Arc I: Torrent
Chapter 3 - That Old Familiar Feeling, Part I
February 6, 2683
In Slipspace Transit
Autumn-class Heavy Cruiser, UNSC Autumn's Wrath
To say there was tension in the air would have been a gross understatement. It was a wonder that anyone could work under this condition, the entire bridge crew working quickly but efficiently at their stations.
This wasn't a new feeling for Arryn Miller. Over the many years of service in the UNSC Navy, it had become normal for the 32-year-old redhead to feel any sort of pre-battle tension. If anything, she had come to expect it whenever they were heading into a fight, and today was no exception.
Her eyes gazed around the bridge over each and every crew member as they diligently worked at their stations. The bridge itself looked nearly identical in design to the bridges of the older Halcyon-class Light Cruisers, with only two slight differences: One, there was a holotable in leui of a massive glass screen; and two, the bridge had an added bonus of a captain's chair, where Arryn currently sat.
With a satisfied smile, Arryn turned her attention towards the AI terminal where the Wrath's shipboard companion was stored. "Kara, what's our status?"
Kara's avatar, that of the comic book character Supergirl (from Justice League Unlimited, favorite childhood TV show by the way), appeared and replied, "We're on our final approach towards our target, ETA T-minus two hours. Ship systems read green across the board. Longswords and Broadswords are fueled and stocked. And Commander Dunn reports that Fireteam Torrent is prepped are ready for deployment."
"What about the rest of our ships?"
"Everyone reports the same," Kara said. "Sending the report to you now."
With a light ping, the viewscreen on the armrest of her chair lit up, displaying the following information to Arryn:
[Battlegroup Arcadia] (UNSC)
Autumn's Wrath, Autumn-class Heavy Cruiser {Status: GREEN}
Ghosts of Onyx, Onyx-class Armored Heavy Frigate {Status: GREEN}
Legacy of Onyx, Onyx-class Armored Heavy Frigate {Status: GREEN}
Staff of Charon, Halberd-class Destroyer {Status: GREEN}
[Battlegroup Arcadia] (Sangheili Federation)
Blight of the Profane, ORS-class Heavy Cruiser {Status: GREEN}
Unbending Justice, CPV-class Heavy Destroyer {Status: GREEN}
Unyielding Soul, SDV-class Heavy Corvette {Status: GREEN}
Undying Faith, SDV-class Heavy Corvette {Status: GREEN}
[Battlegroup Arcadia] {Status: GREEN}
Arryn smiled as she saw the familiar names. Battlegroup Arcadia had, under her command, become one of the most famous - and infamous to every remaining Covenant splinter groups - interspecies fleets in the entire Galaxy. Ever since its formation in orbit of New Arcadia, people have come to both respect and fear every ship in the small fleet. Respect, as they have almost always come back from any mission with as few casualties as possible. And fear, as the fleet usually attacked without any prior warning whatsoever. And when they hit, they hit hard and fast.
Each ship had earned their own mark in one way or another. Both the Legacy of Onyx and Ghosts of Onyx, while still relatively new ships of a newer line of Onyx-class Armored Heavy Frigates, had proven themselves after fighting off a band of Kig-Yar pirates while outnumbered seven to two. Even Arryn's own flagship had once destroyed a Covenant Storm DDS-class Carrier by ramming through it after the Wrath's MAC rounds had been expended.
There were two ships, however, that many in the fleet were not a big fan of. The Blight of the Profane, for one, was once under the command of the late Jul 'Mdama during the Human-Covenant War. The ship itself was responsible for the glassing of Arcadia. Luckily, after the Battle of Installation 05, the Heavy Cruiser was captured by the Arbiter's forces and placed under the command of many fleets during its service, eventually making its way into Arryn's battlegroup. Since then, the Profane had successfully become apart of the fleet's command structure, thanks in no small part to its new Shipmaster.
