A9 to C9

(Alpha Nine to Copper 9)

Chapter 8: Follow Our Brothers

(Authors Note: I guess to answer some questions from the comments I received on the previous chapters. I know I haven't made this clear yet. But the MD galaxy is separate to that of the Halo galaxy. Though with some overlap here and there. The Forerunners exist. The Covenant does not. The UNSC never formed on Earth. This is why the Worker Drones don't recognize the UNSC, because they don't exist. I'm sure Earth has some kind of governing body similar to that of the UEG in Halo and JCJenson is just one of many megacorporations operating on Earth, or off of Earth given the status of Earth in the series. But I just wanted to make that clear to alleviate any confusion from the previous chapters. And I greatly appreciate the comments. Do not hesitate to write your own with some criticisms, please. I want to make this story and all of my other works better going forward and any constructive criticism goes a long way in improving my craft. Thank you all!)

Special Operations Officer Vor'Telam

Unknown City, Copper 9

9th Age of Reclamation

Vor'Telam and Zug-Zug trudged through the dense snowfall, keeping their eyes to the sky in the event that Watchmaker was still tracking them. The road ahead was congested with abandoned cars of all kinds and the frozen corpses of both their drivers and random pedestrians.

"They all look like they were frozen in place…" Zug-Zug muttered, carefully poking one of the statue-like corpses as he passed by, though this caused it to collapse into a heap of dust and snowflakes, causing Zug-Zug to yelp and lurch back. "Me suppose It fitting end for them, huh?" Zug-Zug looked up at Vor'Telam, who was busy scanning the skies with his carbine.

"Not fitting enough…Tell me Unggoy, what were your original orders before that blast sent us here…?"

"Me orders?" Zug-Zug inspected his plasma rifle before sweeping some snow off of it.

"Was supposed to help assault a human structure that had an artifact inside. 'ONI Alpha Site' what the humans called it. Me boarded Phantom with rest of team and before we actually reach the landing zone. Big explosion sent us here and we crashed. Only survivors were the Unggoy you saw back there."

"Hmm…And you have not heard anything from any of your commanding officers since then?"

Zug-Zug responded with a shake of his head. Vor'Telam's eyes behind his helmet narrowed.

"Some kind of conspiracy is ongoing, I am sure of it. Before I was deployed into the city, I and the rest of my kin were attacked by the Jiralhanae stationed with us. I was trapped within a combat pod and was launched before I could assist my brothers. By the time I had launched, and before I reached the surface, I found myself here."

"I not see anything like that…though didn't have any Sangheili in team or Jiralhanae. So me just as in dark as you. Communication systems in Phantom were destroyed in crash. Honestly, surprised you even hear distress call in first place…" Zug-Zug gestured towards the sky, at the seemingly endless blizzard raging on around the two. While Vor'Telam was a seasoned warrior having fought on hundreds of worlds, he would be lying if he said he was comfortable at the current moment on Copper 9. To Zug-Zug, however, It was eerily similar to the environment of Balaho in some regards, though he had only spent very brief time on the Unggoy's homeworld after crawling out of the mating pods, as did most Unggoy drafted into the Covenant's armed forces.

"We will need to find a way to contact High Charity. I must warn the rest of my brothers of this uprising." Vor'Telam clenched his fist, staring off into the distance.

"I see human communications outpost earlier. Maybe that be good place to start?" Zug-Zug was referring to a radio tower he had seen just after emerging from the crashed Phantom, coincidentally enough, It being the same radio tower Mickey and Holmes were heading towards at this very moment.

"Very well. We'll make haste then." Vor'Telam began to sprint down the snow covered street with Zug-Zug following in his stead, though covering less ground due to his stubby legs. After covering some ground, the two found themselves at the rim of a plaza, lowered into the ground with a set of stairs covering all entrances with benches and what looked to be the remnants of where greenery would be, though now all decimated by the freezing temperatures. Zug-Zug prepared to vault over the low walls surrounding the plaza, Vor'Telam extended an arm out and stopped him.

