Prologue: Terror of Silence, and Hope of Noise
Rubicon System, 2401 A.D.
"Colonel…"
Darrek tossed in his sleep.
"Colonel…!"
He waved a hand dismissively."
BANG
Darrek jumped in fright, instantly grabbing his pistol off his nightstand and aiming it at the door. He saw Sergeant Corry Talwen, his own pistol aimed at the ceiling.
"Damnit, Corry, you better have a good reason for-"
"Chief Yalein needs you in communications, NOW! He's been trying to call you for ten minutes."
Darrek turned to his phone, now on the ground from knocking his nightstand, alongside the bottle of pills. He had his phone set to silent, so of course he wouldn't get it.
"Did he say-"
"Only that it concerns the lockdown."
Darrek's eyes widened, and he leapt to his feet, grabbing his uniform jacket, not even bothering to wait. Running out, he ruggedly tried putting it out, with Talwen closely behind him.
"Sir, what's going on?"
"If we're lucky, Corry," Darrek tried squeezing his arm through the sleeve, "It's Earth wondering what the fuck's going on."
"And if we're n-"
"If that's the case, then everyone will know the situation in a few days. Now, get back to Xylem, now!"
Talwen saluted before running the opposite direction. Xylem was the main colony ship sent to Rubicon. Designed to land onto a planet and function as a city, it had the largest population. And was the source of the greatest discontent. Ever since the council decided to commence a communications lockdown a month ago, people have been slowly getting more agitated. It wasn't an issue at first. They were confused, wondering if there were technical issues. Then they wanted to make private calls to Sol, which were getting blocked. As they tightened the restrictions on communications, it got to the point where any communications had to be regulated, after someone tried to send a message to Sol, under the guise of 'contacting the station'.
'Please be wrong, you dumb robot.' Darrek pleaded as he came to a set of double doors, which slid open.
The communications hub was abuzz with activity, with Yalein, despite the panicked look on his face, doing very well in keeping everything organized.
"Yes, you heard me," Yalein commanded, his voice cracking, "No response! Not until we can verify it."
"Yalein," Darrek yelled out over the commotion, "Talk to me."
"George!" Yalein cried out, nearly falling off the second floor railing, "Thank Allah you got here! You need to see something."
Yalein bolted down the stairs, trying to hold three separate datapads.
"This is bad, badbadbadbad. Oh, so much we don't know, so much speculation, so much-"
"Yal!"
Yalein jumped at Darrek's shout.
"We knew this was likely happening. Honestly, I, like you, hoped that we were simply going to look like idiots. But we aren't. So…what are we looking at."
"Well, just to make sure you're up to speed, you know how the communication buoy works, right?"
"Somewhat. It's stationed in Sol, and takes all communications from there to Rubicon, stores it up, then sends it all in a burst once every month."
"Right! It helps with data transfer over lightyears. Even still, it takes over a month for even a simple message, regardless of size, to get here, hence why they bulk send. The only exception is priority messages, like what Rasputin did."
"Right."
"Well…we got this month's messages."
"And I'm going to hate what we're hearing, aren't I?"
Yalein made a 'yeesh' face, "More like terrified. Come here."
The two headed to a console, excusing the man sitting there.
"Amongst the audio messages were several video recordings. This is one on Titan."
He plugged two headsets in, and the two put them on as the video started. However, from the moment it began, there was severe static in the audio, enough that the sudden noise recoiled Darrek, and caused him to reflexively take off the headset.
"The hell?!"
"Right, sorry, the audio was severely damaged. There are some spots where you can hear what's being said, but, other than that-"
"I'll think I'll take the silence, Yal."
"Alright, then."
The video continued, showing someone's POV as they ran along one of Titan water rigs. Whatever was happening, it was violently shaking the rig. Darrek could see dozens of other people running, trying to get indoors. The camera then tried to run inside, only for the door to seal shut. The person, alongside several others, try to pry it open, but to no avail. As the rig seemed to tilt, the camera turned around, as a massive wave was upon them. Seconds later, the camera went static.
"You said that was Titan, right? That's one of Neptune's moons."
"Uh, Saturn's, Darrek."
"Right, right. But what caused that wave? Titan may have had some rough waters, but those rigs could withstand the worst tsunamis back on Earth. And that was clearly much worse."
Yalein rewinded the video to just before the wave hit. He then pointed at the top left of the screen, past the wave. Darrek looked closely. The video was wet, so it was hard to see. But there was something black in the clouds.