And then, there was the Staff of Charon, the ship that nearly exterminated an entire former UNSC colony. The Halberd-class Destroyer had once been owned by a weapons development company called Charon Industries, and had been under the command of the company's CEO and then-Chairman of the UNSC Oversight Sub-Committy Malcome Hargrove. The man, after salvaging weapons and tech leftover from the defunct Project Freelancer, had found ancient treasures on the forgotten Outer Colony of Chorus belonging to the Freiu Kel, or "borrowers of the light" as translated from Sangheili dialect. The Freiu Kel were cloned from ancient Sangheili by the Forerunners and uplifted with their tech and knowledge, but due to the experiments inflicted upon them, they could only reproduce by infecting their victims with parasitic embryos. Eventually, their DNA had become so degraded that they started dying out one by one until their was none of them left, leaving only their technology behind.
Hargrove had somehow found out about the Kel Ruins on Chorus and sought to eliminate the inhabitants in his way by instigating a Global Civil War between the New Republic of Chorus and the Federation of Chorus. He had even used his own personal army and also hired mercenaries and Space Pirates to take down any ship that either attempted to escape or happened to pass through the system. Unfortunately, one of those ships just so happened to be carrying the ones that brought down both Project Freelancer and the Meta: the Reds and Blues. Needless to say, the Blood Gulch Crew, with help from former Freelancer agents Washington and Carolina, managed to not only save the people of Chorus, but they also took down Charon Industries by exposing Hargrove's secrets to the UNSC, at the cost of the Epsilon AI fragment sacrificing himself. The weapons company was forced to shut down, Hargrove was to taken to Midnight Facility, and the Staff of Charon was integrated into Battlegroup Arcadia and placed under "new management".
Well, at least it's not in the possession of that bastard, thought Arryn.
"Captain, I'm getting a transmission from the Profane," Kara informed her.
"Old Bracky calling in on us?"
Arryn looked to her left to see her second, Commander Marcus Holloway, approaching her command chair. The dark-skinned 27-year-old man had been with her since the beginning, and his tactical mind was something to be admired. Well, that, and his bearded face and physiche. Too bad she was already taken for, Arryn letting her mind wander to her significant other currently back on Earth for only a second before returning her attention to Kara.
"Put him through," she ordered. "Main viewscreen."
One of the monitors hanging from the ceiling lit up in front of Arryn, revealing the face of Jiralhanae Shipmaster and Army Commander Bracktanus. The aging Brute was a member of the Jiralhanae Allied Confederacy, the JAC itself being the only Brute faction allied with both the UNSC and the Sangheili Federation. Bracktanus had decades of experience under his belt, personally commanding many fleets and leading ground forces into battle throughout the course of his career. Despite being well over two hundred years old, he was still in his prime. His strategic mind and tactical prowess was much to be desired, so much so that when Arryn started working with the old Brute, he had become somewhat of a mentor to her. Of course, while she was technically his superior, she often shared command of Battlegroup Arcadia with him.
"Bracky."
Which made them close enough to use each other's nicknames even during battle, despite regulations and protocol dictating against. Not that Bractanus minded, since Arryn was the only one that could get away with calling him that.
"Pup."
Just like he was the only one that could get away with calling her that.
"Everything ready?" she asked.
"My crew stand ready for battle, and my Blood Stars are itching for a fight! Once we receive the word from the Eternity, I'll join my brothers in the assault and transfer command of my ships to you!"
The assault Bracktanus was referring to was something the UNSC, the JAC, and the Sangheili Federation had been planning for weeks. Two months ago, a UNSC probe discovered a long forgotten ship recycling station which had since been used as a forward operating base by Charon Industries many years ago. It was confirmed that remnants of Hargrove's private militia were still there.
Along with a substantial force of Covenant warships, belonging to the Keepers of the One Freedom.
