Chapter Reconstructed 11/18/2016
Hey guys. I had to rewrite this chapter to address concerns made by those who thought I plagiarized. I think the latest allegations will be solved once people read this chapter and the one following it.
Chapter Nine:
Dauntless Class Battleship (DBD-312): UNSC Dauntless
Coruscant System, (slipspace transition)
Andromeda Galaxy,
10:23:50 hours UNSC STANDARD TIME, December 5th 2559
Spartan William Gunther:
Will was standing on the observation deck with everyone else on the Dauntless waiting for the ship to transition out of slipspace. They had made a detour to pick up more supplies to allow for more more prolonged engagements and were consequently slightly late. The UNSC had already established orbit in the Upper atmosphere of Coruscant.
Ten seconds passed and suddenly the world reverted into realspace again. Ahead lay the glowing planet of Coruscant, a strangely beautiful and mesmerizing marble accentuated by orange, yellow, and red lines from civilian air traffic. It reminded him vaguely of Earth lit up at night. Glowing on the dark side of the planet was Galactic City, a massive ecumenopolis that covered the entire planet that was home to over a trillion citizens. That number alone boggled William's mind. Seeing it in person proved that number to him.
His thoughts and impressions were echoed by the rest of the crew and compliment on the same and other decks. It was truly a sight that, William hated to admit, awed him. The ship tilted right and began establishing orbit around the planet. A Republic squad of ARC-170's flew by (Will suspected to show off) and a Venator took up escort alongside the smaller ship. It was really odd to see the Republic, while numerically superior, have ships the size of Halcyon class Cruisers. The Dauntless was joined by three more of the smaller ships as escorts. Below, a thump was heard and the two Paris class Heavy Frigates Yorktown and Saratoga launched joining the rest of the fleet now assembled. As William watched the ship settle he noticed the huge hulking shape of a CSO class Supercarrier "below".
"It's casting it's own freaking shadow!" William laughed to himself. The enormous 29 kilometer ship absolutely dwarfed its Republic escorts, and indeed was casting a massive shadow on the planet. Surrounding them were the much smaller Carriers. One of them had to be the Shadow of Intent. William watched as the ship suddenly leveled out and orbited alongside the UNSC Infinity.
"It would appear what the Republic has in numbers we have in size." said Ripa as he joined him.
"The poor souls probably are more terrified of the Supercarrier than anything else." Will said.
The two chuckled and watched as they orbited the planet before the ship turned one more time to angle itself better. There in the corner William caught sight of the Home Fleet.
"Daaaang that's big!" said a Marine from in front.
Another whistled and others immediately responded with remarks of the same type. There in the corner were over three hundred warships, mostly Venator class. It was another show to William of the massive power the Republic fielded.
"You know, it was probably wise to bring the biggest ships we own here, especially the Supercarrier, I think that alone would guarantee anybody rethinking their opinion on us." said Will.
"Size makes a difference." Ripa agreed.
"Would the landing party delegation please report to the hangar." Sarah said over the PA system, she had once again let her subroutines run the ship and was helping the dumb AI onboard function.
"That would be our cue." said William.
He and Ripa walked to the Hangar where two Pelicans with Chelsea and a squad of Marines aboard waited. They boarded with a couple of the Covenant Separatist troops stationed on board and were flown out into the blazing day skies of Coruscant.
Terthi Astronomical Laboratory and Science Center
Lower levels of Coruscant
One day ago:
Dr. Vindi Yallat looked up from a datapad as she approached a Security checkpoint. She was due for an important meeting with a delegation of Scientists, Intelligence Officers, and members of a UNSC Intelligence Organization called ONI. They were requesting help in analyzing communication data they had collected. She had attempted to divine their purposes, but they were being really quiet about it, she was used to working with Agents of the Intelligence variety but the level to which they upheld their secrecy was far more than she had ever seen. She had yet to meet them in person. That would change soon.
The Bivalan looked up and suddenly gasped as the huge shape of an enormous ship with a massive hook like prow appeared. The very fact that it was visible from so far away sent chills up her spine. The Home fleet only appeared at night reflected by the light of the Sun, this one seemed to be darkening the sky.
Far above her the sky was suddenly filled with the honks and blares of air traffic above. Her guards looked up as well above them was a scene of descending chaos. Citizenry and police struggled to comprehend who the new visitors were, the skies were a mess and a pileup was happening mid-air.
"Who the heck is that?" she questioned aloud as the Doctor and her escort stopped to stare dumbstruck.
"That would be the Sangheili." said an unfamiliar voice.
She looked down to stare at another in a light black armor with a helmet held at her side. Dr. Yallat's entourage immediately aimed there DC-15's at the newcomer who was flanked by a squad of Soldiers who stood at ease.
"Who are you?" she asked, "How do you know about...these Sangheili?" behind her the Clone Troopers escorting her lowered their weapons.
"Agent Veronica Dare, UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence." the woman said crisply.
"Wait? You're human!? But-"
"You are Doctor Yallat correct?" Dare asked cutting her off.
"Why...yes," she said still trying to recover. "it's just-"
"We can talk later about that. To answer your question the Sangheili made a show of force by showing off a Supercarrier 29 kilometers in length." she said slightly smug.
"Bu-but how?" she asked. "No ship can be that-"
"Doctor are you going to show us the lab so that we can analyze things, yes or no?"
"Yes, it's just around the corner." she said pointing at an intersection in the large darkened streets of the Lower City.
She started forward with her still as of yet silent Clone Escorts.
They turned the corner and a dozen members of the Coruscant Guard in their trademark red and white armor stood guard at a heavily secured door.
"Halt." said the lead trooper with a Captain's identification marks.
They did so.
"Dr. Yallat?" one of them asked.
"Yes, with Agent Dare from the UNSC and a..." she paused not sure of what to call the troops surrounding the ONI agent.
"...protection detail for the data recovered." finished Agent Dare.
"You have been expected. Welcome to the Lab." said the Sergeant. The door hissed open and he waved them through.
The group entered and they were greeted by a older human scientist with graying strands of hair and a white labcoat.
"My my...so the rumors are true. Humans from another galaxy! This completely revolutionizes everything we the Scientific Community believed in... Ah! Dr Yallat welcome!" he shook Dr. Vindi's hand and then Agent Dare's hand.
