- Wolverfrog
- |
- Fabled Legendary Member
Whoa, where did all these words come from? I went crazy with this part, but it does what I wanted to do, and now all is in motion. Enjoy.
Part 29 - Set in motion
"Fleetmaster, our vessel has been boarded by the parasite! I shall destroy us, and them with our ship." a shipmaster told R'tas over the fleet wide intercom, who nodded sadly.
"By your word brother. Truly you are a courageous Sangheili. May the Gods be with you." the Sangheili leader replied, focusing his eyes on the boarded ship of his fleet.
"And you, noble one." the shipmaster replied, terminating the link moments before the ship exploded in a violet cloud of plasma, destroying the boarding Flood and their potential hosts.
R'tas didn't have time to grief though, for the Flood held his attention fast. Both the Separatist and Covenant fleets had been at Sangheilios battling the Parasite fleet for over ten minutes now. The Flood were stronger in number, with well over one and twenty ships, compared to the Separatist and Covenant's 75. Still, they were making progress, and had so far destroyed many a Flood ship. Perhaps they would win after all.
Still, it was strange that the Flood had such a small fleet; Sangheilios had well over 400 ships docked when the Parasite dominated it. Perhaps the beasts did not know how to pilot them.
"Covenant Hierarchs, how is your own side of the battle faring?" R'tas questioned over the intercom, and a moment later he received an answer from Sanctity.
"The Flood are pressing hard, but we will overcome, by the grace of the Forerunners." the elderly Prophet reported, and R'tas nodded, shutting off the link momentarily. He had his own ship to command.
"Flood ships, starboard! Burn their heathen flesh warriors!" R'tas commanded, and a moment later plasma torpedoes surged out of the Intent, sailing towards the standard infected cruisers heading towards them. The plasma cut through the shields of one of the ships, and detonated the fusion heart of the Flood cruisers, shattering it. One of the largest pieces of the wrecked ship crashed into the other Flood cruiser, smashing through the middle. Another bolt of plasma finished the breaking ship off.
"Targets neutralised fleetmaster!" one of R'tas' Zealots cried out in triumph, and the Elite Fleetmaster nodded, gazing out of the observation window to the battle beyond. By his rough estimate, the Flood had lost 15 ships, whilst the Covenant and Elites had lost 10. Considering the Flood possessed more ships, it was likely the battle would be a very close one.
For the next twenty minutes, the two fleets traded fire, both suffering heavy losses. Eventually, the Flood ships had been dwindled down to 90, whilst the Covenant and Separatists had been withered down to a mere 65. Victory was still possible, but it looked slim. Still, Sangheilios was counting on them all.
Just then, there was a surge of light some way off the battle, and R'tas cried out in distress. Through slipspace, nearly 100 Flood ships had arrived; reinforcements. Daedalus evidently saw them too.
"By the Gods, 65 of our ships against 190 of theirs? Impossible. We're all doomed." the Brute Chieftain cried out, pessimistically. R'tas couldn't help but agree with the statement. Misery was clear in all the faces of his subordinates.
"We cannot flee. The Flood would destroy us before we could enter slipspace. We must make our last stand now." the High Prophet of Equanimity breathed over the intercom. He was right. The moment before a ship entered slipspace was when it was most vulnerable, the bending the fabric of space took so much energy that it rendered shields inactive.
"All cruisers, prepare to fire! We shall not go down without a fight." R'tas commanded, as the Flood ships slowly began to encompass the Elite and Covenant ones in a circle.
Suddenly, a Brute Shipmaster in the Covenant fleet barked over the intercom.
"Slipspace rupture on the port side!" the Jiralhanae growled. R'tas growled. More of the Parasite? The universe was truly doomed.
The already present Flood ships were drawing ever nearer. One infected carrier broke off from the main line, and made straight for R'tas's Assault Carrier. The Elite Fleetmaster brought up a control pad, and prepared to self destruct the Intent. He would not become one of them.
Just as the Flood ship was about to crash into the Shadow of Intent, something hit it from the port side. Something large, metallic; a human MAC shot.
R'tas slowly turned his gaze to look out of the port observation window, and gasped, his eyes turning moist with surprise.
"The humans! They've come to help!" R'tas cheered, as did the entire conjoined fleet of the Elites and Covenant.