The latter had come as a surprise and was a greater concern more than anything. No one had heard from the Keepers in more than a century, not since their formation and eventual defeat on Gao in the aftermath of the Great Schism. Their unexpected reappearance had caused Arryn's superiors to pull her and Battlegroup Arcadia from their previous assignment in order to help out in Operation: BLACK FLAG, the assault in which they were partaking in.
Even more disturbing was the Keeper fleet's flagship: a DOS-class Supercruiser. If the Heavy Cruiser was meant to bridge the gap between the CCS-class Battlecruiser and the monstrous CSO-class Supercarrier, then the Supercruiser was the bridge between the Heavy Cruiser and the CAS-class Assault Carrier. At 5.346km in length, a beam of 2.586km at its widest point, and 692.4m in height, with a mass of 272.1 million metric tons, the Supercruiser was armed with enough firepower equivalent to that of a Supercarrier. This ship had five Plasma Lances configured together (three on the bow and one on each "wing" of the Supercruiser), able to fire either one after the other or simultaneously in one single Lance that could easily destroy a fully shielded Assault Carrier and could even give an Infinity-class Supercarrier a run for its money. Only three had ever been built by the Old Covenant: one was destroyed at the Fall of Reach in the Human-Covenant War, another was currently in the possession of the Sangheili Federation, and the last had disappeared near the end of the Created Crisis. And it would seem that the latter had found its way into Dokab Castor's hands.
Why they would be here and working with Charon Industries was unknown, which was why Operation: BLACK FLAG was split into two parts. The UNSC Seventeenth Fleet, led by the Eternity, would jump near the edge of the debris field, dubbed "Bone Valley", and engage the majority of the Keeper fleet. While that happened, Battlegroup Arcadia would slip in at the edge of the field on the opposite side of the station, deploying a few D79 Pelicans and a couple of repurposed Type-52 Phantoms carrying boarding parties to infiltrate the station. Once on board, a special team consisting of both Fireteam Torrent and the Blood Gulch Crew would find the information and, if necessary, destroy the station.
At least, that was the plan, but both Arryn and Bracktanus knew that no plan ever survived first contact with the enemy. There were still a number of things that could go wrong in an instant.
Well, Arryn thought, as the saying goes, 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst.'
"Hope time on your ship hasn't dulled your senses, Old Man," Holloway snarked.
"Ha!" Bracktanus laughed. "I may be old, but I can still run circles around ya, whelp!"
"Heh, you wish!"
"Alright, boys," Arryn chuckled, "settle down. You can have your bravado match later. Right now, let's get everything ready. Remember, we only got one chance to pull this off, so be ready for anything. Marcus, let our troops know, T-minus 1 hour 55 minutes."
"Aye aye, ma'am," Holloway acknowledged, taking his leave.
Arryn smiled again. This kind of banter between old friends always helped take the edge of all the nervous pre-battle tension. Actually made her miss...
She frowned. No, can't think about that right now, she reprimanded herself, hoping her old mentor hadn't noticed.
Unfortunately, Bracktanus had noticed. "It's the anniversary, isn't it?"
Another thing about the old Brute was, despite his age, nothing ever got past him, especially when it came to one's emotions. Arryn sighed and nodded in confirmation.
Bracktanus grunted and asked, "How's he holding up?"
Another sigh escaped her. She knew exactly who he was talking about. She answered, "I don't know. He seems to be doing well, even when we talk, but every now and then I'll see him pull out those tags and just...stare at them.
It was Bracktanus's turn to sigh. "He hides his pain well."
"I'm worried. I don't know what to do."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, Pup. Right now, let's focus on getting this mission done. I'll get my Blood Stars ready. Profane out.
With that, Bractanus's face disappeared and the transmission cut out.
Kara looked over at Arryn with a smile and said, "Cheer up, Captain! I've known Scott for a while. He's tougher than anyone else I've met. He won't let this bring him down."
"I know, Kara," replied Arryn. "I just can't help but worry."
