Another chapter, getting closer to the climax of the first part/arc of this story. Had some of the plot ideas for the next few chapters in my head for a while but it took some thought to figure out how to fit them in the story (and it's going to end up fairly different from my original idea anyway).
I'll be away from the computer for about a week and half for Christmas, so the next chapter will be a bit later than normal. Speaking of, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone reading! I really appreciate everyone who's taken the time to read this. Getting closer to 100,000 words, which is more than I expected to get when I started this.
Standard copyright disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any associated media, characters, or settings which are properties of 343 or Bungie. This is a work of fanfiction written purely for entertainment and not for monetary gain.
29 January 2550
UNSC Camp Saranac, Ballast (Inner Colony)
As he stacked another wooden box on top of the pile, Chac Lon realized yet again that the humans had not built this gym with his people in mind. With the setup he had he was going to come close to hitting his head on the ceiling when he jumped, and he wasn't even pushing himself to the limit. The joys of being shunted off to a secondary building off to the side of the base.
Even after the Battle of Concord wrapped up, there was still tensions between the humans and kig-yar contingents at Camp Saranac. Better than before, but still there. Admiral Korhonen had had the idea to let both the UNSC and Chac Lon's people use one of the main workout areas and do some unarmed sparring together as a training opportunity. That lasted about four days, until a UNSC corporal put a T'vaoan in an armlock and just about ripped her shoulder out of her socket (he didn't actually tear the arm off, but all the ligaments and muscle in the shoulder were trashed). For his trouble he got a cut across the face that nearly cost him an eye, and five other humans and kig-yar were injured in the resulting brawl before a nearby squad of ODSTs intervened. The human that started the whole thing got a couple days in the brig, but the workout areas were separated since then.
A few humans still showed up, mostly ODSTs and other more experienced people that were 'reliable' enough not to cause any issues. Some were there to show off; three days ago a bunch of ODSTs arrived in the weight room and one of them casually bench pressed 40 kilos more than any of the kig-yar, which made quite an impression. But a few actually were participating in the unarmed combat training sessions. It made sense; not only would they learn how to be better at killing enemy kig-yar, but some of the stuff might even end up being useful against other Covenant species. Not to mention it was a good cardio workout.
Even though a couple humans were involved in those workouts, Chac Lon was not (something that earned him not a small amount of needling for Yath and the other kig-yar that 'ran' the workouts). Part of it was the still-healing scars from his wounds on Concord and the emergency surgery afterwards. The UNSC doctor at Camp Saranac had been aghast at the thought of him getting thrown around; even the workout Chac Lon was doing now was violating their instructions in spirit, if not in letter. He'd also been preparing for the new mission the UNSC assigned him a few days ago.
Through the first 25 years of the Human-Covenant War, contacts between the fringes of human society and kig-yar pirates and traders was infrequent, but not unheard of. The largest and most infamous contact between human insurrectionists and the kig-yar was at an asteroid colony known as 'The Rubble' in the 2530s, but there were countless other instances of trade and contact between the two species. Over the years, an intermittent trade in weapons, information, and other products developed. ONI was, naturally, aware of this, but had thousands of higher priorities than some colony world in rebellion since the 2500s selling a few clapped-out rifles to aliens.
After Chac Lon's defection to the human side, ONI sent out orders to its agents in remote insurrectionist and independent colonies, telling them to keep an eye out for any other kig-yar looking to leave the Covenant. In the last month or so they'd finally started getting some leads. No massive defections or desertions from Covenant ranks, but a few independent groups that for whatever reason decided that throwing in with humanity was their best bet.
It was doubtful they'd all discovered Forerunner relics like Chac Lon's group had. Forerunner relics of any kind were rare, let alone ones as intact and useful as the one that had started this whole mess. (Though, with help from Shaon Tol and a few of the other kig-yar, ONI was taking another look at some of the more unusual museum pieces lying around human space.) Evidently something had happened involving the Covenant military and 'independent' kig-yar groups that had shaken things up quite a bit.
