- MaxRealflugel
- |
- Elder Mythic Member
Part 7
November 7th 2552 (Forerunner shield world)
Fred took a few cautious steps forward into the interior of the doorway. He half expected to be struck down with some ancient weapon from a waiting sentinel, but instead there was nothing but silence.
The doorway opened onto a small platform which had a solid wall on the right, and what appeared to be a single large pane of glass on the left. The route ahead moved from the small platform and steadily descended down a ramp and round to the left.
Behind him Dr. Halsey was attempting to squeeze through the wall of Spartans in an effort to see what lay beyond the doorway, but none of the Spartans, new or old, would let her past. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she needed answers quickly, if she was to open the Cryo-tubes.
Fred was in two minds as to who should take point. Olivia was quick and as stealthy as a cat, but Fred’s Mjolnir armour was able to withstand more punishment, should they run into trouble. In the end he took on the responsibility himself and pushed ahead, following the ramp down into the interior of the Dyson sphere.
Linda and Olivia cautiously followed him in, weapons at the ready, whilst Kelly and the doctor were told to wait at the entrance, in case they needed any assistance.
The corridor descended steadily for several levels and it appeared no different to the bowels of Onyx that they had explored only a few days earlier. The unusual glass-like material gave way to another solid wall as they reached another sub-level, where the corridor ended, blocked by another door. But this time it was unlocked.
“Obviously the Forerunners thought that no one would penetrate the outer door.” Fred whispered to himself
Fred felt more comfortable with their progress and was now happy to send Olivia forward to investigate the area beyond the door. She acknowledged with a simple nod, and quietly crept towards the end of the corridor.
Olivia was more than familiar by now with the motion sensors on the Forerunner doorways. She knew where the sensing area was and remained just beyond its detection. The last thing that she wanted to do was bound into the next room only to be confronted by a Covenant army or something worse.
In the time that they had spent on this shield world, Olivia, along with the rest of the Spartans, had been privy to a wealth of information that Dr. Halsey had divulged with them. During her transit towards Onyx, the doctor had procured an updated intelligence report on their war with the Covenant, which she later shared with the rest of the stranded group. But it was the report on John’s encounter with the ring-like structure that had created the greatest amount of interest, especially with the newer Spartans.
To them, John seemed to be twice as big and twice as fast as the rest of the SPARTAN II’s, but Kelly often reminded them it was her that was the fastest, although she couldn’t deny that John was indeed an exceptional soldier.
His previous actions had no doubt caused serious problems within the Covenant, and their relentless march of conquest had faltered as a result. But now they were on Earth, attempting to destroy the very heart of Humanity.
For Olivia the Invasion of Earth was literally light-years away, and the Covenant had never overly concerned her, despite her age. Even the Hunters were just another target.
It was the other species from the ring that had made her skin crawl. The Flood, they were different to the Covenant and Humanity in every way. To them it did not matter whose side you were on. You were just food, just another host to an organism with an unending appetite for all who stood in their way.
Olivia slowly moved into the sensor range, and the door silently opened.
Inside was an empty chamber, about fifty metres in diameter and at the centre of the room was a control panel and a holographic plinth. The surrounding walls were arched in towards the centre point of the ceiling, where a small inverted dome was located.
Olivia moved further inside, followed by Fred and Linda. They quickly checked the area and surmised that the room was empty, save for the control panel and an isolated lift at the far end of the chamber.
Fred walked up to the panel and gazed at the alien symbols floating across its display. He was compelled to press one of the symbols, but without a good understanding of the language, he could accidentally activate some sort of self-destruct sequence.
Fred activated the secure COM channel and selected Kelly’s ID on the network menu.
“Kelly, bring Dr. Halsey down, I have something she needs to see.”
May 18th 2866 (Location Unknown)
John dived out of the way of the nearest sentinel beam, which scorched the metal floor where he was stood only seconds before. He rolled to the side, rose up on one knee and fired a short burst from his assault rifle. The sentinel exploded, showering half a dozen of the Forerunner automatons with shrapnel, which in turn fell from the air, damaged by the explosion of their comrade.
These older sentinels were proving an easier target, as they were not equipped with any form of shielding. They were also less maneuverable than their more up to date counterparts from the halo structures, but there were hundreds of them and they were all after a single target, John.
John glanced over at Cortana, who by now was busily sifting through the security directive in an effort to stall or stop the attack.
Another glaring beam struck out at John, but he rolled back behind the cover of the Main computer console.
“Cortana any time is good, but now would be better!” yelled John
Another wave of sentinels fired their beam weapons at the console, causing significant damage. John returned fire and another three sentinels fell to the floor in a broken heap.
John grabbed his last grenade and set the fuse to 1 second, pulled the pin and threw it at the mass of hovering sentinels, causing a chain reaction of explosions as it detonated. The sentinels, as though startled by this display of determination, cautiously back away from the chamber before re-grouping and attacking in pairs, in an attempt to outflank the target.
John replied with another thunderous volley of weapons fire from his assault rifle, downing the first two pairs.
The third and fourth pair continued their advance, firing as they moved.
John darted left then right, narrowly avoiding the superheated beams as they carved a smouldering scar in the floor and nearby wall.
“Got it!” shouted Cortana
All of the sentinels suddenly stopped firing, and then slowly glided off towards the large corridor where their hatches were located.
John carefully rose up from behind the damaged computer console, watching the sentinels as they disappeared from view.
“I take it you found the security directive,” said John
“It wasn’t easy chief, the Forerunner was trying everything to stop me from overriding the system.” Replied Cortana
John looked back at the Forerunner in the chair; his pale, comatose appearance had been replaced by a face filled with life and activity. Somehow he looked younger than before.
“What did you do to him?” asked John
“Nothing serious, I just demoted him to monitoring a non-essential system on one of the deeper sub-levels. But he now knows that we’re not here to harm him or the facility.”
“How did you convince him?
“I just told him the truth, that you were a Reclaimer.”
John looked back at Cortana with interest. “I’ve heard this title over and over from the monitors of Halo, but what does it mean?”
“When the Forerunners were at war with “The Enemy”, they created numerous different species in an effort to continue their legacy, should things go horribly wrong. Humanity was one of those species, and the structure on Earth was there as a reminder of the Forerunners history, along with a library, so that Humanity would be able to take their place when the time was right.” Explained Cortana
John moved closer to Cortana before asking another question.
“So what about the Covenant?” John enquired.
“Just the same, but with different DNA.” replied Cortana
“So Humanity and the Covenant are just like two children from the same family, fighting for recognition.” Stated John
“In a way.” Replied Cortana with a surprised expression, as though stunned by John’s take on the whole situation. “I suppose that’s one way you could put it.”
Suddenly the lights dimmed again and the pale-blue lines throughout the room changed to a striking red.
“Cortana?” asked John
Cortana spoke briefly before a look of shock filled her blue face, “Nothing to do with me chief, the systems just went…oh my,”
“What is it?”
“The whole planet has just gone into some kind of lockdown, and the weapon systems are now online,” Cortana glared at a blank area of space in front of her, as though she was scanning the system again. “I thought that’s what I saw.”
“Saw what Cortana?” said John loudly
“There’s an enemy ship in orbit, it arrived only a few seconds ago.”
“Which enemy?” asked John with a curious tone
Cortana came back with an answer that he did not expect, “The Enemy, the Forerunners enemy!”
To be continued…
[Edited on 06.20.2008 12:59 PM PDT]