May 14th
2583/20 BBY
5:45 pm UNSC time
Library of Halo Installation 07
Nobody's POV:
Jedi and clone alike cover their eyes as the flash of light appears all around them, engulfing their sight completely.
But the flash does not last for more than a few seconds. Once the light dissipates, the Jedi and last 2 clones lower their hands that once covered their eyes and they start taking in their surroundings. They are in an enormous chamber that stretches out in all directions, but the only way to progress is through, between 2 large metallic boxes. "Where are we?" Ahsoka asks, awestruck by the shiny technology of this strange place.
"You are in the Library." A familiar voice says, and the strange, floating metal sphere that the Republicans met before floats to them. "Ah, but before we go on, I should introduce myself. I am 07-117649, I am the Monitor put in charge of this Installation under orders of my creators, the Forerunners. But we don't have much time; the Flood are spreading and the only way to stop them is to activate this Installation. Follow me." With that, Monitor flies between the metal boxes and progresses into this 'Library.' Not wanting to be left behind, the Jedi and clones start running along to keep up. The peace doesn't last, as 20 Infection forms crawl out of several crevices of the clean facility.
"There!" Fives shouts, pulling out his blaster rifle and letting loose several blaster shots to try and slow them down, Commander Cody following suite. But several Infection forms make it past the barrage of lazer fire, only for the Jedi to cut them in half with their lightsabers. Then 2 Carrier forms appear, wobbling towards them before falling to the ground. With a terror the Jedi had rarely felt before the UNSC and Sangheili joined the Clone Wars, the Carrier forms start expanding rapidly before they explode, creating a small shockwave and even more Infection forms emerge, flying in every direction before landing on the ground.
"You have got to be kidding me." Cody states, not amused by the action in the slightest, before he raises his blaster and starts firing again. The Jedi, however, stand back to back and slash at any Infection forms that cross their paths. Luckily, they end the Flood in seconds.
"Hmmm…Your weapons are most ineffective against the Flood. No matter; we must proceed." Monitor states as the enormous door before them starts sliding apart to reveal another room, giving off an eerie orange light.
"Wait a second." Kenobi states, drawing Monitor's attention. "Before we go on with this quest to 'activate' this place, I have a few questions: What are these things that are attacking us, and who are these 'Forerunners' who created you?"
Monitor considers these words for a few seconds. "Of course. However, your mission must come first. Follow me, and see why I have brought you here." The AI then flies onward to the light. Not wanting to be left behind, the Jedi and clones start running again to keep up. When they reach the chamber, however, they freeze and look around with absolute awe on their faces, even though the clone's faces are shielded by their helmets. Before them is a vast circular chamber with long platforms running around the circle, suspended over a deep pit. The center is giving off the golden light, where a strange device is floating inside of a force field. It is shaped like a T, the center glowing neon green. "That is what we are here for. It's the Index; it holds the codes needed to activate Halo. We must deactivate the barrier first."
"No need, Monitor." Windu states, still staring at the Index with a look of curiosity and dread. The Force is screaming at the powerful Jedi, telling him that it is more dangerous than anything he's ever encountered before. "Most of my comrades and myself have a special power that will shorten our trip greatly. It's called the Force." With that, he raises his hand and concentrates on pulling the Index out of its sphere towards him. But to his shock, he actually feels the shield resisting the Force.
Sensing his struggle, Yoda joins in Windu and helps him; one by one, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka do the same. Under their combined Force powers, the shield stood no chance as it shatters into thousands of shards and the Index flies into Windu's hands. He then hands it to Ahsoka for safe keeping. A stunned silence passes as Monitor stares at them. "How did you do that?" Monitor demands, hearing surprise in the droid's voice for the first time. It then looks at Windu and its eye glows yellow. Before anyone can demand what Monitor's doing, a beam of yellow energy shoots out and passes through Windu. He winces in pain, as the Force goes crazy around him, disturbed by the Forerunner technology at work. The scan goes on for several seconds before it goes away. "Strange. There is a strange substance all over your body that give you access to these powers. It seems…familiar. No matter, we must make our way to the top of the Library. The Activation Chamber is at the top." Without another word, Monitor starts flying over the chasm and towards an exit none of the Jedi noticed before, such was their awe of the Forerunner facility.