Obviously there were concerns that this could be a trap. But such an opportunity was too good to pass up; in addition to getting their hands on more Covenant equipment the additional intelligence on the Covenant would be useful. Chac Lon and his kig-yar had given them a great deal about Eayn and other places they frequented, but these new arrivals might know more about places like Sanghelios or High Charity. Or even the homeworld of the "Prophets", the strange leadership caste of the Covenant that the UNSC knew little about.
Once he was briefed on the mission, Chac Lon had practically begged to be allowed to take the Phantom Chance out again. To his surprise, the UNSC agreed. Using a clearly kig-yar owned ship would likely put the defectors at ease, and let the UNSC see how it worked in an actual operation. Not that there should be any combat, though. ONI had passed word through its agents that any kig-yar that did take them up on their offer to defection should arrive in civilian-spec ships. True, even freighters run big kig-yar pirates were armed, but Chac Lon's corvette should be able to handle any of them.
Chac Lon would take the Phantom Chance to a series of rendezvous points in remote systems that were selected by ONI beforehand. There, he, and a team of ONI specialists, would negotiate with the defecting kig-yar, to ensure they were who they said they were and not hostile to human. (Chac Lon knew that the ONI men were almost certainly there to keep an eye on him and his kig-yar as well.) Gods willing, if everything went smoothly, they would then escort the defectors into another uninhabited system, to be met by a UNSC waiting task force. Chac Lon assumed anything beyond that was Korhonen's job. Perhaps the camp here would be a lot more crowded in a month or two. Camp Saranac was much nicer than that place in a volcanic semi-desert they'd been confined to after they first defected.
After some wrangling, Chac Lon had managed to get some additional resources out of ONI. The first was his compatriot, Brak. Before he joined Chac Lon's crew, he'd been closer to the Covenant than any of the other officers, and Chac Lon argued that his perspective might convince any kig-yar who could be wavering. The second was Shim Vol and her freighter, the Cheap Money. Aside from using it to carry any stuff the defectors brought along with them (his efforts to get the humans to agree to a 'finders' fee' were not successful), it could be used as a meeting spot while keeping the Phantom Chance safe. His argument that it would be better to have the defectors somewhere other than the most heavily armed ship in the system in case one of them turned out to be a Covenant agent played right into ONI's paranoia. And, Chac Lon pointed out, it still had a sealed compartment configured for methane, unlike the Phantom Chance which had had that equipment ripped out months ago by the UNSC. If any unggoy got brought along, they'd need a place to stay.
Idly, Chac Lon wondered what his group's unggoy were up to. The kig-yar hadn't seen them in months, admittedly, the unggoy were probably fine with that. Were the UNSC trying to create their own units of unggoy? If they were, they'd doubtless be more effective than the Covenant's unggoy. Offer them some remote methane-atmosphere to call their own after the war and treat them better than the Covenant, and the unggoy would do anything for the humans.
As he continued his workout, Chac Lon thought about his own plans. Someday, this war would be over, and he'd have to get back to making money. Being on good terms with the humans would help with that; if he played his connections right, he'd start out with a commanding position in the trade between kig-yar and humans. The humans would be rebuilding, the kig-yar would be trading again, and the galaxy would still be a dangerous place; all those goods going back and forth on his ships would be far more profitable than being a pirate ever could be. But that was just the setup for his real goal; slipspace drives. Obviously, the humans hadn't shared them with him, despite his deliberately clumsy attempts to convince them. But they were a lot more open about information than the Covenant was. And as Kvet, Shaon Tol and other more technically-inclined kig-yar had told him many times, you could still put together a secret by seeing a thousand small pieces of it.
The Covenant's iron-fisted control of slipspace drives had long grated on kig-yar like Chac Lon. It wasn't just about money; those drives represented the freedom to move about the stars, to make your own way. Once he could manufacture his own, Chac Lon would sell them freely. Anybody could have one, for the right price.