"I'm Dr. Auris caretaker and head of this lab. You have data for us to look at Agent Dare?"
"Yes Doctor, I was charged with figuring out where the distress signals have been coming from in your galaxy. What we were able to do with the data we were provided was not enough."
"Very well, we're due for a meeting to below to brief the other heads of the military and the Jedi Council on the situation with the data."
They turned right and stopped at a security checkpoint with automated defenses and another trio of Clones.
"I apologize." Doctor Auris said, "due to the sensitive nature of this we're going to spend a lot of time through Security.
Forty minutes later and after eight separate checks they were all allowed into a large glass paneled elevator that descended a quarter of a kilometer before stopping.
"Right this way please." the elderly doctor said as the doors opened.
The followed him out into a narrow hallway where one final intensive search brought them into a conference room with a large table with many people seated. Dare's security detail was ushered to the side for final clearance while the Agent and Doctor Vindi proceeded inside.
All eyes fastened on the duo.
Dr. Auris cleared his throat and introduced Dr. Vindi to the assembled group which included some people she had to opportunity to work with before, namely prominent Jedi Master Mace Windu, Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin, and others important in the world of Republic Intelligence and Science.
"Right then. I'd like to formally thank everybody for coming today." Dr. Vindi said in welcome. "Today we're here to help an alien power in a mission to figure out where calls of distress have originated from in this galaxy. Now I know some of those here have dissenting opinions but we are here because the Chancellor has asked us in good faith to help the Allied Species, particularly the UNSC, one of the key members. On request the UNSC sent one of it's top field agent's to deliver this data and leave it up to us to solve this mystery."
"Dr. Yallat." the voice of Mace Windu from the side of the table spoke up.
"Yes Master Jedi?"
"Can we go over the reason why the UNSC has asked for help? Some of us haven't bothered to pay attention to events of the past week and if the Republic is going to be part of this it might be good for some to be enlightened."
"Certainly. Agent Dare?" Vindi pointed to the ONI agent and she stood up and took her place.
"To sum up it up briefly, we are here, taking part in a war our citizens aren't in favor of because of one thing and one thing only."
"And that is?" asked Tarkin arrogantly.
"We have substantial evidence to believe that two military vessels belonging to us have crashed somewhere in this galaxy. Normally this wouldn't be considered a priority except for the fact that we have strong reason to believe at least one of the ships has been missing for almost thirty years now and is carrying a sizeable amount of UNSC material that is critical for recovery.
"So how come we haven't heard from them before?" asked Master Windu. "You claim to have heard contact from them, but we've never seen anything like it recorded before."
"That is part of the mystery. When we received the signals they were clear and readable for almost one second before it fell apart into static. This static is synonymous with the interference received by jamming, just on a much higher level that scrambled it on an incredible scale."
"What do you mean?" asked a Scientist.
"For the signal to become clear enough to hear in the beginning it had to travel almost the estimated length of your galaxy across."
"But that's impossible! Nothing is that powerful! It can't be!" exclaimed another person at the table.
"So you mean to tell that someone's been jamming them? Were you able to pinpoint a location? And how did you decide on the recentlycaptured planet as a good place to look for data?" asked Mace Windu again.
"Frankly we didn't; we gambled that Alpha One being near the end of the galaxy might have picked up on the transmission to a degree that we did in our galaxy. We were lucky that when we had an AI match the frequency modulation and patterns to anything remotely similar to what we received back home that we found the signal again."
"So why couldn't you trace it?"
Dr. Vindi spoke up again. "That is another problem. Not only were the signals heavily encrypted and distorted but the signal itself was being rearranged and broken apart with parts of it lightyears from another section. It was being actively split."
"How could you do such a thing? We don't have that kind of capability, nobody does!"
"That's where you are wrong." Dare spoke up again.
The room fell silent.
"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Dr. Vindi confused suddenly. "What are you talking about?"
"Forerunners." Dare said.
"Who?" asked Tarkin incredulously.
The room got eerily quiet again.
"Hang on. Who are these Forerunners?" asked Master Windu.
"An excellent question. The answer contains an additional reason why we're here instead of back in our own galaxy. The Forerunners, for all of you who haven't heard, were a race and civilization that was a tier one class society. They held immense technological and military power in the Universe. What we do know about them is approximately 100,000 years ago they were at war with a parasite known as the Flood."
"And what do we care about a Parasite!?" asked Tarkin contemptuously.
"We care Admiral, because this parasite nearly caused galactic catastrophe. Twice. The flood reproduces and spreads by infecting other organisms, hijacking their bodies and nervous systems in order to transform them into one of many specialized forms. Through infecting sentient lifeforms, the Flood assimilates their memories and intelligence, and the species becomes collectively more intelligent as a result. Because of their rapid growth rate, as long as enough their are hosts of sufficient biomass and intelligence are available, the Flood is effectively unstoppable. The Flood presents a highly variable and unconventional threat in combat because it can infect and mutate dead or captured opponents. It grows stronger as it weakens enemy forces. The Flood is considered to have been the greatest threat to the existence of life in our galaxy.
"I don't get it. Why does this war the Forerunners had matter?"
"It matters because during that time they created a series of weapons known as 'Halos'. They had the power to destroy all life within the blast radius with sufficient biomass. Essentially, it served as a hard rest. As a matter of hypothesis, in light of your sharing knowledge of midichlorians, we now theorize the Halo event killed all of them in an instant ending all force-capable life, should that have been possible."
"I don't understand..." asked Doctor Vindi. "How are you still around if life ended.
"We believe that the Forerunners faced with their activation of the Halo array scrambled to index as much life as possible. In the aftermath of the ray firing they reseeded the galaxy somehow, and we're here, our civilization regressed to tier seven status and for the last ten thousand years we've worked to reattain our status."
Dare heard someone whisper "excuses..." under their breath. She frowned and turned to a Rodian scientist that turned to talk to her.
"So why is this important to the Republic then?" asked another scientist.
"It's simple!" said Tarkin suddenly in a much better mood. If there is in fact Forerunner artifacts in our galaxy then the Republic has much to benefit from this technologically, militarily, we could crush the Separatists."
