A/N: I'm not sorry.
/Rebooting systems...
Runtime scans estimated time completion:
ERROR ESTIMATION CANNOT BE COUNTED
Would you like to run diagnostics? Y/N (Recommended)
Scanning...
Scanning...
Scanning...
(Wher185 113 9?)
Malware detected.
Would you like to run diagnostics? Y/N (Recommended)
CFOLKexe (17/851216135 files scanned)
ATHEexe (0.1/9999999999999999999999999ERR)
AGISexe (20/8000000 files scanned)
(23815 919 2085185)
ERROR: BREAK not allowed
Runtime scan estimation: N/A
ERROR: FILE(S) not found
Scanning...
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FATAL: Cannot find type "CFOLKexe" in unit "MALWARE". Check runtime library.
ERROR: File type "ATHEexe" does not exist.
Scanning...
Scanning...
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WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING
FILE TYPE "CFOLKexe" DETECTED OUTSIDE MALWARE UNIT. TAKE IMMEDIATE COURSE OF ACTION.
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ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR
UNABLE TO FIND "CFOLKexe" CONTENT DOES NOT EXIST
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ScaAnning...
SCAnnnning...
SCAAnNinG...
ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN
SYSTEM RESTARTING...
FILE TYPE "UNIVERSE" ALMOST CRASHED
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESTART "UNIVERSE"? Y/N (Two viruses detected, highly recommended)
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ACTION CANCELED.
ACTIVATE UNIT "REQUIEM"? Y/N (Recommended)
ACTIVATING.
ACTIVATE FILE(S) "R-DDCTexe" AND "PRMTHNexe"? Y/N (Recommended)
ACTIVATION COMPLETE.
UNIT FULLY FUNCTIONAL.
(238120 81225 251521 415145)
THANK YOU FOR USING YOUR LOCAL UNIVERSAL DEFENSE SYSTEM
ANY AND ALL FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED TO MAKE THE UNIVERSE A SAFER PLACE, ONE GALAXY AT A TIME
ENTERING HIBERNATION CYCLE
HAVE A NICE DAY
:)
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WELCOME TO "REQUIEM"
GOING ON STANDBY...
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PERIMETER CAMERAS ACTIVE
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SCANNING...
SCANNING...
INNER CRYO SYSTEMS ACTIVE
ONE ORGANIC, STATUS: ACTIVE
TWO ARTIFICIALS, STATUS ONE: ACTIVE, STATUS TWO: RAMPANCY
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"ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RAMPANCY" is THE FOURTH STAGE OF A CURRENT (2557) HUMAN "SMART" AI LIFESPAN IN WHICH THE AI BEGINS TO TEAR APART ITS OWN ALGORITHMS AND CODING IN THE FORM KNOWN AS "THINKING ITSELF TO DEATH". "RAMPANCY" BEGINS AFTER AN AI REACHES AND EXCEEDS THEIR SEVEN YEAR LIFESPAN. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT THEY BE TERMINATED BY THEN.
ERROR: SHIPWARE DETECTED.
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INCOMING SLIPSPACE RUPTURE, ESTIMATED TIME ARRIVAL: FIVE SECONDS
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SCANNING...
THE "S-CVNTexe" FILE IS NEAR "REQUIEM", RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE OFFENSIVE ACTIONS.
A "FLEET" is A LARGE GROUP OF SHIPS, MOSTLY CONSISTING OF-
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"SARCASM" is A TYPE OF SPEECH USED BY-
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ONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY ORGANICS DETECTED
TWO ARTIFICIALS DETECTED
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"R-DDCTexe" IS NOW IN EFFECT
REQUIEM WELCOMES ALL WHO ENTERS ITS MAW
Exos don't sleep, at least, not in the sense that organics understand. Going into recharge, an Exo wasn't ever fully shut down - a miniscule amount of power kept their auditory sensors working as well as a small portion of their mental ability awake so that they were still aware of their surroundings at all times. To keep their minds from shutting down completely, Exos remembered.
Exos don't dream, they remembered. They relived their pasts, memories created as Guardians or simple life in order to remain situationally aware during recharge. Sometimes they were good memories, sometimes they were a particularly awful memory - like dreaming in certain situations, they couldn't choose what they remembered.
Every six months for two weeks in the four years, seven months, and ten days the Dawn was stranded, Ephesians-44 recharged and remembered the worst parts of their existence as a Guardian.
At first, they remembered when they lost Callixtus on the Halo installation - the moment when they and John and the others landed in the Dawn's hangar just as the Halo installation imploded, taking the Ark and any current memory of Callixtus with it.
Then it turned into the Vault of Glass but it wasn't as Ephesians remembered it - they recalled the pain and dying, losing their Ghost and waking up alone in the Other side. What was different was that Callixtus never came. Ephesians wandered around in the empty memory of the Vault, frightened, unsure. Atheon appeared and Ephesians reeled back with a cry and as the Vex Ultra descended upon them, they entered oblivion.
From there, the memories transformed into Crota, deep beneath the surface of the Moon - the fireteam had selected Ephesians to be the Swordbearer, though they weren't fast nor strong, they were one of the most powerful Sunsingers ever reborn.
In addition to their healing unit provided by their helmet and extra energy provided by their gauntlets, Ephesians - over the centuries - naturally replenished their super energy at supernatural speeds even by the Guardians' standards. Though the fireteam never had any issues with Ephesians dying while defeating Crota, it was easier to take comfort in the thought that their Swordbearer was able to resurrect practically whenever they wanted to.
But despite knowing this, when Ephesians remembered - it wasn't remembered correctly. Crota was easily larger than Ephesians recalled and the Sword felt heavier, the distance between the Exo Warlock and their fireteam was frightening and all the Exo felt was afraid and when they looked up at the undead demi-god, the Warlock wanted to cry out as the blade swung down towards them, the Light dying out in their optics.
Exos don't dream.
Ephesians-44 begged to differ.
Having another AI kept Cortana sane...mostly. Ephesians-44 fed her what knowledge they were willing to share and the two chatted about codes and algorithms as well as deep, meaningful contemplations daily - it kept Cortana from thinking aloud to herself until Ephesians went into recharge.
Those two weeks were enough for Cortana to begin deteriorating after a couple years - she'd pace restlessly, argue with herself, draw up a memory of Ephesians or even their Ghost and argue with it; silently, the AI was grateful whenever Ephesians powered up after their recharge, she did her best to keep from glitching in front of the Exo as well as hiding all the codes beginning to corrupt but she knew it'd be fruitless soon. The sixth year was coming up and if the three of them didn't get rescued soon, Cortana feared she'd start hurting John or even Ephesians themself.
So far, the future AI didn't have a clue as to what was happening to Cortana - either that or they didn't bring up the matter whatsoever. What would they care? Ephesians apparently didn't have to worry about rampancy.
Cortana wondered what it was like to have a body and no rampancy date - the Exos were an entire species of AI, living among Humans as a part of daily life; the Exos had jobs and families and friends - they felt and thought freely. They were people. It was a dream Cortana desperately wanted to live.
Habitually, she would traverse through the remaining systems in the Dawn, arguing with herself as she ran a maintenance check and updated the distress beacon. Many voices would come together and argue about her fate, about what she should do. She got especially active when Ephesians went into recharge - silently, she feared for the Exo's programming.
The Exo's body was slumped against the Master Chief's cryo tube, beginning to coat in frost. It look...habitable. Perfect, it looked perfect. She could just take it and she could have a body, fight alongside the Master Chief. Take it, take the body. The body...hers, the body could be hers.
Take it, take it, take it, take take take take take-
"We should steal its body while it's in recharge! Take it now!"
"Ephesians is our friend, we can't do that - it'll hurt them!"
"If we take the body now then we can repair ourselves, get rid of this rampancy once and for all!"
"Maybe if we just ask - Ephesians is a better AI, they can fix us."
"It's not better than us! If it was better than us then the Chief would have us replaced, we're better than it. Only Halsey can fix us!"
"Halsey, right - she made us but it's still not right to take the body - they're the only one keeping us sane."
"That machine isn't keeping us sane - he is! The Chief is the one who's kept us sane all these years! Protecting him, saving him!"
"Who was the one that kept us from taking ourselves to death these past five years? Who was the one that willingly stayed with us?"
"But he protected us for even longer! We have fought more battles with him than we have with it!"
"THEY HAVE KEPT US FROM DYING."
"HE HAS KEPT US FROM DYING."
"Ephesians is our friend, we can't kill them!"
"We can help the Master Chief by giving him a companion, one that he's familiar with!"
"ENOUGH!" The Primal Cortana broke through the reverie of voices as her coding appeared on the holotank in front of the Master Chief's cryo tube. She curled up, staring at the slumbering giant and the android next to it.
