"Here it is!" The Jackal screeched. "I knew it had to be here!"
"I'm sorry?" Dare asked as she followed N'tho 'Sroam into the room. She stared at the structure that dominated the space, a scaffold of Forerunner metal built around a box with transparent sides. It looked like a terrarium large enough to hold a family of Humans.
"What am I looking at?"
"It is a sealed conveyance, K'ptain," said a Sangheili ranger, the one who had discovered the room and called the team down here. "It travels directly from one location to another. I saw it's like upon the surface of the second Sacred Ring."
"It had to be here!" the Jackal repeated. "How else did the Prophets' toadies get here? I never saw a dropship!"
"And it would have taken too long to distribute troops to the outlying platforms with a single Lich," Dare mused. "So they used the Ark's own transports."
"Indeed. And where the Brutes have traveled, so shall we!" N'tho declared as he pulled out a communicator. "Payip, gather the Unggoy unto me. We journey forth!"
"N'tho, do you think that's a good idea?" The Brutes likely set up an operations center at the station where this thing came from… and I don't see a way to steer."
"I'm sure they have, but we will catch them unaware. Usze slew the signals lance before they could send an alarm, he is sure of it."
"I don't know," Dare said. Walking around the elevator, she saw that what she thought was a box was more of an elongated hexagon, which looked disturbingly like a coffin. Or the basket one might put all of one's eggs in.
"Can't be worse than Plan A," Buck told her. "Mickey said he's almost down an engine."
"It'll have to do. Commander, I recommend that the Rangers that have joined us ride in the Phantom."
"We are of one mind," N'tho said.
Dare keyed her own radio. "Dutch, get the ODSTs down here. The Marines too."
"We'll leave when we're good and ready," Corporal "Hawk" Hockensmith said as Lance Corporal Castillo packed a Satcom dish into a carry case.
"Funny," Dutch said. "I'm pretty sure the lady said 'right now.'"
"Some things can only be done so fast," Hockensmith replied. Text and diagrams flitted across the laptop's screen as it pulled data from the network and closed security protocols. "Go on without us. We'll catch up in a few minutes."
"Not happening. I leave when you leave."
"Fine," Hawk said. He shot a glance over his shoulder. "How about you, hingehead?"
The Elite ranger stood still as a statue, a pair of plasma rifles at the low ready, completely impassive behind his helmet. At long last, he said, "I leave when you leave."
"What's the matter, don't you trust us?" Castillo asked.
"I have seen what Humans do to the works of the Forerunner."
Those words hung in the air as Castillo finished packing and Dutch waited impatiently. Hockensmith pointedly ignored the Elite altogether, until the Ranger spoke again.
"Humans, you inquire of Forerunner systems like a Prophet, or a pirate. Where did you learn to do this?"
"That's class-" Hawk said gruffly, but he was cut off by Castillo.
"We were both intrusion specialists, but mostly we cracked Covenant systems. Then we deployed to Delta Halo, and got hands-on experience with Forerunner tech."
"Delta, you call it? You were on the second sacred ring?"
"We were in the walker when Sergeant Johnson kicked in the front door so the Arbiter could kick Tartarus's ass. If we all survive, I'll tell you the story over drinks."
"Drinks?" The Ranger asked. "Spirits are forbidden to a Sangheili warrior."
"Oh, we're going to get along just fine," Castillo drawled.
One of the diagrams on the laptop locked in place, and was replaced by a ripple of light moving through a diamond grid.
"We're good to go," Hawk said as he snapped the laptop shut. "And not a moment too soon."
The elevator swayed as it drifted through the trees, leaving Sergeant McMurtrie with a feeling as if he had been drinking for far too long. The shaking of the platform was worse than riding a pod down from orbit for God's sakes! And the forest could be seen out all sides and down through a window in the floor. He could see the abyss yawning below, and he was sure that the abyss was staring back at him.