"Look at this way, Captain," Kara said, remaining optimistic. "There's probably someone else out there somewhere that's having a worse time than us right now."
Intergalactic Space
February 6, 2683
Installation 00, Henry Lamb Ark Research Outpost
For the first time in his life, Jerome-092 was really hoping that someone else out there somewhere was having a worse time than him and the rest of Red Team right now.
Less than two hours ago, the SPARTAN-IIs had awoken from cryo to discover they had been drifting for over a century and half. At first, although they never showed it, they had felt dread wash over them waves, thinking they were probably the only humans left. Then, when Spirit of Fire detected a UNSC signal on the surface of the massive Forerunner installation the ship had found itself orbiting, a sense of hope filled them all, prompting Captain Cutter to send them and Force Recon to investigate and make contact.
A feeling that was quickly and mercilessly deteriorating as they entered the damaged UNSC outpost. On the way here, after being dropped off in a M12 FAV Warthog via a D77 Pelican Dropship, they found multiple hastily constucted barriers and signs of battles taking place. Signs that were way more recent than they initially expected. The evidence kept piling up when they drove by one of Force Recon's Pelicans, in pieces and on fire from a horrific impact with the ground. Worse yet, there were traces of plasma damage.
Meaning there was a potential Covenant force here. When they arrived at the outpost, they found it completely damaged and abandoned. Except for the signal which was definitely coming from inside it.
As they walked through the empty building, Alice-130 saw something in corner with trash piled on it and pointed it out.
"Holotable. In the corner. That's the source of the signal."
Jerome walked up to it, both Alice and Douglas-042 following close behind, wiped the trash and dust off of it and activated it. A second later, the holotable glowed orange before a transluscent orange hologram of a young woman appeared on the table. An AI.
Good, Jerome thought, maybe now we can get some answers.
The AI turned and upon spotting them let out an electronic gasp of shock and relief.
"SPARTANs? Oh, thank God! We need to get out of...wait. Where did you three come from?"
"Identify," Jerome ordered.
"Isabel. Logistics AI. Ark research outpost. Seriously, what's going on? How did you get here?"
Ark? Well, at least we know where we are now. "Isabel, what happened? What's the size of the Covenant force here?"
"Covenant? What are you...wait a second. You're...SPARTAN-IIs? Red Team? No...no, no, listen to me! You're in incredible dan-"
CLANG!
All three SPARTANs looked up ahead of them towards the entryway of another larger room. The sound had come up so suddenly that it immediately set them on edge.
"What was that?" Douglas asked.
If it was at all possible for AIs to get pale, then Jerome would bet that Isabel would look as white as a ghost. She looked so scared, but of what?
"Oh, no," whispered the petrified AI. "It's him!"
Him?
CLANG!
Red Team snapped their BR55 Battle Rifles towards the sound. As the room slightly shook, Jerome looked down to see something sticking out the side of the holotable: an AI data chip.
"You're coming with us," Jerome decided as he yanked the chip out, causing Isabel's hologram to dissolve. The SPARTAN inserted the chip into the side of his helmet before signaling the rest to move up.
The three entered the room and immediately spread out, Alice taking point in the middle, Jerome moving right, leaving Douglas to search the left.
Just as Alice reached the center of the room, a massive hand suddenly reached out from the darkness and wrapped around her throat. Jerome and Douglas both turned just in time to see something large lift her up, holding her there.
For a moment, all was quiet, with the exception of the female SPARTAN choking.
Then, as if a switch had been thrown, all hell broke loose.
XXXXXX
This was not what Atriox had been expecting.
Less than two units ago, one of his captains, Pertinax, had reported in, saying they had finally tracked down the Human Construct, back to the research outpost they had first attacked eight months ago. At nearly the same time, Decimus had informed him of something peculiar: a single Human ship had exited slipspace and was sending a small force down to the surface, a force consisting of two D77 Pelicans and three Humans.
