the cities and populations that had inhabited them were gone, not one brick was left.
It was like that all through Batarian space, every planet, every moon, every asteroid they'd inhabited was devoid of life. When they reached the Bahak system they found billions of people, none of them Batarians, all claiming to be ex-slaves of the Hegemony. The Council set up proper camps to sort out the billions of people. They had been sorted out by species, humans were with humans, turians with turians and so on and so on. The Alliance jumped at the chance to rescue their people, some of which had been in captivity since as early as the first slaver raids into Alliance space. Not a single ex-slave could attest to what happened, why they were released or how they got to the Bahak system. For them they just woke up there, no memories of being a slave and for some of the older slaves were shocked when they heard about humanity, a space fairing race they hadn't heard about.
Reaching Kar'sharn revealed what had happened to the Hegemony. A civil war, one so violent they had blown themselves back into the stone age. But even that didn't explain why it had taken the Council seven months to get into fringes of Batarian space, what had stopped Council ships reporting back? Where did they all go after arriving in system? The Batarians interviewed on Kar'sharn proved no help, claiming this was the first time they'd ever met another race. There was something at work in the galaxy, something in play since the attack on Elysium nine human months ago when people started reporting large beings that were taller than an Elcor on it's hind legs and stronger than an enraged Krogan. Of course those sightings coincided with the Major Victus's report of finding a tall female with features similar to that of a human. All of these events had increased tensions with the Alliance who was denying any involvement with the incidents. And for once the Council was inclined to believe them. Not even Cerberus was claiming responsibility for the actions.
XX
Forerunner Capital World, Household of Bornstellar and Chant-to-Green
Elizabeth had learnt a lot since coming here, she had joined the Alliance as a means to get revenge on the Batarians but with the Forerunner's claiming to be dealing with that problem she was left with no driving force in her life. That was until Chant-to-Green had taken her under her wing and started to teach Elizabeth things about life and the universe even Salarian's and Asari didn't know. She kept her body in shape but she had started to lean away from her old military lifestyle. She didn't like it much to begin with but now she was free from all her burdens.
On normal days she would be with Chant and be learning all sorts of different things with the Lifeworkers, as she had learnt to call them, but today she and one of Bornstellar's other children, a Warrior-Servant, were sparing with large wooden sticks. Something were the same in certain cultures she guessed. Dawn-of-War, or just Dawn as Elizabeth called her, was one of Bornstellar's youngest children, still in her manipular stage. During her time with them Elizabeth had learnt that Forerunners had life stages, artificially induced mutations that were brought on when they reached a certain age or position of power or in some cases, when it was absolutely necessary. A manipular was the very first stage in life, before becoming an independent member of society and marriage. They were still considered children. Dawn would still be considered a child in human space as well, at only twelve years old, but still she had Elizabeth on the back foot during these sparring matches.
Dawn was slightly shorter than Elizabeth but she was far stronger and faster. The only thing Elizabeth had going for her was practise and experience, or so she told herself as she started sweating and blocking another powerful strike aimed at her mid section. Dawn may have been stronger and faster but she was still learning, her brothers and sisters, those that were Warrior-Servant's, would spar with her and teach her but Elizabeth was human, an unknown to her, and on the battlefield an unknown could sway the tide of battle. Every Warrior-Servant was taught to learn everything about their opponents before engaging them in combat. Humans did it as well, 'If you know your enemy and know yourself you will find victory in every battle', Elizabeth had quoted.
Both girls were dimly aware of a few people watching but they carried on still. Dawn was pressing her attacks, harder more powerful each time. Elizabeth just kept blocking and blocking, staying on the defensive until Dawn made a mistake, she'd put too much power into a blow for the head and when Elizabeth ducked Dawn found herself defenceless which Elizabeth quickly capitalised on and within moments Dawn lost the match. A low murmurer came from the crowd. They hadn't expected for Dawn to loose. A loud barking laugh and slight clap of hands drew everyone's attention, it was Bornstellar, he was back from his campaign against the Batarians.
"Defend until your enemy reveals a weakness and then deliver a devastating strike. A sound tactic against a foe of equal skill." Bornstellar said. "A lesson for you all,"
More murmurers, most of the sounded positive, some not so much. It was time like this when Elizabeth wanted to stay in her room and never leave. She wasn't Forerunner, she didn't fit in and she was almost always the centre of attention whenever they left the estate, which thankfully wasn't very often.