"Is that…a pyramid?"
"Technically, it's a tetrahedron, a three sided pyramid."
"Don't care what it's called, what is it?"
Yalein gulped. "What are they, you mean."
Darrek's eyes slowly widened as he turned his head slowly.
"They?!"
"Yes. Based on other messages, there's multiple pyramid ships, of various sizes. As for what they are…remember what you said, about 'the brighter the light, the darker the shadow.'? Well, I believe we're looking at that 'shadow'."
Darrek turned back to the screen. He…never considered the very real possibility that something could match, or even surpass, the Traveler.
"Ha-have you contacted-"
"The others are already on their way. Mazoon's the only one who won't be here, because he knows what's about to happen next."
Darrek nodded. They'd need someone down on Xylem to keep things from turning into a riot. He turned back to the screen, and looked at the pyramid.
"If angels are real, then the devil has just declared war on humanity." He mumbled.
Hours later, Darrek and the other heads of the colonial project were gathered in the communications room, with everyone else having been escorted out. They had gone over every, single, message that Sol had sent. The last messages from Sol. As they expected, it was much the same as the video Darrek saw. Last words to loved ones, cries of help, dismay over the pyramid fleet.
"Gods," Saresh muttered, hand on mouth, "To think they were that close."
"Given the timing," Jorgan replied, sitting on a chair, "They had to have attacked shortly after we got Rasputin's message. The very next day we had the monthly message burst, and none of them had any indication of an attack. So we're talking only days before."
"And, if we had sent any messages back, that fleet would've intercepted them. Darrek, you were right."
"Doesn't make me feel any better. If anything, it only makes me feel worse. Especially with what we have to do next."
Darrek went to the master control for the communications system. "Yalein, are we a go?"
He nodded. Darrek flipped a switch, and a mic raised onto the desk infront of him.
Taking a deep breath, Darrek leaned forward.
"People of Horizon station, of Xylem, and of the half a dozen mining outposts on Rubicon. As you know, I'm Colonel George Darrek, chief executive of Internal Security. Over the past month, you have noticed as we have been restricting any communications with Sol. You have been wondering why we've done this. Over a month ago, Rasputin, the Warmind guardian of Sol, sent a priority high transit message to Rubicon, warning of a potential threat to our home."
Across Rubicon, people muttered to each other. With the Traveler, what could possibly threaten Earth? Mazoon, down in Xylem, clenched his fists, waiting for the boot to drop. He turned out the window, looking out into the main plaza. Darrek's men were in position, ready to stop any riots. The soldiers were all informed ahead of time of what this speech would entail, so there'd be no hesitation or confusion amongst them. Mazoon could only hope that it wouldn't get bloody.
"As of today," Darrek continued, "We have received the latest communication batch from Sol…and likely the last."
While Darrek, and the rest of the department heads, were expecting mass panic as people realized the implication, only Mazoon could witness what their reaction was. And he didn't know if he should be more or less concerned.
They were dead silent. The looks on people he could see was one of silent horror. Some slumped in their seats in defeat.
"From these messages, we have confirmed that an unknown force, comprised of pyramid ships, has invaded Sol, en masse. As far as we know, the colonies of Titan, Europa, and several others have been destroyed, with enemy forces encroaching on Venus and Mars, and Earth's condition being unknown. As far as we know…Rubicon might well be the last remnant of humanity."
There was an uncomfortably long silence. Mazoon could see the gears turning in nearby people's heads. The slowly rising horror, the shaking eyes. Mazoon gave a subtle nod to a nearby soldier, who radioed in the men.
'There's going to be a riot.'
Then, there was a banging sound, akin to someone slamming their fist into a table, but over a dozen times, all at once. He realized that it came from the radios.
"I know what you're thinking. It's the end of everything, that there's no hope, so why should we continue…Well I'll tell you why!"
The fury in Darrek's voice made even a few of his own soldiers take a step back.
"Rasputin sent us this message. Why? Because he hoped that, despite losing everything, that WE would be the ones to carry on! Whoever these monsters are came to Sol with the purpose of annihilation. However, for every day that we survive, we spit in the face of these invaders. That they threw everything they had at us, and we can still say 'We're still standing!'."
Mazoon could see a couple people nodding their heads. It wasn't an enthusiastic 'Hell yeah!' nod, but one of acceptance.