"Hold your position. Look…"

Pointing down towards the center of the plaza, Zug-Zug realized that there was a group of both humans and Worker Drones walking through the plaza. The humans seemed to all be covered in matching clothing, heavyset jackets against the cold, body armor, and a mixture of either ballistic helmets or what looked to be beanies, face masks, and a pair of goggles. The Worker Drones, meanwhile, wore their own set of matching clothes and armor, though far less protective than their human counterparts. The group itself seemed lightly armed, as only 3 guards were present, the rest of the humans and Worker Drones were unarmed as far as Vor'Telam could see. Rather odd, considering the last group of machines seemed to have no humans among them, unbeknownst to them, this was a convoy belonging to the Shepherd's Accord…seemingly way off course from their own territory.

Nevertheless, Vor'Telam ordered Zug-Zug to prepare an ambush, and the two got into position. Before Zug-Zug could fire the first shot, a shot from a beam rifle ripped through one of the guard's head, sending the rest of the group into a frenzy to determine where the shots were coming from, as did it surprise the duo too. Out of a nearby set of buildings, bolts of plasma fire rained down on the doomed convoy while the guards exchanged what little gunfire they could back towards their attackers, all shouting at each other to get into cover and trying to figure out just who was shooting at them. One of the humans, a scientist from the looks of their clothes, passed something off to one of the Worker Drones and ordered her to flee, before drawing their own pistol and beginning to fire at the unseen attackers. The Worker Drone sprinted away under fire, right towards Vor'Telam, who was still hidden by active camouflage. Vor'Telam lurched forward and grabbed the Worker Drone by her throat.

"Glllch! Aghhh!"

The Worker Drone kicked her feet frantically, confused as to why the air was choking her and lifting her into the air…only for her attacker to reveal himself, staring her right in her terrified eyes, before activating his energy dagger and driving it right into her LED face and casting her aside into the snow bank. By that time, the highly outgunned convoy had been cut down by the last of the plasma fire from above. The plaza fell silent.

"We can see you, brother. We will reveal ourselves!"

A voice called from the nearby buildings. Stepping out of cover was an Elite Ultra wielding an energy sword, followed by an Elite Minor, a pair of Grunt Minors, and a Jackal wielding the beam rifle Vor'Telam witnessed earlier.

"Greetings!" The Ultra said, pressing his closed fist against his chest in a salute, to which Vor'Telam returned.

"Were you stalking these humans as well, brother? You must be faster If you wish to secure your prey, you know." The Ultra's tone was coy, belting off boisterous laughter after his semi-rhetorical questioning. Before Vor'Telam could speak, the Ultra pushed past him, having spotted one of the Worker Drones attempting to crawl away while they were distracted, though with having only a single arm, he hadn't gotten very far.

Slamming his foot down onto the incapacitated Drone's back, the Ultra grabbed him by the neck and raised him up to eye level.

"Where were you going? Puppet of the Ni'shum…?" The Ultra's breath fogged up the Worker Drone's face screen, causing him to cringe, his eyes shaped like unfilled ovals.

"I-I…I don't know what that is…"

Producing a throaty, growling noise, the Ultra raised his energy sword and drove it straight through the Worker Drone's torso, spraying oil onto himself and the snowy ground. Holding the now deactivated Worker Drone's body aloft, the Ultra belted out a victorious roar, raising his sword into the air, with the Elite Minor joining him in the gesture.

"Are you the only ones?" Vor'Telam watched the Ultra rub the oil off of his face before casting the Worker Drone's body aside. Responding with a nod, Vor'Telam gestured towards Zug-Zug, whom was busy inspecting the Worker Drone that attempted to flee during the fighting.

"I came down earlier, his Phantom crash landed before I arrived. His team was wiped out by these machines." Vor'Telam gestured to the Worker Drone corpses lying in the snow.

"We are moving towards a communications outpost to hail reinforcements. I fear that something has gone terribly wrong, brother." The Ultra, alongside his squad all glanced at each other knowingly. Was he talking about…

"We were attacked as well. By the Brutes…" The Elite Minor gestured to his and the Ultra's armor, which seemed to be freshly damaged, likely by plasma fire.

"As was I. I was unable to save most of my brothers…" Vor'Telam looked towards the ground in shame, had he not been locked inside of that accursed drop pod, he would have leapt to their aid, even If it meant his death…dying was far more palatable than…this.

"At ease, brother. At ease…" The Ultra laid his hand on Vor'Telam's shoulder. "They will not have died in vain. We will be sure of that. This…insurrection of theirs shall not succeed. Once we regain contact with High Charity. This Brute Rebellion shall be put down, and we will continue our path to the Great Journey without them!" The Elite Minor raised his arm into the air and gave off a roar, as did the Ultra, Vor'Telam and the rest of the Covenant forces present remained silent.