"This wait for answers is getting tiring." Ahsoka mutters under her breath as they proceed. While Obi-Wan would normally chastise her for impatience, he too would like to get some long-overdue answers. Using their strength, each one of them leap from platform to platform until they reach the other entrance. Through the entrance is another winding corridor, but this one has a passage that's blocked by another tall door.
"Give me a second. Please wait." With that, Monitor starts operating the holograms that just appeared to start opening the door. Suddenly, loud unearthly moaning can be heard and dozens of combat forms start running at them, firing the weapons in their hands at the Jedi and clones with surprisingly low accuracy. Jumping high into the air, the Jedi activate their lightsabers and keeping in mind how the battle went several minutes ago, start slashing the Flood combat forms in half. As that is going on, numerous Infection forms also crawl out of the crevices, trying to attach themselves to the distracted Jedi. But Fives and Cody are already firing their own blasters every which way, not stopping to take satisfaction in the poofs of residue that were the Infection forms that are floating in the air.
After a minute of merciless fighting, they hear a strange clicking sound and the massive doors swing apart, revealing a circular chamber. Cautiously, the group walk onto the strange platform. Suddenly, it starts rising into the air. "This is a portal. There were more just like this one, but my creators had to destroy them after catastrophic damage to my Installation occurred." Monitor explains, then continues,
"Now that I have your attention, I can tell you all I know. These monsters that are attacking you are known as the Flood. They take on numerous forms and the most dangerous plague the galaxy has ever seen. Just one Flood spore, given time, could wipe out an entire species. But the story starts 100,000 years ago, when my creators still drew breath. They were a peaceful race, holding the Mantle of Responsibility as a sign of being the galaxies' dominant species. However, my creators had a rival species, with technology only my creators could match: Humanity. The Forerunners had discovered that there was a larger galaxy surrounding the one they knew, but were withdrawn from exploring it. For the humans had become aggressive, conquering numerous Forerunner systems quickly. Outraged at the assault they dared to unleash, humans and Forerunners fought for an entire millennium. My creators won the war and as a result, humanity was devolved and banished to a distant planet they called Earth, which was stripped of all their technology, just like the rest of their worlds. My creators thought they would finally have peace, but they would learn how wrong they were. For humanity didn't want war with my creators; they were running."
"The Flood, they were?" Yoda asks, for once looking deeply disturbed by the tale Monitor was telling them. All of them, even Windu, look absolutely shocked to hear such a war had happened so long ago and it gave them much insight into the battles fought long before recorded history. The technology the Forerunners had at their fingertips was so marevelous that even after they have existed for tens of thousands of years, the rest of the galaxy's technology isn't even close.
"Correct. The Flood had started invading Forerunner worlds, pulling my creators into a war they had no hope of winning. So to ultimately defeat the Flood, my creators began construction of a series of rings that would wipe out the Flood as a last resort. These rings were the 12 Halo Installations. This very Installation is one of the original set. Sadly, my creators were driven into extinction as the Halo rings activated. We have arrived."
Upon its statement, the 'portal' stops at the top. Before the group now is a long platform stretching out of several yards before it forms into a massive circle, a giant holographic projection coming to life and before it is a giant control panel. "There it is!" Ahsoka said, eager to get this long quest done. She unclips the T-shaped Index from her belt and starts approaching the devices.
But as she continues to approach, Monitor flies in front of her. "You can't enter the Index into the Activation Slot. Only a Reclaimer can do that and achieve the results you are hoping for." It adds, staring at the numerous humans in the group.
"I guess it's up to you, Skyguy." Ahsoka says as she tosses to her master the Index. He nods and also walks up to the cylinder-shaped device, a slot in the center for the Index to fit into.
"Here goes nothing." Anakin says and slips the Index into the slot, twisting the key.
The holographic projections glow brightly for a second…before they go out.
