A/N; Here we go, another chapter. I will probably receive some flak for this but hey ho, it's better than what i nearly did. So, I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to leave a review. If you have something to say about the story be it a comment or an idea or a question SAY it, i can't reply to you other wise.
Sol System, Earth, Forerunner Portal, Voi, 2558
If Thomas Lasky had ever been nervous before the mission to Requiem before, he was down right terrified of what the Infinity and the eighty strong fleet of escorts and Carriers would find when they arrived at the other end of the recently opened portal. After years of tinkering with the device the ONI scientists had discovered several interesting facts about the portal.
One; it didn't only go the Ark but to other installations as well, including another portal device located in a galaxy that wasn't in the Forerunner database, that meant there were more than likely going to be other Forerunners there but the question was of they were going to be as hostile as the Didact had been or if they were as peaceful they claimed to be.
Two; the Forerunners had used it to leave the galaxy behind for humanity to look after. Although if they do meet face-to-face in a peaceful manner Tom might have more than a few words to say about the Forerunners lack of care when leaving and the results of that oversight on their part.
Three; there was a message. A message from a Forerunner called the IsoDidact and if Tom hadn't already been briefed on the Bornstellar relation archive and the testimonies from Forerunners known as Juridicals he would have been worried but he knew who the IsoDidact was, a potential ally. One humanity desperately needed if they were going to reclaim the Mantle and recover the other half of the Janus key from Dr Halsey and Jul 'Mdama.
Other than the eighty one warships, Infinity included, his task force also had a small fleet of auxiliary vessels that would supply the main task force with everything from ammunition to food to repair and refit. Although if they really did encounter live and peaceful Forerunners he doubted they would need the repair and refit ships. Of course the only reason FleetCom agreed to let the Infinity go was because they knew she could damage a Forerunner ship, plus they didn't know what else they were going to find once they got there.
"All ships are green and ready to go Captain." Roland, the ships A.I, reported.
"Good, give the word. We are a go." Tom said, giving a nod towards the small yellow avatar. Tom watched as the bow of the Infinity entered the massive portal way above the surface of Earth. He didn't know how long the journey would take but he knew no matter what, they would be prepared. Or so he thought.
Forerunner Capital, Capital System
Bornstellar was in the gardens with Dawn, teaching her how to defend herself against a superior foe when it happened. The portal he had ordered to be built had activated, he frowned when it had done so. It had only one connecting point and that was on Erda-Tyrenne back in their home galaxy, but the humans would not have advanced enough to use the portal in just six hundred years, had the Flood survived? Had it taken over the galaxy and come to finish the Forerunners once and for all?
"Father?" Dawn asked, she still didn't know about the portal, or she hadn't known, she didn't know the very real danger it posed right now.
"Inside, now!" Bornstellar ordered her. She went in without hesitation. Bornstellar however did no such thing and used a translocation device to get aboard the Horizon in an instant. From there he had immediately taken control of the situation, he re-orientated the Horizon so that her tail was facing the exit area while all available warships started to form a blockade around the exit point of the portal transit system. On the planet Warrior-Servants and sentinels were preparing themselves for a potential invasion, when they had set up their defences they waited, and waited, and waited still. It was nearly a full day before anything exited from Slip-space and it was most definitely not a Flood controlled vessel or fleet.
First it was just one ship, one capital grade ship measuring over five and a half kilometres long, longer than most Forerunner warships. Not all of them, but most. But he hadn't expected the ship to be followed by dozens more, some were as small as a Harrier while a large portion of them were mid-sized craft. Around thirty ships were over a kilometre long, around the same size as a Dreadnought and four were over three kilometres long. Bornstellar knew that a ships size meant nothing compared to how effective it was in combat but it did mean there was more room inside the ships, more room for soldiers that could bring an unwanted fight to the new Ecumene. When the unknown vessels stopped arriving there was a little over a hundred of them, over twenty were obviously non-combat ships, with no weapons and little armour they were most likely to be support ships for the larger fleet. All the ships followed a similar design pattern; grey hexagonal and blocky. In other words they were ugly, really ugly, but the scans showed a well constructed honeycomb interior that would allow the ships to remain functional even with most of it's armour gone and most decks exposed. However the scans also showed that the engines and Slip-space drive on the largest ship in the fleet were Forerunner. They weren't reverse engineered but they had just been stuck on to the ship.