"Exactly." said Dare. "We knew of the existence of Forerunner artifacts. Both of the ships that were lost contain sensors that are meant to isolate and find Forerunner installations." She was relieved that they were starting to see the importance of the data held on the file disk in her hand.
The room became eagerly excited all with the exception of Master Windu. Dr. Yallat noted an intense look of concentration on his face. The only time she had seen him like this was when he was "feeling for the shatterpoints" through the force. He looked up.
"It would seem Doctor that we should begin work." he said finally. "I will relay this to the rest of the council."
"My thoughts exactly."
(Next day)
10:40 Hours
Spartan William
"Man oh man. I've never seen this much sky traffic!" said their pilot from the front when they had descended through atmosphere. he lowered the viewport on the rear of the Pelican so that they could see. True to his words there were vessels of every kind everywhere. He spoke up a moment or two later.
"Ok, I'm dropping you all off on the landing pad of the temporary Allied Species embassy in the Senatorial district of Galactic City, Heck, everywhere is Galactic City. It's currently 89 degrees Fahrenheit outside and weather's not too bad. Thanks for flying Air UNSC and have a nice day!" quipped their Pilot.
They all said a word of thanks as it touched down and opened its hatch. William suddenly felt dwarfed as he stepped off the Pelican and immersed himself into Galactic City. It felt like being in New York or even New Alexandria for that matter. Everywhere the size of the skyline dwarfed anything else.
"Excuse me, are you all part of the delegation Security detail?" asked an ODST who had just walked up to them.
"They are but Ripa and I are supposed to be part of the Senatorial security detail." answered William.
"If I could just point you over there, the Councilor's are just getting ready to leave for their debut session in the Senate today."
"Thanks Jumper." said William. The two walked over to another larger group of military personal. Among them were a number of Spartan IV's, Sangheili Special Operations Soldiers, Sangheili Ultras, and Dean's squad of ODST's and, he was surprised to see his other brother Eric there.
"Since when did he get here?" thought Will.
"Ah, demon, you have all your brother's here now." the Sangheili had the nerve to give him the Sangheili equivalent of a wolfish grin.
"Thanks." said Will sarcastically. The two didn't notice the Spartan and were instead conversing about whatever. He was relieved to see the two didn't look so bad. A CO suddenly ordered them inside the building and they all complied.
"Spartans!" said a female Spartan wearing white Scout armor trimmed with red accents. Her helmet was off and her reddish brown hair flowed back in a short military regulation ponytail gesturing to William and then Chelsea as she came up alongside him.
"Yes ma'am?" he said recognizing a superior officer's tone of voice.
"I'm Commander Sarah Palmer, I requested that the two of you help protect the Councilor's should anyone decide to play anything funny."
The two stopped and saluted. They were both taller but this Spartan IV had the persona of someone much larger.
"As you were Spartans. Names
"Spartan William Gunther, former Commander of Section Three Special Warfare Team Castle..." he replied to her question standing as tall as he could with out being intimidating.
"...and Chelsea Baker of the same unit." she replied a moment after.
"Where's the rest of your unit?"
"MIA, presumed dead." said William.
Satisfied with this evaluation she pointed to the other Spartans,
"This here is Fireteam Majestic, you'll be joining with them for the time being until I say otherwise, now introduce yourselves please."
"Sure, I'm DeMarco, Team Leader." said a bald blue haired man in the Soldier Variant of the Spartan IV armor.
"Madsen." said a younger blonde Spartan with blue eyes in Recon armor.
"Hi, I'm Tedra Grant." said an Irish Spartan with red hair and verdant green eyes in the Pathfinder variant.
"Hoya." boomed a massive man with an Asmaran accent, underneath the Operator model of MJOLNIR.
"The name's Thorne, nice to meet you." said another Spartan wearing the standard Recruit model.
He was the only one to actually shake hands. A fact that was not lost upon Palmer who gave the rest of the team a sideways glance.
"Right then," said Palmer not missing a beat, "we are due to escort some of the Councilors any moment now. That means we are to be in the Senate building for the entire galaxy to see. Under no circumstances will I tolerate any behavior not worthy of Spartan's at any point..."
"She reminds me of Colonel Holland to a degree." William said privately to Chelsea.
"Agreed. She's definitely a no-nonsense individual."
"Isn't she supposed to be in charge of all the Spartans on Infinity?"
"Yup."
"...am I understood Spartans?"
"Yes ma'am!" they all chorused.
"She strikes me as the person who doesn't tolerate failure at all." said Sarah to William.
"You've been quiet." he responded
"I've been watching, listening, drinking in everything useful sine I've been in touch with the local data stream. You'll like this one, the Supercarrier has supposedly been the cause for an estimated 1,500,000 non-lethal traffic accidents and emergency calls to the Senate and Coruscant Guard, and that's in this small section of the planet. Public opinion of the Allied Species arriving has been everything from extreme terror, to extreme anger.
"You would've thought our advance party message would've done something..." Will said to himself.
"Shall I bring you up the most interesting news articles?"
"Not right now." William replied as the Councilors suddenly emerged through a door swarmed by an immense hoard of aliens, all of them the press or "paparazzi". They were surrounded by the Coruscant Guard in royal blue and flanked them all the way to the immense Speeder that had just landed. Half of the protection detail and the Councilor's stepped on. William caught the eye of Arbiter Thel 'Vadam who gave an almost imperceptible nod before stepping on board, his runic armor covered by a Doarmirian Cloak.
Ripa stepped forward with the rest of the Sangheili SpecOps detail and stepped in protective formation. Several Honor Guards brought up the rear. Next came the Human delegates. He noticed Captain Thomas Lasky as he walked past. He gave a nod to Sarah and the Spartans (with Majestic helmeted again) spread out and formed a wall for the Human Councilor's consisting of one or two Admirals, Lord Terrence Hood, the new Head of ONI Serin Osman, and several other diplomats and ambassadors.
"Osman still gives me the creeps." Chelsea conferred to him privately.
"Agreed." he winked a signal light over his HUD to hers. She understood the gesture and remained silent.
The last of them passed by and the rest of the Security detail stepped into the now more crowded speeder. At that point the doors closed and William took watched as a flight of MP Gunships flew up to escort them.
"All this for us?" he asked Ripa over a private channel.