"I find something! Come over here!" Zug-Zug shouted, Vor'Telam approached him, only to find that Zug-Zug was holding an obsidian colored, spherical object around the size of a human head, its surface etched in glyphs and geometric patterns. Zug-Zug recognized some of these symbols as Forerunner in origin. That managed to catch everyone present's attention.

"An artifact of the Ancients? By the Prophets…" The Ultra bowed his head in reverence, muttering something that of a prayer in the object's presence, as did the Minor, the rest of the squad showing less respect.

"We must protect this holy relic at all costs. We will accompany you to the communications outpost and deliver unto our Prophets this gift from the gods…"

As the Ultra spoke, Vor'Telam took notice of a blip of movement on his motion tracker, slow, but close by. Fading into range was the sound of something heavy stomping the ground. The source became readily apparent when a machine around 2 stories tall rounded the corner of a building overlooking the plaza. It was bipedal, with an upper body shaped like that of a tank turret mounted onto a pair of metal legs. A pair of glowing red, beady looking cameras served as the machine's eyes. A faded logo across the side of its head reading "JCJenson" became visible.

"Warriors! Prepare for combat!" The Ultra activated his energy sword once more while those under his command scattered for cover, as did Vor'Telam and Zug-Zug. An authoritative voice began to emit from the machine's chassis.

"Attention, hostile targets. You have violated JCJenson company policy LV-71A. Destruction and theft of company property. Under normal circumstances, a peacekeeping officer would be dispatched to your location and you would be properly detained. However, as we are currently operating under planetary emergency level ENNUI. Military law supersedes company policy for the safety of the consumer. Maximum lethal force has been authorized. Have a nice day."

With that, the machine turned and began to lay down autocannon fire from its secondary turrets towards the fleeing Covenant troops, leaving pockmarks in the concrete or outright destroying some remaining walls in the plaza. The machine gave off a sound that almost resembled deep, horn-like laughter. Taking aim at the Ultra using a set of thermal sights, whom was now running up a flight of stairs in one of the nearby buildings, the mech prepared to fire, loading armor-piercing ammunition for good effect.

PCHEW! CHK CHK!

A lance of ionized energy particles slammed into the side skirt armor running alongside the mech's left leg. Though doing very little damage, it seemed more like a shot to get the machine's attention on the Jackal posted up in a nearby parking complex than anything else. Taking its focus off of the Ultra, a set of upward facing mortars extended out of the mech's chassis before firing 3 shots towards the Jackals location. Managing to fire one last shot off and damaging one of the mortars, though this would leave the Jackal with no time to flee the oncoming shells, the first of which detonating right at his feet, destroying the facade of the building and raining debris and snow dust down onto the plaza.

Down on the ground, the two Grunt Minors, the Elite Minor and Zug-Zug were laying down fire onto the mech's legs, attempting to locate a weak spot to bring the beast down, though due to how heavily armored the damn thing was all around, all the plasma fire did was just leave black scorch marks all over the mech's legs. Calling out an order to the Grunt Minors, they both primed their plasma grenades and hurled them towards the mech's upper turret. A set of launchers mounted at the top of the mech sprung to life, before turning and firing an explosive round directly at the plasma grenades, destroying them in flight. Active Protection Systems…damn, this JCJenson really did seem to spare no expense. For civil suppression no less, the mech responded to their attack by launching a volley of 40mm grenades their way, managing to dispatch one of the Grunt Minors in the process, being completely shredded by the shrapnel.

"Need to break those turrets or grenades worthless!" Zug-Zug shouted towards his comrades, cringing from behind a concrete barrier that provided just enough protection from the rain of shrapnel.

From above, from both sides of the buildings surrounding the plaza, the Ultra and Vor'Telam lept out and onto the top of the mech. Now with two hostiles standing on top of its head, the machine understandably began to panic, shifting its weight and turning its turret to try and shake the two Sangheili off, who were now busy driving their blades into just about everything on the mech that looked important, one of which being the APS's. Noticing this, Zug-Zug primed another plasma grenade and hucked it straight towards the mech's midsection, sticking right between where the legs and the chassis were connected, bullseye. The ensuing detonation sent sparks and flames billowing out from the mech's "chest"

With burning hydraulic fluid now pouring out all over the ground, the mech was frozen, it could no longer walk or turn its turret, a set of fire extinguishers activated to desperately put out the inferno, slowly consuming the mech's vital components. Taking notice of a particularly heavily armored hatch bearing a radioactive symbol. Vor'Telam ripped the hatch open to find a glowing reactor core underneath. Turning to the Ultra and gesturing towards the hatch, both Sangheili knew exactly what the other was thinking.