Bornstellar brought up a multitude of displays showing the various combat capable ships in the unknown fleet, each one had the same symbol painted on their flanks next to a form of script. They were, he guessed, the names of the ships but he couldn't read them. He didn't know what they said and that was not something he liked, he didn't like not knowing everything about a potential foe. Each ship's name, if the script was indeed that, started with the same four marks; a single line that formed a simple bucket shape, two parallel lines connected by a diagonal line going from the top of the left line to the bottom of the right one, another single line in a curving pattern going down, or up and a fourth symbol similar to the first one only on it's side. UNSC. Could it be something important? Or was it some sort of prefix the unknowns placed before a ships name.
"Didact, the flagship is hailing us." The Horizon's Ancilla said. Bornstellar was mildly surprised, whoever they were they took the initiative to contact him, although if they were demands of surrender he would obliterate the entire fleet in front of him.
Bornstellar activated the communicator and presented an image of the largest ship's Captain in front of him and an image of him would appear in front of the unknown Captain. However, his fears of this being some sort of Flood plot or other race using Forerunner technology was put to rest when an appearance of a pale human in a grey and gold uniform appeared, he had not been expecting that. How had this happened? How had the humans become so advanced in just six hundred years? It didn't make sense.
"I'm Captain Thomas Lasky, Captain of the Infinity and in charge of the human fleet here." The human said.
"Captain," Bornstellar said, trying to be polite, he didn't want to offend the human, "I am the Didact-"
"Don't you mean the IsoDidact?" the human Captain interrupted. Despite being annoyed by the interruption Bornstellar was still amused to see the human knew who he was talking to.
"What makes you so sure human?"
"Well, if your not the IsoDidact, we either killed the wrong one of you a year ago or we're screwed. Either one is not so good for us." The captain replied calmly, although what the human had just said was earth-shattering news, they had killed the Ur-Didact, had he taught them how to use the technology before being killed by them? No, that didn't make sense, the Ur-Didact would not help the humans even without the threat of the Flood. "And before you ask, he attacked us, we simply defended ourselves."
"I see. Seeing as you know who I am and I know whom you are, what is your purpose here?"
"Exploration for the most part however we also came here looking for you actually."
"Is that so? Is that why you brought a fleet of warships? To attack us?" Bornstellar said and to his surprised the human looked shocked at the notion.
"Attack you? No, we came here looking for you help and to see if Forerunners really did survive or if the data we found was just faulty, and the reason we brought the fleet is simple, we didn't know what we'd find and if we found you we didn't know if you'd be friendly or if you'll be like the Didact from Requiem." The human, Thomas, replied.
"Hmm, if what you say is true than perhaps a meeting in person would be better. We shall meet at these co-ordinates," Born said, sending the co-ordinates for the Council Chambers. He wouldn't call a session of the Council but merely call Chant, the Master Builder and the First Councillor, they would be the only people to meet he humans at the moment, the rest of the population can wait for the moment.
"Understood, although, I don't know what to call you because there is no way in hell will I or any member of this fleet call you the Didact, not after what happened." Thomas said and Bornstellar nodded, he needed to hear what had become of the Didact, the old one he had woken up from the Cryptum with the two ancient humans.
UNSC Infinity, Forerunner world
By the time Captain Lasky had made it down to the hanger he noticed the Master Chief and Blue team along with Crimson, Majestic and lieutenant Murphy, all ready to go by a Pelican. He didn't bother to suppress the chuckle that came at the sight of the Spartan-II's towering over the IV's who were doing their best not to show how unnerved they were, so far Crimson was better at hiding it than Majestic.
"Captain on deck!" The Chief barked, breaking the idle chit-chat between the two Spartan IV fire-teams.
"At ease Spartans, I only asked for one team to act as an escort, not three." Lasky said with an amused chuckle.
"Sir, if these are anything like the Didact from Requiem you'll need the extra support." The Chief said. The looks coming from the Spartan IV's showed that they agreed with him.
"Yeah, you do remember just one of them led an invasion of Earth and united the Covenant in just a few days right Captain?" Madsen said before getting a slap on the back of the head from Grant.
"Okay, okay, lets get this show on the road Spartans. Lieutenant Murphy, get this bird moving."
"Aye, aye Captain." The pilot said before hoping into the cockpit and starting the bird up. Lasky was flanked by the massive Spartans in a way that made him feel both safe and yet uncomfortable. Despite the severity of the mission Majestic and Crimson still messed about on the way back while the older members of Blue team sat still, only moving to go over their gear again and again.