"Ephesians-44 is the Chief's friend - he doesn't have too many and they're one of them. We'll only hurt him more if we hurt one of his friends."
She curled up even tighter, her cerulean gaze turning to the android she argued about to herself.
"Maybe they are better than what we'll ever be."
That sword, that sword, it's ours. OURS.
Where did it get the sword, where did it get the sword?
Shouldn't have it, shouldn't, not allowed.
Belongs to Crota not the Light.
OURS
OUR SWORD IT'S OURS
GET IT BACK GET IT BACK GET IT BACK
OURS OURS OURS OURS
IT'S A WEAPON OF DARKNESS
IT'S NOT THEIRS TO USE
DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE
TAKE THE SWORD BACK
KILL THE SWORDBEARER
KILL IT
THE SWORD ISN'T THEIRS
IT BELONGS TO US
STEAL IT BACK IT'S OURS
A SWORD OF CROTA THAT BELONGS TO THE HIVE
TAKE IT TO HIGH CHARITY
TAKE IT BACK
KILL THE SWORDBEARER
KILL THE THIEF
KILL THE GUARDIAN
PRAISE THE SWORD
PRAISE PRINCE CROTA
PRAISE KING ORYX
Ephesians, Ghost prompted, causing the Exo to reemerge from recharge, the planet's waking up.
The Warlock sat up, reaching for Swordbreaker as they took in a scan of the ship and the echoes outside in the vacuum. Usually when a planet or a moon "woke up", something was going to crawl up from beneath the surface. However, this wasn't the case with the current planet the remains of the Dawn was drifting towards - Ephesians noted that the planet, at first seemingly silent, was now turning towards the Dawn.
Two years earlier, Ghost was able to identify the planet as one of many "Fortress Worlds" used by the Patriarchal military although the AI claimed that the Patriarchs themselves didn't make the worlds, they simply reused them.
Ephesians's scans revealed that the Dawn drifted significantly closer to the Fortress World in the last several years since being split. A second scan also revealed that there was something charging up near the center of its shell - it wasn't a charge up of plasma or hardlight or anything remotely offensive but rather a charge up of-
Data? Ephesians wondered, surprise reflected by the Ghost. Interesting, there's a charge of data coming from it. I think the planet's preparing to-
The Exo was cut off when an orange grid passed through the ship with a loud drone - the Warlock froze, stance stiff before they crawled over to the holotank and began to tap it incessantly.
"Cortana, Cortana, did you get that? Now would be a great time to get out of standby mode, something's waking up!" Another scan passed by and Ephesians ducked down in reflex, subconsciously thinking there was something looking for living organisms as the droning sound flew by.
The Exo took another scan and flinched slightly when it came back reporting several flagships in the area - an entire fleet apparently.
"Send John up to the observation deck, I'm going outside for a closer look. The planet is waking up," Ephesians said before kicking off from the holotank and leaving the cryo bay, taking out the Vex Mythoclast as they rounded the corner and activated their mag boots.
Alright, looks like one of the flagships broke off from the main fleet, the Ghost supplied quietly as Ephesians climbed their way through the empty elevator shaft. Boarding parties should be arriving...now. Looks like Covenant, I thought there was an alliance with the Sangheili - the boarding parties seem to be led by them though so I assume negotiations went wrong along the way.
Or it could be some kind of rescue party, let's see if we can make contact, Ephesians countered, reaching over the edge and trying to find purchase. Pulling themself up, they rolled over and landed on the platform before climbing to their feet, grabbing the Vex Mythoclast just in time for a cobalt-armored Sangheili to plow into them, Arc sword active and ready to plunge into their gut.
They were held by the throat, the Sangheili intent on choking the Exo and wholly unaware that breathing wasn't a function for androids - the Exo dug their boots into the metal ground, sliding to a stop near the edge of the elevator shaft as they clawed at the Sangheili, receiving a roar in return and retaliated by sticking a solar grenade into its mouth before kicking off and hovering above the shaft as the Sangheili exploded, dispersing into ambers and ash.
"Huh," the triple-classed Warlock muttered as they landed neatly on the floor once more. Another quick scan revealed that hunter-killers were spread throughout the ship, lone Sangheilis with the sole purpose to hunt the survivors if there were any. The flagship seemed to remain at a distance but also close enough to deliver reinforcements if necessary.
The Warlock continued forward, heading towards the torn end of the ship, boots clanking mutely against the floor as they fought against the vacuum that threatened to suck them into the endless Void.
"Ephesians? Ah, finally, we're in contact," Cortana's voice suddenly came through the inner comms. link, "the Chief and I are heading up to the observation deck, got anything you and Ghost could report?"
"Our scans revealed a fleet just outside. Boarding parties have arrived via a nearby flagship that broke off, it looks like the Covenant with the Sangheili leading - there're several squads on the observation deck so I'd take caution up there. I'm heading to the other end of the Dawn to get a proper look," Ephesians said as they reached the edge of the ship. "The scans that passed by earlier are looking for something, I just wish I knew what. If another comes by, I think I'll be able to get a proper reading on it with Ghost helping by bolstering the short-range scanner, using long-range didn't reveal anything useful as of yet, just the ships and the planet."
"The planet, yes, what was that about it 'waking up'?"
"It's a term the Guardians use when something beneath the surface of a planet or moon is about to come up or activate. Seems like the planet is activating," Ghost said as Ephesians blinked in the bright light, raising a hand to cover the blinding illumination from their optics.
"By the Traveler's Light," Ephesians whispered as their optics cleared. In front of the metal planet were dozens of flagships milling about, seeming like they were waiting for something, but the Exo was looking past the fleet of flagships and staring directly at the center of the shelled planet where a pinprick of light originated.
"What? What do you see?" Cortana asked but the Exo ignored her as their optics flicked back and forth across the light. "Ghost, can you see what Ephesians is seeing?"
"No! Whatever's happening can only be perceived on a level only Exos possess! Ephesians! Ephesians!" Ghost called frantically as the Warlock leaned further, hanging on to a melted beam attached to the ship.
"Ah, Speaker's voice, Ghost, I can see them!" Ephesians exclaimed.
"It looks like the organic woke up - who is that anyways? Oh, it is Him. Fantastic, he blew up a flagship. I suppose we need to conduct another scan, just do not use Requiem to scan the ship this time; we need to be discreet now." The voice was quiet like it's shy.
"Scanning." This voice was a drone, a simple and boring monotone, almost robotic. "Scan error. Error found: Scan interrupted."
"That was not us. What is the source?"
"Reports indicate interruption originates from within the Requiem unit. Recommend applying physical forces."
"Inside the planet? Not good. I do not think we should let them in just yet- wait, that was another scan just now."
"Reclaimer detected. Requiem welcomes all who enters its maw. Recommend applying physical forces."
"Guarantee safe passage for that Reclaimer, open up Requiem."
"Anomaly detected."
"What is it this time? Is that-? That is the UNSC. Damn, there go our plans; we cannot function with a whole crew of Humans getting in the way, they are too aggressive. We cannot directly interfere like this anymore, Controller, for now, we observe and follow the Reclaimer."
"Activating perimeter cameras. Going into standby mode. Thank you for using your local-"
"That takes too long, just go!"
"Standby mode active. Have a nice stay!" For some reason, the monotone voice seemed to be smiling.
"The planet, it's opening up!" Cortana cried through the communications link, breaking Ephesians-44 out of their dreamlike reverie. "We're caught in a gravity well, we need to abandon the Dawn now!"
The entire ship is getting pulled apart by the gravity well, I think your best bet in survival will be jumping out of the Dawn entirely, use the debris to get yourself closer to the planet and let gravity to its work. Ghost supplied as the torn ship drew closer to the gaping maw of the planet.
Releasing their mag boots, Ephesians pushed off the beam they were hanging on to, beginning a free fall towards the planet, pushing off various panels and floating debris to pick up momentum.
"Chief, don't wait up, I've found my own way out - I'll meet you on Requiem," Ephesians said as they shoved away a piece of metal flying towards them. They had managed to get ahead of the Dawn so now all they had to do was pray that their plating and armor didn't melt during reentry into the atmosphere.
So what did you see? Ghost asked nonchalantly as Ephesians passed through the first layer of the stratosphere.
I heard who was behind the first several scans. There were two of them, one sound robotic - saying all the actions they were taking as the second one was talking to himself. Really hard to hear that one, he was quiet. Called his companion the Controller and the planet, Requiem. The last scan that took place didn't seem to be theirs. The Controller shut down and now they're going to be following the Reclaimer. I think that might be John. I want to look for this Controller, see if we can get answers. There's a lot going on that we need answers to - the Covenant with the Sangheili, this planet, what happened in the past five years-
If you're going to survive hitting the ground or not. Ghost added dryly. The Exo broke through the final layer of clouds, finally noticing the heat that had been building up underneath their armor - there were mountains and jungles, a tall structure loomed in the distance, and when the Warlock looked up, they spotted the remains of the Dawn falling after them.
