Hey guys, TheDoctor1998 here with another chapter! Last time, we saw some Sangheili explorers discover the Na'vi, the Batarians leave the Citadel, a few strange and horrifying things with Alastor, the Skyllian Blitz, and the start of the Alliance's retaliation.
Now, on with the show!
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29-12-2671
Citadel Tower
Citadel
Widow System
"How- how is this possible?" Tevos stammered, watching the footage of Theshaca's destruction.
"Must've somehow caused nuclear fusion within Theshaca, briefly turning it into a star before it blew itself apart, taking its moons and those pirates with it. Wonder how they did it?" Milnori said, mumbling to herself.
"Shiva warheads, Councilor." Ambassador Tortor said, walking into the council chambers. "I assume you've summoned me here because of that?"
"Yes." Sparatus growled. "Since when did the Alliance have weapons capable of destroying planets?"
"Did you even read about the history of the Great War?" Tortor chuckled. "Both Humanity and the Covenant had access to such weapons before the inception of the Alliance. In fact, the destruction of Theshaca is not the first time something like this has happened."
"It isn't?" Tevos asked, her eyes wide.
"Nope." Tortor replied. "The tactic was invented by the legendary Admiral Cole during his last stand in the Psi Serpentis System, where he lured an entire Covenant fleet into a gas giant named Viperidae by diving in himself and shouting blasphemies of the Covenant's religion on an open channel. Then he shot over a hundred shiva warheads to the planet's surface, igniting the atmosphere and destroying both himself and the Covenant fleet." He looked each of the Councilors carefully in the eye. "Today, we call such a move a Viperiade manoeuvre, both honoring the man and using the tactic where and when applicable."
"Isn't destroying an entire planet to deal with a bunch of pirates a bit… much?" Milnori tensely asked.
"Maybe." Tortor shrugged. "But it send a message, took out all of the forces and riches of the pirate leading them and the pirate himself, and Theshaca's moons held no life and no value aside from some minerals."
"Then what about Casbin?" Tevos asked, mentioning another planet of the Hong System. "It's a life-bearing world of its own, and the simple life forms could easily be affected by such a calamity."
"Already accounted for." Tortor waved her off, much to the Asari's annoyance. "As the two planets were on the opposite sides of Hong, any radiation spike would easily be blown away by the star's solar winds before it could possibly reach the planet. And any of the physical debris is carefully being monitored, and destroyed if necessary. And our AI have already calculated that Theshaca's removal would have a negligible effect on the system as a whole. Worst case scenario, Treagir would start drifting out of the system."
"And what of the slaves?" Sparatus asked, judging the Unggoy. "Did your people just leave them to die?"
"Of course not, we're not monsters." Tortor scoffed. "As the majority of the pirate fleet was away, we launched a quiet rescue operation, killing what few pirates remained in the moon's bases and taking any slaves with us, before waiting for Haliat and his forces to return and spring our little trap." He then looked over his own communicator. "Speaking of which, as all the slaves are former Citadel nationals, we are currently sending them right here for you to sort them out. Think of this as a taste of what we're about to do." The little methane breather then left, leaving the Council to deal with what he'd just revealed.
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31-12-2671
Unknown location
Unknown planet
Unknown system
Netiri awakened once again, and just like the days before, she was in a metal cage, wrapped in ropes of metal, and watched by the same kind of ugly Sky People that had taken her.
Looking around, she saw that many of her own people were taken to this strange place, so far away from Eywa. Enough to leave entire tribes decimated or wiped out, at the very least, as Netiri had never seen so many of her people in one place. Never even heard of something like that happening.
But it wasn't just her people that were in cages. Other Sky People, likely taken from their own worlds like she was, were trapped in cages alongside her. Most of them looked like small Na'vi without tails or tswin, and more ape-like than her own people. But there were others as well, including some even smaller creatures, or creatures comparable to her own height. She even saw a creature made of metal, leaving her wondering how one of Eywa's siblings could even allow that to happen.
Each day was torture. Not only did these four eyed Sky People, Batarians one of the small apes called them, use strange weapons to fill her body with lightning, but being separated from Eywa for so long was starting to take its toll on the Na'vi.