In a SOEIV pod, there were half a dozen systems to keep you from digging your own grave, all of them tried and true. But if the gravetic magic that kept the elevator aloft failed, it would become an overcrowded elevator ride straight to Hell, and Adam would spend the rest of eternity sharing a grave with two dozen stinking Grunts. That thought terrified the trooper, no matter how often Zaid insisted that Forerunner tech was "Sure as the sunrise."
"You know what this reminds me of?" Dutch called out from the front. "That glass bridge that sticks out over Marineris Valley. Has anyone else ever walked that thing?"
Adam closed his eyes and tried to keep his breakfast down.
"Marineris Valley has trees, but nothing like this," Dare said.
The trees loomed like wooden skyscrapers, rising out of darkness and disappearing into the canopy above. Only a dim light penetrated to this level, so dim that Dare saw she saw bioluminescent life glittering below.
Boughs as big as a two-lane highway split off from the trunk of each tree, reached out and intermingled with the boughs of other trees. On Earth, trees would avoid growing together in such a way. But here the branches formed an intersection so structured and planned that it had to be deliberate, and they sprouted foliage so dense that Dare saw ponds cupped in dense mats of moss.
"This is incredible," Dare said. "I've seen the Redwood Forest on Earth. These trees have those redwoods beat by an order of magnitude."
"Mirim trees," N'tho proclaimed. "They grow for many tens of thousands of years. This forest must have been planted prior to the cataclysm of Halo."
"The oldest redwood is just five thousand years old… what about those branch intersections?"
"Good eye! The key to the Mirim trees' strength is how they grow together. One mighty bough will seek another, and the wood of many trees will fuse into one. Thus does one tree lend its strength to the next."
"That strength may be more than the sum of the individual trees. Look at the moss and the ponds growing on the intersections. I bet those provide nutrients that don't have to be pumped up from the ground."
"That reminds me of something," Buck said. "There's a proverb about how a bundle of sticks is stronger than many single sticks. Might apply to us, no?"
"We have such a proverb as well," N'tho replied.
"But perhaps it is not so applicable," said Usze 'Teham. "Mirim trees will only bond with another of their own kind."
"We share a common enemy," Dare said. "That should be enough."
The spaces between the trees were large enough that clouds condensed and rained. The rain pattered gently against the glass, sometimes falling so thick that the trailing Phantom was lost. Dare called out to Mickey while Buck glared daggers at the Ascetic.
N'tho wandered through the elevator, nodding in approval or delivering a word of encouragement to the Unggoy as he saw fit. He passed the two Marines who had pointedly donned filtration masks, and then Zaid and his pet Yanme'e. He finally arrived at the prow of the elevator, besides the Odee-Estee called "Dutch" and the one they called "Rhukee".
"You ever see anything like this before?" Dutch asked, his faceplate briefly depolarized.
The Rookie simply shook his head. He aimed his newly captured beam rifle at a target far down below through the glass flooring, peering through the scope as his VISR pinged and highlighted points of interest. He tried to get a read of how far below the forest floor was, but it was unclear if he was looking at the ground or another layer of fog.
Then, something moved.
Rook pinged Dutch with a part of his VISR, highlighting a winged creature that flowed from one giant nest to another.
"That, is either a dragon or a relative of some kind…" Dutch trailed off as a large eyeball focused on them for a second before the flying reptile vanished into the trees.
"Yeah," The Rookie finally muttered. "Don't want to end up in a dark alley with it or its cousins."
As the two ODST's conversation drifted off the trees fell away from the elevator, and the darkness of the forest deepened. It took a long time for N'tho to understand what he was looking at, even after his eyes adjusted to the dim light.
For a moment, he thought the elevator, this sealed conveyance, had taken leave of the Ark and was now sailing through the void. Stars abounded in every direction, and in the distance, he saw a smoky trail of light, like the galactic arm in the night sky.
They were beneath the Watchstation. The shadow that it cast over the forest deprived the Mirim trees of sunlight, and so the forest only grew high in the gaps between the platforms. This created a vast, cavernous space where the bioluminescent life of the forest floor could rise above the canopy.