Over 100 human ships were sailing towards the battle, their huge destroyers taking up the front.
The cheering stopped as abruptly as it had began. One of the human Destroyers, which R'tas read to be named Soul of ice, fired a MAC round. It was not aimed at the Flood. Instead, it flew past them and smashed into the side of the Prophet of Sanctity's Assault Carrier, ripping through it's shields. The other human ships followed up the attack with Archer pods, which exploded into the Covenant carrier, destroying it finitely. R'tas cried out in surprise.
"Sanctity? Sanctity!" Daedalus shouted over the intercom, lamenting over the loss of his fellow Hierarch. There was no response.
"By the Gods, what are the humans doing?" R'tas breathed, staring out at them. They were firing on both the Flood, and the conjoined fleet of the Elites and Covenant. Just then, a human voice broke out over the intercom, mocking.
"Hope you don't mind that we're late to the party chaps." R'tas recognised it as the voice of Lord Eden. The Elite clenched his fists tightly.
"What in the Gods name do you think you are doing human? Cease your attack on my ships at once, we are not infected!" R'tas demanded, smashing his fist onto the dashboard of his ship. All he received in reply was a laugh full of mirth.
"Oh, you are an infection Elite. Just not of the Flood. Tell the Devil that humanity sent you." Eden spoke coldly, and then he terminated the line, leaving R'tas standing there on his ship as the humans cut through the Flood, shooting down his fleet as well"
"Fall back! Get around the other side of the Parasite! Put some distance between us and the humans, now!"
*********************
"Hold on..." the Didact warned, as the Dreadnought cut through the sky of the Dyson Sphere. John grasped onto a metal bar affixed to the inner hull tightly with a single hand. The two were inside the -blam!-pit of the ship. John's curiosity had overcome his restraint, he wanted to see how this ship flew.
Logically, the Dreadnought should have broken the atmosphere, and entered space. It was what John was used to, and, despite knowing what would happen in actuality, it was still half unexpected.
Rather than break the bonds of the sphere, the Dreadnought seemed to distort, and slow down. A rift appeared at the tip of the Forerunner ship; like a slipspace hole but not quite the same. The world went blurry, until a moment later, they were in slipspace. Or something like slipspace. In actuality, it seemed a lot like the version of slipspace he'd entered in the past when they had salvaged the Forerunner crystal from the burning Reach.
"How long?" John asked, walking up to the Forerunner, who looked thoughtful.
"Ten minutes. I know, it's slow, but this Dreadnought isn't in peak condition." the Forerunner said casually, grimacing in what seemed like an apology. The Master Chief let out a noise of disbelief.
"Slow? Didact, with our ships, it would take months to travel from Onyx to Earth." John told the Forerunner, who's noble brow rose, tapered ears quivering.
"Months? How extraordinary." the Didact remarked, smiling.
It seemed the Forerunner had not been exaggerating; for but a few minutes later, they emerged out of slipspace, and John could clear see Earth looming in the distance. Earth. Even though he was a colonist, born on Eridanus II (Which had been glassed by the Covenant back in 2530), every human still felt a tenuous connection to their species' planet of origin.
"Home sweet home." Johnson breathed, coming up behind John after entering the -blam!-pit. Another example of a man who's curiosity overcame restraint. The Spartan nodded as the Dreadnought sailed past the Lunar colony.
After having secured the Apex with Johnson, the rest of Blue Team had met up with them. The Didact had then fired up the Dreadnought, with everyone on board. And now, they were back at Earth.
John looked forward to having a bit of peace and quiet. The Didact would be able to convince the Elites to give up fighting; they viewed him as a God, after all, and once that had been done humanity would be easy to placate. Perhaps John would finally retire; he'd seen enough war and loss to last him a lifetime. It would be nice to have a normal life for once. Although given his size and stature, it would be difficult for him not to draw attention to himself.
There was but ship orbiting the planet, what seemed to be an ONI Prowler. How strange. As the Forerunner Dreadnought approached closer to Earth, the human ship noticed them, and swivelled towards them. With his keen eyesight, John could see the MAC cannon of the ship unfold in preparation. The Spartan tapped the Didact on the shoulder.
[Edited on 10.16.2009 4:52 PM PDT]