The crowd dispersed, filtering off to go do what ever they did, leaving only Bornstellar and Dawn with Elizabeth in the open garden. Bornstellar was still in his armour, his helmet folded away as he was in the company of friends and family.
"Come now, it is time for celebration, the galaxy has been rid of an undesirable blemish while we gather our strength for what is to come."
"What's that meant to mean?" Elizabeth asked.
"Precursors have been here. They are twisted, sick and nightmarish creatures, if they've been here than something is not right." Bornstellar replied.
"How do you know something isn't right? How do you know so much about these Precursors? For that matter, what in the hell is a Precursor? Don't you mean Prothean?" Elizabeth said, she was getting angry at the way he avoided the question.
"The Precursors left their mark on this galaxy. I know so much about them because my people destroyed them, and drove the few that remained mad. The Didact spoke to one and I have his memories. I do not know of these... Protheans," Bornstellar said, he didn't bother to face her.
"What is this mark? What do you mean your people destroyed them and then drove them mad?"
"Ten million years ago in our home galaxy the Precursors decided that Forerunners were not worthy of holding the Mantle and that it was to go to our cousins. Humanity. You. Our warriors rose up in anger and wiped out the Precursors before they wiped us out. The few Precursors left evolved into a new form, a powder. The others were driven mad by what we had done. They couldn't understand why we had risen up against them, or why we would want to. Those that became dust was originally able to retake it's old forms, but over time it became corrupted and could only cause horrific diseases. The other Precursors used this dust as a means of revenge against the Forerunners.
"The Flood invaded Forerunner space and within three hundred years of war with the parasite we had all but lost our Empire. Trillions were wiped out, thousands of species we were unable to save. The rest were either catalogued for re-population or were wiped out when I activated the Halo array." Bornstellar said, Forerunners weren't very good at expressing themselves via facial features but she could tell he was sad and angry. Elizabeth couldn't blame him.
"Oh, that... sucks." Elizabeth said, unsure of what else to say. Bornstellar let our an unamused snort. "But I still have a few questions; like What happened to the Humans your familiar with? Why didn't they help you fight the Flood? And what on Earth is a Halo array?"
"The Humans didn't help because they couldn't; we removed their technology and reversed their civilisation back into it's most basic form. A mistake on our part brought about by pride and our unyielding belief that we were superior. It took centuries to defeat them, over fifty years and hundreds of thousands of warriors to take their capital. They had defeated the Flood by themselves but in the process they were forced back, into our territory and we took it as a sign of an invasion rather than seeing it as them running. A mistake we paid for dearly."
"Oh,"
"Indeed." Bornstellar agreed. "Enough of this talk. It is time for celebration, not reminiscing on the past." Bornstellar said, he led them to a small transport, a Falco-class shuttle he'd called it. The trip was short, like most things with Forerunners they handled things quickly and without too much fanfare, unlike the Citadel Council. When they arrived Elizabeth could see hundreds of Forerunners celebrating, not like a human would with alcohol and loud music but instead there was music, quiet, sensual, almost majestic sounding. Food and drink came in the form of stews and other such foods and flavoured waters and juices. Entertainment however was... different. They laughed at stories being passed from the old to the young. Even Bornstellar wasn't exempt from it.
"Bornstellar was a trouble maker in his younger years. Always off searching for Precursor relics and he was desperate to find the Organon, so desperate he got himself sent to an adoptive family of Miners. But did that stop him? No! He sneaked away on a transport ship to Edre-Tyrene where he made friends with a little Florian and Chamanune and together they woke the Didact! But instead of running and contacting the Ecumene they travelled with him through the stars for three years before the Master Builder caught them, Bornstellar was nearly executed by the Master Builder!" Someone Elizabeth had yet to meet told the story, it was interesting to find out a little more about the large being that had saved her.
"That is enough sister. My exploits were caused by the Librarian, a geas. Most events in that tale were." Bornstellar said over the laughter of the crowd, this only served to cause the crowd to laugh louder. "I blame humans for this. Forerunners weren't this loud while celebrating before we celebrated with them." Bornstellar said to her in a mock whisper. The crowds laughter grew even louder.
"Trust me. This is tame when compared to a party we hold." She said with a smile.
"Perhaps one day soon we will see." Bornstellar said before leaving her in the crowd where she was dragged into dances and given drinks. Despite the different pace of the party she enjoyed herself, these people knew how to celebrate without loud music and even louder drunks.