Chambers of the Council, Craftworld Ilroh'ynn.
"You have put this entire Craftworld and its population at risk, Farseer! And for what?! Some Mon'Keigh?! We should Exile you right here and now!"
Talmon, the leader of the Council of the Nine, had jumped to his feet, glaring at Faenbrynn through the scarlet vision ports in his helmet. The High Warlock, nearly a millennium old and clad in an ornate set of armor, presided over the gathered Council of Warlocks and 'Seers in the Room of Commons at the heart of the massive worldship. Behind the tall, semi-circular wraithbone podium resided the reinforced bulkhead doors leading to the Infinity Circuit, protected by two Wraith constructs.
The Farseer responded, her voice calm, calculated, "Lest you were asleep when the events that set us on the path we currently follow, High Warlock, these Covenant, the alliance of aliens that threatened the Humans, fired first. We retaliated and assisted the population of the planet, despite my better instincts. I followed a vision, a blur of a nightmare and of a wonderful dream of peace."
"How come none of your sisters or brothers in this very council hadn't seen the same thing?" Talmon inquired, sitting himself back down onto his pseudo-throne. The Farseer huffed, rolling her eyes. The man had been a great asset that had led the Craftworld into reuniting with Biel'Tan so many centuries ago, all but ensuring their safety for all that time, but he was stuck in ways older than even him.
"I know not why none of my fellow Farseers have seen this vision, but I assumed that the agreement between the Council and us, of allowing the free reign of each Farseer to do as they see fit, was still in effect. I simply was somewhat proactive... You would have had us fight the Humans as well as these Covenant, would you not? Or would you have had us flee, leaving the millions below to burn?" She inquired, crossing her arms to her chest. Murmurs echoed from the other councilmen, but a slam of an armored fist onto the wraithbone quietened them.
"They are not our people to save, Faenbrynn. They are humans. The same Humans that we have seen our siblings from Biel'Tan duel so many times." The man sighed. He wanted to add something, but...
"And ally with in just as many times." Faen countered with fiery resolve in her eyes, "And these are not the same humans. They are far younger. Far less developed. Their basic ground infantry does not utilize energy weapons, instead using projectile-based rifles, chemical propellant rockets and... Isha only knows what else. They are on the backfoot, their fleets unshielded, being destroyed by a foe they have been fighting against for almost two decades. I know that does not compare to the millennia, to the millions of years we have fought after the War in Heaven and the Fall, yet..."
Talmon scoffed, "And these mon'keigh, who throw rocks at energy shields... Your vision told you that, if we help them, we would be helped back? That we would have some sort of future? Faenbrynn, please, you are young, you-"
"I know what I felt, Talmon!" She shot back with an anger that resonated across the walls of the room, "I know what I felt. Our path ahead is split in twain, where one choice will lead us to salvation, perhaps finally to peace, in this new universe, this new place, wherever the Immaterium has thrown us. One where, perhaps, we can finally stop fighting and find a world to rebuild our great Empire from, without the mistakes of the past. Our arrogance has been our downfall since the start of this damnable War against She Who Thirsts! How many Craftworlds have we lost thanks to those of the Old Guard not listening to us, those you call 'young and foolish'? Because that is where the other path, that of perhaps our attempt at fleeing from this conflict, or fighting both sides, would lead us! To the death of our craftworld, of our people, of our last hope!"
"Farseer, you speak out of turn!" Talmon bellowed, angrily.
"High Warlock, please." The woman who had trained Faen intervened, her voice soft, soothing and filled with her Psychic potential. She looked to Faen, two eyes of pure white, blinded by age and warfare, staring at her as if they could see her. She spoke, "How much of this vision were you able to see, Faenbrynn? Perhaps, if you enlighten us, this will ease the already-tense situation here and now... Cool heads need to prevail over worthless banter such as this. She makes some worthy points, Talmon."
While Faen unclenched her fists and seemed to settle, Talmon hummed, looking at the old Farseer, then he sighed, defeated. He motioned to Faen and said, "Very well. Please... Do tell of this vision."
Faen sighed, shoulders sagging, then she said, "It was faint at first, an instinctual feeling that first led us down to the planet, retaliation desires. When I first met the humans below, their soldiers, though battered, still fought. They rescued me and my away party from an untimely death at the hands of their enemy's marksmen. The Vision appeared when I made contact with the psyche of their leader, one Sergeant Reaver, to read his mind and... Perhaps extrapolate information I could use without invasiveness... It was..."