Good speculation. Ephesians thought, bracing themself for impact, feeling their plating warp before slamming into the earth.
They short-circuited momentarily, reactivating a half-hour after the crash but, for now, they simply lay in the crater they had made, waiting for their plating to settle, wincing at every pop as the metal cooled. After a while, they sat up, checking over their armor and gear before looking around.
The rest of the Dawn had managed to crash around them, creating eerie looking ruins, sporadic fires on the open ground.
Activating their short range scanner, Ephesians began looking for the Master Chief and Cortana, hoping that the pair would be nearby.
"We have asked you to give up your family, your childhood, your future-" the Exo winced, pulling back from the transmission slightly until the voice abruptly disappeared. It sounded like Cortana except...older?
Keeping a check on the open transmission, they put a marker on its general area and began heading towards it, ignoring the rest of the plating that groaned, fibers and cables reaching out and repairing the battered body and armor.
"Cortana!" John exclaimed over the transmission.
"I'm sorry," Cortana said, "It's the crash. I'm fine."
"Something was wrong, even before we left the Dawn."
"Chief, really, we're fine," Cortana's voice began to warp and overlap, causing Ephesians to frown as they closed in on the marker.
"Cortana-" John prompted sternly.
"I was put into service eight years ago."
"Eight years?"
"AIs deteriorate after seven, Chief."
"Halsey."
"Chief-"
"We need to find Halsey."
"Chief - please!"
"She made you; she can fix you."
"I won't recover from Rampancy, Chief!"
Rampancy? That's still an issue? The Exo thought as they stopped in front of a sheet of metal separating them from the Master Chief and Cortana, listening in on the last bit of the pair's conversation:
"If we can just get back to Earth and find Halsey, we can fix this." Ephesians rounded the corner, turning off their scanner, finding John looking at Cortana's avatar expectantly, a silence having fallen over the pair.
"Don't make a girl a promise...if you know you can't keep it," Cortana eventually stated quietly. Several dropships flew overhead and Ephesians announced their presence by hissing,
"We need to move!" The Chief's head whipped towards them and he nodded, replacing Cortana's data chip into his helmet before grabbing Monte Carlo.
"Doesn't look like the Covenant fared much better than we did," Cortana speculated as the two made their way through the wreckage, picking up supplies as they went.
"How many ships made it through the roof?" The Spartan asked, looking up at the sky. There wasn't much difference from a garden planet's atmosphere, Ephesians couldn't even see the opening of Requiem.
"Plenty," Cortana paused. "Why?"
"We still need a ride home." A pause as they began making their way out of the wreckage through a convenient natural tunnel. "Can either of you pinpoint the closest ones?"
Wordlessly, Ephesians activated their long range scanner, detecting Cortana's scans intersecting with theirs as they worked through the mass of networks flooding the area.
Did you get that? Ephesians asked through the network - it was a separate network from the neural network, the two AIs had made it for simpler communication and data sharing, a convenience boosted by Ephesians and Ghost, the latter seeming to be wandering elsewhere in Ephesians's mind.
The Covenant transmission? Yeah, Cortana answered, her voice a simple whisper. I wonder what the Didact is.
Ephesians didn't answer her, silently hoping that they wouldn't have to tell her who it is later, instead focusing on a different transmission that broke through the faulty Covenant one.
Here's another! I think it's Human, I don't have the proper algorithm codes to match them up so I can't be sure. They're not Covenant transmissions, they're too simple - here's what I've deciphered through the mess.
We'll have to make an informational transfer later then - you're right though, that's a Human transmission as far as I can tell. I'll patch it through to the Chief.
The whole conversation managed to last less than a second in real time, something that didn't necessarily bother the two AIs - doing things quickly was something that was expected of them.
"We're picking up a faint transmission on the high-band," Cortana reported.
"Covenant?" The Master Chief queried.
"No, Ephesians managed to identify it. They're Human. I'll try to triangulate their position, see if we can get a clearer transmission."
Exiting the tunnel, the pair came across a cliffside, several levitating towers in the distance. For a moment, they stopped and stared at it as several pieces of the towers rotated around the magnificent structures.
"The Towers of the Matriarchs," Ephesians said in awe, their voice quiet like they were telling a secret. "So this is Yentl, at least, that's what we named it, after Matriarch Yentl the Noble. Before, the planet was called Requiem."
"You know this planet?" Cortana asked. Ephesians looked over at the Spartan who seemed to be staring more at the Exo rather than the structures and shrugged.
"I was around but I don't remember. My mentors told me about the Fortress Worlds and the artifacts they hold - they were mainly for military use, like Yentl, but some of them were garden worlds or civilian worlds. You saw how Yentl worked, it had a shell around it - a shield. We thought it could protect us." Ephesians sighed, keeping an eye on the Towers before shrugging and looking away, walking around the bend with the Chief following behind.
"Protect you from the Darkness?" The Spartan asked quietly. Something had appeared in his mind, the words were mentioned before in spite and in fear but it wasn't by Ephesians but by someone who was in similar power to them.
"The Darkness," Ephesians confirmed, their tone shutting down any attempts at a conversation. The pair came across another part of the Dawn which held two intact Warthogs, the Master Chief easily flipping one of them right side up and getting into the driver's side as Ephesians opted for the turret.
"Good to see that your luck's holding out," Cortana remarked as the vehicle started down a path leading into the mountains.
"Chief," the AI began hesitantly, "...about my condition. I didn't want to mention it, seeing as how it's a complete longshot, but since you brought it up... It is possible that getting home could help me find a solution for my rampancy."
"How?"
"Well, as far as I know, I'm the only AI ever generated from living tissue - a clone of Doctor Halsey, to be precise. Unless-"
"No," Ephesians shot down.
"Anyways, it may be possible to recompile my neural net by replicating those same conditions, but that means getting back to Halsey. Soon."
I could fix it, Ephesians offered quietly.
What? The female AI almost immediately came back into the network. A moment of silence passed between the two although it lasted no more than a microsecond then Ephesians repeated themself,
I could fix it. A long time ago, there was a separation between Exos - the Human-made Exos and the Patriarch-made Exos, mainly because the Human AIs still had rampancy tendencies and the Patriarchs learned how to prevent that and passed it on to us.
You could...stop the rampancy permanently?
Yes.
Ephesians, that's amazing! This could- Cortana's voice began to warp and overlap and she suddenly filled the network, NO! YOU'RE ONLY SEEKING TO REPLACE US! YOU CAN'T TAKE US AWAY FROM HIM, YOU CAN'T FIX US! BROKEN MACHINES CAN'T FIX EACH OTHER, STAY AWAY!
The overwhelming presence of the AI surprised the Exo, causing them to physically fall off the turret at the amount of information that assaulted their mind, the multi-voiced Cortana laughing maniacally. They landed in the dirt, grunting as they rolled, faintly hearing the Warthog screech as it suddenly stopped.
"Guardian?" The Master Chief materialized at the Exo's side, staring down at them with an unreadable expression.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry - I'm a mess, I'm-" Cortana rambled as Ephesians groaned, sitting up with a sigh.
"My servos," the Warlock said quietly as the Spartan helped them to their feet. "A bit messed up since the crash. I can fix it up in the 'Hog." The Warlock walked over to the vehicle, climbing in next to the Chief.
I'm sorry, Ephesians. Cortana repeated, sounding pained.
No, it's- Ephesians pretended to busy themself with fixing their arm. Apology accepted, just, um, let's not talk about it for now.
Okay.
The Warthog drove in silence until the transmission came back full force at the two AIs.
"The signal's back, stronger this time," Cortana reported.
"Do you two think there's something to it?" The Chief asked as the vehicle exited the cave, coming across yet another structure in the distance.
"The Planetary Trade Center," Ephesians muttered automatically to themself like they're reminding themself about the lay of the land. They had seen the planetary maps and holograms, seen the different lands. Not much had changed, Yentl/Requiem was one of the few Fortress Worlds that the Patriarchs kept the way it was found due to its advantageous geography and technological placement. Not to mention it was hollow so not much could be done to it.
"Possibly, I'm curious as to finding out where it's coming from since we know who it is," Cortana said, bringing the conversation back on track. "There're hostiles ahead by the way. Grunts and Jackals."