Tsaheylu. The thing that all of Eywa's creations could do. Life on her world was made to connect, regardless of species. Every plant was connected to one another in a massive network of roots, and the tswins of all animals could connect them to both each other and the tswins of the plants. The act of Tsaheylu was something that Netiri couldn't describe in its full to something that was created without a tswin, such as these Sky People, but it was something vital to life on Eywa'eveng.
To deprive something of Tsaheylu was a fate worse than death, and considered the cruelest form of torture by all tribes. Even captives in the rare cases of conflict were allowed to partake in the ritual, and all tribes have collectively agreed that depriving someone of it was the worst offense something could do. It was the one thing that would make a death justified, even if it was rare to the extreme for a Na'vi to do something like that.
The psychological toll was truly awful. That lack of a connection, that overwhelming and oppressive silence, that creeping darkness. It was something that no Na'vi could go through for long without growing insane.
But these awful Sky People committed to this sin in ways never seen before, as each and every Na'vi was separated in their own cage, unable to even initiate Tsaheylu with one another. And those that did try were punished severely, tortured into unconsciousness over and over.
Netiri now truly understood why those unfortunate Na'vi that lost their tswin during a hunt or accident took their own life. Even these past few days without Tsaheylu were torturous, so to be permanently deprived of it for the rest of their lives? Netiri would plunge her body into a blade herself should something like that ever happen to her.
But she wouldn't break. She refused to break to these monstrous Sky People. Already, she was planning to break free. She didn't know how yet, and she didn't know how to get her people back to Eywa'eveng, but she knew that she'd slaughter the Sky People that put her, her kind, and the other Sky People in these cages once she got out.
Then, the metal cavern started to shake, and both the caged and uncaged Sky People started panicking, with the free Sky People rushing somewhere with their strange weapons of metal.
Netiri knew then that, somehow, Eywa had sent help.
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31-12-2671
Torfan's Bastion
Torfan
Hakak System
To say that Bray was nervous was an understatement. News reached him of the response that the Alliance had given to Haliat, with said response being an absolute slaughter of his forces and a destroyed planet.
Currently, he was busy marshalling his forces. Every single pirate that was under his command was either manning one of the many ships of Torfan's fleet, or heavily armed inside of the moon's many bases. It would be considered suicide to try and take Torfan.
Still, the same thing was once considered about fighting the Council species, and the Alliance had absolutely humiliated them during the First Contact War. And considering how they've got planet destroying weapons, it's not such a stretch of the imagination to think Bray's forces were going to be destroyed.
Still, they had the slaves. Torfan was a hotspot of activity due to its location, making it the perfect funnel to bring slaves taken by its "pirates" into Hegemony space. Not to mention that the lack of atmosphere made the various bases a perfect prison, as the slaves would have no chance of getting out without suffocating. And the very existence of said slaves would make them perfect hostages, shielding the pirates from any planet busters.
Just as he finished that thought, one of his subordinates called out to him. "Sir! We've got Slipspace ruptures!"
Bray looked over to the holographic display. All around Torfan, and near the Mass Relays, ships of various Alliance species poured out of their portals. The ones near the Relays were unleashing millions of mines, effectively preventing any ship from using them without getting blown up.
The ones near the moon, however, were much more aggressive. Huge slugs, plasma, lasers, they were all fired at the pirate ships before any action could be taken.
"Call in the Hegemony!" Bray barked, knowing the Hegemony would be willing to try and intimidate the Alliance forces away.
"We can't!" Another subordinate yelled. "Our communication systems are down! Human ships have destroyed the com buoy in the system!"
Then, something unexpected happened. Bray felt a burning pain in his chest, greater than anything he'd ever felt before. He wanted to scream, but it was like his lungs were incapable of doing so. Using his quickly fading strength, he looked down, and knew that he was already dead.
Sticking out of his chest was a Sangheili energy blade, already having done enough damage to kill him if he doesn't receive treatment. Looking around, he saw his comrades quickly get taken down by cloaked Sangheili. Limbs, eyes, everything got slashed to pieces.