She looked around, then hummed, "It grew a bit clearer as we fought... First, I saw a world ablaze. Corpses, both of ours and theirs, littered the streets of a city. The blur of the smoke and the fires made it impossible to determine, but a fight raged on above, one from which starcraft from both the human and our fleets fell, gutted. The enemy was relentless, vile and almost unstoppable. Our Craftworld burned next... Aboard it, humans fought us and the Covenant alike... The Covenant were like vultures, sweeping down onto our weakened forces. The world died with us all aboard... And whatever the Covenant would do, they woukd succeed, their opposition weakened by us fighting each-other... Then, there was silence across the galaxy."
"I would presume this was the path that we would've gone down if you had not gone to help the humans instinctually..." Her mentor observed, clearly in thought now. Faen nodded.
Talmon hummed, "Go on..."
"The other Path... It led us to unify our efforts with the humans. Despite early setbacks and mistrust, that same world that burned in the Downfall was now littered with the corpses of the Covenant. The battle above, fierce and with losses even through our alliance, was won. Then, a being clad in titanic armor and a shining azure light would spell the end of the Covenant, of our enemies. And the start of an uneasy peace, followed by political efforts and, finally, an end to any hostility."
"Peace with Mon'Keigh like humans..." Scoffed a Warlock off to the side. Faen and her mentor glared at him, while Talmon seemed contemplative. He looked between the two Farseers and the rest of the Council, leaning against the desk. He looked to Faen, then straightened up his posture, seemingly calm enough now to process things as he went. He nodded to Faen's mentor, then turned again to her.
Calmly, he said, "You are free to go, Farseer Faenbrynn. We will... Discuss... Your vision."
She narrowed her lips, bowing curtly before leaving the center of the Council chambers. The mentor sighed, then smiled and spoke calmly, "She is as fiery as ever."
"And as brash as you left her, Allara." Talmon chuckled, leaning against his seat, "But her vision... She is still so young."
"A progeny, if there was ever one." Allara spoke, "She is the one who knows what she has seen. This... Path... She has opened it for us and took a first step. We can still go back and run, but..."
Talmon uneasily nodded, leaning forward. He spoke, "We have all felt what happened to this world... Have we not? To the Warp?"
"The Immaterium grew silent the moment we arrived here." Remarked the 'Seer of the Cartographers, the one commanding the ship's ability to arrive at their intended location, "It is as if it cleaned itself of the vile monstrosities of the Chaos Gods."
"Certainly odd, but we do not yet fully understand the Warp ourselves..." Shrugged Allara, "Perhaps this... Clean... Warp, it gave Faenbrynn her vision. To guide us."
"I already have some of our best determining the finer details of this Realm of Souls" Talmon noted, then he looked around and said, "What do the Nine say? Do we believe our youngest Farseer? With the fact of the Realm of Souls being itself? She has already gone off of her own instinct, perhaps saving us from having to fight two fronts, though we cannot be sure that will not happen. Not yet."
Allara stood up, placing a fist on her chest and saying, "I would believe my own, High Warlock."
The less-than-welcoming Warlock across from her scoffed, shaking his head, "Far too much risk. We should leave."
Two 'Seers stood up beside Allara, fists on their chests, followed by a younger Warlock, freshly added to the line. The others remained seated, a tie that would need to be broken by him. Talmon felt uneasy at the thought of working with Humans, after their people's many encounters with the Imperium, with their troops. Yet even as such, Biel'Tan had cooperated with them, so had Ulthwe. Alliances of necessity existed... Allara stared at him, her posture straight, but her trembling right hand giving away her fear.
With a sigh, the man stood up, then proclaimed, "Let us see what this little alliance may bring us... For now, Farseer Allara, I am open to speak with the humans and I am open to our troops assisting them. We will trust the vision of your pupil. But one mistake from them, one stray bullet hitting one of our own... And, if by fighting them we go on to be damned to death with the rest of this galaxy, so be it."
Allara gave a small smile and a nod.
Talmon spoke again, "This session is dismissed. I want a delegation prepared to go with Farseer Faenbrynn down to the human world, to speak with them. I want our Bonesingers and all crews to provide information about the status of their craft. We repair any damage we have while we stay above the planet and ensure its security. If these Covenant return, the Craftworld will hide behind the moons while Admiral Benelim continues his coordinated defense with the Humans... That is all."
The members of the Council filed out of the place, with Allara being the last one out. He nodded to her as she stopped, then took his helmet off, revealing a smile. He trusted Faen, the girl was a kind soul. But she was more brash than a human and even more idealistic. The Eldar had been stuck in their old ways for millions of years. If she hoped to change that... It would take some time.
