- Wolverfrog
- |
- Fabled Legendary Member
No where is safe...
Part 31 - United they stand firm
The hastily thrown together 'Council of Galactic races', as they had temporarily named themselves, sat around the round table in the conference room of the Orbital Grid London, requested for this meeting. No race wanted to seem more important than the other.
Present at the meeting were representatives from every faction, bar of course, the Flood. Despite their attempts at equality, the majority at the table were indeed human, merely because the Covenant and Elites placed more trust into but a few leaders to handle their affairs. On the human side, Captain Daniels, Fleet Admiral Harper, and Master Chief Petty Officer were present, as well as the Governor of Earth, a stocky, red faced man who seemed to be a genuine carer about the future of his race. He was not a militaristic man, but he'd demanded to be present at this first of perhaps many meetings. In the corner, bathed in shadow, stood an Office of Naval Intelligence representative, coat collar high and face bathed in the shadow of his or her wide brimmed hat. The ONI rep hadn't spoke a single word, or even approached someone.
The Elites, of course, had the recently declared Imperial Admiral R'tas Vadum', and the Arbiter Thel Vadam' present. Earlier on, Admiral Harper had made the mistake of titling the Arbiter with the suffix 'Vadum', which belonged to R'tas. After a firm telling, he hadn't made the mistake again. The Arbiter had been doing most of the speaking in the meeting, and when he spoke in his gravelling tones, everyone listened.
The Covenant were being represented by the High Prophet of Equanimity, who had been shaken by his friend Sanctity's death, and the gargantuan Brute Chieftain Daedalus. Even John didn't fancy his chances in a fight with that individual. Daedalus had needed an anti gravity seat to be brought down from the city Placid Enrichment, the standard human built seats would simply not hold his weight, as a rather intimidated clerk had discovered.
The Didact was representing his own extinct race, alongside Mendicant Bias. He had remained largely quiet throughout the first half of the conference, preferring to listen rather than speak. John wished he could do likewise, but the situation as it was demanded his input. He tried not to drift off as the Brute Chieftain spoke once again.
"...and we are prepared to give our lives stopping the parasite. Quite how we shall do this how is still an enigma to me." Daedalus finished, and the other races of the Council nodded in agreement. John still was having trouble grappling with the fact that the Brute was actually intelligent. And wise.
"Well we sure as hell don't have the fire-power to launch an assault in space. They have nearly twice as many ships as we do." Admiral Harper protested. Sadly, it was true, despite every last ship the UNSC and others could muster joining up with them. John, an idea forming in his mind, turned suddenly to the Didact, who looked elegant and alien even in the UNSC officer clothes he wore.
"Is there not another Apex somewhere with Forerunner ships were can use? If we have them on our side, maybe we can--" John began, before the Didact stopped him with a pure white hand, shaking his head.
"Alas, there was but one Apex left, untarnished by the Flood. Mendicant Bias tells me, however, that this was destroyed but a few decades ago. According to the fragmented archives of the monitor over-watching that installation, something named The Spirit of Fire was involved." the Forerunner replied gravely. Harper's eyebrows rose.
"The Spirit of Fire's been MIA for years. Isn't that right?" the Admiral asked the unnamed ONI representative, who looked taken aback.
"Yes, of course." she replied softly, in a feminine voice. So it was a women hidden under that hat. John frowned, the women's voice had been almost flawless, but he detected the slightest waver in it. Was she lying? He'd find out later, three of his Spartans had been lost on that ship.
"You humans were involved? Interesting. In any case, we--I have no ships to dedicate to your cause, bar the practically useless Dreadnought. It's engines are beginning to fail, and I doubt it shall survive another slipspace transition." the Didact cut in, and so that was that. They would need some other way to stop the Flood.
"Perhaps a ground operation would be the better option." R'tas input wisely, folding his arms and staring down at the floor. He seemed nervous, especially with a Forerunner at the table.
"Even if we dealt with the flood on the surface, Imperial Admiral, would the parasite not merely destroy us from above, and repopulate Sangheilios with their filth?" Equanimity replied. The Didact chuckled, and shook his head.
"Actually, what the Sangheili here has suggested is a good idea," R'tas blushed at being praised by his 'God'. "Now, the Gravemind is the central intelligence of all the Flood. We take out the Gravemind, the Flood is thus in disarray. They will not pilot their ships so efficiently. And despite their advantage of numbers, our fleets should be able to deal with them, thus liberating Sangheilios."
It was a good plan, but to John it seemed to have but one flaw.
"How do we kill the Gravemind? With that much Flood on the planet, it will be huge, and whatever we do destroy will reform instantly." the Spartan said, and there was a silence around the table for a few moments. Mendicant Bias sighed, if it was possible for a machine to sigh.
"I believe it is time for me to reveal my true purpose, with your leave creator." the AI asked the Didact, who, looking taken aback for a split moment, nodded slowly. Mendicant rose slightly, and everyone turned to look at him.
"You see, I was designed with but one purpose; to destroy, or subjugate the Gravemind. My makers believed that a cure would be found, saving the Precursors, and thus, when I came into contact with the Mind and began feeding information back to my masters, I received no orders other than to watch. Eventually, I was corrupted by the Gravemind, to my shame. And when the order came to destroy, I disobeyed." there was silence in the room. The Didact's face, John noted, was stony.
"But I still possess the means to destroy the Gravemind, and to prevent a new one from being formed, for a short while at least. As I have told you all, the Mind is but a computer. An advanced, organic one, but a computer none the less. And as we all know, computers can be infected with viruses." With this, the Monitor opened a hatch in his chassis, to reveal a rather large, and rather complicated microchip underneath. The chip was alive with blue light.
"And what, Holy Oracle, is that?" the Arbiter questioned, standing up curiously. The chip basked the meeting room in an ethereal blue glow.
"This, Arbiter, is me." Mendicant Bias replied, ambiguously. "All my conciousness; memory, personality, everything is stored in here. As well as the virus to stop the Gravemind."
The implication of this struck everyone, and there were gasps around the room, from all but John, who nodded.
"So you, essentially, are the virus?" the Spartan asked. The monitor pulsed once in confirmation.
"And how do we go about using the virus?" Harper asked, curious. "Can you do it from here?"
"Don't be absurd. The chip must be inserted physically into the core of the Mind, and from there it shall eat away at all the Mind is. I too shall be destroyed in the process." Mendicant said to the Fleet Admiral, who's eyes sparked thoughtfully.
"Then we have a means to stop the Flood once and for all. Our fleets can jump to Sangheilios, and send ground troops down to the surface. Once there, the Spartans can battle their way to this Gravemind, and destroy it. With the Flood in disarray, we can decimate their fleet. Finally, we'll NOVA bomb the planet, and the main infection will have been dealt with." Harper cried out, before R'tas jumped up angrily.
"You can't just destroy Sangheilios!" the Elite Imperial Admiral growled, hand unconsciously going to the sword hilt at his side. John shifted himself closer to the human and Elite leader, ready to intervene should things boil over.
[Edited on 10.27.2009 1:25 PM PDT]