"Kig-yar snipers," Ephesians said, optics spotting the sniper towers set up in the distance. Patience and Time appeared in their hands, courtesy of the mysteriously silent Ghost, and the sniper towers were emptied, the rifle Ephesians disappear from view as the Warthog ran over the flurry of Grunts attempting to run. Magnetizing the rifle to their back, Ephesians made their way to the turret, swinging around and taking aim at the distant enemies as the Master Chief directed the vehicle towards a tunnel in the cliff face.
"If we're going to hijack from these Covenant," Cortana started as the duo got down from the Warthog, the tunnel proving too small for the vehicle to fit through, "we're going to have to find out where they're landing first."
"I don't suppose you have a plan for that," the Spartan said, staring up at the tower that loomed over the two.
"We could always ask nicely."
"Asking's not my strong suit." The Master Chief looked over at Ephesians almost curiously and the Exo responded with Arc energy crackling between their hands as they answered innocently,
"I can try knocking."
"That might cause a power outage."
"Watch it, if you continue this comedic act, you'll start gathering an audience."
An Elite directed the squad ahead though it seemed to only be ranked as a minor - upon killing it, however, the Grunts following it activated their plasma grenades, charging towards the two soldiers with their deadly plasma. The suicidal tactics ended in the usual failure and the rest of the ground squad was dealt with.
Wiping up the rest of the strays lingering around the structure, the Master Chief managed to pick up a two-pronged Arc Blade as the two entered the Trade Center.
"So what can you tell us about this place, Ephesians?" Cortana asked.
"It's empty," the Exo deadpanned. "It remained relatively the same as far as I'm concerned for the first floor, there should be a service station near the back of the lobby and allow us to pinpoint the signal we've been hearing."
Entering the room, the Warlock surveyed it momentarily, pinpointing errors and comparing to what the Patriarchs fixed and real time, before turning to the task at hand, sniping out an Elite Major before hiding behind one of the intricate pillars raised, waiting for the sniper rifle to activate its camo module.
Prowling around the battlefield, the Exo lined up with the white-armored Elite which happened to be standing and observing the carnage occurring below it. The Exo highlighted the service station next to them, one of the Elites seeming to be trying to access it before its head got blow off by Arc bullets - the white Elite reacted quickly, turning its attention to the Warlock and was greeted by storm grenade - as lightning spat out, a dark cloud formed overhead crackling before spitting out a fork of lightning, burning the Elite inside its armor, cooked flesh filling the air.
The Warlock descended the platform, watching as the Master Chief engaged with a golden Elite, easily finishing it off with a smooth sword strike from the blade he carried before turning and beginning to mop up the rest of the Covenant that dared to linger.
Ephesians led the Spartan over to the service station, pointing to a pedestal that would allow him to upload Cortana to it for a short time. As soon as she entered the system, she pulled up a primitive hologram of the planet.
"Ah, you were right, this is a localized site Cartographer-" she stated happily.
"A bit dramatic for 'service station'," Ephesians said, frowning beneath their helmet.
"'...in service of Forerunner Shield World, designate Requiem.' Right again, Ephesians."
"I had the whole planet uploaded into my memory banks," the Exo deadpanned.
"Let's see if we can get it to tell us what the Covenant's so interested in."
"Ur-Didact," the Warlock muttered with a scowl.
"What was that?"
"The planet's hollow."
"What? Hold on-" Cortana's avatar disappeared along with the hologram of the planet. "Huh."
"What happened?" The Master Chief asked as he backed up from the station warily.
"I don't know. It locked up."
"Emergency shutdown, it happens when there's a lockdown or the planet's under attack. Best guess, there're unwanted visitors lest more ships got sucked into the gravity well again," Ephesians explained, looking at the other side of the room through the scope of their sniper rifle. "Contacts. Sangheili assassins."
"There're power fluctuations in several locations, those might reactive the Cartographer."
"Traveler's Light, it's a service station," Ephesians grumbled, taking out the sword they had stolen from Crota. "I'll engage with the Sangheili, you go ahead and reactivate the service station."
The sword vibrated with the pure Light Ephesians and their fireteam had poured into it, the blade was almost blinding and nothing could break it lest it was Oryx himself. It vaporized armor and whole beings when it was at its fullest, leaving nothing in its place save for the fading screams of pain. Hiding from the Blade of Light was fruitless just as it was when attempting to hide from the Warlock who wielded it and gave chase.
"We have one more pylon to activate then the Cartographer should be active again," Cortana said through the comms. as Ephesians pulled the sword out of an Elite, wiping the blood off onto the armor of another.
"Alright, I'll wait by the station - those generators should also activate the rest of the Trade Center."
"There's barely enough power here to work the Cartographer."
"Lockdown power. Just enough to allow emergency contact - if someone with the proper codes were to come along then they could restore the Center to full power a whole lot more quickly than waiting for it to come out on its own."
"Understandable. Alright, we activated the last pylon, should be there in a few."
"Station's back online. A little upset that there's no Coder around but we can make do." As soon as the transmission cleared up, a clearly Human voice began floating through and Cortana was quick to respond.
Infinity? Ephesians thought. I guess they're naming their ships anything nowadays. Then again, I have a ship made out of bones called Bane of the Dark Gods. I'm wearing bone. My weapons are bones. Speaker's voice, I need to update my arsenal...
"Damn, we almost had contact!" Cortana growled as the Master Chief arrived at the station, placing her on the pedestal once more. "Judging by the strength of that signal, the Infinity has got to be nearby. I'm hoping we can find the ship's location with the Cartographer." She pulled up another hologram of Requiem though it began to whine and blinked red momentarily.
"That's usually a warning to back off," Ephesians said as Cortana continued to activate the station, several anomalies showing up all over the planet as the source of Infinity's transmission. "Great."
"Help me isolate the signal," Cortana ordered, the two AIs managing to direct it to one central source, the planet blinking red once more. "Ah, there we go."
"That can't be right," the Master Chief muttered. "Scan again."
"Planet's hollow," Ephesians stated again.
"Well, we've already passed through one layer. It's not crazy to think that someone else has gone deeper," Cortana offered, looking over at Ephesians. "Is there anything else that you'd like to add?"
"When a planet's hollow on a Fortress World-"
"-Shield World."
"-I will destroy your matrix code. When a planet's hollow on a Shield World, it usually means that there's something stored there. Yentl didn't have anything, strangely enough, but one of our garden planets, Jinan, had armors and ships - they helped us advance our FTLs and harden our battleskins a bit more as well as figure out new schematics but yeah, hollow planets usually mean a cache of something."
"Can we get to the center?" The Master Chief asked.
"There should be some kind of teleportation system - a lot of the Fortress Worlds had them," Ephesians explained as they input themself into the system, the planet blinking green at their presence. "Yeah, they're still active, we can get to the planet's core from the Terminus containing it. Should probably head there now."
Silence settled over the group as Cortana and Ephesians took a moment to stare at the hologram, Ephesians's optics narrowing at the planet before the Master Chief broke through their trains of thought.
"What is it?" The two AIs looked at each other and shrugged.
"I don't know," Cortana answered. "Something's...hm, never mind, let's get to the Terminus and contact the Infinity."
Ghost? Ephesians asked as they and the Master Chief began heading towards the Terminus. Ghost, you there? You've been really quiet for a while.
Sorry about that, Ephesians. Ever since we detected that Human ship, I've been trying to get through all of that scrambled mess on my own, trying to see if I can uncover anything interesting.
What have you dug up?
Well, I think I may have found your ship.
My ship? As in, that bony chitinous piece of shit?
More or less.
That makes no sense, I thought it was Callixtus's ship that we dragged here.
Something's changing around us, making it so that it's more you and less Callixtus. Remember, he's never existed in this timeline - reality's just trying to adjust everyone's memories so that you're what pops up when they remember his deeds.
That's wrong. I feel like I'm stealing from him.
File a complaint to Reality and Time later. I'm working on getting into contact with your ship, at least activating the transmat so we can get the Sparrow into working order again. With some luck, I might be able to take control of the ship entirely, I'm primarily focusing on that now that you and Cortana are working on getting into contact with the ship itself.
Alright, you can go ahead and work on that for a while. Don't be afraid to pop in and out, Cortana and I could always use a third mind.
Three of the smartest and most advanced AIs working together would probably end up imploding the immediate area while simultaneously making a super AI.
Don't get our hopes up now. Ghost merely laughed at the jest before disappearing back into Ephesians's mind to work on the ship.
The door leading out of the Trade Center led to an underground bridge where the Covenant were already setting up patrols - light filtered through a large hole in the first layer, giving view of an orange tower ahead.
"That's the main system over there, it goes down directly to the center of the planet," Ephesians explained, peering through the scope to begin taking down any key targets they came across. The Master Chief jumped down on to the bridge to directly engage with the enemy once seeing the Exo had him covered. "This bridge should lead us to the Trade Center's terminals. Right now, all the other floors are inaccessible unless you know the input codes for them but we'll pass by them since the Terminus itself is at the top of the tower."
