First of the 'intermission' chapters. At least one more, possibly two. (Not that these aren't useful for getting plot pieces into place and the like.)
Thank you again to everyone who's read, followed, and reviewed. Aside from making me feel good, it also helps motivate me to get words from the brain to the paper.
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 March 2550
Private Section of the Hanging Gardens, Covenant Holy City of High Charity
A soft breeze blew through the hanging gardens, carrying the scent of plant life harvested from half a hundred worlds. The air was growing more humid, and in a few hours it would begin to softly rain. Even with atmospheric systems incorporating the most advanced Covenant technology (and Forerunner relics), High Charity was easily large enough for weather to naturally occur inside.
The High Prophet of Truth was not displeased by this. High Charity's systems damped out the worst of the fluctuations, but the small variations in temperature, breezes, and rain showers all helped him feel closer to the Forerunners. It was especially so when he was alone in the gardens for contemplation, as he was today. A few honor guards stood watch, respectfully keeping themselves hidden so as not to interrupt the hierarch. A good thing, as the past few months had given him much to think about.
The war against the humans was continuing, as it had. The superiority of the Covenant fleets still held, and in the last month another pair of human colonies had been eradicated. Minor outposts, barely worthy of the name, but victories nonetheless. There had also been minor setbacks, but none too large to hide from the masses. Among these was the complete failure to capture the traitorous kig-yar.
'Yarolee failing had not been unexpected by Truth. Indeed, Truth had already figured out how to use the sangheili's failure to his own ends even before 'Yarolee departed! But what was revealed by the survivors of the Forceful Voice was truly shocking. Truth had expected that the kig-yar would lure the sangheili into the arms of a waiting human fleet, or simply escape and leave the sangheili looking like a fool. But to lose a Ket-pattern battlecruiser to a single corvette! Such negligence bordered on heresy. Had 'Yarolee not had the decency to go down with his ship the council would certainly have had him executed for his failure.
At least he could use this disaster in service of his plans to replace the sangheili in the Covenant hierarchy. This failure was more proof that they were unfit to serve as military leadership of the Covenant on their own; assist from other races like the jiralhanae was clearly needed. Obviously, this single instance would not be enough on its own to get the other San'Shyuum onside secure his position to the point he could enact his plans. But it helped. And Truth had plans for a more explicit event to show the sangheili could not be trusted. And eliminate the troublesome variable that was Regret, too. (Truth already had a few handpicked candidates to replace Regret as a hierarch; San'Shyuum that would appear independent but would actually be his puppet.)
Even after that happened, removing the sangheili from power would not be any easy task. They controlled vast portions of the fleet, and even if some of them could be cowed into not rebelling when Truth put his plan into action, there would still be many left. Truth was working with Tartarus to even the disparity in space; more and more jiralhanae-crewed ships were entering service. Not only that but they were being secretly given advanced technology up to par with what the rest of the Covenant used.
Despite this, Truth's loyal jiralhanae would still be at a disadvantage in space. Gaining control of High Charity was the real key. Aside from its religious and political significance, the space station was a fortress, built around the indestructible bones of a Forerunner ship and armed with the most powerful weaponry in the entire Covenant. More than that, the Assembly Forges on High Charity were unmatched in their ability to produce weaponry and even whole starships. What good would it do for the sangheili to win the first few engagements if their ships were broken down, unmaintained, and drowned under waves of fresh enemies?
To that end, Turth had been subtly adjusting the balance of forces on High Charity. Simply sending all the sangheili away and replacing them with jiralhanae units would be too obvious, and would invite questions from Regret and Mercy (to say nothing of the sangheili on the council). But more subtle measures could be taken without arousing suspicion. At the moment the ratio of jiralhanae to sangheili units on High Charity was roughly five to two. And the jiralhanae units he had been transferring unit were veterans, hardened warriors who had fought against the humans for years. They were on High Charity for 'rest and contemplation', while the sangheili units he was transferring in were garrison units from behind the lines. That, and politically connected but incomptent leaders given the 'honor' of being stationed in High Charity.
