- MaxRealflugel
- |
- Elder Mythic Member
Part 16
March 28th 2552 Onboard the Covenant Flagship: The Shadow of Intent
John paced back and forth in his newfound crew quarters, but it was clearly not designed for a human. In fact it was more like a maintenance room of some kind.
At the Arbiters insistence, John had tried to get some rest, but the current situation was constantly rushing through his mind, and he found himself going over his new opponents again and again.
The Forerunners enemy was more deadly than the Flood, and far more advanced than the Covenant. He began to doubt that even the alliance with the Elites would be enough to stop them.
In addition to the superior technology that was against them and the resilience of the enemy, John needed one more thing: intelligence. He had no idea as to how many of these almost unstoppable aliens were left, or where they came from. Even the ships were a complete mystery to him. He almost shuddered at the thought that the one ship that he and Cortana had seen may just have been the equivalent of a frigate.
He needed answers, and fast.
John eventually admitted defeat and sat on the oddly shaped bed.
It was curved like a kidney, and covered in a strange iridescent material, which as far as John could tell, was some form of blanket.
The room was also unusual, with a sloping ceiling and two curved walls that tapered round the room and into an angled slant from floor to ceiling.
Along the walls were six different coloured orbs. The furthest orb on the left was a dragon-yolk yellow, whilst the next two were a cold blue crystal. The remaining three were trio of various shades of red.
Directly below the orbs were a small opaque screen and a series of angled sockets set parallel into the wall. John noticed that the sockets were about the same size as the plasma pistol charger units that he regularly found scattered around the battlefield. They were near indestructible, and had provided him with cover on countless occasions.
Gradually his mind began to relax and he carefully laid himself down on the bed. At first he was unsure if the Covenant furniture would take the weight of his armour, but it quickly became apparent that the bed was intended for someone of a similar size; probably the Arbiter. Even Elites had to sleep at some point.
John eventually began to drift, but it was far from the calm and serene slumber that he had hoped for. Instead it was a restless and haunted sleep.
Despite the presence of the Arbiter and Cortana only a corridor away, and a ship full of loyal and trusted allies, John felt intolerably lonely. Now he remembered why he had always resisted sleep so much. It was the absence of old friends.
Suddenly the single amber coloured orb on the wall bleeped and pulsed, yanking John back into the conscious world.
John jumped out of bed with a thud, and quickly rushed over to the orb and pressed it. There was a short high pitched whine before the Arbiters voice sounded through the wall. “Spartan, your presence is required on the bridge. There is something that you need to see.”
John ran out of the small room and headed for the bridge, dodging several Elites who all turned and looked at their new addition to the ships crew.
It seemed odd to John to be racing through a Covenant assault carrier without a hail of plasma fire stinging at his heels. Instead, all of the crew were going about their daily ritual of maintenance, security and preparation.
John quickly arrived at the bridge. The two polished, armoured doors slid silently apart.
John slowed to a walk, and entered.
Inside the bridge were a multitude of screens and consoles, all dressed in a familiar tone of turquoise and purple.
The interior of any Covenant vessel always surprised John, regardless of the number of times he was in one. They were such a stark contrast to the continuous lines of grey of a UNSC ship. They looked alive almost.
The far end of the bridge had a main view screen, and a small conference table that was equipped with a holo-projector. Cortana was stood, bathed in her blue light, on the top of the table with her hands on her hips, staring at the image on the main screen.
The Arbiter and Rtas were also stood at the table, looking at the same image with an unusual expression on their faces. It looked as though they were both deeply troubled and strained with excitement.
Cortana was the first to notice John’s arrival. “Chief, we’ve received a surveillance recording from an Elite reconnaissance probe. What it shows is somewhat disturbing.”
John joined them at the table and saw for himself what they were looking at.
In the image was a world unfamiliar to him. Its atmosphere was a dark and murky brown with spots of orange as thousands of fires raged on the surface.
John then moved his attention to the upper atmosphere of the planet, where a storm of debris was caught in the planets gravity. “What are we looking at?” he gasped.
The Arbiter turned. “This, Spartan, is the home world of the Brutes – Doisac.”
John moved closer to the screen. “What happened?”
Cortana responded by rewinding and playing the footage.
The previous view of a broken and shattered world was now replaced by a more prosperous and flourishing planet. Wisps’ of white cloud were scattered around the atmosphere, and a jigsaw of deep blue seas provided a much healthier view to the one before.
The image slowly zoomed out before panning to the right, revealing a trio of Covenant cruisers. The probe followed them as they moved towards a more distant, and as yet unrecognisable, object.
As they neared the object a bright lance of green fire struck out, cleaving one of the cruisers in half in a single deadly beam.
The lights on the butchered ship flickered and fluttered before giving up, and a series of small explosions rocked the decapitated sections as they slowly floated away from the other two ships.
The other two cruisers immediately opened fire, stabbing at the dark and distant vessel with volleys of blue plasma. The surface of the unfamiliar ship rippled as though absorbing the impact of the weapons fire.
The cruisers fired again, this time with torpedoes.
The dark vessel turned, exposing its starboard side to the storm of small suns that were racing towards it.
Another bolt of green energy extended from the hull of the ship, which jumped from torpedo to torpedo, extinguishing each orb of fire as it went.
It was then that John realised he had seen this before, “The enemy.” He muttered.
Despite the overwhelming firepower displayed by the enemy ship, one of the plasma torpedoes managed to get through, smashing into the hull of the alien vessel. The surface rippled once again as the torpedo exploded in a bright glare before settling back to its standard shape.
Sensing defeat against a superior enemy, the two brute cruisers turned and fled, heading back to the planet where a much larger fleet now waited.
The probe followed the pursuit of the alien vessel as it reached the Brutes home world. Almost immediately, the fleet of brute ships fired at the approaching intruder.
The hull of the ship rippled and rolled as each torpedo and lance of plasma was absorbed.
Occasionally a small burst of iridescent fire erupted from the alien ship, but John was unsure whether this was from the amassed firepower of the Brute fleet, or a form of exhaust that was venting the incredible energy that was being absorbed.
Then the alien ship fired.
The green claw of energy jumped from the hull of each ship, destroying each one in turn before following up with a lance of fire that scythed its way through the fleet.
Only a Brute capital ship remained intact, its shield shimmering in the storm.
The Brute ship replied with everything it had, but, as before, each attack fell harmlessly on the alien vessel like the sparks of a furnace splashing on the ground.
The alien vessel returned fire once more. This time the shields wavered and then collapsed before the capital ship exploded.
The alien vessel simply moved on towards the planet before bombarding the surface, and then leaving the system.