Then, the blade in Bray's chest switched off, and the Batarian quickly felt his legs give out as the Sangheili that stabbed him became visible. It was smaller than most Sangheili soldiers, with its limbs being thinner, but no less muscular. 'A female.' Bray realized with a level of disgust, hating that a member of the lesser sex did this. But this particular female had a gleam of madness in her eyes.
"You and I are going to have some fun, filthy slaver." The Sangheili giggled, which was extremely unsettling on its own, especially for a stoic species like hers. She reactivated her blade, inching it closer and closer to Bray's face. "If I remember correctly, you people believe the soul leaves the body through the eyes. Let's make sure yours can't." Then, she brought the blade down, slashing Bray's eyes one by one as she reveled in his screams.
First, she took his upper left eye, the part through which his higher thinking would leave. Then its twin on the right side, depriving him of willpower in his afterlife. Then, she took his lower right eye, trapping his emotions. "Please." He groaned, begging for her to stop, to at least let his memories escape into the great beyond.
A sadistic chuckle was all he needed to know what she'd do. "Did you stop when a slave begged for their life?" Before Bray could answer, the Sangheili slashed out his last eye, blinding him and trapping all four major aspects of the soul in his dying body. Then, he felt her breath in his ear as she whispered. "After we're done here, we'll make sure there will be nothing left of your bodies for treatment. Your souls will be trapped in the dust of this moon, drifting for an agonizing eternity in the void." As a final goodbye, she slashed at his hands with what had to be two energy blades at once, quite literally disarming the dying Batarian before she stomped away.
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31-12-2671
Torfan's Bastion
Torfan
Hakak System
"Was that truly necessary, Blademistress?" One of the Sangheili asked as he watched the Batarian she tortured finally die.
"These monsters have no honor." The dual wielding Sangheili growled as she stabbed the base's security systems. "They treat their slaves with more contempt than the Covenant treated the Unggoy and Kig-Yar. These vermin are as dishonorable as it can get, so why should we show them the courtesy?"
"At your command, Blademistress." The other Sangheili bowed before returning to his duties, activating his cloak as he prepared to slaughter the slavers and free their victims.
Deep inside the soul of the Blademistress, though, she had to admit that her subordinate had a point. She knew she had a darkness in her soul, one that sometimes drove her to do awful things, one that often made her go too far in her fights if she truly hated her opponents.
Still, she could control it. She made sure that her blades remained untainted by the blood of the innocent, even if she refused to show any mercy when it came to the monsters of the Universe. Talented and well trained as she was, even the darkest part of her could not stain her spirit with the deaths of the untainted. She had seen enough of her father's guilt during his time in the Covenant to know that she didn't want it herself.
Cela 'Vadam, daughter of the Arbiter, would make sure not to go down the same dark path that her father was tricked into, no matter what.
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31-12-2671
UNSC Cronos
In orbit of classified star
Classified system
The UNSC Cronos had gone a long way since the days of the First Contact War. Once, it was a small ship meant to give a handful of people the opportunity to traverse the stars. Since the inception of Cerberus, however, it has grown.
With money siphoned off from various front companies, donors, stolen goods from alien civilizations, and good old fashioned blackmail, the capabilities of Cerberus had grown beyond the wildest dreams of its founders, and the Cronos reflected that.
What was once basically a space dinghy was now effectively a battlestation with a Slipspace engine strapped onto it, with various wings dedicated to research, military training, agricultural development, and more. It was effectively a self-sustaining bastion of Cerberus might, capable of moving anywhere to prevent discovery.
On the bridge of the Cronos, overlooking a star within the Terminus Systems, were the three founders of Cerberus. Each of them had taken a moniker, with the two organics having faked their own deaths to protect their loved ones in their previous life.
First, was Jack Harper, or the Illusive Man as those who know of his existence know him as. The Illusive man was named that way because of his aura of mystique, and the fact that nothing is known about him outside of his innermost circle.
Second was Seelac N'ra, or the Viper as she's now known. The Viper was the Silurian among the group, named that way both for her venomous abilities, and for her knack of striking with the power of their organization in just the right spots.