"It makes sense, the public is in commotion over us arriving, I don't understand why we must, to use a human phrase, put all of your eggs in a basket."
"Well we better hope it does not break."
"Indeed..."
"Sarah now you may read the headlines." William said to the AI.
"Oh, now you want to talk?" she teased.
"Not funny Sarah."
"Ok fine, let's see, mass riots over unexpected visitation, We're not alone! Humans from abroad?, ooh, I like the tabloids. Hmm... how about; Secrets and Lies! What the Chancellor hasn't told us. How long has he known? And..." she laughed.
"What?"
"There's 1,400 about Spartans. Want me to read you a few?"
"Sure."
"Spartans! Cyborgs or Machines? Is this the newest battle droid?"
Will actually laughed at that one. His helmet concealed it but he caught himself the second time.
"What's so funny?" asked Chelsea.
Will proceeded to tell her and elicited the same reaction.
"How many about us being a collection of barbarians?"
"Approximately 500,000 thousand headlines."
"Great."
He was interrupted by the swerving off the vehicles into a "special" traffic lane. There they picked up speed and proceeded to race over the city.
He looked down. They were passing an area with streets. Underneath people stopped what they were doing and crowded their heads upwards to look at the spectacle. He looked down farther and saw a immense drop.
He whistled to himself as he saw part of the extremes in height that were the city.
A few minutes later they passed a glowing advertisement with another headline. The translation software in his helmet which had recently been upgraded to understand the other major languages of the galaxy described a news special on the events of today at the Senate.
They turned again and William saw their destination which was a massive drum-shaped building boasting a shield-shaped dome with a diameter of more than two kilometers.
Located in the heart of the Senate District, the building was situated at the end of a large, flat concourse. This area was lined with many tall, impressionistic humanoid statues, each representing a founder from each of the Core Worlds. Surrounded by the a large plaza several parks such lay around it. Adorning the front of the building were two narrow towers. One of these structures contained the Chancellor's office, or Sarah was saying. The summit offered a wide view of the capital.
They began to descend to the top of a large platform right outside the Senate. William realized that it was packed with yet more people.
"Can people just give us a break for once?"
"Highly unlikely." Said Sarah chiming in again.
"That was rhetorical." Will glowered. "I don't like crowds."
They descended and slowed on one side they prepared to leave. They "touched" down and William walked out of the open doors and stepped down from the repulsor-lifted platform and out into a much larger group of people. A large cry of excitement erupted as they exited. Cameras rolled, photographs were taken, live interviews were conducted. He and Chelsea flanked out on either side with the rest of the Spartan attachment behind him. The Councilor's stepped out and Lord Hood and the Arbiter stepped forward to meet with a smaller man who he heard one person name as the Chancellor Palpatine.
On the outside he appeared harmless but there was something about him that unsettled him. He reminded him of the holographic images he had seen of dictators like Stalin, Hitler, and others more modernly. He was about 5'8'' and, while immensely shorter than a Spartan like Will, he commanded attention. His eyes, though kindly, had a look that made Will think twice. As a Spartan he had been trained to try and see past the facade of a person and see them for how they truly were and as he looked and stared at the Chancellor he shuddered.
Here was a man to stay away from. Palpatine glanced his direction and made eye contact for moment. Will felt like a spotlight had lit him up from the inside out. This man was reading him like he was a book. Then in a moment it passed from him, almost dreamlike. Will shook this from his head and maintained a watchful eye.
If anybody else shared this feeling of being exposed they hid it as Lord Hood strode up and shook his hand in a firm handshake. The Arbiter then followed suit and cheers and applause rose up from the crowd as cameras caught the historic images.
He returned and said a few words of welcome before turning and leading them towards the Senate building flanked by a duo of Guards carrying pike like instruments that wore blood red garb. The group proceeded with William and Chelsea clutching Battle Rifle's at their sides waiting for something to move unexpectedly. They both walked past the grand doors guarded by a group of Senate Commando's dressed in blue armor clutching DC-15 Rifles.
A duo of Senate Guards then proceeded ahead of the Chancellor. They proceeded down a long hallway filled with the noise of the Senate Arena. The noise became more intense as they proceeded until they filed into the main chamber through the end of the hallway.
The noise suddenly erupted into a loud cheer that thundered throughout a massive two kilometer dome containing Senators and Representatives from every planet. The sheer size of the place stunned Will and the others behind him, there reactions were quickly hidden though. All along the top a walkway traversed the entire way around. Descending to the bottom were rows upon rows of pods containing members of the Senate. He noticed Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan sitting with another larger group of what he assumed were Jedi all dressed simply in their robes.
The small bouts of cheering and applause he quickly realized was meant for the Chancellor as he walked onto a ramp and then entered into a pod that ascended from its platform to the center of the convocation center. He waved and smiled and the Senate returned it with applause.
Will suspected normally the Senate didn't cheer quite as loudly as it did on this occasion, that it was more of a show to the foreigners. Whatever the reason they were all gestured to two pods that were waiting to be boarded by one of the Senate Guards. As the Chancellor took his place the Senate started another wave of applause for the newcomers.
He stepped on and the rest of the Human delegation filed on. The Sangheili filled the other one and both proceeded to a position off to the side. On a screen they could see the procession of the entire Senate.
"Welcome," he paused. His kindly and warm voice filling the hall amplified by the Speakers in his pod.
"Welcome, Senators, Jedi of the Council, and of course welcome – to our mutual friends in arms in the struggles against the Separatists' for which we have labored so long to end!" he shook his fist to emphasize his point.
"It is my humble desire that we, the Republic, welcomes you with open arms and embrace you as our brothers and sisters! We should not consider them the sons and daughters of scoundrels, of pirates, brutes, or barbarians but as our equals and part of our illustrious society!"
Will frowned at that line. It only reinforced his uneasiness of the Chancellor.
More applause and cheers went out.
"But most importantly we are here today to recognize the existence of life beyond our galaxy! A feat which many including myself were doubtful of! Today we welcome the Human race and their Sangheili allies as friends of the Republic!"
The Senate Arena was filled with more cheers and applause. Palpatine silenced them and they quieted. He paused dramatically.
"However, my friends, my fellow Senators, to every citizen and soldier listening in on today's broadcast, today it is my supreme duty to formalize our union as Civilizations in our mutual fight against an aggressor that has wronged you so…terribly and caused the deaths of your valiant soldiers."