FOB "Oxcart"
Human world of Miridem
27/11/2544 Standard UNSC Calendar
The sprawling UNSC Military complex outside the capital of Miridem was abuzz with the life and death of civilian and military personnel arriving in droves. Three M*A*S*H units had been set up just outside the base, barely able to contend with the stream of wounded, while the morgues were already overflowing with the dead of the last battle. Reaver saw all of from up on high as the Pelican he, his squad, Spartan Sheila and Doctor Halsey were aboard swung by to land.
The aircraft set down near the central building, the FOB's underground central command bunker. Shielded by about five meters of concrete and titanium alloy and only accessible through the central tunnel, the building housed the command center for the UNSC's various activities in the area. The Exarch's bird was behind them, with the vehicles arriving just about 5 minutes later, when the entire unit had filed out of the bird and onto the grounds.
High above, even through the burning blue of the sky, they could see UNSC and Eldar ships harassing the remnants of the Covenant fleet, blasting away at them with energy and kinetic weaponry. Damn, it felt good to be on the winning side of a space battle for once. Civilians around them also stared up at the sky, cheering on as they saw Eldar Strike Craft tailing a Seraph into the atmosphere, their energy lances eating away at the damn thing's shields until they hit armor.
The Seraph detonated high in a blaze of amber and lilac fire, to the cheers of the Humans. Reaver was calm before this, but even he couldn't stop himself from letting out a raucous cry of victory at the sight. Sheila leaned her shotgun on her shoulder, taking her helmet off to reveal a blue-eyed, black-haired beauty. Walking out from aboard their own, newly-landed Pelican, the Exarch and her soldiers, with an escort of Marines, watched the ongoing battle high above.
"The Fleet works its magic, Exarch." Noted one of her fellows. She nodded approvingly, sheathing her blade and approaching the Sergeant, Doctor Halsey and Sheila.
"It seems the battle is won." She noted.
"Yup. Our forces should be mopping up the stragglers now." Reaver noted, slinging his rifle onto his back with a grin. He jabbed a thumb toward the CP, then said, "Let's go. Gotta meet command."
And, indeed, before he even got as much as a chance to turn, he caught a glimpse of the uniforms of the command corps stepping out of the base. Clad in a heavy-duty Marine armor with reinforced plates, only with the helmet replaced by a cap bearing a four-star General's rank, General Marcus Koller greeted the boys and girls with a salute. The Sergeant snapped back a quick salute and smiled.
"Sergeant Reaver. Damn fine work out there." He complimented, nodding to the Marine and his squad. He turned his head to the Exarch, then smiled and quipped, "And these must be the fair folks that helped you in that mess. Greetings, my name's General Marcus Koller, UNSC Marines. Highest ranking officer currently left on Miridem. Thought there'd be more of you, if you don't mind me saying."
The Exarch nodded, "I am Exarch Caentys, of the Ilroh'ynn Howling Banshees. A pleasure to meet you, General." and she, in an act of... odd friendliness... Extended her hand first. Koller shook it, with the girl continuing, "Our forces have evenly divided to assist your people in repelling these Covenant and our Farseer is currently in a meeting with the Council, presumably on the best course of action."
"Well, I presume we'll meet them all soon enough." The General said, "Now, if you'll follow us inside, we have a lot to talk about."
"That, we do. I shall signal the Farseer to land here when the need arises." The woman said, before retrieving a Webway beacon off of her belt and setting it down by the landing pads. She nodded to the General, to lead the way, then to her Sisters, to halt outside. She turned to her second in command and ordered, "Assist as best you can... The Farseer may want us to improve our relations with humans. Helmets off."
"It shall be done, Exarch." The woman bowed, then she and her sisters walked away.
With the general in the lead and finally at home, Reaver felt safe enough to take his helmet off of his head. They descended into the FOB's belly just as the General gave them the approval to peel off and head for the medical and bunks areas. He looked to the Sergeant and said, "Go with your troops and rest, Sergeant. You and your folks have done enough for us. I'll get the Major of your unit on the horn, tell him you're off the roster for a bit."
"Sir." The boy saluted, before nodding to the Exarch and showing his troops to follow him. Doctor Halsey, meanwhile, seemed uneasy as she walked with the escort of UNSC Officers and the Exarch. The Eldar woman, however, seemed calm enough. She looked to Halsey, then offered a calm smile to the blonde-haired girl. The Spartan behind them chuckled.