"Whoa, Captain, you might want to check this out," Murphy said from the front. Frowning Tom moved to the cockpit and clambered into the empty copilot seat and looked, in front of them on the planet was a massive floating ocean and beyond that was their destination, a large building suspended in mid-air. It was reminiscent of the of the Library structures on the Halo's, with gold and blue lights running through it. It was beautiful and magnificent but at the same time it spoke of power and glory. Tom swallowed as they approached, he was about to make contact with Forerunners on their own turf in a peaceful manner, he just hoped it remained peaceful.
As they approached the large building sentinels surrounded the pelican and guided it to a particular landing area where two Forerunners were waiting, the more feminine looking one was stood on a device that allowed her to float inches above the ground. When they landed Blue team was the first ones out the hatch and they were quickly followed by Crimson and Majestic, the thirteen Spartans created a semi-circle around the hatch and gave an all clear soon after, if there was something waiting to ambush them than the Spartans couldn't see it which probably meant there wasn't anything there. Stepping down the ramp Lasky looked straight at the male Forerunner who was taller than the Spartans by at least a head.
"Sorry about that but the Spartans like to make sure there isn't any surprises waiting for me. Captain Tom Lasky, Captain of the Infinity." He said as he walked down, by the time he reached the Forerunners he was finished and awkwardly held out a hand. To his surprise the female took it without much hesitation, she grasped it gently and Tom noticed her hands were as soft as silk.
"Welcome Captain Lasky, I am Chant-to-Green, the Lifeshaper. And you have already spoken to the IsoDidact." She said, her voice was like her skin, flawless and beautiful.
"Yeah, we have. As long as you don't plan on using a Composer to turn humanity into killer robots I think everything will be fine." Tom said although judging by their looks he was sure they didn't understand. That was good, chances were they had no idea what the Didact had been up to back home.
"Yeah, one city was bad enough." He heard Thorne mumble from behind him. The Master Chief strode up and stood next to Lasky, his weapon in his hands but not up. However when he glanced the Chief's way he saw that the Spartan hero was having some sort of staring contest with the male Forerunner.
"I am not your enemy human." The IsoDidact said calmly, not phased by the impenetrable gold visor in the slightest. Despite the comment the Chief said nothing and if Tom could see through the visor he would see the Spartan glaring through narrowed eyes.
"Stand down Chief, he isn't like the one you fought on Requiem." Lasky said, despite it being an order he said it more like a friend giving advice. The second long pause between the 'yes, sir' and backing off slightly spoke volumes, it showed just how much the Chief didn't trust these people and Tom couldn't blame him, after all it was the Forerunners fault for just about everything that has effected his life, including the Spartan program.
"Please, come inside the Council chambers where we might discuss everything in a more private manner and we can smooth any issues you may have." Chant said. It took everything Tom had not to say just how many issues there were. Everything from the Covenant to Requiem was their fault, inadvertently yes, but theirs non the less. Inside the chambers were two more Forerunners, one looked well groomed and elegant while the other young but tired and rather plain compared to the others. They were introduced as the Master Builder and the First Councillor respectively. The massive amphitheatre that housed the five hundred council members looked bigger and more daunting when it was as empty as it was now, however when they all stepped onto the platform at the centre it was surrounded in hardlight which glowed painfully bright before settling to show a more peaceful view of being surrounded in a nebulae in deep space, although it also made Tom feel uneasy with the idea of being stuck in space without any form of protection from the vacuum.
"I have to admit it was rather surprising to find that humanity has followed us after such a short amount of time." The First Councillor said to begin the meeting.
"Short amount of time? It's been a hundred thousand years since you fired the Halo's and defeated the Flood." Tom replied with a slight frown.
"A hundred thousand years? Impossible, we only left six hundred years ago, that's why we suspected an attack and set up defences in such a way. We were not expecting you." The IsoDidact responded before thoughtfully adding, "Unless the Precursors have something to do with it, they may have surrounded the entire galaxy within a time capsule of some sort."
"That would make sense, after all it was on one of the Halo's when we first heard about Forerunners." Tom replied, he noticed the Chief and Linda tense up slightly at the mention of the Halos. The IsoDidact, Bornstellar, noticed it as well.
"You found one of the rings? Which one?" IsoDidact asked.
"Well, we've found three now, Installations 4,5 and 3, although we blew up the installation 4 to stop the Flood escaping." Tom said, recalling the mission reports he'd looked over from when the Pillar of Autumn crashed on the ring.
"And the monitor?Guilty Spark?"
"He survived and helped stop the firing of the fifth ring but he was destroyed over the Ark on the replacement Halo." The Chief said, despite the neutral tone Tom could tell that the Chief was thinking back to that day when he'd lost a very good friend.
""Why? Why did he need to stop the fifth ring firing? And why was he destroyed over the Ark?" Bornstellar said.