"He certainly has a way of working the crowd." Will said to Ripa.
He looked over and nodded once.
"…an enemy," he continued, "which was once considered our own. But their own…selfish greed and ambition blinded them to the very ideals which we and the Allied Species have sought for since our formations for peace. But in the midst of their pursuit of peace they were dragged into this war, not of their own choice, but that of the Confederacy who so arrogantly, and mercilessly destroyed one of their Carriers, one that was inhabited by thousands of individuals with their own conscious, freedom, and identity and proceeded to try and exterminate them!"
As he finished with a yell, an uproar of agreement filled the Senate.
"But through great trial and struggle they pushed through and emerged victorious! They have since proved themselves by attacking with our forces a planet vital to the Separatist war effort and utterly crushed it!"
A louder cheer and round of applause filled.
"…and to show the Confederacy that the galaxy was wrong to deal with a so called "barbaric" race they burned the surface until it became glass! A monument, a testament to the power they possess, a power which triumphed over the Confederacy! We have asked the Allied Species, specifically their head of Military to tell us their story, to show us how life beyond our galaxy existed. Please welcome Lord Terrence Hood." Said Palpatine finishing soundly.
Roars of applause greeted the aging Head of the UNSC. The pod William was in moved upwards and took the same place that the Chancellor had occupied.
As it finished a light lit up the platform and he began to speak.
"Now, I'm not one for displays of oratory like your Chancellor here."
Some laughs broke out at that comment.
"But, I will do the best I can. I am Lord Hood, and I represent the United Nations Space Command, the military element of our government, the UEG. Our story used to be one filled with war. From the beginning our accounts show an exorbitant, even shameful amount of war that stains the pages of our progress. But that was put behind us centuries ago when we finally turned our attention to the stars and within decades had broken past the limits of our home planet and began to expand. But within that expansion the old ideas of power, greed, and oppression began to take place, thus in that conflict forming what we know as the UNSC."
He paused and cleared his throat.
"But finally we forget those problems and society progressed in leaps and bounds far beyond what we had done before. It was a Golden Age for the Human race until we were suddenly plunged headlong into a genocidal war with a Hegemony of different races known as the Covenant. The Covenant believed it was their duty to exterminate Humanity, this task was carried out, mostly, by the Sangheili." He gestured to the other pod containing the Arbiter and others.
"We were then hurled headfirst into a war that lasted decades, one by one our world's fell, burned like the Confederate planet we burned. The war forced the human race to change, to adapt, to think. Out of it our greatest weapons and ideas were born. It was only when the Covenant realized the truth about their beliefs that the war tipped in our favor. The Sangheili allied with us and we were able to defeat the Covenant and ensure our survival.
And now…today we wish to stand by you as allies, to ensure that those who have decided aggression is the answer are re-corrected in their belief that we may have peace and return to our lives. Thank you."
"The man is always to the point." chimed Sarah.
Another roll of applause echoed throughout the two kilometer dome as the pod settled down again.
"Thank you, thank you." Said Palpatine as the pod rose up again. "Thank you Lord Hood, for your remarks."
"I would like to put forth a movement." came the voice of Senator Padme Amidala as the Chancellor finished rising to the middle.
"The Senate recognizes Senator Amidala from Naboo." Said a blue skinned alien next to him.
"I move that as of today the Allied Species and the Republic enter into a state of alliance."
Fleetmaster Rtas' Vadum
CSO Class Supercarrier Divine Retribution
Coruscant Geo-synchronous Orbit above Senatorial District
11:54 Hours UNSC Standard Military Time
The massive hangar of the Supercarrier hummed quietly as the Coruscant Surface glowed with activity below. He was currently seeking to converse with a newly appointed Fleetmaster, a Sangheili that had served as a Shipmaster that had fought the Confederacy in the Battle of Rhen Var. Rtas had recently left the Shadow of Intent to take Command of the Supercarrier from the Arbiter's command.
He was amused by reports of the reactions to the fleet appearing and the sheer size of the Supercarrier, something that had never been seen before on that scale in this galaxy.
"As well as they should fear us." he thought as he walked towards the bridge.
He walked past a duo of Banshee's being fueled up and then entered inside a massive hallway as a lance of grunts saluted him before entering one of the Supercarriers massive corridors. The carrier was large enough it required a system of teleportation pulled from Forerunner artifacts to quickly transport individuals and material around. He preferred to walk however walking a good kilometer before entering a small elevator that could take him straight to the bridge.
He stepped off and found himself in the cavernous den that was the Bridge. The Holographic panels all around the top showed an impressive panoramic view of the planet and the fleet. The bridge was buried in the center of the ship towards the rear and therefore protected by everything else above it and below it. The Bridge was laid out in a circle. At the center stood the Fleetmaster's chair high above everything else. Surrounding the chair were concentric circles of stations that sat lower and lower from the center. This circle was divided into wedges, each wedge was responsible for a major component of operations. Immediately below him was a ring with Senior Officers who relayed the data from their sections up to him.
He watched with interest the various members working idly chatting or working together with the other ships serving as head of logistics and coordinating the needs of a fleet the size of the current one with more Human ships arriving in a few hours. A normal carrier was crewed by at least four thousand, if not more. The Divine Retribution was crewed by no less than 10,000 crew members, the extra number needed to be able to carry on other duties needed by this fleet. Half of which were on board the kilometer wide bridge. He walked to the front of it and greeted the temporary commander, a General, before relieving him of duty.
"Status Report!" he called out in the cavernous space.
One by one comments and details flowed fluidly and like clockwork around the tier below him.
"Engineering 100%"
"Reactors are optimal..."
"Life Support remains green, methane levels for Unngoy quarters are normal."
One by one he mentally checked off the long list until he was sure that there wasn't any issues.
"Any word on Fleetmaster 'Katar?" he asked clacking his mandibles when the report was finished.
"He's currently off duty resting right now." one of the Officers reported.
"Wake him in half an hour. I want to speak with him."
"Sending a message now. Fleetmaster 'Vadum, The rest of the fleet is due in three hours."
"Thank you, carry on." he said distractedly.