There was still the question of the other species on High Charity. The unggoy would follow whoever commanded them, out of fear. Still, they deserved the Covenant's protection, especially after how they'd been treated in the leadup to the Unggoy Rebellion. The yanme'e and mgalekgolo would likely split in a similar way. The kig-yar, well, they were unreliable. Broadly more of them seemed aligned with the jiralhanae than the sangheili, but Truth knew they couldn't be relied on for anything. That even more of them had been caught defecting to the humans was proof. At least the one agent had the decency to blow up a ship full of traitors. (By the time the Covenant picked her up off the frozen moon she'd been stranded on she was near frozen to death.)
Truth sighed as he watched a school of fish circle within one of the ponds. If only it could be as easy at it was in his mind. But he knew there would be a thousand other factors to consider, hundreds of problems he had yet to think of. Such as what to do about sangheili like 'Wattinree or 'Vadamee. Many prominent, capable sangheili of their stature could easily become the nucleus of resistance to Truth's ouster of them, and he needed a plan to deal with them.
As it began to gently rain, Truth decided he would have to simply trust that the path ahead would be revealed. The sangheili had grown too powerful, and were questioning too much. The path to the Great Journey was in danger, and the High Prophet of Truth would do whatever he needed to protect it.
29 March 2550
ONI Memo S3S-PPD-0185
...taking into account the current strategic situation, the situation does not warrant the proposed expenditure of assets for an operation with such a significant risk level. This assessment is also based on the uncertainty of achieving the intended outcome, based on recent information obtained on the target environment. Proposal RED FLAG is disapproved; see Attachment (A) for additional comments.
Attached handwritten comments:
Son, don't take this disapproval personally, everyone agreed the plan was well put together, especially for someone with your time in service. The fact is, based on what we've received from MAGPIE and related asset, in particular MOCKINGBIRD and RAVEN, the target location is hot enough that even with the full complement of Spartan-IIs it's doubtful we'd find the targets and extract successfully. Let alone that that still might not get the Covenant off our back. There is also the issue of locating it and getting transport, which you did note in your proposal. That's the other big reason why it got shot down. Still, I've your proposal away in case it's needed in the future. Let us all pray it isn't.
Your proposal did inspire some interesting discussion at the water cooler with some of the people from Section Four. A couple days of brainstorming later and we have a new project we're moving forward with. Since you helped generate the idea, and you've shown yourself to be a competent officer, I've cut orders for you to be assigned to BLACK FLAG effective 1 April. More details will follow then.
18 July 2550
Anchor 15 Refit Station, Reach Orbit
"I still don't understand why you decided to use a Halcyon off all things for this."
"These early block Halcyon's have a unique structure that makes them very resistant to damage. But really, to be blunt, these two ships were available and expendable."
"I appreciate the honesty. Still, it's good to see her getting touched up. Weren't many like her left in the fleet." Captain Robert Sakai, commander of the UNSC Targhee, watched his ship sit immobile within Anchor 15. On the other side of the station, mostly hidden by framework and equipment, sat another Halcyon class cruiser, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Both ships were ripped open, the outer plating missing and exposing the interior of the vessels. Workers swarmed over Targhee's aft hull and engine spaces, while a few hundred meters away the nose of the Pillar of Autumn was open to vacuum.
Only the day before the most precious and expensive part of the Targhee had been reinstalled; the slipspace drive. Captain Sakai had been briefed on the capabilities of the new drive a few days before. While it was still inferior to Covenant drives, the Targhee's new drive was claimed to be 50% faster than her old drive. More importantly, it would be much more precise, allowing precise entry and exit from slipspace within a single star system. How the UNSC improved their slipspace technology so much in such a short time had not been revealed to Sakai; all he had been told was that it was the result of "reverse engineering of salvaged Covenant components".
Perhaps the mysterious briefing he was to attend in three days would answer more of his questions. Such as why a portion of the Targhee had briefly been ordered to be modified to hold a methane atmosphere. (The work order was cancelled less than a week later without explanation.) Sakai knew grunts breathed methane, but he couldn't think of why there would have to be a space for them on his ship. Capturing some alive wouldn't be much use; grunts were at the bottom of the totem pole in the Covenant, so it wasn't as though the UNSC could get any useful intel from them.