"To understand that we would need to start at the beginning, the formation of the Covenant. When, from what we know of it, the San 'Shyuum and Sangheili fought over how to treat Forerunner artefacts, baring in mind both races saw your kind as gods to be worshipped. Eventually they formed an alliance and started recruiting other races into this alliance, which became the Covenant. By the time they made first contact with us they had the Unggoy, Kig-yar, Yanme'e, Jiralhanae and Lekgolo. All of these races were... forced to worship what you left behind, they believed that if they found the Halo's and activated them it would allow them to transcend into godhood along side you." Tom started, using only what he knew about the formation of the Covenant which was more than most people knew about it.
"When they first made contact with us on a little farming colony called Harvest, the Prophets realised that we were, in essence, Forerunners as their machines, your machines, told them so. Because of this revelation the Prophets decided to keep it a secret so that their power and influence would not be dissolved. So, rather than become friends we were told we were an affront to their gods and we were to be wiped out. They killed nearly everyone on Harvest and hundreds of other worlds, including the planet I went to school on. They killed everyone, men, women, children. It didn't matter to them. After we lost the outer colonies it wasn't long before we lost the only Admiral who was capable of consistently beating the Covenant in space. Of course we didn't have even half the technological capability as them at the time. We were out numbered and out gunned. Over twenty billion were killed in the war and that was before they found Earth.
"However, before they reached Earth they had to go through out military stronghold, a planet we called Reach, after a months fighting there, a battle in which we lost nearly a billion people only to lose the planet any way. But when a ship escaped from Reach it ended up at Halo installation 04, the Covenant beat us there and went to work on killing everyone that made to the Halo. Personally I wasn't there but I do know that the Covenant released the Flood and we lost one of the best Navy Captains in the process. Chief, you were there, why don't you tell them exactly why you were forced to destroy the ring." Tom said, he needed a break from talking, especially about such a sore topic for every human in the room. The Chief looked at him before nodding slowly. Turning back to the Forerunners who were sitting there, taking in all the information, although they all had different emotions, Chant looked saddened, Bornstellar looked almost angry, the Master Builder mildly amused and the First Councillor looked intrigued.
"The monitor of the installation, Guilty Spark tried to get me to activate Halo before the Flood escaped and in the process wipe out all life in the galaxy. I was unable to follow through with the plan, I swore to protect the UNSC and humanity, I couldn't wipe them out so I found a different way to make sure the Flood didn't escape. I destroyed the ring." He said, his voice was leagues beneath Tom's own.
"Interesting, and you say Guilty Spark saw no other choice but to activate the ring?" Bornstellar questioned.
"So he said." The Chief replied as cool as ice, his voice never faltering despite the heavy looks being sent his way.
"And how did he end up on the fifth ring?"
"The Covenant took him there." The Chief said simply.
"After the first attack on Earth when a small Covenant fleet arrived. One of the High Prophets happened to be leading the attack but before we could attack and capture him once he punched through our orbital defences. He destroyed a city in the process and only one ship managed to follow him into slip-space." Tom said, explaining a bit further. "It turned out that the Flood had already broken loose and was trying to escape from the fifth Halo when the Covenant and UNSC found it. It was being led by a Gravemind who orchestrated an elaborate escape plan where it used the UNSC frigate to jump into the Covenant Holy City and take it over. In the middle of all this was a Covenant civil war which caused the Sangheili and Jiralhanae to fight each other. Eventually the Sangheili allied themselves with us and helped defeat the Covenant at the Ark."
"Interesting. It still does not answer why you destroyed Guilty Spark."
"Because he went rampant, killed a man for no good reason and tried to kill me. I used the replacement Halo to destroy the Ark and Flood, removing both threats at the same time." The Chief said. Tom had to give him some credit; he had never heard the Chief speak so much.
"I see, I am sorry about what you have endured because of these Covenant. We would never wish for humanity to be destroyed." Chant said, the other Forerunners at the table agreed.
"And the Didact, you mentioned him before. What exactly ensued once he was released?" Bornstellar asked.
"He united a bunch of Covenant races under his rule and use his mechanical Prometheans to wipe out humanity using the Composer. We stopped him but he managed to compose an entire city on Earth." Tom said.
"You stopped the Didact? Not even your ancient empire could manage that. How did you achieve it?" Bornstellar said, he was surprised at the revelation.
"I didn't," Tom said, "I simply used the Infinity's main guns to punch a hole through the Didact's hull and the Chief here did the rest." He said, pointing at the large armoured human next to him.