He turned his attention to a life video feed of the proceedings on Coruscant. He watched as news coverage showcased the Arbiter and others stepping off transports and shaking hands with the Chancellor. He watched for a few minutes as the Chancellor started speaking inside the Senate that he was interrupted.
A sudden blip lit up on one of the consoles nearby. The Officer frowned and peered at it carefully.
"What is it?" Rtas asked concerned.
"Fleetmaster, we have reports of energy spikes in the brig's supply."
"Anomaly?" he asked peering over at the same screen.
"Could be. Sometimes we've been known to have errors."
"Alert the guards. They should know-"
He was cut off as the room suddenly went pitch black and the bridge erupted in surprised cries. The only lighting was provided by the holographic consoles. The Sangheili sprang into action immediately and began rattling off their reports.
"Multiple decks have lost power! I don't know what's going on!" the same Sangheili reported.
"Shields are gone!"
"Our slipspace drive is offline!"
"We've lost all power to the engines! Attempting to reboot!"
"Communications and sensors are offline! We're blind and deaf!"
"Weapons are gone!"
"Remain calm! Hold brothers and stand your ground!" Rtas ordered as he drew his sword.
An alarm suddenly blared to life and emergency lighting kicked in.
"Emergency power is online!"
"Fleetmaster! Security teams report weapons fire in the brig! Something's happened!" a Major at the Security Station called out.
A terrible thought occurred to Rtas. It couldn't be coincidence that there was a major meeting going on below him at this very moment.
"Show me." he ordered concerned.
"I'm locked out of the security system!" the minor grunted as he furiously typed commands in. "I can't access anything!"
"Get it online this instant!" Rtas turned towards the door. "Alert the ship. All hands to battle-stations. I want as many systems as we can restored. Navigation! As soon as we can move, get this ship away from the planet. Order the rest of our ships to break away from the planet. Security! If we don't have access to our systems in ten minutes, get a human construct on board to secure our system!"
"A construct?"
"Do not question me!"
"Sir?" Navigation asked.
"We're under attack from within. If they take even one of our ships, they'll wreak havoc on Coruscant.
New alarms suddenly joined the original alarm.
The door burst open and Rtas spied his second in command, the General whom he had relieved duty from moments ago raced back through the door.
"I live to serve Fleetmaster." the General panted as he approached. "What is our situation?"
"Increasingly ill General. We've lost power to some parts of the ship and there is reports of weapons fire in the brig."
The General's face soured.
"I trust the ship to your care General..." Rtas struggled for a name.
"'Nosom." the General provided. "By your command Fleetmaster, this ship will not fail."
Rtas turned and walked to the door.
"Fleetmaster, where are you going?"
"The brig. I'm going to see what's going on for myself. Keep me appraised of all updates."
The General clutched a fist and placed it over his heart in salute.
"General 'Nosom has the deck!" he called out. The bridge acknowledged him and he stepped outside.
The Honor Guards outside the door stiffened.
"Guard the bridge! If it falls, Coruscant is in danger."
The Honor Guards nodded and half of them cloaked themselves.
Rtas took off at a run towards the bow of the ship. He would need to find an intra-ship teleporter.
"Fleetmaster. We've confirmed hostile activity in the brig. Someone implanted a virus and it took the brig's security measures down and most of our ship's systems too. There's activity moving towards the armory."
"Which brig?"
"Reports indicate numbers 1-4, but the block has been sealed off. 5-12 are possible candidates. The rest are operating nominally or empty."
"What were the occupants in the brig?"
"Standby." the General asked.
Rtas turned the corner and found two lances led by an Ultra running for the teleportation system.
"Fleetmaster!" the Ultra came to a stop alongside his lance.
"Come with me. There's trouble in the brig."
"By your command." the Ultra nodded before stepping aside to allow the Fleetmaster room.
"I have your report. Those cells housed suspected operatives for Jul 'Mdama. There was evidence for their involvement. According to records they should have been off-loaded before we departed for this galaxy. Evidently they weren't." the General said increasingly angry.
"We can deal with this treason later. Keep me appraised. Rtas out."
He stepped up to the teleportation terminal and input the the location of the closest terminal to the action. He revised this a moment later and shifted it further back. If the brig was overrun, jumping straight into it wouldn't help his cause."
A green beam of energy flashed to life between twin cylindrical nodes and he gestured. The lances stepped into it and disappeared.
"General, shut down the two-way teleportation system in the affected areas. Alert your security teams before you do so." he ordered.
"Doing so. We've lost our camera feed, but audio indicates there's still a firefight. May your sword flash bright and aim be true. 'Nosom out."
The Fleetmaster detached his sword before stepping into the green.
An instant later, the walls of a different corridor appeared to him with his lance awaiting him. He modulated his communications device to the local battle-net and panicked voices immediately filled his ears.
"-in corridor three, I repeat, we've sealed corridors one, two, four, and five but they've taken control of this level!"
"This is Fleetmaster 'Vadum. What is our status?"
"Oh by the Forerunners-ill Fleetmaster. We're pinned down outside minor armory two on deck 27!"
Rtas looked to see they were on deck 27.
"We're coming. Hold out as long as you can."
"Which way?" A minor asked.
A muffled explosion was suddenly heard from to their left.
"Let's go."
With a snap-hiss, his sword was activated and he charged down the hallway. As he approached the sounds of a firefight became more and more pronounced.
He reached the end of the corridor and came to an intersection of a much larger corridor. Corridor Three. He caught sight of the armory almost instantly. The building was dead ahead of him. Corridors intersected on the edges and in the middle. He surmised that four and two were blocked off to prevent the attackers from getting further.
Plasma fire came whipping through the empty corridor and he saw the enemy massed against the door and pressed on the edges of the hallway. The defenders were bottled up inside trying to hold them back.
"Forward brothers!" he called out.
"For Sangheilios!" they chorused before giving loud cries and charging forward.
Rtas scooped up a type 25 that had been blasted from the room and charged forward firing. Another Sangheili pointed at the oncoming attackers before the bolts whittled his shields down and the Ultra next to him placed a carbine shot between his eyes whereupon he crumpled to the ground. Rtas and his lances breached the inner threshold and found themselves surrounded by wounded or dead guards.
"Fleetmaster!"
He turned to see a SpecOps Major, the one he had overheard on the battle-net wave him over.