"What is going on?" Monitor demands, sounding confused beyond belief by what's happening. "This shouldn't be happening…unless…" It then turns around and its eye starts glowing a light orange this time, but instead of scanning Windu, it scans the entirety of their group. The results are catastrophic; the Jedi start wincing in pain from the backlash in the Force the scanning is causing, but the clones have it much worse. They have fallen to the ground, almost screaming in agony as if something is breaking inside their very heads. After another few seconds, Monitor stops scanning them. The droid's attitude is now different. Instead of urgent, it is furious. The eye that once glowed blue is now glowing red with anger. "Of course. Now I know what's going on. You're not Reclaimers; you must be some of the undiscovered species in the galaxy, not to mention there are more humans than my creators thought, for you don't have the tiny speck of Forerunner DNA that can be found in all Reclaimers. As for those micro-organisms, they are…"
But then something even stranger happens. The floating droid starts muttering to itself furiously before it screams in terror, "NO!" and the light goes out in its eye.
"This has got to be the most insane day of my entire life." Cody says. The Jedi are alarmed by how weak his voice is as the once-formidable clone commander struggles to get to his feet. Taking pity on the clone, Windu grips Cody's arm and pulls him to his feet, followed by Fives. "Something's…weird. Like something in my head was destroyed." He adds, touching his head tenderly.
"Worrisome, this place is. Figured out the meaning of 'last resort', I have. These rings, wipe out all life in the galaxy, they do." Yoda says, a deathly serious tone in his voice. None of the Jedi could believe what they heard. If what Master Yoda said is true, this very station could be the most dangerous weapon in the entire galaxy! But before they could figure out what to do next, the doors to the portal suddenly close behind them and Monitor's body re-activates. But this time, the blue in the eye is darker.
"None of you will leave this place alive." A whole new voice speaks. This one sounds oddly feminine and full of malice. "My Sentinels will kill you and study your corpses to learn more about how your mysterious powers operate. Destroy them, Sentinels! I will be waiting eagerly for your results." With that, the droid flies away high into the air and Forerunner's Sentinels start flying up from the chasm below to follow their new master's orders. The Jedi activate their lightsabers and try to block the Sentinel beams, but to their amazement, the beam is absorbed by the lightsaber blades instead of being deflected. Fives and Cody start running around, firing into the air while also making sure to dodge the Sentinel beams. They saw how effective they were against the Flood and because of that, they really don't want to be struck by those same beams. Slowly, Obi-Wan slowly backs up to the circular edge, deflecting Sentinel Beams when he looks over the side. Below all of them is a deep pit, which at first glance looks bottomless, but as he looks closer, he notices the outstretched platforms that make up the circular chamber where the Index was contained. A crazy, borderline suicidal idea worthy of Anakin Skywalker comes to Kenobi's mind.
"We need to get out of here! I have an idea." Kenobi says to Yoda. Deciding that time is of the essence in escaping this facility, Kenobi jumps off the side ignoring Anakin's shout of surprise. As he hoped, the Sentinels fly down into the pit below, trying to catch up with the falling Jedi. But Obi-Wan is ready; he grabs a Sentinel that gets too close so that he can break his descent. His fall slows considerably, enough for him to jump onto one of the almost rectangular platforms without breaking his legs. The second he lands, he throws his lightsaber into the air, stabbing it into the Sentinel's beam. Thanks to the force behind the throw, it penetrates the deflector shields and makes the Forerunner machine explode in bright blue flames. Using the actual Force this time, he pulls his lightsaber back into his hand before the lightsaber starts fusing with itself due to the explosion's heat.
He hears numerous shouts from above him. Involuntarily looking up into the air, he notices his fellow Jedi and the 2 clones falling through the air, flailing around like drunk birds. Obi-Wan takes action, lifting his hand and using the Force to slow the fall for the clones. He didn't do it for his fellow Jedi because they are already using the Force to slow their own descent.
After several tense moments, the rest of Kenobi's friends and companions land on their feet. "We need to leave this place now!" Windu barks. Not wanting to stick around and see if the Sentinels return, the Jedi and clones sprint down the open hallway they didn't travel through. As they run down the winding corridors, using only the Force to guide them, the Flood return for their rematch. Combat forms of clones and UNSC soldiers run at them, trying to fight them. But they don't last long, for the Jedi use their lightsabers and cut apart any Flood that stand in their way. Even Master Yoda is helping out as much as he can, but it isn't much since he's hanging onto the back of Master Windu so he can escape with them. As the group turn a corner, they notice an open doorway that leads to the outside world, but an entire swarm of Flood are running at them like Death coming to take his next victim.