Last was the AI known as Alastor, the Radio Demon. Alastor was the only one of the three who didn't bother hiding his identity, though there was still little known about him. He was still given a moniker like his colleagues though, as his uncanny ability to intervene with signals combined with his sadistic nature made him a frightening force to face.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Seelac asked, going over some data.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, his eyebrow raised.
"I mean the casualties." Seelac sighed, showing him what she was looking at. "Millions of people dead or kidnapped across the Verge, just because we ultimately infuriated the Hegemon into leaving the Citadel."
"Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs!" Alastor laughed. "Besides, this will ultimately work for the best."
"He's right." Jack nodded. "The Hegemon would've attacked us either way, all we did was hasten the process and allow the Citadel to remain out of it. This way, the UEG and the rest of the Alliance don't have to spread themselves across the galaxy to fight an extremely costly war."
Seelac nodded. While each Alliance military vessel could easily take down its Citadel counterpart, the fact remained that Citadel ships were both far more numerous and manoeuvrable. Even with the Alliance dabbling in Eezo tech, courtesy of Quarian knowledge in engineering, they were still unable to close the manoeuvrability gap with anything bigger than fightercraft.
That said, while the Batarians had the most numerous military aside from the Council species, they were still a minor military force on par with the species from the Covenant Fringe. Against the full might of even the UNSC, Swords of Sanghelios, or the Jiralhanae Packs they would stand no chance on their own, nevermind the whole Alliance. And that was assuming, of course, that the Hegemony wasn't overstating its strength like both they and ONI highly suspected they did.
"Bigger picture." Seelac sighed, returning to her duties.
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31-12-2671
Torfan's Bastion
Torfan
Hakak System
Jake Sully was, in a word, disgusted.
Disgusted at the Batarians, disgusted at their culture, disgusted at their blatant disregard for life and the individualities of others. But above all, he was disgusted at how the slaves-to-be were treated here on Torfan.
He, alongside various teams of ODSTs, had quickly and quietly entered the various bases on this damned moon together with Sangheili Spec Ops, slaughtering the various pirates and slavers inhabiting this moon.
They didn't free the slaves just yet, though, as they had no way of taking them away from this place by themselves. All the slaves would do is get in the way until every single pirate was dead.
Jake stepped into another room, one filled with kidnapped primitive Na'vi. Most of them flinched away from him, though one rather beautiful Na'vi woman simply hissed at him. 'Good.' He thought. 'Means not all of them are broken by this scum, at least.'
Jake quickly activated a message on his communicator. Unfortunately, the Na'vi language hadn't been fully translated yet, with communications being extremely basic. The Tier 7 species had nothing in terms of technology, so there was nothing for any AI to hack and download the language from. The only thing they could do was observe with their cloaking technology, slowly but surely learning their tongue and the pictograms they used as scripture in the old fashioned way.
Interestingly, it seemed that the Na'vi did have a unified language, as they saw no deviations within either oral or written language, which was extremely unusual for either a Tier 7 or Tier 6 civilization. The earliest such a thing could occur within reason would be as a Tier 5 civilization, but it wasn't unheard of for a species to maintain multiple languages even in this day and age. There were multiple theories as to how the Na'vi did it so early on, but most agree that it had something to do with that neural plug that all life on Eywa'eveng seemed to have. And perhaps that giant neural network that the plants seemed to form with those things.
He quickly showed the message to the Na'vi, hoping the eggheads that were busy translating the alien language had done a good job. 'Not with them. Here to help.'
Instantly, the Na'vi seemed to calm down somewhat. She was still on edge, but she wasn't as hostile as she was before. Then, her eyes widened when she looked at something behind Jake.
Before Jake could react, he was encased in a biotic bubble before getting thrown around. When he landed on the ground, he felt an immense pain in his back, causing him to scream in fury and suffering.
When he looked over, he saw a Batarian glowing with biotic powers, clearly the one who tossed him and, judging from the lack of feeling in his legs, broke his spine. Still, even if he couldn't walk again without some flash cloned replacement, he wouldn't take it lying down.