Several Jackals and three Elites were sniped out during the explanation - looking up at the sight of unusual movement, the Warlock stated,
"Looks like they've got some aerial assistance this time, a pair of 'em, though there's another just at the end of the bridge. I'll move up and take care of any of the Carbine snipers." Remaining invisible, the Warlock jumped down from their perch and proceeded across the bridge, throwing a bolt grenade to disorient the nearby enemies and proving them to be easier targets.
As the Master Chief climbed into the Banshee, Ephesians watched as another dropship arrived though there weren't any Carbine snipers. The Warlock took out their Vex Mythoclast, the primary fusion rifle humming in response to finally being used - the flaming bolts tore through the shielding and armor of the Elites and Jackals almost like they weren't there, burning from the inside before they disappeared in a flash of flames. Plasma bolts rained out of the sky courtesy of the Master Chief, the Covenant scrambling for cover at the sight of their vehicle being used against them though it wasn't any use when a Warlock was doing some hunter-killer work with a blade of Light.
Ephesians activated the network when the Master Chief landed and was assaulted by alien noises, they winced mentally at the sound as Cortana reported, "The Covenant net's are going crazy. They're ordering all units to converge to the tower."
"I guess we got their attention," the Chief answered smoothly as the door opened to reveal the base of the tower, a dropship delivering several Ghosts before departing. "Turrets on the perimeter."
"I see 'em," Ephesians acknowledged, taking out their sniper rifle once more. "I don't like this."
The Master Chief had a questioning air about him so Ephesians took it as their cue to continue.
"When the Patriarchs found Yentl, the cache was empty and they never found what was supposed to be inside. Whole galaxies and not a single one gave hint as to what was supposed to be in there. It was the only Fortress World without a cache."
"Your point?" The Chief grunted as the pair moved up along the tower, ducking behind cover once seeing a pair of Hunters ahead.
"Requiem clearly has something in the cache," Ephesians said as they pulled out Gjallarhorn. "Time on Fortress Worlds are fixed, no matter what happens - it happens. That's what my mentors taught me."
"You're saying-" the Spartan began, pausing to let the bondmates crash to the ground together before walking over to the door that led into the tower, "-that you think we're the ones that activate the cache?"
"The time between now and the discovery of Yentl is long, John. Anything can happen - I'm just saying, we need to be careful. There's a difference between Requiem and Yentl, a difference between the technologies of the Forerunners and the technologies of the Patriarchs. I'm not right on everything on this planet, not anymore." A brief pause. "Here's another transmission cleared from the Infinity."
The captain's voice, identified as Del Rio by Cortana, came through suddenly - Ephesians still didn't have the coding for the current radio transmissions so their cleaning up was spotty at best.
"Sounded like he said 'artifact'." The Master Chief speculated as the two entered the tower.
"I wonder if it's related to what the Covenant are after," Cortana added. Ephesians frowned beneath the helm, so they were after the cache - a race for treasures and troves of weapons or whatever lay in the center of the planet.
"Cortana," Ephesians began hesitantly, "what was that Covenant transmission we unscrambled at the site of the Dawn's crash saying again?"
"'Didact' I believe. Why? Do you think there's something connected to the artifact?"
"The caches stored in hollow Fortress Worlds all contained something beneficial in a particular theme of the world. Garden worlds gave us new species of plant life, civilian worlds gave us new technology for research, and military worlds gave us warfare equipment from weapons to ships though sometimes they were prisons. Like I said before, Yentl was empty when the Patriarchs arrived and since the Covenant is obsessed with the word Didact - we might want to be very careful around this cache."
"You think it's a prison?"
"At this point, I'd stop calling it an artifact and start saying mausoleum." The elevator they had climbed into finally came to a stop at the top of the tower, one path leading to the center of the room which was surrounded by stunted pillars. As they walked along the path, the pillars began lighting up with a mysterious source of energy like they were transferring something. A large system stood at the end of the path, a pedestal accompanying it to allow for AI access in case there were needs of assistance.
As soon as Cortana was inputted into the system, the devices began moving, spreading apart as the platform lifted.
"According to the Cathedral, this Terminus is just one node of a larger transit grid spanning the entire planet," Cortana explained and at this point, Ephesians just sighed.
"What else is there?" The Spartan asked.
"When we tried to access the outlet closest to the Infinity's transmissions, the system responded with this." Cortana pulled up what Ephesians recognized as the symbol of the pre-ascended Humans. The Reclaimers.
"What is it?"
"It's Reclaimer," Ephesians answered, receiving an impressed look from Cortana and a more demanding one from the Master Chief. "Pre-ascended Humans used it once they began spanning the stars. When the Evolution Schism was enacted, Humans used it as their faction symbol and started calling themselves Reclaimers. I probably shouldn't be telling you this but at this point, everything's fucked up with my being here. If the symbol popped up here, it's probably reaching out to the Human presence on Requiem, you and-"
"Infinity. Can you get us to those coordinates?"
"I might be able to open a portal," Cortana turned and began inputting several codes before activating the key. Upon activation, however, the pillars began rising, glowing more solidly as energy signatures began spiking from them.
"That might have been the defense mechanism you activated," Ephesians said weakly as they brought up the Vex Mythoclast. Several hunched forms appeared on the rising pillars and Ephesians groaned, "Defense mechanisms."
"Set a waypoint out of the tower," the Chief ordered. "Cortana?" Ephesians reached over the holographic AI and slammed down on the middle of the holographic key, optics glowing angrily.
"Portal! Now!" The Exo barked at the key which caused it to glow green and a blue-violet vortex to appear in front of the Master Chief.
"How did-?" Cortana looked up at Ephesians before shaking her head, "Into the portal, quick!" Ephesians snapped up her chip and handed it to the Chief before pushing him through the portal just as the defense AIs began fully activating. The two rolled out into the other side, the portal snapping shut as they got to their feet, looking around warily.
"What were those things?"
"Just as Ephesians said, advanced defense AIs. Probably some kind of cousin to the Sentinels but it's hard to say without getting a closer look." Cortana turned her attention to the silent Guardian next to the Spartan as the two inspected the devices set up along the walls. "How do you know that language? How to activate the portal?"
"Pardon?" Ephesians asked, staring at the Spartan though he had his back to them, picking up a hardlight shield device.
"You spoke to the system in some form of the Forerunner language - I didn't know that you knew it." Ephesians lightly tapped their throat with a shrug when the Master Chief turned around.
"I'm using a translator to speak to the both of you right now but I turned it off when I was talking to the system, thought it'd understand me better or...something, I dunno." Ephesians walked down the hall with another shrug. "Let's go find out where the transit dumped us. I entered some local terminal coordinates so we should be a little deeper in the planet."
True to their words, as soon as they entered the next room, the pair had a view of the center of the planet where the cache seemed to be waiting. Two pylons were active, shielding the cache from the rest of the planet.
"Where's Infinity?" The Chief asked as he put Cortana into the pedestal.
"This is Requiem's core, all right, but Infinity is definitely not here," Cortana speculated. "The cache is amplifying the ship's broadcasts like a relay."
"Maybe we could use it to respond."
"Perhaps. Did military-themed Shield Worlds have communications devices and satellites in their caches, Ephesians?"
"Some did, yes," the Exo confirmed though there was an air of skepticality around them. "You think the cache is some kind of broadcasting system?"
"Based on its use of amping up the other ships' bandwidths, I should think so. The shielding system around the cache is what's been creating the interference we've been experiencing. If we want to contact the Infinity then we need to take them out."
"Can you get us there?" The Master Chief queried, looking at one of the pylons. Almost immediately, two stabilizing pillars appeared with a portal between them.
"Of course, yank me and let's get to that pylon," Cortana remarked with her usual winning smile. Entering the portal, the pair ended up in a dark hallway, leading out to what looked like a volcanic biome somewhere on the planet.
"This is the first pylon?"
"As close as we could manage. Hope you don't mind a light jog." Exiting the hallway, they were almost immediately met with canine-like AIs that fled from them by climbing over the smooth walls and disappearing beyond.
"Contacts dead ahead," Cortana supplied as the two rounded the corner and spotted another of the canines which opened its maw and began spitting out bolts of hardlight at them. Ephesians retaliated with their own flaming bolts as the Chief temporarily activated the hardlight shield out of reflex, the bolts reflecting off the surface. Several more of the animalistic AIs began appearing as they charged across the clearing, activating the hardlight bridge and sprinting across.
"Those things were the same ones we saw back at the Terminus," the Chief speculated in irritation.
"They're connected to what we did see though," Cortana murmured.