"Ugh. How many of these things are there?" Ahsoka complains, lifting her lightsaber. Luckily for the Republicans, the Sentinels return but are primarily focused on killing the Flood, who are also trying to destroy the guards to the Flood's former prison.
"Let's get out of here before they both decide we're still here." Fives suggests, his voice coming back to him now. Deciding that's a good idea, the last of the Republic squad run out of the Library, coming to a long metal bridge with a glass bottom that stretches to a tall metal tower, suspended about 200 feet over a vast forest that stretches out for miles. In the distance, the smooth ocean is gleaming in the sunlight, a smoking Pelican on the beach. They make it to the center of the bridge before freezing. For out of the tower is coming yet another swarm of Flood Combat forms, eager to tear into their flesh.
"Oh, you've got to be kriffing kidding me!" Cody exclaims, then turns around, only to see the Flood swarm they ran past destroying the last Sentinel and also running out to meet the Jedi and clone soldiers.
"Well, it was an honor to serve with you, Master." Anakin says to Obi-Wan. The latter smiles in response as they lift their weapons, ready to go down swinging.
Cody and Fives fire in opposite directions, hoping to thin the Flood numbers. But they are too numerous, some literally stepping over the corpses of their fallen comrades in their eagerness to kill. As they get closer and closer, a large green blaster shot. To their left, an LAAT gunship starts flying down to where its parallel with the gunship. The gunners continue doing their best to keep the Flood at bay while the blast door slides open and clones in shiny, new armor appear, firing their blaster rifles at any combat forms that get too close.
"Come on! We got to get out of here." A clone on the LAAT shouts over the noise. Taking advantage of the enemy being held at bay, Yoda jumps onboard, followed by Ahsoka, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Windu, Fives and Cody. After the clone commander takes a step backward onto the LAAT, the gunship pulls away from the bridge. One combat form gets cocky and leaps into the air, soaring high into the sky for several seconds before landing in the still-open gunship. Quickly, Anakin slashes the stomach of the combat form that was once a clone soldier. The Flood staggers back before falling off the ship and down into the forest.
"What was that thing?" Another clone demands as he slides the blast door closed, allowing the LAAT to soar back into space. Luckily, the UNSC and Sangheili had evacuated a long time ago, so the lone Republic Acclamator stands out. The docking bay doors open up and the LAAT touches down in the bay. Soon, the doors close and the Acclamator takes off, entering hyperspace.
The LAAT opens up and all of their occupants step out, to be greeted by a squad of clones. "Generals, Admiral Tarkin would like a word with you all. Follow us." A clone sergeant standing in front of them says. Deciding they need to talk with someone about what they have discovered, the 7 Jedi follow the clones through the ship and up to the bridge, where the always-stoic Admiral Tarkin stands.
"Generals, good to see you in 1 piece." Tarkin says, hands behind his back as he looks at each and every Jedi with a calculating look. All the Jedi aren't the biggest fans of Tarkin, so to say; the Admiral's always stoic, cold and calculating. "Now, I just want a full report on what happened down there on that…world, down there. I've been hearing stories of strange monsters that have been possessing clones."
"I'm sorry, Admiral, but that report is for the Supreme Chancellor, who personally sent us on the mission." Windu responds, also acting stoic.
Tarkin and Windu stare each other down, before Tarkin breaks the glaring contest and sighs. "Fine. Then you can tell the Chancellor all that you want." He says coldly then leaves the bridge.
The Jedi turn their heads away from Tarkin and stare out the bridge and into hyperspace. Despite everything they have all been through already, they can't help but feel that as of this moment, the Clone Wars have only just begun.
AN: Well, that ends the Halo 07 arc. I promise you, the Halo ring will return in the distant future. Yes, the Forerunners knew about midichlorians, but more on that much later as well.
As for the female possessing Monitor, can anyone take a guess as to who she is?
Anyway, see you next time when a new faction joins the Bitter Wars and the aftermath of the Flood's release.