"Are these the only forces?" he asked urgently.
"No, half of them split up. We had the secondary bridge seal everything except a service lift at the far end of the ship. Someone from inside had setup camouflage cloaks inside the cells and provided the prisoners with food, water, and weapons. We thought they had been transferred off!"
"We'll find this treachery and uproot whoever's responsible."
"Look out! Hunters!"
Rtas turned to see a shield arm swing out and break through decapitating a Sangheili before the Hunter charged through.
"Quell this treason!" he shouted before he sprang forward. The Hunter caught sight of him and fired its cannon creating a steaming crater in the nano-laminate plating. He ducked underneath a shield strike and with a swipe of his sword nearly severed the shield arm. The Mgalakgolo reared back and roared angrily another warrior dashed forward and finished the job. The Shield dropped to the ground with a heavy THUNK! and Rtas took the opportunity to plunge his blade into the exposed colony of worms.
The Hunter gave another roar and collapsed to the ground dead.
A louder roar nearby was all the warning he had before its bond brother burst through killing another two Sangheili.
"Watch out! Get back!" the Ultra called out. Rtas swiped at the creature but only managed to the razor sharp spines on the back. He saw an opportunity to distract it and leaped on to its back, clinging with one hand to one of the stumps, jamming his boots into the creatures' flesh.
The Hunter roared again and bucked wildly.
"Fleetmaster! Urgent update for you!"
"This...isn't the best of...times." Rtas grunted as he nearly slipped off.
"It was a ruse! The attack was a ruse! We got new reports of activity on deck one!
Rtas' blood froze.
Deck one was home to the most frightening of all the former Covenant's species. The Sharquoi. These monsters lived entirely in solitary confinement with the others in a state of stasis. They saw very limited use in campaigns and only when the Prophet's saw fit to unleash them. They caused terror and devastation on a scale unparalleled, even by the Hunters. And now, they were likely going to be set free.
"Vent the deck! Eject them into space!" he ordered still clinging to the bucking Hunter. It tried backing up and crushing him into the wall but Rtas saw this move coming and flipped forward. The shield arm nicked him and he went flying into the combatants.
The Hunter raised its weapon and shield and prepared to fire when it suddenly stopped. The swiftness with which he did so caused the other warriors to stop too. That's when he heard the sound.
A roar, louder, deeper, and stronger than the Hunter ripped through the deck. It's power shook their feet causing some to stumble.
"By the gods, has he gone mad?" an enemy from outside called out!
The roar suddenly got louder and Rtas felt a thump far back at the end of a chamber, where the lift was.
"Run away!" a grunt shrieked far away.
"No! No! NOooo! Please don't kill-" the Unggoy gave a shriek before it was suddenly silenced.
"AHHH! MONSTER ATE Pipyap!"
The Hunter backed up nervously.
Another roar echoed down the hallway.
"General! There's at least one Sharquoi on our deck!" Get the teleporters online so we can evacuate and vent all atmosphere on this deck!"
"We're having trouble trying to reset it back. We can seal off the ship as much as we can though. I recommend immediate retreat."
"Is it friendly?" another enemy Sangheili called out.
Rtas heard the sound of something metal being wrenched apart.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" a third Sangheili called out from farther down. "All of you! Get out of the-"
A crash followed and something went skittering across the floor. Suddenly a huge section of plating slammed inside the armory nearly killing a Minor.
"Open fire! Retreat!" one of the Insurgent's ordered!
"No! Don't fire! Don't fire!" Rtas roared. The Hunter looked at him, turned, and started to flee. As it did so it knocked him away and began charging without regard to the other enemies.
Plasma fire erupted, another furious roar, and footfalls that made deafening booms started charging towards them.
"Retreat!" The call came again.
They were too slow retreating. The sounds of heavy impacts were made against the wall and a suddenly the door way was blocked by a huge titanic creature. A fist shot out and the wall buckled.
"Fall back! We need to kill it, but we can't do so here!" Rtas roared scrambling to his feet. He ignited his sword which he had deactivated and pushed the others. He looked back to assist the others caught outside, but there was no one left.
He shook his head and started falling back to a more defensible position. Behind him came the sound of another monstrous fist pounding the wall. Another one and he would be free among the armory.
"General, have you rebooted the teleportation grid?"
"Still down!"
The sound of the walls tearing shrieked down the hallway. Rtas reached the end of the intersection. One of the doors was sealed off. The other, the one leading to the teleportation grid, was filled with soldiers.
"Does it follow?" the Ultra asked.
"I'm afraid it does. Where did that Hunter go?"
"Dead. It's corpse is further up ahead."
Another shriek of metal and the footfalls got closer.
"Have you ever seen a Sharquoi?" the Ultra asked nervously.
"Only once. I wished the humans that died by them had been glassed instead." Rtas responded grimly. "Ready yourselves. Swords work the best, but getting close to it is almost certainly death. Aim for the joints."
With a roar it burst around the corner and Rtas got his first look at it. The Sharquoi was a massive bipedal monstrosity with enormous thick legs and long gangling arms with two enormous claws that bulged out of its forearm that rippled with muscle and power. Here it stopped. The ceiling was shorter than the creature which stood slightly hunched at 12 feet, at full height it was 16 feet tall. The Sharquoi was covered in a armor suit over it's abdomen, and it's single lidless eye focused on the group. An armored visor was attached in front of the eye protecting it.
Rtas opened up with the plasma rifle he held in his hand and sent bolts spiraling down. The rest of the lance positioned at the intersection opened up as well. Blamite, radioactive projectiles, and plasma soared downwards scoring hits all over it.
"Don't stop! Keep firing!" Rtas called out as he held off on firing for a second to allow his weapon to cool.
The Sharquoi reared back as plasma splashed all over it's thick skin frying the outermost layers and gave a howl. Shards of blamite shattered against it, but more than a few found their mark ripping open holes in the Sharquoi's skin. It tried moving forward, stopped to consider the ceiling, hunched low, and lumbered forward.
"It's getting closer!"
"Keep firing!"
The Sharquoi realized that this method wasn't working and instead raised a masssive fist and threw it skywards. The ceiling caved in before ripping apart slightly. The plating buckled and alarms triggered as cables, plasma conduits, and electrical systems tore free. It took a massive step and moved much closer to them.