"Incredible, you beat the Didact? You have the respect of the Warrior-Servant rate, although, you might also be met with some less than favourable remarks, many Warrior-Servants looked up to him as the greatest Promethean leader we've ever had." Bornstellar said, he wasn't lying either; the warrior-servant rate would have a considerable amount of respect for someone who could manage such a feat but they were also likely to treat such a man with hostility for killing a Forerunner, no matter how much his mental faculties have deteriorated.
"I had help." The Chief said simply but Madsen from Majestic couldn't keep his mouth shut forever.
"You kidding Chief? You like jumped onto a Covenant ship, hung onto it's hull through slip-space and then kicked the Covenant off Ivanov station and followed them to Earth in fighter. No one else could have or would have done it." He said and Tom couldn't disagree with the younger Spartan.
"As true as it is I think we're getting off topic." Tom said before turning back to the Forerunners, "You know a bit about what happened to us after you left but we don't know what happened to you."
"We simply left after we reseeded the galaxy. We arrived five hundred years ago and started to rebuild our empire here. Although we have come across some less than comfortable truths while here. We could in fact use your help in this galaxy." Bornstellar said.
"That's why we came to you, for help. We need help sorting out the Covenant races, they're too loose at the moment, any one of them could decide to wage war on humanity any day and we don't have the fleet we used to have plus we're at risk of another civil war with out own colonies."
"We will provide help if you in return help us," The First Councillor said.
"Okay, how could we possibly help you?"
"We have discovered the Precursors have been using this galaxy as some form of test bed. One of their 'test subjects' is a form of humans. However unlike you they are reliant on a primitive form of technology. You might be able to convince them to invest in more powerful technology that isn't reliant on Precursor design." Bornstellar said.
"Another human civilisation? If news of that ever reached back home it would be chaos, entire colonies would rebel, our own civilisation would crumble into the dirt." Lasky said, the Spartans seemed to agree with this assessment.
"Than don't tell them." The Master Builder said like it was the most obvious thing ever. And it was but the UNSC replied on what little trust remained with the colonies if it has any chance of keeping it all together.
Eventually Tom decided to agree, the UNSC needed the Forerunners if it wanted to survive and the Forerunners needed the USNC if everything in this new galaxy was to survive. It was one hell of a trade off. Probably the most important one ever made in human history.
XX
Forerunner Capital, Capital World
Bornstellar was very happy with the way things had turned out. Some of his warriors would go back to the home galaxy with the human auxiliary fleet and pacify any hostilities in the galaxy. Everything back there would be under human control one way or another while the Infinity and her crew would covertly try and convince the human Systems Alliance to stop using the Precursor element in their technology. Deep down he resented how the humans were so important to the welfare of two whole galaxies while Forerunners were forced into a state of exile and could do little to make the races of the galaxy to listen to reason.
Bornstellar looked back at what they'd left behind, an entire galaxy full of advanced technology, it wasn't a surprise that a primitive alien race discovered it and decided to worship the Forerunners, but to wage a war in their name? It was an insult he could not ignore. Walking into the Prometheans war room he didn't hesitate to move to Glory-of-a-Far-Dawn at the far end working at a console and going over fleet defence patterns.
"Glory, prepare the troops under your command for departure, you'll be leaving with the human auxiliary fleet. Once in the home galaxy do what ever you need to to make sure there are no threats to human existence there. Sangheili and Jiralhanae fleets are the main threat. Scour the galaxy and unite under the humans, once that is dealt with they will be in a position more favourable to helping us here." He said. She didn't ask questions but gave a salute and went to her ship, before she even left the war room she was already communicating with her sub-commanders.
The human Captain may have agreed to help but not until his own people were secured which meant until Glory returned triumphant than he was stuck here, waiting. He just hoped that Glory would be quick in her campaign but there was no way of knowing until she did return and that could very well be years from now, which might be too late.
XX
UNSC Infinity, Forerunner Capital world, Capital system
"Roland, tell the Captain of the Aladdin he's clear. He has a mission to complete." Captain Lasky said.
"Aye, aye Captain, Aladdin is away. Are you sure this is the right thing to do Captain? I mean should we really be interfering in the affairs of another galaxy? One that might by all accounts declare war on all of humanity if we are discovered." The A.I replied.
"It's a risk we have to take, as an officer of the UNSC Navy I swore to protect humanity, even these humans need protecting, especially of they're being ruled over by some alien government." Tom replied as he moved from the holo-table and straightened his uniform, he stopped just in front of the large view port just as the sun dipped below the edge of the planet, casting half of it into darkness.