"We came here, hoping to make our homes better. We never imagined that we'd be making Rubicon our home. But destiny is a funny mistress. Rasputin believes that we are humanity's best hope, that we'll be the ones to carry the torch through the darkness. So I say let's prove him right! Let's show these monsters that humanity doesn't quit! No matter how long it takes, we will never forget! And we will never forgive. And, one day, maybe not in our lifetime, but our people will take back Earth!"
With that, Darrek flipped the switch, shutting off the broadcast. He was higher than the clouds right now, and he had to keep the momentum.
"Yalein, get your boys back in here. They'll need to manage things as all hell breaks loose."
Yalein nodded, running out of the room.
"Not the speech we planned," Saresh commented, "But I think it gets the job done."
"Thanks. It helps that I was making up half of it on the fly."
"I could tell," Jorgan snarked, "'Never forget, never forgive'?"
"I had to give them something. An ideal to strive towards. Making ourselves stronger, with the idea of retaking Earth from the pyramid fleet."
"A nice sentiment, when we have no idea what we're up against."
"Are you just going to badger my statement?"
"Just being realistic. If you're serious about retaking Sol, then it'll likely be centuries before any reasonable response could be done."
"Then that's how long it'll take. Now, let's get ready for the panic."
Rubicon System, 2404 A.D.
Panic was amongst the fleet as Jorgan entered the bridge, red alarms blaring in his ears.
"Talk to me, Hensen."
"We've got contact entering the system, Admiral!"
"I know that, tell me what it is! And someone get me General Darrek!"
"Already done, Sir!" A deckhand responded, "He's coming up from Rubicon."
Another crewmember handed Jorgan a datapad.
"It looks like one of ours, Sir." the man exclaimed, "The trajectory points it starting back at Sol."
"Three years," Jorgan mumbled, "Without a word. And all of a sudden, one of our ships is speeding through the system," he turned to the man, "Were they followed?"
"Unknown, Sir. The ship of its size must have no power. We barely picked it up when we thought it was an asteroid, but it's too metallic to be one."
"What's its current trajectory?"
"If we do nothing, it'll fly out of the system within a few hours.
From another console, a deckhand yelled, "Admiral, General Darrek's shuttle has docked with the Providence!"
"Good! Have the Crescent remain over Rubicon 3! Order the rest of the fleet to lay an intercept course, and prepare for warp! And someone get that alarm turned off!"
Within moments, five mining ships, modified over the past few years to become makeshift warships, jumped. As the stars flew past them, Jorgan got a call on the bridge.
"Talk to me, Jorgan."
"Darrek, we have a rogue ship passing through Rubicon. Origin point is from Sol."
"The Pyramid Fleet?"
"We aren't entirely sure. Long range scans indicate that it's one of ours, but we don't know if it was followed, or if it's bait."
They exited warp, and could see a dark object rapidly approaching.
"Alright," Jorgan exclaimed, "Have the Yangtze and the Temperance match speed with the ship, and arm tow cables. We'll need to slow that ship down before we can do anything. Get the Providence and Harkon's Razor ready to support incase they can't do it alone."
As the ship flew past them, the Yangtze and Temperance quickly moved alongside it, hatches opening to reveal tri claws. Jorgan would've sent all four, but, if it was a trap, best not have most of the fleet caught in it.
"Fire!"
Twelve harpoons launched from the ship, anchoring onto the rogue ship. The two mining ships then reversed thrusters, attempting to slow it down. However, the cables were straining to hold the ship, with a couple even being ripped off.
"Providence, Razor, get in there!"
Said ships advanced, firing their own tow cables. With the weight of four ships, the rogue vessel finally stopped, and was now simply drifting.
"Damage?"
"Reports from the Yangtze and Temperance say most, if not all, of their cables are either damaged or destroyed, Admiral."
"We can work with that. Disengage the cables that work, and prepare a boarding party. But, first, let's see what we're working with, and get some lights on our mystery ship."
Jorgan's ship, the Accilmator, shined spotlights along the hull of the ship. They came across it's name on the hull.
Orion's Hope.
Jorgan narrowed his eyes. "I want a registry on this ship. And where's my goddamn boarding party?"
"Providence is moving to dock with the Orion, Sir."
"Good. Darrek can direct them from the bridge."
"Sir…General Darrek is on the line."
Jorgan went to a console, and picked up the phone.
"General."
"Jorgan, why are we boarding it?"
"Standard procedure with-"
"I know the damn procedure, Jorgan. But this is way too risky. We have no idea how this ship got here. We've finally stabilized the situation on Rubicon, and now an unknown just plows through the front door. If this is a trap, or it's been followed, then we risk everything. Simply blow the ship before things go wrong."