"Doc, with all due respect... I forgot to ask. What happened to your hair? You were brunette before." Sheila butted in.
"Well, Sheila..." Murmured Halsey, with slight malcontent, "During some experiments in the ONI labs here, on Miridem, a non-lethal and less-than-harmful chemical reaction resulted in an explosion that bleached half of my hair... I figured that, if that was the case, I may as well dye all of it, so it didn't look unprofessional." And she looked to Sheila, "What about you? I thought you would leave your hair longer."
"That's fair." The Spartan nodded.
"You are familiar with her, Doctor?" The Exarch raised a brow.
"I..." Halsey tensed and seemed reluctant, but with a sigh, she answered calmly "I was the one who created the SPARTAN-II Project..."
"So, Sheila as a soldier exists because of your work... Commendable." The Exarch said. Halsey wanted to correct her, but she knew better. She wasn't wrong, the Spartans had helped a great deal, but they were and are still one of the things she didn't know if she would ever forgive herself for. Alas, she walked down to the command post with the others, noting only the white uniform of a UNSC Navy member, female, as she entered the base too.
In the bunks area, Reaver was finally able to strip off his full kit and rifle, tossing them beside his cot, leaving himself in only his BDU, sans armor, and falling face-first into the hard pillow. Weiss's bunk was about three away from him. She sat there, disassembling her DMR to clean it and with only part of her armor off. The other Marines laughed and chatted, one of them sharing some contraband Earth booze with her pals.
Well, thankfully, the Sergeant was alive and well... His unit had made it with minimal casualties.
The sound of standard-issue Navy boots echoed into the barracks. The entire box of concrete went silent as they saw a young, beautiful redheaded UNSC officer bearing Captain's stripes on her collar and cap stroll in. Emerald eyes scanned the room of the now-saluting soldiers of the Corps. She saluted back and dismissed them with a nod, before approaching the bunk where the Sergeant was, sitting herself down on the free bunk on the other side.
Weiss grinned. So that was her.
A poke on the ribs got the Sergeant to almost jump to his feet, swiveling about and almost entering defense mode out of instinct. Their gazes met and good old Mike froze on the spot, processing what he was seeing while his brain initiated the "Boot" function. As it slowly made sense of the image of a beautiful redhead ahead of him, his grin grew to ear-to-ear.
"Hey, Sarge. Didja miss me?" She said, grinning right back.
"Valerie McKinnon, I'll be damned..." He laughed, "I thought your ass sunk with the Navy upstairs."
"Eh, you know me, Mike," She shrugged, "I don't die easily. Plus, the Newton didn't take that much heat from the Covvies, thanks to those new aliens."
He pushed himself to a seated position and raised a brow. "I gotta ask, how're they farin' up there?"
"Oh, their Navy's smacking the Covvies 'round somethin' awful." She answered, crossing her arms, "They're about to chase away a Supercarrier, last I heard. Rest of the Navy, ours that is, is fixing itself up, too, so we ain't got trouble with repair and rearmament." And she crossed her legs, before raising a brow, "So... When am I gonna get to meet some of these new Alien folk, eh?"
Mike let out a laugh, then said "Some of'em are at the debrief with general Koller, if ya wanna go and attend... I gotta fuckin' sleep after the last few days."
"A'ight. I'll catch you later, then. You still owe me a drink." She said, standing up, "Sleep well, Sergeant. Dismissed." And she winked at the Sergeant, before walking off outta the room. With a dumb smile on his face, the Sergeant let his head fall back onto the pillow, while Weiss seemed to be snickering, or outright failing to contain a laugh. The Sergeant looked to her, brow raised.
She smirked, answering the stare with a quip:"With all due respect, Sarge, I don't think the Farseer's gonna like that."
The other Marines chuckled at the jab, while the Sergeant rolled his eye and said "Right, right... I'm going to bed. Ram the butt of your rifle into my side if I gotta wake up, a'ight?"
"Sure thing, Sarge. Remember, you asked for it." Weiss shot back, turning back to fixing and cleaning her DMR. She murmured something about 'Navy Tomboys and Alien Elf Ladies' to herself while cleaning the barrel. Something which the Sergeant elected to ignore, closing his eyes shut and letting sleep come to him. Thankfully, that happened about as naturally as breathing. He'd been active for God only knew how many days, going all over Miridem to do shit. Didn't help one damn bit that half the time, they were in combat and in another half, they were hauling Civvies around the place.
He thanked God and the Eldar for the sweet reprieve the team found. This campaign had been a shitshow...