He quickly picked up a plasma grenade, tossing it straight into the Batarian's face. The four eyes of the pirate quickly widened in panic, the bastard desperately trying to get it off of his face before the explosive quickly turned him into a headless corpse.
Jake quickly dropped his arms in exhaustion, the adrenaline quickly starting to leave his system. But before he let his body give into the pain, he crawled towards the Na'vi woman, unlocking her cage.
The last thing he saw before things went black was the tall blue alien stepping out of her prison.
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31-12-2671
Unknown location
Unknown planet
Unknown system
To say Netiri was shocked was an understatement. There she was, ready to slash at the Sky Person as she had so many times before. Then, it showed her something. It looked like a child trying to write their first pictures with how awful the grammar was, but it was simple enough to convey the message.
Then, one of the four eyed Sky People attacked it, looking like it crippled it before the friendlier one threw something at the four eyed one's head, which quickly exploded. Then the friendly Sky Person pressed something, which both opened her cage and loosened the metal ropes enough for her to slip out.
Netiri walked up to the Sky Person, which had fallen unconscious from its wounds. She quickly, yet gently, picked up the tiny creature, trying to bring it somewhere safe. Then, another group of Sky People showed up, reptiles with strange lower jaws.
They quickly seethed their glowing blades when they saw her, showing her an image made of light itself, showing her the same pictograms that the unconscious Sky Person showed her. 'They must be with each other.'
'Enemies dead.' Another image read, before the reptiles walked up to the other cages, freeing both her people and the trapped Sky People. 'Follow.' A big image read, quickly shifting to other strange symbols that the Sky People seemed to understand.
Netiri followed the flow of people, walking past warrior Sky People surrounding captured four eyed Sky People, as well as various bodies of the four eyed creatures.
She also saw various Na'vi finally engage in Tsaheylu with one another, relief and joy clearly visible on their faces, even in the situation they'd found themselves in.
The chieftain's daughter didn't know what was going to happen to her people in the future, but she could already feel that Eywa'eveng would be forever changed by what happened.
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31-12-2671
SOS Seeker of Truth
Torfan's orbit
Hakak System
Thel glared at the rotten little moon of Torfan with contempt, truly hating everything the celestial body stood for. Once he'd learned of the pirate attack, both he and his daughter volunteered for the counterattack. And as he was the single most experienced tactician in the known galaxy, he was given the privilege of leading the fleets.
The plan was rather simple, but more than sufficient to work against these barbarians. Utilizing prowlers with Mass Effect Cores installed, the Alliance had sent some elite stealth forces towards Torfan. Due to the nature of a prowler, the stealth systems effectively rendered their ships completely invisible when it came to anything aside from whenever they open a Slipspace portal. However, they were small enough to house useful Mass Effect Cores inside, and their own invisibility effectively nullified any detectable blueshift.
Naturally, the infiltrators consisted of both Humans and Sangheili. As much as Thel appreciated his allies, the vast majority of them aren't great when it came to stealth. Most of their species were simply too large or too loud, sometimes both as with the Jiralhanae.
As the prowlers entered the various bases on Torfan, Thel led his fleet and those of his allies into the fray, acting both as a righteous hammer of retribution, and an obvious distraction. Their forces were purposely kept small to not appear with overwhelming force, allowing the pirates some time to fight back as the infiltrators did their job.
Of course, the Arbiter could still easily wipe out the entire fleet with the Seeker of Truth alone, but they had to make it believable.
Soon, however, the pirate fleet was quickly wiped out with no casualties on their side. "Send in the ground forces." Thel commanded.
Quickly, broadswords and banshees quickly taking out Torfan's anti-air defenses as pelicans and phantoms brought in the more obvious troops. Thankfully, it seemed that their ground forces were largely unnecessary, as the infiltrators had already slaughtered the leadership and much of the defenders before they even realized what was happening.
With haste, the soldiers evacuated all the captured civilians within Torfan's many bases, taking extra care when it came to the understandably distrusting Na'vi. Thankfully, there were a few of them who saw what happened, and quickly conveyed to the others that there would be no harm from what Thel understood.