Jorgan sighed. "Trust me, I would love to do that. But, it's like you said. Our people have finally calmed down. Despite our best efforts, we had the riots, the suicides, and worst. And this ship could start that all over again. But you also talked about giving people hope. If this ship has even a shred of that, be it people, information on what happened, anything, then is it not worth taking it."
"..."
"..."
"...I hate it when you're right. Hate you even more when you use my own words against me. Fine! But I'm going down there."
Normally, Jorgan would've advised against that, but he'll take the win on allowing the Orion to not be blown up for now.
As the Providence docked with Orion's Hope, Darrek, decked out in a zero G security suit, stood at the front of 30 men, waiting for the docking clamps to lock in. With life support shut off, they'd need to wear the suits to stay alive. As the lights above shifted from red to green, the first set of doors opened. However, as they approached, the second set, the doors to the Orion, did not move.
"Boarding party to bridge, what's going on?"
"General, all power to the Orion is gone, so-"
"Which means we're opening these doors the hard way," he turned to the group, "Bring up some riot drones!"
Two robots on treads rolled between the group, and began to laser the center of the door.
"Alright, here's the plan. Alpha, Delta and Zeta will advance forward to the bridge, sweeping each area they come across. Bravo, Charlie, Epsilon will advance towards the rear of the vessel doing the same, with Charlie's mission to restore limited power. We have to assume this vessel is under enemy control, so any contact, shoot to immobilize. If they're armed, shoot to kill. Remain in constant contact, and report everything you see. If a team doesn't report in for five minutes, evac to the Providence, and we'll blow the ship."
"Sir, is that necessary?"
"We're all that's left of humanity. All bets are off."
As the robots finished lasering the door, they extended clamps and moved to the side.
"Ready…breach!"
The robots pulled, yanking the doors open as air rushed into the Orion. After a moment, the six teams rushed into the ship. As they moved through the derelict vessel, Darrek was smart to have everyone in constant contact. The eerie silence may have been too much. While Delta moved to the quarters, Alpha and Zeta moved to the bridge, but the door was sealed.
"Charlie, what's the status?"
"Generator's in near perfect condition. We could apply power to the whole thing."
"No, just power the doors we tell you to. Don't want to give whatever's in this ship any leg up on us. Power to the bridge doors."
The doors lit up.
"Providence to boarding party."
"General Darrek here, go ahead, Providence."
"We got the registry. Orion's Hope matches a Sol ship."
"Anything of note?"
"Yes. This ship was meant to be sent with the next shipment to Rubicon, which was scheduled for 2412 A.D."
"So a ghost ship that was supposed to arrive a decade later just shows up?" He flipped the rifle to full auto. "Breach."
The two teams entered the bridge…to find nothing. Not a soul.
"Charlie, give power to the bridge. Zeta, start looking on the manifest, find out what this ship was carrying."
As consoles on the bridge began to turn on, Alpha did exactly that.
"Sir!" one of the soldiers exclaimed, "We've got logs."
"Who are they from?"
"Someone called Maya Sundaresh."
Alright, go through the logs, find out what she's doing with our ghost ship."
"Charlie here. Alpha, we may have a problem."
"Alpha here, go ahead, Charlie."
"This ship has a secondary generator that's been active this entire time."
"What's it powering?"
"A single section of the ship, which Bravo is heading straight towards."
"You get that, Bravo?"
"Bravo here. Acknowledged. Readying weapons. Epsilon, can you double back from the engines?"
"We can. We'll head for the opposite door to the section, and enter together."
"Good job, men. Alpha, you continue on the consoles, Zeta, you're with me!"
Jorgan was pacing along the bridge of the ship. All six teams were in constant communications with his flagship, so he knew everything that was going on.
"Keep those weapons trained on the Orion, but not powered up. Don't want someone with an itchy finger getting our boys killed."
"Yes, Sir."
"Alpha team, what've you learned?"
"We've been skimming through most of it, but it looks like this Sundaresh woman knew something was up after the Soteria incident. She tried to force the Orion to go ahead early. Even drew up her own crew manifest, as opposed to the original passenger."
"Zeta here, rendezvous with Bravo team. Epsilon, are you in position?"
"On the opposite side of the room."
"Understood. Breaching!"
After a moment of silence, Darrek reported in.
"It's the cryo room. We've found the passengers."
Jorgan gave a sigh of relief. It seemed like the entire ship was empty, with no signs of hostiles."
