- soulguard
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
Eric looked about the room more and walked toward the Box. As he approached he heard Doctor Halsey groan at a sudden discovery.
“It was lie.” She gasped. Catherine pushed her seat back and seemed to look out into nothingness as she pondered what she had just read. “Earth was not destroyed by a second moon. The Forerunners lied…”
“Yes doctor.” Siren added. “They lied in order to save you. The Keeper of the Seed Ship told us that our home world was destroyed by a crashing moon. This event did happen, but not on Earth.”
“Mars, that happened on Mars.” Catherine ran her through her hair as an image of Mars appeared on the screen. The picture of Mars was overlapped by a historical image of Mars before its moon fell. Mars was filled with lakes and reservoirs, a beautiful green world.
Siren added. “The event that took place on Mars threatened the stability of Earth. It was feared that Mars would be knocked off of its orbit, and sent into Earth’s path. For safety, the Forerunner removed humanity from Earth.”
Eric turned toward Doctor Halsey. “So the Forerunner covered up this little incident, but from who?”
Siren continued. “It has been speculated that the Law Keepers would not be happy with their replacements into the higher class of the Empire. The Forerunners were well aware of how powerful the Law Keepers had become so they…” Siren paused. “I find this hard to believe.”
Eric folded his arms. “Don’t hold out on us now.”
Siren continued. “In order to hide Earth from the Law Keepers, the Forerunners destroyed Earth. They left the planet barren, killing off nearly all of its remaining life; obliterating the surface of the planet from Orbit. They built the Ark ship several hundred years later with the set purpose of rebuilding Earth and controlling the Halos.”
Eric leaned against the wall. “They hid all traces of humanities past, and then dumped us in the one place they new the Law Keepers would never look.”
Siren softly replied, almost saddened by the news. “Yes. That is why the Prophets never expected that this planet was our actual home world. For 100,000 years, humanity has been safe.”
Halsey stood from her table and glared toward the box. “What have we done?” She questioned aloud. “The last Reclaimers knew that the Prophets would retain their memories. Litran and Bitran knew that the Forerunners had been fooled. The Prophets have been looking for the Ark for 100,000 years and now they have it. The Reclaimers chose to forget the Empire in order to protect the safety of the Universe.”
Siren spoke suddenly. “It was called, the Path of Reclamation.” She stated directly. “Reclaimers must become the head of the New Empire. Reclaimers must rebuild their military might. Reclaimers must reclaim the lost tools of the Forerunners. The war is not over. The Flood are not dead. Reclaimers, rebuild, reequip, retake what was once lost. The Empire rests on your shoulders, Reclaimers. Only you can save the Universe from the outbreak. We shall build you a weapon… a weapon of last resort. It will be hidden, safe from the eyes of the universe. But if you need it, you will find it, the Ark will find it.”
Doctor Halsey walked closer to Eric as she listened to Siren. “A weapon? That must be the Ark Structure which was built on Earth.”
Siren continued. “We must reclaim what we once lost. We must correct the mistakes of the past. Reclaimers, it is with you that we leave this task. When the Empire has returned, and the threat destroyed, we will return… we shall regain our glory.”
Eric gasped. “We must reclaim what we once lost? That’s what Major Rawlings said.”
Siren added. “Yes, the ‘Path of Reclamation’ was one of the first documents recovered from the Tree of Life. Major Rawlings, apparently, is a firm believer in it.”
Eric’s COM filled with a static burst and two clicks. “Siren, boost the signal on my COM.” After a second the transmission cleared. “Say again!”
“19, heavy Brute ground supports have begun to push against us. I’m calling for support from the second line. They’ve got three scarabs are inbound, numerous high speed ground units. Looks like Truth is tired of toying with us.”
“Copy that 08. We knew this was coming. Power up the energy drainer mine field. I’m on my top side. 05, you copy that?”
“Roger. I’m splitting my guard detail and moving the big gun to the front line.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. 19 out.” Eric turned to Doctor Halsey, nodded and ran toward the Elevator.
Halsey watched him vanish into the elevator and she sighed softly. “Siren.”
“Yes Doctor?”
“Is there a way to create a copy of the Ark Data Node, without the Ark key?”
Siren chuckled. “Funny you should ask.”