Doing something that complex wouldn't be possible on his own. He'd need help from a lot of other kig-yar. With luck, some of the new arrivals would be willing to help and useful.
Oh, and the humans had to win this war, first.
9 February 2550
System 702-C3, Edge of UNSC Space
"You humans really did pick somewhere deserted for the meeting spot, didn't you?"
The ONI officer sitting behind Chac Lon was impassive. "You know why. Now we get to see if your people hold up their end of the deal."
System 702-C3 was still in the process of forming planets. That, or it never finished for some reason. Surrounding an reddish orange star was a massive disk of debris that would easily have covered the inner planets of the Sol system.
"You're the one who set it up, human." Chac Lon replied. "Anyway, it looks like there are a few hours left until the window opens. Give them time."
The Phantom Chance and Cheap Money drifted lazily, hovering just above the plane of the system, near the edge of the debris field. Most of the particles were microscopic crystals of rock and ice, far too small to be noticeable. Even of the larger pieces that were big enough to be visible, the vast majority would simply shatter against the corvette's hull plating. As they waited, Ramac, the helmsman, regaled the crew with a story about the time he dove a small cargo freighter edgewise through the rings of a planet at full burn to shake a Covenant frigate. Chac Lon hadn't been there but he remembered it well; that little ship been practically sandblasted and three cracked plates, but it had survived, and the cargo was delivered. Finally, after about three and a half hours, a sharp chirp from one of the consoles announced the detection of a slipspace rupture.
"New contact, boss, single, freighter."
"Looks like they're right on time." The ONI officer remarked. "Must be eager to get started. Go ahead and contact them, make sure they're who they say they are."
"And who might that be? You never actually gave me any names, human."
With an annoyed look on his face, the ONI officer tossed Chac Lon a notepad with a bunch of kig-yar names written down. Chac Lon flashed him a smile before glancing at the names. Looked like a couple Ruuhtians and a T'vaoan on the list. Interesting.
"Is there some other way of verifying they're the ones your ONI has been talking to? I could find six thousand kig-yar on Eayn with some of these names."
"Their handler will have given them a passcode. I'll verify it once we make contact."
Chac Lon nodded. A sensible precaution. "Thank you. And what was your name again?"
"Lieutenant Bjornsen." The ONI officer looked a bit frustrated, he was sure he'd given Chac Lon his name at some point before. No matter.
The T'vaoan laughed to himself at the human's annoyance, as he transferred control of the communications equipment to his seat. "Unknown contact, this is the independent ship Phantom Chance. Identify yourself."
The response came back a few minutes later. "This is Shipmistress Chun of the ship Hidden Salvage. I assume you are our contact."
Chac Lon glanced at the paper, and saw that her name was on the list. "I need you to confirm your identity, you should have been given a password."
"Melon pink water."
Chac Lon glanced at Bjornsen, who smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Thank you. I'm Captain Chac Lon, commander of the Phantom Chance, and I hear you don't like the Covenant either. Form up with us and we'll get talking."
It took some time for the Hidden Salvage to make its way over to where the Phantom Chance and Cheap Money were holding position, but soon the three ships were in a loose formation. In the hangar bay, Chac Lon, several of his kig-yar, and three ONI agents prepared to board a pair of Phantoms to take them to the meeting aboard the Cheap Money. While the humans were wearing their regular service uniforms, Chac Lon and his bodyguards were fully armored and armed; he was carrying his usual needle rifle along with the human pistol he'd salvaged off Tangier II months ago. When one of the humans wryly asked if he was expecting trouble, Chac Lon simply replied that showing up armed for something like this was entirely expected.
Also, it was entirely possible this could go badly. Gods willing, it wouldn't.
As soon as he entered the converted cargo hold on the Cheap Money, Chac Lon saw coming armed was the right choice. All five of the kig-yar in the other group had weapons; Shipmistress Chun had both a needler and a plasma pistol strapped to herself, plus an energy cutlass on her belt. He sat down at a hastily erected table across from her, flanked by Brak and Shim Vol. Agent Bjornsen sat two seats to his right, looking a bit uncomfortable but hiding it decently well. Before Chac Lon could start talking, Chun opened the conversation.