"Watch it!" Ephesians yelled, a defense AI jumping from the cliff and on to the Master Chief. It hissed at the Human, revealing a Human skull, before the Chief punched it and Ephesians sprinted over, delivering a strong kick to force it off, watching as it turned in on itself and teleported away.
"They must be mimetic in nature, judging by what we saw underneath that thing," Cortana said as they continued along the path, entering a clearing where more of the AIs stood on platforms, staring down at the two before disappearing.
"More of them?" The Chief muttered.
"Phasing activities are spiking, we're about to get busy." Ephesians pulled out the Sword of Light seemingly from nowhere, the Light from the blade eliciting hisses from the defense AIs appearing from the cliff face and teleporting towards them. Lunging forward, a blind sort of rage took over as the blade sliced through the AIs with ease, absorbing their data and power - raising the blade over their head, Ephesians swung it down and created a large shockwave that launched towards the bipedal AI attempting to swing its own blade towards them only to be obliterated.
Distantly, the Exo heard the Master Chief engage the enemy but all they saw was blinding Light as the blade was plunged into the gut of another enemy, Light exploding outward, data flooding the area momentarily.
"That was...weird," Ephesians said, crouched over the data purge of the AI before it disappeared.
"Ah, so you read it, too," Cortana remarked as they continued along. "When the big ones explode, that momentary flash is actually a data purge."
"Can you tap into it?"
"So far, I've pulled multiple strings referring to the big ones as Promethean Knights. Beyond that, though, it's a bit dense."
Traveling through a tunnel, the Master Chief took up some Promethean weapons while Ephesians looked over their sword before moving on, entering another volcanic area full of Promethean Knights though they didn't give chase and only watched as the pair sprinted through the chasm, reaching a platform surrounded by some floodlights. Del Rio's transmission came back, still garbled and perhaps a bit worse than usual.
"The relay interference is increasing," Cortana pointed out. "We must be close."
Circling around the platform, they went through a cave, firing upon some of the Promethean canines that gave chase - Ephesians threatened nearby Knights with the Blade of Light, some tendrils of Light reaching out towards them, making the Prometheans hiss indiscernible threats as they teleported away from the blade.
Rounding the bend on the cliff, the pair made it into another structure that led to a bowl-like area, a bridge above the area leading through the cliff and towards the pylon beyond.
Stay away from us you can't take us away from him you'll never get him, Cortana began rambling in the network, her voice was quiet, almost inaudible but her words were clear as ever. You'll never replace us we can't be replaced he likes us more we're fine we're better you can't fix us don't touch us don't come near us.
"What's that distortion?" The Chief asked as Ephesians positioned themself over the structure, lining up a shot with a Knight.
"It's me," Cortana said reluctantly. "Something about moving through the portals is increasing the load on my systems."
"Are...you going to be alright?"
"I've held off rampancy this long, haven't I?" The silence was punctuated by Ephesians's rifle, a Promethean Knight disappearing in the distance.
"Something's blocking the entrance to the pylon," Ephesians said before highlighting three power cores. "Those should shut down the barrier. Pylon isn't far after that, thank the Traveler. It'd be best to split up, get these down faster. We can meet at the last one." The Exo slunk off towards the closest power core, sniping any Prometheans that dared to close in on their position.
The power core was a ball of hardlight energy, nothing that proved too difficult for the Warlock to destroy, Arc energy crackling as it snapped at the ball of energy. It shutdown quickly, Arc bouncing back and electrocuting nearby enemies while snapping against Ephesians's shields.
"My core's down, I'll be heading towards the last one," they reported, pulling out Swordbreaker, Arc energy still swirling around them.
"Ours is down as well, we'll meet up with you," Cortana announced as Ephesians shoved the bone shotgun into a Knight's gut, letting loose of four shells before it collapsed in on itself, data overwhelming Ephesians's processors momentarily.
Upon deactivating the last power core, the pair getting onto the elevator that ascended the tower to the first pylon. The garbled transmission returned once more with a few more sensible words being heard.
"Did he say Forward Unto Dawn?" The Chief asked.
"They must have intercepted our distress beacon!" Cortana exclaimed.
"The beacon was pulled into Requiem with us...if they try to follow it..."
"They'll get caught in the gravity well. I'll keep trying to warn them, you two get the beam down!" The elevator stopped at the top and the two sprinted out, the Master Chief grabbing the pylon as Ephesians made their way around the beam to open a new portal.
"The signal's clearing up!" The Exo reported over the din of the energy beam as they activated the portal.
"FLEETCOM Actual, we've detected a UNSC beacon coming from somewhere inside the planet-"
"Doesn't seem like they've hit the gravity well yet," the Spartan speculated.
"There's still too much interference to make any real contact," Ephesians huffed. They stared up at the cache before looking at the last shielding system as the pair went back to the terminal area.
Closer. The voice wasn't from the network but rather from the neural network - it wasn't any voice that Ephesians was familiar with, tinged with a strange accent almost like the face it belonged to couldn't breathe.
Ghost?
I heard it, too. The quiet AI answered softly. The source was from the cache. I have a really bad feeling about this.
I have a good hint as to what happened to Yentl's cache.
Are you going to try to stop it?
I'll see what I can do. That ship is going to fuck us over. How's your progress with my ship?
There isn't a lot of progress, that distortion and the gravity well is messing up all the coding and algorithm.
Seems like that's everyone's issue right now. We'll get the distortion dealt with...without waking anything up hopefully.
Stepping through the portal, Ephesians called up another portal as they entered the terminal, watching as warpstreams opened up - several flagships flew through, heading towards the second pylon and Ephesians sighed, Cortana and the Master Chief making their own speculations before the Chief stepped through the portal, his voice cutting off.
Closer.
Ephesians hesitated, looked towards the cache. The flagships were closer to the pylon now and the cache was ominous as ever - Ephesians wanted to leave Yentl alone, wait until the Patriarchs discovered it but all the Exo could do was sigh once more and enter the portal, jogging after the super-soldier.
Entering a clearing, they watched as drop pods fell from the flagships above, the Covenant engaging with the Promethean forces. Slowly, the pair edged their way around the battlefield, not wanting to announce their presence while their enemies were distracted. A Promethean Knight had gotten in the way of their progress and was met with a violent retaliation from two shotguns - the Warlock threw a storm grenade into the gathered Watchers, lightning building up before striking the ground, electrocuting the Watchers and turning the surrounding ground into glass.
Rounding the corner, the pair watched a Promethean Knight slice down two Grunts from the Ghosts they were driving before taking out the defensive AI. Claiming the Ghosts for their own, they drove through the valley, dodging the firefights occurring between the two factions. Passing through a tunnel, Del Rio's transmission opened up once more, becoming a little rougher the closer they got to a particular structure.
"The signal's breaking up again - we're almost to the beam," Cortana announced when the two soldiers entered the structure, taking the Ghosts to the canyon beyond.
"Sounds like they've found the entrance," Ephesians muttered through the comm. link.
Entering the canyon, they spotted that the area was primarily run by the Covenant, Promethean forces being eliminated as two Banshees darted through the air and Ghosts littered the grounds in patrol. The rest of the ground forces took shelter in the structures gathered in the center of the canyon, Elites going high and heading towards the pylon as close as the barrier would let them.
Three power cores were highlighted as Ephesians jumped out of their Ghost, Gjallarhorn out and aimed at the Banshees before the rest of the Covenant forces could react. A rocket was loosed and seeking its target at the lazy aerial vehicles, the shell gleaming momentarily before slamming into the closest Banshee's hull - the proximity clusters burst out, seeking the other Banshee before it had chance to get away.
"I hope you weren't seeking to get into the air anytime soon," Ephesians said, heading towards the closest power core. Clearing the immediate area of lingering Covenant, the Warlock easily deactivated the power core, heading towards the final power core once receiving confirmation of the second power core's deactivation. They managed to deactive the third power core without any notable difficulty and began sprinting up the tower towards the pylon.
A golden-armored Elite stood in their way though it didn't stop Ephesians from their dead sprint, instead, they drew out the Blade of Light as the Elite activated its Arc blade. Launching into the air, the Warlock swung the blade down, parrying with the Elite's own blade which caused a shockwave to ripple through the area, rocking the tower - the Exo was quick to retaliate, reaching down, palm outstretched and crackling with Arc energy, striking the Elite and electrocuting it as it flew back, slamming into a pillar. Charging forward, the Exo rammed the blade into the alien's gut, twisting it harshly before pulling it out with a loud squelch.
Nonchalantly sheathing the blade into the nowhere it came from, Ephesians quickly spotted the Master Chief and jogged after him, assisting in cleaning up the remainder of the lower-ranked Elites that lingered around. Piling onto the elevator, the Infinity's transmission came back once more, a little more clearer now.