- - - - - - - -
Eric couldn’t see what was going on, but he had to keep his ears in the game. He opened his COM channel to listen in on the above ground combat. He had a long way to go, and he wanted to be fully aware of what to expect when he got there.
Eric’s COM was filled with the outcries of frantic marines, mostly raw recruits that were still green from boot. In situations where the enemy has your back to wall and there was no place to run to, you had to keep your wits about you. That was not what Eric was hearing.
The elevator opened at Eric broke into a full sprint toward the outer door of the ONI facility building. He sprinted across the lot, jumped into the driver’s seat and throttled out of the gate.
What he was hearing on his COM was sheer madness.
“Incoming!”
“Eat this and die!”
“Where’s the blockade?”
“Hell if I know!”
“Chief what the hell is that?”
“Shoot it and shut up!”
“Hold the ranks! Form up, damn it!”
“We just lost the mongoose patrol! Where the hell is the mine field?”
“Will you shut up?”
An explosion based over the COM. Screams of pain filled the line and then there was silence. Eric switched the channel and listened to another line.
“Foxtrot just got wiped out! Holy -blam!-!”
“Got another one! I am bad ass!”
“Why in the hell are you counting? We’ll be dead soon enough… Jesus those things are huge!”
“Stupid Brute!”
“Get him off me…”
“Breach! They broke through! Kill it! Kill it!”
The blood curling shriek of a man screaming in pain echoed into Eric’s ear, and behind his screams he could hear the ferocious roar of a Brute. He switched the channel. “08, 05, pull them together! The Brutes are using a confusion tactics and trying to out muscle you.”
“We know, 19!” Melanie replied in a frantic shout. “They’re trying to setup a gunnery line and using infantry to confuse us. There is simply too many of them!”
“Where’s the Mirratord?”
“Gridolee has them sneaking toward the gunnery line.” Mathew replied. “But in all the confusion, it may not be enough!”
“Hold out for as long as you can.” Eric drove out of the military district and onto the main road back toward the main entrance. At full speed, it would take him thirty minutes to get topside. He knew it was a risk leaving the troops, but he didn’t imagine that the Brutes would press this hard after five days of constant assaults.
- - - - - - - -
The room was silent as Melanie leaned over the campfire. “What was it that Kim always said? Oh yeah! If there is something big in the way, and you can’t beat it, shoot it. She would sit on the obstacle course during boot and literally stare at the climbing wall. She could never climb that thing, well, one day she decided that she wasn’t going to lose to the wall. So out of the blue she pulled out a shotgun and blew holes in it. I mean, our drill instructor stood there, mouth agape, staring at her like she was insane. They called the MP to take her in, but they didn’t even try to get close to her while she was holding the shotgun.
“She unloaded round after round, until the hole was big enough for her to climb through. And after she climbed through it she had this huge smile on her face. I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants. She then quietly flipped on the safety, placed the shotgun in the dirt, got down on her knees and put her hands behind her head. The MPs tackled her and put her in handcuffs.”
The room burst into laughter as Melanie dried her tears of laughter. “But wait, it gets better. Okay, my sister is slightly shorter then me and much more curvy, so you have to understand that we are different. I mean, you’ve all seen here. She hot! We do look alike, but Kim is by far the more girly of us. Her boobs are huge. She got lucky in that department.”
“Your boobs are fine, Mel.” Eric laughed. Melanie smiled, but elbowed him for saying it. Kim sat quietly in the corner and buried her face in shame.
Anyway,” Melanie continued. “As the MP tackles her, while she’s wearing her training fatigues… she slides face first into the dirt. She was already on her knees with her hands behind her head, so when she hits the ground it was face and chest first. The MP shackles her and sits her up, and there they are… two huge bare breasts staring at the world!” More laughter erupts into the room as most of the guys lean in to hear more.
Kim sighs in the corner. “Nobody wants to hear this, Mel.”
Melanie laughed. “Shut up!” She then continued. “So as she’s sitting there, bare breasted and covered in dirt. The MP is torn on what to do next. So, my sister, who eventually becomes our team leader, leans backward toward the MP and says … could you pull up my shirt? I’m cold. The MP stupidly reaches down, grabs her shirt and pulls it up and over her female attributes. As he is doing so, Mel starts screaming! The MP has know idea what’s going on, until about five seconds later when Mel says, he’s groping me! And that’s how she avoided being kicked out of the core, three weeks into boot camp!”