Interlude: Chel

A field of stars and colourful nebulae slowly faded into view as the Song of Unity exited slipspace; the Fleet of Sanctity followed close behind. Aside from the few ships that remained over Zezar, the fleet consisted of six Ket-pattern cruisers, four Ceudar-pattern corvettes, and the Unity with its own complement of smaller ships. All things considered it wasn't a very large fleet, but it was enough to take on a human force with minimal casualties.

The inconvenience of the human incursion had been dealt with quickly, the few survivors of the attack had escaped in a stolen Phantom with a low grade slipspace drive mounted on it. They had gotten lucky. The attack resulted in the destruction of two of the Unity's Ester-pattern frigates, which caused major damage to the main hangar bay. But other than that, nothing about Chel's plan had been interrupted too much.

They had chased the stolen Phantom to the exact system that Chel was looking for. He mused at the projection of the system, it was just as glorious as he was hoping for. Seiginis. It was the last step on the path to the Assembly, so Chel could barely contain his excitement.

"This is it," said Teran 'Jerisee. "Finally."

"Not quite," Chel said. "This is not the Assembly, it is merely the doorway to it."

"Of course, my apologies."

"There is no need to apologise."

Teran bowed, and he left the command deck. Of course, there was one issue that he was already expecting. The humans had a fleet in orbit of the planet, which caused Chel to assume that it was already inhabited. But that did not anger Chel, it actually worked in his favour. More food for the Flood.

It mattered not to him how many lives were lost on the way, all he cared about was the final stage in the evolution of the galaxy. He ordered Teran to prepare the ship's launch pods; he wanted the Flood to run rampant on the human world. Human world. This world is anything but human. I doubt they even know that.

So often was it the case that the humans didn't know about the Forerunner presence on their worlds. The Luminary told that Seiginis III was an entire shield world, and Chel knew the humans would have no idea what that even meant.

"Fleetmaster, there's a problem," Teran said through Chel's communicator.

"What is it?" Chel asked.

"The explosion damaged the launch tubes. We can get them fixed soon if we take care of it now."

"Do it, I do not wish to waste time."

"Yes, Fleetmaster."

The connection dropped. Chel could feel his hearts beating faster. The attack was already enough of an inconvenience, now he had to wait even longer to get what he wanted. I am so close to victory! We cannot be stopped now!

The Fleetmaster took several deep breaths to keep himself calm. He looked back at the projection of Seiginis III, and studied the formation of human ships around it to distract himself for the time being. It was a mix of several heavy cruisers and frigates. They weren't too much of a problem. But what was a problem was the orbital defence platforms; Chel knew from experience how much damage those could do.

Our ultimate victory will have to wait, Chel said to himself. He sat down in his chair and folded his hands over his head. He had gotten so far by being patient, it wouldn't hurt to wait a little longer. At their distance beyond the system's edge, it would take days for the humans' primitive sensors to even notice them.

Chel placed his hands in his lap, and he would sit there for a long time.

There was nothing that could stand in his way.