He'd heard the rumors about Covenant species fighting alongside humanity, practically all the officers in the fleet had by now. Unlike some captains, Sakai hadn't tried to dig into them. From early in his career, he'd decided getting ONI's attention was not a good way to advance your career. Following that axiom was working out well for him. Although given that this operation had ONI fingerprints all over it, apparently you couldn't stay hidden from them forever.
And given that the footage from Levosia and Concord, the two planets where the aliens were supposedly fighting alongside the UNSC, was unusually censored even by normal UNSC standards, maybe there was something to it.
18 July 2550
UNSC Camp Ingmar, Highland Mountains, Reach
"And the humans just gave this away? Why?"
"Said it was too sweet for them, felt like he was going to get diabetes drinking it."
"What's 'diabetes'? Some human disease?"
"Yeah, I think it's like shig'lar. Your organs don't process sugar right and you die."
"Sounds awful. Anyway, Teth, you got the other stuff?"
"Here it is. Humans said it's real strong, probably shouldn't mix it more than one part in five with this."
"Is that what the humans would drink or what we would drink?"
"Humans like this stuff straight. Don't know how they do it. Just smelling the stuff makes my feathers want to drop off."
It was just after nightfall, and the kig-yar didn't have anything on the schedule tomorrow morning. So Chac Lon, Teth, and Shaon Tol managed gotten their hands on some human beverages and holed up in the back of one of the outbuildings behind the barracks in Camp Ingmar. Even after being here weeks, humans rarely came to visit, and when they did, they didn't come this far. Perfect time for the kig-yar to get drunk and discuss certain topics.
"Shaon Tol, since you're here, I can guess that you managed not to rip that scientists' face off her body for now?"
"Despite her best efforts, yes." Shaon Tol hissed, as she poured a generous helping of clear alcohol into her beverage and swirled it around. "She's lucky she's probably the only one in this galaxy who knows more about the Forerunners than I do."
"She must not know everything if they have you helping her." Chac Lon said.
"Don't let her hear you say that, she'd probably send her own personal army of demons to kill you." That got an interested look from both Chac Lon and Teth. "It's not as bad as it was when they first brough me here, after I proved I was 'useful' she's actually willing to say more than three words to me. She's not even that way because I'm a kig-yar and she's a human, she's nasty to most of the humans too." She sighed and took a large drink. "The last thing she had me working on though, looked a bit like that artifact we stole from that human planet."
"The one that led to their homeworld?" Chac Lon asked. "So another star chart."
"Yeah. It had been sitting in a glass case in a museum on some random colony. Nobody realized what it was until that woman compared a picture of it to the thing we found. After that it showed up here pretty quick. I can't say exactly what it is -"
"Can't or won't?" Teth asked. Chac Lon was thinking the same thing.
"Can't. The artifact doesn't have that kind of detail, but it must be important." Shaon Tol replied.
"I'd bet it has something to do with why they've kept us here for so long. Suppose we'll find out in a few days." Chac Lon paused to take a drink. "Anyway, tell me more about how this scientist has a personal army of demons."
"So I don't know exactly what's going on, but I've seen the demons around her office a few times. She actually seems friendly with them!" Shaon Tol replied.
"Maybe she helped make them? Did you actually get to see what any of the demons looked like? None of the ones I saw ever took their helmet off. Teth, you ever see the face of a demon."
"No, never did. Me and you only saw them in training, makes sense they'd keep their armor on."
"I didn't either." Shaon Tol sighed dejectely. "Always had their helmets on, even when talking to her. Maybe they didn't like having me around. Or maybe they can't take off their armor."
"You mean they're sealed into it? Or it's built around them? I'd buy it." Chac Lon said.
The demons were still as much of a mystery to Chac Lon and the rest of the kig-yar as they were months ago. Aside from their brief interactions with a squad of them during the battle for Concord, the kig-yar had no interactions with the demons until their arrival on the human fortress world, Reach. Their numbers, equipment, even what they were remained a mystery. All they knew were that the 'Spartans', as the demons were officially known, were terribly effective in combat.
That point had been driven into Chac Lon's head again the last two months. A small group of demons arrived on Reach, and their commanders decided to train them against Chac Lon's kig-yar. About platoon of his best kig-yar, against three demons. Compared to when they trained against humans on Ballast, Chac Lon and his group were more experienced, and more disciplined. They had even trained against regular UNSC soldiers a few times since their arrival on Reach, and 'won' most of the time. Going up against the demons would be difficult, but not futile, Chac Lon thought.