While confused at the news, Atriox had nonetheless ordered his accompanying Warlords to enter the outpost and to find and secure the Construct. But as they had entered and started searching, one of his scouts had also called him, saying the Humans were on their way towards him in an M12 Warthog. Knowing they would be here soon, he had then ordered his Warlords to spread out in a big circular room, making sure they stayed still and quiet within the shadows. He had also given authorization to some of his other forces to shoot down any Pelican that happened to get close.
Now, as they waited, ready to spring the trap, Atriox let his mind wander a bit. None of this made any sense. The Ark's portal to Earth was offline; what's more, evidence had recently emerged that it was turned off from this end only a month before the Banished arrived here. He at first supposed the Humans may have turned it off, but that didn't add up. The Humans, prior to their arrival, had been just as confused as they were, and even their Construct had been baffled. At least, that's what some of his brutal interrogations led him to believe. So if wasn't them, what happened?
And there was the matter of that ship. The UNSC would have to have known about their precious portal shutting down unexpectedly and would likely send a response. That meant traveling to the Ark the same way he and his forces did: an eight month journey through slipspace. The problem was that, usually, the UNSC would respond with an entire fleet. So why was there only one ship?
But that had to wait, it would seem. He could hear the Humans approaching in the next room over. Now to set the trap.
With a simple gesture, Atriox signaled his Chosen. One immediately slammed the staff of his Gravity Hammer onto the floor with a loud clang! A few seconds later, every Warlord repeated the action of the first.
CLANG!
Silence followed. Then, three tall, olive colored, heavily armored Humans entered the room.
SPARTANs.
Atriox had killed quite a few of these supersoldiers in his lifetime, a couple of IIIs during his time in the Blood Stars, and even some unlucky IVs that happened to be on the Ark at the time of their arrival. But these three looked vastly different, if their armor were anything to go by. Why would the UNSC issue them an armor system so outdated as...
The revelation hit him, with the full force of a Mgalekgolo Shield arm. Not just SPARTANs.
Demons.
And if memory of Human history served him well, there was only one ship supposedly still out there that carried these Legendary soldiers: the same ship that had helped colonized the old Human colony of Arcadia; the same ship that had disappeared 152 solar cycles ago; the same ship that he suspected was now positioned in orbit above the Ark.
Atriox smiled. This was going to be fun.
With a simple, almost imperceptable gesture, he signaled his Chosen to stand down. This would be a battle he would fight himself.
Atriox waited for the Demons to get closer...then, he struck!
He reached out, grasping the middle Demon and hoisting the armored supersoldier up, causing the other two to level their BR55's at the Jiralhanae. Judging by the one choking in his grasp, this particular Demon was female.
He held her there for a long moment, the tension rising as the other two Demons held their fire...and with one movement, the battle began!
The Warmaster threw the female to the side just as the rest fired, their bullets bouncing off of his makeshift armor. He quickly raised Chainbreaker and slammed the mace into the ground, a red-colored energy induced gravity wave spreading from the point of impact, knocking the Demons back. Turning to his right, he sent a powerful gut punch to a stunned Spartan, sending him flying back as the middle one attempted to bring his rifle to bear.
Wrong move.
Pointing his mace at the Demon, a gravity field wrapped around the armored supersoldier and pulled him towards the weapon. As soon he hit the top of the mace, Atriox raised both Chainbreaker and the Demon over his head and slammed them into the ground behind him. As the Spartan was dazed, the Warmaster sensed movement to his left. As the Demon he had previously punched away rushed at him, he turned and delivered a backhand, sending the offending supersoldier into a stack of crates.
Sensing movement once again, this time below him, Atriox looked down and saw the Spartan he slammed attemting to reach a M90 Shotgun that had somehow fallen from his back. Thinking quickly, the Banished leader stomped on the weapon, crushing its components and immediately kicking him back.