"So, Chac Lon, the Covenant has put quite the bounty on your head." She said, smiling.
He smiled back. "You are welcome to try and claim it." That got a laugh out of the shipmistress.
She cocked her head toward the humans. "They speak kig-yar?"
"Not as well as I speak human. Thing is you're going to have to get comfortable with them real fast if you're serious about this."
Chun stared at him for a moment, seemingly considering what he had said. None of the rest of her crew had said anything; two of them were staring at him, while the other twos' eyes darted around the room. Then she spoke;
"I didn't know who you were before this all started, but I've got to have some respect for anyone willing to piss off the Covenant as bad as you did. And you did something no kig-yar has in two centuries. Tell me; were you working with one of the Big 6? Take a shot at one of the Prophets?"
"No? I mean I've done contracts for them before, who hasn't, but I did what I did because of something we found on our own." He was a bit confused. What had the Covenant done after he left?
Chun sighed. "Well, I guess that shows running here was the right choice. The Big 6 are gone. Three Covenant fleets showed up in Y'Deio and smashed them to pieces. Wiped out their fleets and landed thousands of jiralhanae right on Eayn. All the bosses are dead."
Chac Lon was shocked. The Covenant and the big pirate groups on Eayn had had an 'understanding' of sorts as long as he'd been alive. They kept a lid on the chaos, paid tribute to the Covenant, said the right things, and mostly got left alone. A few of the groups had swapped out over the last couple hundred years, but the arrangement had been stable.
Shim Vol responded while he was still gathering his "And now that they're gone the entire system is a warzone... The Covenant, in its infinite wisdom has decided to make this a problem for all kig-yar. What are they hoping to get out of this?" The Covenant leadership could be alternatively capricious and incapable of acting at more than a glacial pace, but everything they did had a reason. Even if it was hidden or in the services of some hierarch's ego.
Chun didn't know either. "Gods only know why. Fact is, everyone's running for the stars, trying to pick up their own pieces, or hoping the Covenant doesn't come for them next." She turned back to Chac Lon. "So, tell me, Chac Lon, what did you and your crew do?"
"If I tell you, there's no turning back." Chac Lon replied. "The Covenant won't let you live if they know you know what I know."
The shipmistress laughed. "Like those humans would let me leave anyway. What, did you turn into some sort of heretic?" Chun paused, realizing the implications of what she'd just said.
"Do you believe in the Great Journey?" Chac Lon whispered, his tone far more serious now.
"Depends who's asking." A long pause, then she continued. "My faith was never strong, even when I was a hatchling. So that's what you found? Some revelation, some Forerunner relic that proves the Prophets wrong?"
"Does the word 'reclamation' mean anything to you?" Brak asked, speaking up for the first time.
"In the context of the Great Journey? Can't say it does. Should it?" She paused, thinking for a moment. "Might have heard the word a few times, Covenant propaganda. Doesn't hold any special meaning for me."
Brak glanced at Chac Lon, who whispered something inaudible to him. He continued; "Hmm, that makes it easier and harder. Short version; the Prophets' are lying about who the true successor to the Forerunners are. It is most likely the humans."
Chun waved dismissively. "That's nice, can see why they'd want you all dead for knowing that. And now that we know it we're in the same boat. But, what's in it for us?" She said, pointing to her crew. "Why shouldn't we just fly off to some remote asteroid somewhere the Covenant will never find us instead of working with humans."
"I don't know you, but would any shipmistress with an ounce of respect for herself run and cower like that?" Chac Lon said, a smiling forming on his face. "When by working with me and these humans, we can get rich beyond believe once this war ends?"
"That sounds like a much better argument."