After the first nine times the three demons 'killed' all forty-five of the kig-yar without losing a single one of their number, Chac Lon realized he wasn't going to win. Five exercises later, he came back to Camp Ingmar ecstatic, saying him and the kig-yar had 'won'. His ego quickly deflated when Shim Vol and Shaon Tol pressed him and he admitted that they'd managed to kill only one out of the three demons.
They had managed to 'kill' one of the demons a few more times after that, but never all three. Chac Lon had been privately upset after the first dozen or so exercises; constantly losing was hurting his kig-yar's morale, and the demons hit hard even in training. Still, he kept his mouth shut; angering the UNSC wouldn't do any favors, and maybe he could even find out a bit more about the demons. He never did; Chac Lon never got any of them to say more than four words to him at a time, or show their faces. Not even their names. All he knew were a couple numbers; 005, 058, 117. Did the demons even have names?
"Whatever they are, fighting them was good practice." Teth said.
"True, true. Those humans weren't too happy on that mountain a few weeks ago, were they?" Chac Lon said, laughing. Fighting the demons had been training like no other. And losing to them made at least a few of the kig-yar realize how seriously they had to take their training. A few weeks ago, the demons abruptly stopped training with the kig-yar. For the next exercise, Chac Lon was told to pick about thirty of his best kig-yar for an exercise against a platoon of regular human soldiers in a remote part of the Highland Mountains about a hundred kilometers from Camp Ingmar. They'd shredded the humans. Nine kig-yar 'wounded' and two 'killed', for almost the whole human platoon wiped out.
To be fair to the humans, it was a green group of rookies that hadn't trained with the kig-yar before. If Korhonen brought in one of the units from Concord or Ballast they'd likely do a lot better. That had been about a week and a half ago, and there had been little on their schedule since then. Yesterday morning, Admiral Korhonen arrived and tersely informed them that there was an important briefing on the 21st, and to 'make themselves presentable'. All Chac Lon's attempts to find out what this was actually about were curtly rebuffed by Korhonen and other UNSC officers. Which naturally led to more speculation.
"Maybe they'll finally give me my ship back." Chac Lon grumbled.
"I told you, idiot, it's gone. Humans probably ripped out the drive and stuck it in one of their own ships." Teth said.
"Doesn't mean I can't still be mad about it. Yes, I know." Chac Lon waved off whatever the other kig-yar were going to say.
"Once this shit is all done we'll be rich enough to buy another one at least. Maybe you can convince the humans to give you one." Teth said, trying to lift Chac Lon's mood.
After the fight with the Covenant battelcruiser, the Phantom Chance was in bad shape. Combined with the hastily repaired damage from her fight near Saturn, the corvette would need a lot of work to get back to perfect shape. So, the UNSC decided to scrap her and dissect the ship to learn as much about Covenant technology as possible. In his head, Chac Lon knew this was the right choice. But it was his ship, and he had a right to be upset!
"You think there's going to be anything left for us to buy but old broken down junk? If the humans beat that would mean the Covenant military is destroyed, though..." Chac Lon's voice trailed off as a few thoughts started forming inside his head.
"Look, the humans aren't going to win by crushing the entire Covenant to dust. There's too many sangheili, too many jiralhanae, too many unggoy, too many worlds." Teth responded. "Something else is going to have to happen to make them stop. Something to make them give up or come apart."
"Maybe that's what the humans are planning?" Chac Lon said, deep in thought. "Force them to see their reason for the war is wrong, or maybe just go to High Charity and kill a bunch of Prophets and hope for the best?"
"Would create a lot of chaos. Bunch of random minor Prophets and sangheili try to claim the pieces, humans holing up and trying not to get involved? Play the dice right, we could make a lot of money off that." Teth sounded enthusiastic about the possibilities.
"Right! Would be a lot of stuff just there for the taking. A lot of mercenary work too. Interesting times for all kig-yar." Chac Lon looked at the bottle in his hand for a moment, beforee taking a long drink. The last few minutes had given him a lot to think about.