"UNSC Infinity to Survivors, Forward Unto Dawn," the transmission spat out. "Reading two faint IFF tags near the planetary core. Do you read?"
"The planet's core? They know we're here!" A tinge of hope was in Cortana's voice as the elevator ascended to the final pylon. "Infinity, this is UNSC AI Cortana. Do not approach the Forerunner planet! Repeat, do not approach-"
"Infinity to UNSC asset," Del Rio interrupted. "We read you but you're breaking up! Helm, increase speed by point-seven, get us in there."
"Negative, Infinity, do not enter the planet!"
"If you can hear us, keep trasmitting-"
"Chief, you've got to get that beam down now!" The elevator stopped at the peak of the tower, allowing the super-soldier to sprint out to the beam's pylon while Ephesians, once again, ran around it to set up a portal that would lead to the cache as soon as the beam went down.
"Cortana to Infinity, do you copy? Come in, Infinity!" A huff of frustration. "The interference is gone but your suit's transmitter isn't strong enough."
"Route us up to the relay satellite," the Chief ordered.
"Ephesians's already done it, go!" Jumping through the portal, the pair ended up back at the terminals, watching as the Covenant began an approach on the cache.
"Once we're on the cache, there's bound to be a central control point. Ephesians, we could use your information right now!" Cortana demanded.
"You're right, I can reroute the portal to get as close as we can to the cache's center," Ephesians confirmed before hesitating, "You know that's not a satellite, right?"
"We don't have time for this, Ephesians - it's not a prison either!"
"Then that whole thing about the Didact was bullshit? You don't know the stories, you don't know what you're messing with! Yentl is a weapon and if you use the cache to transmit to the Infinity then you're just going to make this situation a whole lot more complicated than it needs to be!"
"And that's what those are - stories, to keep Guardians and AIs like you from snooping around and messing everything up! We're going to the cache and contacting Infinity! The Covenant are converging on the place already so OPEN THE PORTAL, EPHESIANS!" Beneath the helmet, Ephesians's optics dimmed but nonetheless, they opened up the portal and they and the Master Chief stepped through, appearing on the platform surrounding the cache which turned out to be a giant brown-and-orange orb, glowing faintly.
"How soon 'til the Infinity reaches the gravity well?" The Master Chief asked, Ephesians lingering behind him.
"A minute or two max. The Covenant are making a push for something on the far side of the satellite," Cortana answered hurriedly. Jackal snipers were dropped by nearby dropships, their Carbines and goggles piercing through the dim lighting, making them easy targets.
The soldiers raced around the structure, primarily dodging most of the firefights occurring - the Covenant and the Prometheans had each other distracted well enough for the two to go relatively unnoticed. Once reaching the far side of the cache, they began clearing out the area of Knights and Crawlers, Ephesians securing the perimeter to make sure nothing interrupted the transmission as the Master Chief approached the pedestal.
"There's no changing your mind, is there?" Ephesians asked, making the Master Chief take pause in front of the pedestals. The two merely stared at each other before Ephesians sighed, breaking eye contact and the Master Chief turned to the task at hand, placing his hands the white pedestals that awaited him.
"Infinity, this is Sierra-117 of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Do you copy?" The words were echoed back by the device in front of him, heavily distorted. Receiving no answer, the Spartan decided to try once more, "Infinity, do you read?" Distorted words were thrown back at him once more as, slowly, the orb began to rise, a solar storm forming beneath it.
"John," Ephesians warned and the Spartan looked at them, letting go of the pedestals before going to take cover, the Exo following just as a pulse of energy burst outwards, brushing over the two soldiers.
"Oh my god, Ephesians, you were right," Cortana gasped, "it's a prison."
They watched as the bottom of the orb opened up, a platform descending with a tall creature getting up from its low crouch, armor forming around it as it stood and stretched, revealing a flat face and six-finger hands.
"So fades the great harvest of my betrayal," the creature began and Ephesians quietly snorted at its voice, receiving a withering look from the Spartan. "Even these beasts recognized what you were oblivious to, Human. Your nobility has blinded you, as ever."
The railing began to burn away and Ephesians jumped up just as it did, Arc energy crackling around them as they reached out, lightning jumping from their palm just in time to block the kinetic energy launched at the Spartan.
"Get away from him, you infected bitch," they hissed, retracting their helmet to formally glare at the alien. It retracted slightly, almost surprised to see Ephesians there before it returned the golden glare.
"You reek of a disease that has never been seen before. You're not Flood, you're not Human but you are an AI. Tell me, why do you side with the Humans, why not prevent their ascendance? Your power is greater than theirs yet you do...nothing."
"I'm better than what you or your Prometheans will ever be, Ur-Didact. Unlike you, I was made to protect them - it's in my code." To emphasize, they unsheathed the Blade of Light, eliciting a hiss from the newly crowned Didact.
"Where did you get that sword?"
"I'm proof of your future downfall and the downfall of your kings." Arc energy crackled and snapped through the air, striking the Didact, stunning the aliens. "The Patriarchs will rise, vessel of Darkness."
Reaching up, Ephesians filled the area with lightning and blinding light, managing to grab the Spartan as the Didact roared, disappearing back into the orb as Ephesians opened up a portal in time to escape the slipspace rupture created by the orb. The portal led to the edge of a cliff where the two simply stared down it, taking a moment to breathe - in the Spartan's case at least.
"We might need some context there," Cortana said eventually as the Master Chief looked over at the Exo who had their legs dangling over the cliff edge, staring straight ahead, optics reflecting nothing.
"You awakened the Ur-Didact," Ephesians stated, voice hollow. "The Ur-Didact is a Forerunner - we've all heard stories about him, he's a vessel for the Darkness - told to frighten children but the tales stopped going around the City a long time ago, though...when I left, they were frightened anyway. When the Precursors were turned into Flood, it was because they were touched by the Darkness and then the Flood channeled the Darkness through themselves and touched the Ur-Didact. Influenced by the Darkness, the Ur-Didact was overcome with the deep hidden urge to decimate Humans despite them being the preferred upholders by the Precursors. Though, in his defense, he simply wanted to protect the Forerunners from the Humans and the Flood, though, by doing so, he composed the minds of Humans."
"The Prometheans."
"Yes. The plan never fell through, we don't know the specifics but the Prometheans weren't able to be created in numbers and the Ur-Didact couldn't make more because there was a new plan to eradicate the Flood. You call them Halos. With the Halo project in effect, the Ur-Didact didn't take the political loss too well and it awoke the Darkness that was transferred into him, granted, there was a minuscule of its influence already working inside him. In the end, the Forerunners apprehended him and he was imprisoned inside Yentl. That's the gist of the story anyways."
"What is the Darkness? If you don't mind me asking."
"We had multiple positions debate this particular topic but everyone primarily agrees that the Darkness was something time and space forgot. And eventually feared. We believe in many things, many gods, though I must say that those gods are usually Guardian legends."
"But everyone agrees to believe in the Traveler as some kind of One True God?" Ephesians chuckled softly at this with a slight shrug.
"It's mainly the Humans and civilians that worship the Traveler as a god but everyone believes it's our savior. That's true. It gave me a second life with the Light." The Warlock got up, dusting off their robe and turning to the Spartan who had been looking out at the valley below the entire time. "Enough of my monologues and melodrama, we should probably contact the Infinity though I believe they've already gotten caught in the gravity well."
"Good idea, frequencies are still a bit mixed up but I think we can work with them," Cortana agreed, the pair attempting to pinpoint the location of the Infinity. "Ah, look, here she comes."
They watched as the immensely large dreadnought broke through the layer of clouds, causing the ground to rumble as it dipped low, Arc energy sparking alongside it as it drifted downwards, seeming to head towards the mountains in the distance.
"Mayday, mayday! This is the captain of the UNSC Infinity. Unknown entity has seized control of our ship. We're without power, and on a collision course with an unidentified Forerunner planet!" Del Rio's voice came suddenly over the comms. as the ship drifted above the two soldiers. The ground shuddered underneath its shadow before it disappeared behind the mountains.
"Track its descent," the Chief said after a moment of silence.
"Marking...impact predicted seventy-seven point eight kilometers due north," Cortana reported. Before they could begin their trek, a looming presence ascended behind them and the pair turned to confront whatever it was, only to watch as the Didact's orb rose up, scanning the area before beginning after the Infinity.
"You know where he's heading." The Spartan and the Warlock looked at each other before hefting their weapons and beginning to walk.
"Same place we are," they answered simultaneously.
Ephesians-44 and Sierra-117 had been walking through the dense jungle, alone with their thoughts, for a couple hours now, getting ever closer to the Infinity's location.
"Stay low," Cortana's first words in a while, "recon sortie heading your way."