"Before we open them up, I want every name we find to be checked. If even a SINGLE name is out of place, we're leaving."
Jorgan nodded at Darrek's words. They had to be completely sure.
"Alpha to Acclimator."
"This is Acclimator," a deckhand responded, "Go ahead, Alpha."
"We got the last log. A part of it's corrupted, though."
"Send it to us," Jorgan commented, approaching the deckhand's computer. A message shortly appeared.
Final Log: Rasputin is aware of my efforts. He's taken control of the ship, and kicked me out. I thought I had more time, more time to get more people. From what I see, Rasputin is going to shut down all systems once it gets past orbit. It's risky, but it might fool whatever's coming, if something's coming. I hope this is just me being paranoid. It just doesn't make sense. Rasputin contacts me, ME, about this whole mess, but doesn't explain why he took control of the Orion. Though, in his last message to me, he…acted strange. Said something he never said befor$% #^$ ^#*(^&$(%$ #&^%$(&%*$%*&-
"There's more," a member of Alpha commented, "But it's too corrupted to find out."
"Well, it's good to know that people other than us were warned."
"Sir," another deckhand exclaimed, "I have General Darrek on the line. Both of you will want to hear this."
Going across the bridge, he went to the woman.
"Go ahead."
"General, are you there?"
"Yes."
"So, we've been cross referencing each of the names, and have found a connection: each passenger is related, in some way or another, to someone here on Rubicon."
Jorgan's eyes widened.
"That can't be a coincidence. Given Maya's logs…"
"What did we learn?"
"Maya Sundaresh knew something was coming, possibly due to Rasputin, and she prepared the Orion to send early. She must've changed the passenger manifest, which would've been in early development, to include family members here on Rubicon."
"Not just family members, Sirs," the deckhand retorted, "Even just close friends were included."
"How do you know?"
"Allay Markens. Unless it's a far distant cousin, she's not related to anyone here on Rubicon, but she's one of my closest friends. She encouraged me to take the job here."
"So Maya knew what was coming," Darrek replied, his men surveying the cryopods, "And tried to get as many of our people out. Then, at the last minute, Rasputin took control and piloted the ship out of here. That explains why some of the pods aren't even closed."
"It might also explain why the ship was powered down. The Pyramid fleet might have scanners that would've detected it."
"So Rasputin sent the ship on course for Rubicon, but turned everything off once it got moving. Explains why it took so long to get here, they had to fly normally, rather than warp jumps."
A dark hope began to bubble.
"General!" A member of Bravo exclaimed, he was at the far end of the room, opposite where he came in.
"Did you find something?!"
"You may want to take a look at this."
Darrek ran down the hallway, looking at the metal cylinder covering the cryopod.
"What makes this one different?"
The man merely gestured his rifle upward, towards the name. Darrek's eyes widened.
"Open the pod."
"Sir, we should wait until the rest of the passengers have been checked for-"
"Open the fucking pod!"
"George," Jorgan exclaimed, "What's going on?!"
With the help of two others, Darrek opened the casing, exposing the glass compartment used for cryosleep. He wiped his hand across it, clearing the frost to reveal the occupant. Darrek stumbled back. It was a man, with blonde hair, but dark blue streaks.
'He always did like having his hair like that.'
At his own thoughts, Darrek turned to the man who yelled at him earlier.
"Their status?"
"If we do it right, every passenger is still alive."
At his soldier's response, Darrek fell to his knees, and wept.
"George. George! Would someone tell me what's going on?"
"The universe is cruel, Jorgan. But, sometimes, it can throw you a bone."
Darrek looked back up at the nameplate for the pod.
DARREK, TYRON.
Author's Notes: Thus ends the first half of the prologue. We'll be taking a significant timejump after this, so this will be the last time you see these characters. This was original going to be two separate chapters (Terror of Silence, and Hope of Noise), but Hope of Noise would've been too short, or too boring if I made that one longer.
As for the guest reviewer who thinks that Crota should be punted by 30 foot Armored Cores...Okay, here's the thing, Crota may seem like a joke to the community, but, in the lore, he's a goddamn MONSTER. It wouldn't be ACs punting Crota, it'd be...well, probably like Hulk smashing Loki, but even sillier because Crota would be smaller than the thing he's tosing around. With few exceptions, the only thing that can go up against paracausal beings like Crota...is another paracausal being. One of the few that defy that are the Vex, and that's only under certain circumstances.
As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.