18 February 2550
System 702-5K5, Edge of UNSC Space
The second meeting hadn't gone quite as smoothly as the first, but in the end the result was satisfactory. The second kig-yar captain, a T'vaoan named Rem Thal, was a former Covenant officer and actually held some belief in the Great Journey. From reading between the lines of their (occasionally heated) conversation, Chac Lon guessed that she was dragged along by her crew and was here out of loyalty to them rather than genuine self-interest. Luckily he, Brak, and Shim Vol managed to convince her to throw in their lot with the UNSC alongside the other kig-yar.
Now they were in another nameless system, part of the same sector at the fringe of UNSC-controlled space. Another red dwarf system, one of billions in this galaxy. This one actually had planets, though. The Phantom Chance and Cheap Money were in orbit of one of them, trailing just behind an icy moon with a thick nitrogen and methane atmosphere. Quite like the one where they'd first met the UNSC. But Chac Lon and the bridge crew weren't worried about that. They were grappling with another, more frustrating, aspect of the planet.
"Alright, boss, I think I've figured out what's causing those sensor ghosts. Good news is it's not a Covenant ship or anyone else."
"Go on, Kvet." Chac Lon sat upright in his seat, putting down the pencil he'd been idly fiddling with.
"It's the rings of this planet, they're made mostly of chunks of iron and other magnetic minerals. Probably the core of a planet like Eayn that got too close and torn to pieces. Long story short, a bunch of iron chunks and dust interacting with the magnetic field of the planet and the flares coming off that star does weird things."
"Does it cause any problems for us? Aside from the sensor issues I mean."
"It might mess with the guidance on our torpedoes. Other than that, not much aside from the usual problems you get flying through a bunch of rocks at high speed."
"Hmmm." Hopefully they wouldn't have any reason to use the Phantom Chance's weaponry. The first two meetings had gone well enough, they'd even avoided any physical fighting between the humans and kig-yar. Now they just had to wait. According to Bjornsen they were within the window for the defecting kig-yar to show up but it might be hours or even a few days until then. Chac Lon decided to get a bit of sleep. His crew could deal with anything that came up in the next few hours. He'd known them for years, he'd trusted them in far more dangerous situations than this.
About seven hours later, he was awake, and the other kig-yar had arrived in their ship. Actually, they'd shown up a few hours ago, but the humans and his crew handled the initial negotiations. The Phantom Chance was in high orbit around the icy moon; Ramac had positioned it in line with the edge of the ring, a few thousand kilometers beyond sharply defined outer edge. (Another oddity, Chac Lon absentmindedly thought about brushing up on his knowledge of astronomy.) Not somewhere that would block their view of the other ship on sensors. It was another normal freighter, like Chun's ship.
The ship continued its approach, and soon it was nearing the Phantom Chance and Cheap Money. Chac Lon spent a few more minutes on the bridge, making sure everything was in order in the last few minutes until he would don his armor and board a Phantom to the Cheap Money, hovering just a bit away. Before he left, he made a final call to Shim Vol over on the other ship.
"Everything looking good Shim?"
"Don't you ruffle your feathers, I've got everything ready. Same as the last two times."
"This captain seems a bit easier to handle than the last one, does he not?"
"Almost like he's happy to be here." Shim Vol got a laugh out of that, while Chac Lon smiled.
The conversation was cut short by a noise from on of the consoles and a sudden shout. "New contact, boss! Something just dropped out of our guest!" Everyone on the bridge turned to look at the screen. In addition to the incoming freighter that had just pulled to a stop next to Cheap Money, a small contact accelerated away.
"Looks like an escape pod." Teth, sitting to Chac Lon's left, identified the object a fraction of a second before the Phantom Chance's onboard computer systems. "Guess somebody changed their mind."
Chac Lon's thoughts flicked back to the saboteur who'd tried to stop them from defecting to humanity. He turned to Yath, one of his designated 'bodyguards' for the negotiations. "Grab three more kig-yar and bring them along. If there was one Covenant sympathizer one that ship there might be two." Chac Lon glanced at Bjornsen and the other ONI agents. "You humans might want to grab your armor too. Somebody gets trigger happy and-"
Suddenly, without warning, the freighter exploded.