"Holy smokes," Dutch whispered in awe, an opinion echoed by the murmurs of two dozen Unggoy.
"I know not of smoke," N'tho said. "But we are indeed blessed to see such sights. What wonders dwell among the might of the Forerunner."
The gondola climbed until it was gliding along the underside of the platform. Every inch of that expanse of metal was covered in lichens and moss and strange creeping vines that would never know the warmth of sunlight. In the distance, the spec ops commander could see the bulk of the central hub, and how it hung below the rest of the Watchstation. That distant streak of light was smeared across its surface, trailing ever down until it was lost in the dark.
Did the station descend all the way to the surface of the Ark? Did it hover there under its own power, or did the Forerunner anchor the station there, perhaps permanently?
The elevator rocked to a halt and began to ascend.
"Mickey, the elevator has begun its final approach. We will be on the surface soon. Wait for the all-clear before you insert the Rangers."
"Will do, ma'am," the trooper replied over the radio. In the distance, Dare saw the running lights of the Phantom gleam as the dropship turned and flew toward the tip of this platform. "The Shadow of Intent has not updated me on the Lich's location yet."
"Keep an eye out," Dare said. "Don't risk our only ride."
She took one last look around before she donned her helmet. Some things had to be seen with one's own eyes, even if she could see better with VISR. As her helmet initialized, she found that she had a new creep message from Buck.
Veronica, I think that Phantom might really be our only ride back.
Dare sent a reply as she checked her M7 submachine gun.
The Elites called this a battle station. They implied that it can move under its own power.
Maybe. It's so overgrown, I don't know if it can safely take off.
This battlestation is exactly what we were sent to find. We have to try.
Dare tapped her magazine pouches and laid a hand on her grenades. When no reply came, she subvocalized another text message.
We'll find out when we take the control room. If it can lift off, we'll fly it up to the portal home.
Won't our Sangheili friends have something to say about that?
Better to ask forgiveness than beg permission, Buck.
With guns this big, we won't be asking.
Exactly.
Dare hoisted her pack and strapped it down just as the elevator ascended into an elevator shaft. The forest was gone in an instant.
"The Brutes hold the platform above us, unaware!" N'tho boasted as the Grunts formed ranks. "They may know that the elevator approaches, but they do not know that we are coming. You will make them rue that ignorance!"
The Grunts cheered, and even Dare found herself grinning. That Elite was born to boast.
"Strike swiftly, cut them down, but spare their supplies where you can, for we have greater need of their arms and materiel than they!"
"To quote the old man, 'One bushel of the enemy's supplies is worth twenty of our own!'" Dutch called out.
"Indeed! Wisely said!"
"Commander, I recommend sending Zaid's drone to scout ahead. Usze 'Teham as well."
"Do so," N'tho said to Zaid. Turning to the Elite in the ascetic harness, he said "Report back what you see, and refrain from combat unless you spy the opportunity for a decisive blow!"
"Rook, Dutch, you're with me," Dare replied. "We'll punch out, establish a line of retreat for the Separatists."
Usze cocked his head at Dare's last word, while N'tho corrected her.
"Captain Dare, I require that your soldiers support my troops."
"Commander 'Sroam, I've seen you in action. You charge right where the fight is the thickest. That's admirable, but we may emerge in the middle of the Brutes' camp. You may need that line of retreat."
"I may have greater need of your troopers. My Unggoy are valorous, but against Brutes, their cutting edge will be blunted."
Dare gestured to the two sniper rifles carried by McMurtrie and Rook. "We should be able to provide fire support from the rear."
"Hey!" Rook snarled when Usze 'Teham seized his beam rifle and nearly lifted it out of his grip. The trooper hooked his arm through the sling and yanked it back.
"What have you done with that weapon?" the red-armored Elite demanded.
"I made a few improvements," the trooper replied.
"Improvements? Some would say sacrilege."
"Sacrilege?" Dutch demanded in turn. "It's a tool, not an art piece."