One of them even carried a wounded ODST towards his fellow soldiers, who quickly guided the larger woman towards a place where the ODST could get healed. Within the day, the bases of Torfan were largely abandoned. All soldiers and slaves had been removed, leaving only the dead and the trapped pirates.
They made sure they couldn't escape what'd happen next.
"Incoming message from the UNSC Infinity, Holy Arbiter." The Construct of his ship said.
Thel frowned. He didn't like this particular Human much, as it seemed like he'd managed to get into his position as Shipmaster of the first Infinity Class more through political manoeuvring than any actual skill. Not to mention his general attitude towards both his men and his allies.
Still, Fleetmaster Andrew Del Rio was more than willing to follow the orders of his superiors, which explicitly told him to do what the Arbiter told him to do. "Arbiter, we've evacuated the slaves and our forces from Torfan."
"Good." The Arbiter nodded. "Tell me, Del Rio, what day is it today in the Human calendar?"
Del Rio was taken aback, but he quickly managed to gather his composure. "The 31st of December, the final day of our year. Otherwise known as New Year's Eve. Why do you ask?"
"Because I was led to believe that your people ignite fireworks en masse at the exact moment the old year shifts into a new one." The Sangheili grinned. "And from what I understand, it's almost time for that tradition."
Del Rio blinked for a moment before giving the Arbiter a smile. "I hate to admit it, Arbiter, but I like the way you think. Cutting it a little close, though."
Thel waved the Human off. "It was never a necessity towards the plan. The psychological attack on the Hegemony does not rely on the timing, though the symbolism will give some invigoration to our own people's morale."
The Human nodded. "Alright then. I'll make sure the First Fleet will be ready."
As Del Rio hung up on the Arbiter, Thel looked at his communications officer. "Send a message towards the fleet to fire when ready."
"As you command." The communications officer nodded, spreading the word.
The Arbiter glanced towards his clock, seeing that the show would begin in just a few minutes. He heard the primary weapon of the Seeker of Truth warm up, and at a glance he saw the same thing happen to all but the Human ships, who opted to ready their nuclear weapons instead.
"All ships in position." Said the navigation officer.
A few minutes later, the countdown was down to its last seconds. "Ten." He started to count, his voice clear on all communications.
"Nine." The various Constructs in the fleet said, seeing where this was going.
"Eight." The Shipmasters and crew above Torfan grinned.
"Seven." The former slaves heard, many anxious, yet curious.
"Six." The Na'vi heard, not understanding.
"Five." Netiri heard, seeing the grins on the Sky People, and understanding that they were counting down.
"Four." The glassing beams underneath the former Covenant ships started glowing, as the warheads of the Human ships started their engines.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Zero."
As one, the glassing beams and Shiva warheads fired at the surface of Torfan, purposely missing most of the bases at first. The nuclear warheads quickly turned their targets to rubble, the points of impact vaporizing in the heat as the shockwaves started tearing the moon's surface apart.
The glassing beams quickly melted through other places, liquifying Torfan's crust with the intense heat of their plasma.
Inside the pirate bases, the pirates were panicking. The Alliance had made sure there was no escape, having completely deleted all programming within any ships inside the hangar. While it was possible to reprogram them, that would take time. Time the pirates didn't have.
One by one, the pirate bases were destroyed, either by nuclear fire or the heat of plasma. And high above, watching as Torfan's surface was turning into an irradiated and glassed wasteland, knowing that the monsters that called this place home were likely praying to whatever god they had, the Arbiter smiled.
"Happy new year." Thel 'Vadam muttered, watching the metaphorical fireworks.
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And that's a wrap. The raid on Torfan happened, the slaves are freed, and Torfan is being annihilated in a show of force, turning it into a warning for those who want to fuck with the Alliance.
Also, I put Del Rio in this era instead of the normal Halo timeline, to show what might follow. Think of this as an AU where some people who didn't show up in the original Halo trilogy were born much later in the timeline. Not all of them, but some.
I should note, however, that it wasn't my original intention to put the New Years countdown in. That said, considering the timing and my plan for Torfan (which I had from the beginning), I thought it fitting. Wish you all a happy new year!
TheDoctor1998 here, signing out!