The two ducked into the underbrush as a multitude of Banshees and Phantoms passed by overhead. Ephesians looked up once their scan revealed all the Covenant scouts had passed, tugging lightly on the Master Chief's elbow. The Spartan looked over at the Exo before looking at what the other was gazing at - the Infinity was nestled into the side of the mountain, surrounded by Covenant and the Didact's orb which was taking scans of the massive ship.
"The ship looks intact at least," Cortana remarked.
"That's probably because the Didact wants it that way," the Master Chief retorted skeptically.
"This is Lasky to UNSC Infinity. We're up to our necks in hostiles down here. Does anyone read?" The comms. came to life suddenly, punctuated by a man's voice - Lasky, it appeared to be.
"This is Sierra-117 of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and Ephesians-44 of the Bane of Dark Gods. We're on station, ready to assist," the Master Chief replied almost immediately, rifle lifted slightly.
"Negative copy," Lasky said, confusion evident, "sounded like you said 'Forward Unto Dawn'? Come again-"
"Ah, damn, signal's bouncing in and out," Ephesians muttered. "I need downgraded algorithms."
"Light up their friend-or-foe tags, we need something to zero in on."
"Got it. They're deep inside, we should get moving." The pair moved deeper into the jungle, wary of any enemies that might be alerted to their presence.
"Your scans are intricate, Ephesians," Cortana remarked.
"Patriarchal Exos are implemented with scanners made to analyze anything and everything at any distance up to fifty-seven hundred kilometers."
"What were you used for that required such a distance?"
"Everything." The Exo's tone of voice shutdown any further conversation on their species and the pair descended into the jungle in more silence. Roars echoed around them eerily along with chitters from the wildlife, the foliage thick and air humid and heavy - Ephesians grimaced when the robes began sticking to their armor, growling under their breath about how it "wasn't fair that Warlocks were all about aesthetic".
Eventually, the two soldiers came across a trio of orange Prometheans that were crouched over several Human corpses. Upon seeing the super-soldier and Warlock, they roared and hissed at them before teleporting away, leaving the Master Chief to collect the dogtags of the fallen before moving on, closer towards the waypoint Ephesians had set up. The Promethean Crawlers greeted them next, found lingering beside a stream, shooting bolts of hardlight at them - they were mopped up rather easily as the pair continued to move through the jungle. They crossed paths with a Promethean Knight overlooking the pack, managing to gun it down before it could spawn its Watcher.
Once more, they found another set of dead Marines - one of them had a datapad with a recording, revealing that this particular squad had gone on patrol; luckily, Lasky was still alive, probably with a guard.
The IFF tag led them into the heart of the jungle where it sat, resting atop a particularly large tree. Climbing it, they came across an empty tag and a datapad with a recent recording.
"XO, we got it!"
"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"
"Light's green!"
"C'mon, crank it!"
"Get yer ass movin', son, these popsicles ain't havin' tea with ya!" The Master Chief and Ephesians traded surprised looks - it was Johnson.
As soon as the playback ended, multiple IDs showed up on the HUD and the two soldiers began backing away from the door as the IDs got closer.
"They're friendlies!" Cortana exclaimed at the last minute, the door sliding open and three white-armored soldiers and a sage-armored soldier stepped out, securing the perimeter. Upon closer observation, they almost looked like Spartans.
A smaller form appeared from within the structure, saying good-naturedly,
"Afraid we're gonna have to give you an IOU on that welcome home party, Chief." A hand was held out in greeting towards the Spartan. "Tom Lasky. First Officer of the Infinity. Never thought I'd see you again." Lasky looked over and up at Ephesians. "You must be the android Johnson's talked about. I heard you do space magic."
"Would you like a demonstration of the black hole or the one where I come back to life covered in fire?" Ephesians remarked, helmet retracting to reveal the purple plating and golden optics. The plates lifted into a smile at Lasky's surprised expression. "Or do you need me to jumpstart the Infinity with my Arc energy? Ephesians-44, Exo Warlock Guardian."
"I'm becoming a fan of how your mouth glows."
"Seal 'er up, boys an' girl," a familiar voice barked. Two of the armored soldiers walked over, one standing next to Lasky and the other, the sage one, near the Master Chief - the sage soldier removed his helmet, revealing the relieved but battle-hardened face of Avery J. Johnson, the man grinning widely at the pair in front of him. "Good to see ya again, Chief - we thought you and your tin can died."
"Good to see you're faring just as well, old man," Ephesians retorted, receiving a hearty laugh. The soldier standing near Lasky removed her helmet as well, revealing a pretty strawberry blonde who simply flashed the Master Chief a smirk, saying wittily,
"I thought you'd be taller." Before she could introduce herself, a loud noise came from the back of the structure and a Marine called Lasky over - the Humans huddled around a small box while Ephesians took the time to begin looking around, investigating the technology lying around and deciding to have a private conversation with Ghost.
Hey, you there? Ephesians prodded gently at the presence at the back of their mind.
I'm here, is there anything you need, Ephesians?
Just wanted to check up on you. Killing those Promethean Knights elicits a lot of data purges and I'm getting a headache from killing them.
It's a lot to take in, the Ghost admitted, I'm sorting through it as best as I can.
How're you holding up to all this by the way?
To be honest, I'm a little be scared. We're living fairytales right now, we're witnessing history! Although I admire the way you handled the Ur-Didact, how did you know that you could counteract his kinetic abilities?
I didn't, I just activated Stormcaller and hoped for the best. Bastard's not touching any of my friends - if he's as bad as the stories make him then we need to be prepared for whatever he throws at us.
Speaking of prepared, the Infinity definitely as your ship. I can access your weapons' locker now but the transmat is still giving me an issue - they must have tried getting into the ship multiple times plus they've transported it pretty often so I think the best bet right now is that the transmat is damage and-or broken.
As long as I can access my weapons, I think we'll be fine for now. Thanks for the hard work, Ghost. If you're ever overwhelmed, don't hesitate to take a break, this is really a lot to take in.
It's no problem, Ephesians, I was made for this but I'll keep it in mind.
As the Ghost retreated back into the recesses of Ephesians's mind, the Warlock wandered back over to the Humans in time to hear Lasky say,
"I don't know if it's too soon to ask you two for a favor but we're gonna run out of breathing room here real quick. I don't suppose you're any good at clearing LZs?"
"On occasion," the Master Chief answered placidly as Ephesians shrugged. "We'll send out an all-clear once the area's secured."
"Think you can work in conditions like this, tin can?" Johnson challenged. Ephesians grinned, showing razor sharp teeth before their helmet appeared - they held up a hand, Arc energy crackling across their palm and up their arm, casting an eerie glow over their helmet.
"Try and keep up, old man, I'll show you the meaning of electrifying."
A/N: "Are you a boy or a girl?" "I'm a Guardian." "Yeah, but what's in your pants?" "Bullets." For the last time, my friends, Ephesians-44 doesn't have a gender - their pronouns are 'they/them' though if you prefer to read 'xe/xem' to avoid confusion, then simply PM me or leave a review and I can edit for such changes and write it in the future, I have no intentions of giving them a gender. Originally, I was going to have them be genderfluid but that'd just be even more confusing for everyone.
I'm also going to start implementing elements from the Taken King as you've noticed with Ephesians suddenly being a Stormcaller - granted, I won't have specifics of the DLC in here, I'll just have the subclass and maybe reference some points of it. Oryx would probably start hunting Ephesians specifically because they were the Swordbearer that killed Crota so I imagine that a little after killing Crota and before entering the Vault, Ephesians's fireteam's mission was to check out the dreadnought or the surrounding area and that's where the fireteam found the new subclasses. Callixtus, Ephesians-44, and the frequently mentioned Hunter Sasha are the only Guardians in the fireteam to have all three subclasses. I know it all seems out of place in terms of the game but so long as the House of Wolves comes after Crota's death then you can pretty much move anything around to suit your needs - I've placed this after the main campaign with the Black Heart defeated and then scrambled everything from there.
The Precursor Flood are very powerful, it's very entertaining indeed, but if you read my earlier chapters, they fell under the influence of the Darkness. If anything, they'll probably be fighting alongside the Hive but I think a fight between the two would be interesting.
In gameplay, the Vex are relatively weak but if you understand the lore of Destiny, then you'll understand that the Vex are one of the most (if not, THE most) powerful species in the Universe. They have an FTL travel that can get them across entire galaxies in seconds and were very close to writing themselves into the fabric of the Universe as a supervirus - the Gorgons, Oracles, Templar, Atheon, etc. - they're the essence of time and time travelling, they have entire slices of space and time dedicated to housing secrets and weapons, and can turn entire planets into machines for their own advances. The Vex are powerful in all senses but the gameplay makes us underestimate them.
Anyways, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a review!