"Hold the line!" Rtas barked at the less experienced troops who were beginning to shy away.
Then to their left, the door suddenly opened revealing a very confused looking grunt. The eyes of the Unggoy suddenly fixated on the Sharquoi.
"Seal the door! Seal the door!" Rtas ordered frantically. "What are you doing Grunt?!"
The Sharquoi gave a roar and the Unggoy who was moving to the console, broke composure and routed. The Sharquoi seized this change and began punching the ceiling again to make room for it to move faster.
"Back!" Rtas ordered frantically. The lances hastily retreated a few feet. The monster suddenly gained a lot more clearance and began running. "Behind this door! Now!"
The others quickly complied and Rtas hit the button and the door sealed shut.
A roar was heard on the other side.
"This leads to one of the hangars!" the Ultra informed him.
"Move quickly and establish a perimeter!" he keyed his comlink. "General, we need reinforcements at my position."
"There are some already enroute. We're still trying to get our ship back online."
A sudden BANG! shook the door.
"General, do you have access to any of the security systems? Can we vent the brig?"
"That's beyond my power to do at the moment." The General responded sharply.
"Prioritize working on defenses. The Sharquoi is about to breach."
The monster beat on the doors again bulging it further out.
"Steady!"
A third time the Sharquoi pounded on the doors and they bulged out to the point of catastrophic failure. All around him fingers tensed on triggers."
Seconds passed before the door was smashed open.
"Get it!" someone shouted before they all opened with their weapons.
The Sharquoi gave an angry shriek and immediately their offense turned defensive as Sangheili scrambled to get out of the beast's range. The plasma battery on Rtas rifle died so he discarded and ignited his sword again.
Rtas gave a battle cry and ducked under a swipe by the Sharquoi before leaping forwards and swiping. The blade bit into the leg of the Sharquoi, but it was much too thick to do lasting damage. The Sharquoi reared back and turned to swipe at him when another warrior burst forward with his sword.
The Sharquoi shook him off and the Warrior retreated. The Sharquoi fixated it on him solely and began running after the Warrior who gave a panicked cry before running faster. The Sharqoui lashed out and the Warrior was impaled on one of the claws before being thrown against the wall.
The Sharquoi turned to see the pursuing Sangheili and fled in the direction of the hangar.
"General? It's still on the move! We're approaching hangar two. Sound the general alarm and put all troops on lookout."
"Diverting troops to your location and sounding the alarm. Fleetmaster, there's reports of escape pods launching all over the ship. We can't track their descent without sensors but we've restored limited communications."
"Can we shoot them down?"
"I've ordered fighter crews to respond but I can't guarantee they'll be able to stop many of them."
"See that that doesn't happen."
A sudden explosion rocked the ship.
"Report!" Rtas coughed.
"Fleetmaster, that was one of the Corvette's parked inside the ship! One of the Corvette's has been overtaken by our foe!"
Rtas snarled.
"Can we do anything?"
"Not without access to our sytems!" They hit us hard and we can't respond. This is just like the other Supercarrier on Rhen Var-heads up, there are other Sharquoi moving to the Hangar. A team of SpecOps were able to seal it and shield them. They won't break through the energy shields." The General growled.
Suddenly the Sharquoi he was purusing had the door close in front of its face. It roared in anger and began moving to bash the door down. However, it's fist slammed into the ceiling bringing down a heap of metal and wire on top of it and pinning it.
"I have some security systems online now."
"Excellent. Get the others online."
The Sharquoi roared at him and
Rtas gave a roar of his own and charged with the others. He leaped onto the Sharquoi's back much like he did the Hunter. The Sharquoi staggered for a moment under the rubble before attempting to twist him off. Rtas raised his sword and plunged it slowly into the creatures neck which elicited increasingly panicked noises from the creature. Others around him did the same until, exhausted, bloodied, and defeated, the Sharquoi stopped thrashing. For good measure, Rtas kicked off the visor shielding the eye and plunged his sword into it to make sure it was dead.
The lance gave a roar of triumph as he did so and Rtas turned towards the hangar.
"General 'Nosom, our Sharquoi is dead. I need our door opened."
The door hissed open a moment later and Rtas dashed through into the scene of a firefight.
For a moment he was confused what was going on. He saw fighting going on between two sides while a group of Sangheili were chivvying two other Sharquoi with massive pikes into a massive crate attached to two Phantoms. The doors slammed closed and a shield enveloped the crate when they were far enough inside. Rtas' heart sank.
"Stop them!" Rtas ordered before he leaped forward and cleaved a Sangheili who turned to shoot him.
The Lance opened fire and poured into the hangar.
"General! One of the Sharquoi is in a Phantom, most likely heading to the surface! Shut down the hangar bay doors!"
"We're trying here!"
"Try harder! I'm not going to allow this-"
Another explosion shook the ship.
"Corvette is away! Corvette is away!" the General roared furiously.
Rtas gave a frustrated roar.
"Cover me!" he ordered as he leaped foward and cut down another two Sangheili who raised arms against them. Rtas saw a Banshee hanging on the far end of the rack in front of him and he ran over to it. He hauled himself inside, sealed the hatch, and powered it up. the hangar was large enough for him to fly around in limited circles. So, he yanked the Banshee out of the rack and sent it spiraling towards the ground using his cannons to stitch the area with plasma fire. This Banshee was the exo-atmospheric model and thus moved a little faster than the other varieties.
After spending a good minute sending their attackers hiding for cover, he twisted around to face the phantom and centered the cannons on it before firing. The Phantom held up for a moment before he scored hits on its engine. It exploded in a ball of blue flame impaling a Sharquoi with the wreckage and pinning it against the wall.
The Covenant turned their attention to Rtas and he had to put some safe space in between him and his enemies. Even so, he didn't see the ball of green plasma coming towards him until it was too late. As it struck, the Banshee refused to fly anymore and plunged to the ground. Rtas swore and braced himself as the Banshee fell to the ground with sickening speed.
He heard the collision and everything went black.
So this rewrite gave Rtas 'Vadum his share of screen time. I hope this chapter and the new one following it resolves accusations of plagiarism. Do. Your. Research.
Yours in writing,
theotherpianist