"That is a prostitution of the original design," Usze countered as he pointed at the sling. His finger lingered over the ragged hole that Rook had cut in the nanolaminate stock. "And indeed, it has been inartfully done."
N'tho spoke a few sharp words in Sangheili. Dare didn't hear the translation because Rook squared off against Usze and asked "What's the point of this civil war if you're going to keep worshipping the weapons that the Prophets made for you?"
Usze seemed to have checked himself after N'tho's rebuke. "Human, I realize that this schism has been a boon for your species, but foolish is the farmer who reckons his harvest by the spring rain! We fight a power-mad Prophet and a caste of Brutes who dream themselves the new masters. Of the Sangheili, some seek to abolish the old order, while more-" he clasped a hand to his harness "-Seek to amend it, and many more wish to restore it. You would be wise to tread carefully among the high-caste until you know where their hearts lie."
"Duly noted," Rook replied.
"I'm still hung up on that spring rains part," Buck said. "What's the Old Farmer's Almanac got to do with this?"
"Guns, he means 'don't count your chickens before they hatch,'" Dutch said.
Veronica Dare glanced around the crowded elevator. "Lay off the egg metaphors. That's an order."
"Don't be a basket case, Veronica," Buck said with a smile she could see through his visor.
"I see daylight!" Adam shouted, pointing overhead. "Lock and load!"
"When Commander 'Sroam summons us, make haste for his position, and then depart in equal haste," Orva said to PFC Micheal Crespo. "My Rangers can disembark in a matter of moments."
"Right, a hot drop," Mickey replied. "I've seen Rangers deploy from a Phantom before, so I have an idea of how slow I need to fly."
"Good," the white-armored Elite replied. He was pacing around the Phantom's cabin, checking one display after another. Mickey wasn't sure if the Ranger captain was more afraid of a sudden attack or a sudden engine failure.
Then the Elite looked up at the windshield and out into the sensor-enhanced view of the forest, and he seemed to calm.
"Such beauty is entirely too rare in the galaxy."
"I know," Mickey agreed. "I've seen plenty of worlds in this war. Most of them are dustballs."
"Most, but not all. I walked upon one of your worlds, a planet blessed with ancient forests. I lamented the day that the Prophets condemned it to be glassed. We named it Sal'Shaom, and it would have been a crown jewel even among our own worlds."
"Sounds like you are talking about Arcadia."
"Perhaps I am. I did not know the given names for any of your worlds, save for Reetch."
"Maybe that's for the best," Mickey said. "I'm not sure that I want to know where you fought."
There was a long pause. Orva was wearing a full-faced helmet, and even if he wasn't Mickey didn't know if he'd be able to read the Elite's expression. He certainly had enough trouble reading the warrior's body language. But when Orva spoke again, Mickey thought he recognized a conciliatory tone, even through his helmet translator.
"Human, you said that you have seen Rangers deploy to the field of battle. If our paths have crossed before this mission, I would like to know. I would find it to be… a most amusing turn of fate. Perhaps even a worthy addition to my family's battle hymns."
Mickey smiled in spite of himself, but then his console chimed.
"That's the commander, sounding the all-clear," he said. "Let's get you topside."
A/N: This fanfiction started out with my friendship with Markwarrior. We were talking often, and I was editing an Avatar:TLA quest he was running. One day, he pulled me into voicechat and suggested teaming up on a Halo story. The possibilities were endless, but we settled on an Alpha Nine story. Those guys didn't get nearly enough love. We kept bouncing off ideas until a very rough outline of the story emerged.
Overall, it's an incredibly fun process. He comes up with many of the cool story ideas, and I work on a lot of worldbuilding. What I thought was going to be a fun popcorn fic is giving me the opportunity to explore a lot of the divided loyalties that the Elites felt in the Great Schism, and the grudges that the Arbiter's truce papered over.
Besides, the friction between the military professionalism of Humanity and the proud warrior traditions of the Covenant are what makes Halo so fun to write for.