"All units, fall back and take cover!" The Ultra ordered over the radio, before tossing Vor'Telam a plasma grenade and dismounting, running towards wherever his team fled to. Activating the plasma grenade, Vor'Telam stuffed the glowing, blue orb down against the mech's reactor core before leaping off himself, rolling once he hit the ground and dashed for cover. And not a moment too soon. Once the grenade exploded, so too did the reactor core, setting off a chain reaction within the mech, causing smaller explosions and bursts of electricity to course through the machine, shuddering, one final, massive explosion sent whatever was left of the machine toppling over onto the ground in a heap of burning scrap metal and all kinds of fluids, the explosion shook every building within a several block radius, and despite their ringing ears…the Covenant remnants were victorious.

Stepping out of cover, the Ultra roared in victory, raising his sword into the air once more, as did the Elite Minor, Zug-Zug was just happy to be alive, but still shared in the celebration. Though the celebration was brief, as the Ultra began to discover what had become of some of his squad mates, the fallen Jackal and Grunt Minor. Approaching one of their bodies, now mostly buried underneath rubble. The Ultra grew quiet, deactivating his sword and bowing his head. Vor'Telam approached and laid his hand on the Ultra's shoulder.

"Not in vain, brother…Not in vain." The Ultra glanced back at Vor'Telam, the irony of his words not lost on him in the slightest. The group was alerted to the mech making noise again…another voice was coming out of its speakers…how? They had blown the damn thing's reactor sky high? It couldn't still be combat effective? Nearing the burning wreck, the voice became easier to understand.

"Hello? To whoever just busted up my mech, I'd like to wish you a heartfelt death to you and your extended bloodline. The noise seemed to be coming from an armored black box, with a company logo bearing the words 'Lone Star Tech Solutions' in big, bold red letters with a 5 pointed star encased within a thick circle laying to the left of the company's name, likely their logo.

Glancing to the Ultra, Vor'Telam approached the black box, glancing around with a confused look on his face. The voice began again, though sounding far more disgusted than a moment ago.

"Oh God…what…what the hell are you supposed to be? Have the colonists down there really mutated that badly? Were you the one who blew up my mech? You don't have to answer that, by the way. I have the last 5 minutes of this unit's life saved. So I'll find out. Anyways. That Forerunner artifact is property of JCJenson. We excavated it fair and square. Granted, some of those rebellious colonists managed to steal it from us. But you did me a huge favor by killing them. Not that it would have been an issue for me, but rearming this baby costs the company a pretty penny. So. I will cut you a deal. You're going to drop that artifact off in a safe spot, vacate the area and let me do my job, and we'll have no trouble at 've already cost JCJenson way more than the average debtor owes in 5 years. So I am doing you a favor. Do we have a deal?"

What was this heretic talking about? Such arrogance. Before Vor'Telam could attempt to respond. The Ultra approached and grabbed the black box by its handles.

"Your worthless hands have already tainted this holy artifact, human. Your heresy shall not pervert our lord's creations any longer. Our faith is strong, and by the time that our holy work is completed. You and your kind will be all but a myth perpetuated by the godless of this galaxy. Your final…only beneficial action will be to fertilize the soil at our feet whilst we ascend to godhood."

The voice was silent. Unease clung to the air.

"Alright. Fine. We'll do it your way. Well. I'd like to thank you for using JCJenson's Customer Support hotline, my name is Topher. If there's anything else I can assist you with today. Please let me know. If not…then goodbye~"

With that, the signal was cut, and the black box grew silent. As did the pair of Sangheili, both of which looking at each other with the same expression of urgency in their eyes.

"We must make haste for the communications tower, brothers. Secure whatever supplies you can find, and we shall depart. Stay alert. And keep the artifact secure. We have far more trouble on the horizon, and by the gods, we shall prevail…"

To be continued