By then, the female Demon had regained her bearings and was rushing him with a knife. He turned and attemted to backhand her, but she managed to duck and tried to either stab or slash him. She didn't get far before he punched her away.
One of the two males managed to get in close to land a punch before he was slugged to the ground Atriox. The Warmaster, hearing movement behind him, turned and thrust out Chainbreaker's staff into the other male Demon's armored gut, sending him back towards where he came from.
Meanwhile, the Demon on the ground got to his feet, bringing his BR55 to bear. He didn't get a chance to pull the trigger before Atriox swung his mace, batting the rifle away. The Demon then brought out a knife and stabbed it inbetween the small gaps in his armor.
Feeling the pain but nonetheless undeterred, the Warmaster grabbed the Demon's shoulder just as he was stabbed once more.
Then, he started squeezing.
The titanium armor, at first, held up admirably to the Jiralhanae's massive strength, but it wasn't long before it started to fail under the intense pressure and the Demon was grunting uncomfortably. Just a little more, and...
The armor warped and shattered, digging into the Demon's shoulder and breaking it, causing him to scream in pain.
Finally letting go, Atriox let the Demon collapse to his knees as he brandished Chainbreaker once more, this time depressing the activation button hidden near the head. Three blood red plasma blades flared to life with a snap-hiss, casting the surrounding area in a crimson glow. He reared the mace back just as the Demon, still clutching his injured shoulder, managed to get to one knee.
Too little too late.
Atriox slammed the mace with an underhanded swing into the Demon's chest and head, sending the supersoldier back and landing in a heap, his helmet flying off in the process. As the Warmaster pulled the knife still stuck in his abdomen out, he finally took a good long look at the Demon's face.
And he was not at all surprised by what he saw: a face no older than twenty solar cycles, hardened by war, and currently grimacing in absolute pain. It only confirmed what the Warmaster already knew about the Demons, a fact he stated as he picked up the fallen supersoldiers helmet and gazed at the golden visor.
"As I suspected...nothing but a man."
Then, without any more thought, he crushed it, deforming the helmet's frame and immediately shattering the visor. He let the destroyed MJOLNIR Mk. IV helmet drop from his grip, hitting the ground with a resounding thud!
By then, the other two Demons had regrouped around their injured squadmate, pointing both BR55s at the Warmaster and their backs to the exit. It wasn't long before one of them, the leader by the looks of it, spoke to other:
"Alice. We're leaving."
Atriox smiled, lifting Chainbreaker in front of him as he watched the leader grab the wounded Demon on the ground and quickly drag him back towards the exit, the female retreating alongside but never taking her gaze and aim off of him.
It was during all of this that he was able to get a glimpse of each of their numbers on the chestplates: 092, the squad leader; 042, the injured; and 130, the female, whom he now had the name to match the number.
He started chuckling at their retreating forms. His plan had worked: not only had his experience as a Blood Star for the Old Covenant allowed him to best three legendary Demons at once by himself, but he had also proved to his followers that he was a strong and capable Warmaster. The excited, awed expressions of his Chosen only cemented that fact even further.
Atriox lifted Chainbreaker in front of him, the red glow of the mace's three plasma blades illuminating his face. He grinned menacingly at his weapon before turning his gaze towards the retreating Spartans, offering one final departing proclamation:
"Yes...Run...little Demons!"
HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.
This took an awful long time to get out. Too long. I would've gotten this out sooner, but...
LIFE. SUCKS. BALLS.
Like a god-forsaken freight train, life kept hitting me in face. Not going to go into detail, but the tail-end of 2018 sucked, 2019 started to balance out, and 2020? I don't think I need to explain that year, we're all witnessing it firsthand.
Luckily, I got the tough stuff out of the way, and I can focus on both Banishment and Emergence...however long THAT will last.
Had to break this chapter into two parts, so next time, we'll shift views back to Neo and introduce our main cast of characters.
ETA? I don't know. Soon, I hope.
Stay safe out there! Raptor out!