Chapter 9: TBD

Guild Navigator?

Gitz wasn't aware of a second ship, but that didn't matter now.

"So, is it taking off into slipspace?"

"Huh."

Gitz leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

"Sitting tight, then."

"I'll be right back then."

Gitz turned around and headed down the halls, to his ship.

=waits and continues ensuring everything is going smoothly=

to himself-would really like to be able to relax for more then a few hours-

====Deep Space, location unknown, likely approaching edge of Milky Way Galaxy====
===Srevaeran ship, SAS Kaisnh Claw===
==Hanger Bay, ~Noon==

=A small ship, an SRPT-224 Runner, a popular vessel among Srevaeran smugglers, pulls slowly into the hanger bay of the SAS Kaisnh Claw, which has been drifting in deep space for an unknown amount of time. The battleship's engines are dead, as are all forms of inward and outward comms, save for the short-waves and on-board intercom. It was by chance that two weeks ago, a troop dropship which had departed from the Kaisnh had stumbled onto a far out settlement where a motley band of smugglers, lead by Ehntah Nemiin, were loading their ship with food and supplies. The tired and battle-scarred soldiers pleaded with the smugglers for help, and help they did. Ehntah, more commonly known as Black, lead his crew to a nearby station, a sort of hub for all manor of folk traveling near the edge of the galaxy, where he rallied several crews of Srevaeran smugglers, bounty hunters, and mercenaries alike to the cause of aiding the survivors of their homeworld. They loaded their ships with all the supplies they could hold, and began ferrying them to the drifting Kaisnh=

=Black steps off the boarding ramp of his ship, the Weary Heart, and looks around. He wears a full set of 4TT-12 Non-Powered Battle Armor, often used by the Srevaeran militaries back before the advent of Shielding systems, which is painted white with maroon highlights which are now dull after years of wear and tear. He looks back up the ramp and signals his crew to begin unloading crates=

=after sending carmana and his personal ship and his comrades back to the nearby unsc ship has the crew relax and prep for a slipspace jump=

(Alphonse)

"Well, at least we're no longer on alert. We can go hunting for your ship if you like."

I said to Dormii knowing full well it isn't here.

=the bridge crew recieve a message and send the details to my headset and after listening starts giving the orders out=

jump to slipspace to the coordinates recieved and have everyone get ready got a lot of work ahead of us

=the crew activate the slipspace drive and the ship enters and begins travelling to it's destination=

(Alphonse)

"Actually... I should probably talk to the captain."

I turn and walk over to Zeru, leaving Dormii there. I tap his shoulder.

"Hey, should we let Dormii just walk around? Or lock him up? He could attack somebody or something."

-7 hours after making the jump we'd arrived at the elite held world and after getting neccesary procedures began the massive loading of all the crew onto the ships which was still 5 hours from completion-

=snaps out of what he was doing to turn to al=

long as we keep an eye on him he should be fine

=gets an alert on his datapad and reads it=

we got trouble some rogue sanghelli onboard causing trouble

=gets up and starts heading out the door=

care to come with and lend a hand/

I sigh.

"I can't understand why people just don't get along. Wait. Did you say Sangheili? What're they doing here?"

yes i said sangheli and from the report apparently attempting sabotage by wrecking as much as possible and killing every not on their side and all human crewmen

=starts off in a full on run to the area pointed out on his tacpad=

=makes it to the desintation=

i'm going right and i need you to go left and deal with the rouge's over there

*comes in through earpiece* Denne. your target should be entering the cafe now. you know what to do for the rest

*denne* got it.

*is currently on top of roof. over looking a square. across the square is said cafe. raises gun and looks through sights.* in position.

*someone begins walking into cafe. ITS HIM. Pulls trigger, hits him in the base of the skull. slings rifle over shoulder and starts running.*

Got him.

Gitz had been sitting in his ship when he heard an alarm coming from the Trophaeum's speakers.  He clicked his comms to the channel Zeru was on.

"Z? What's that alarm for and where should I be walking right now?"

Gitz grabbed his weapon and darted out of his ship.

"Well. Alright. But one question if you don't mind. Am I allowed physical force? It would help if they get out of hand."

alphonse your allowed to kill them

=replies to gitz=

we got rouge sanghelli trying to sabotage the ship, head to the R&D area i'll meet you en route

Rogue Elites?  How in the hell did that happen?

"R&D...  right."

Gitz started wandering down the halls, looking for the "R&D area"

--Unknown Region of Space--

=All was dark, silent, and empty in the void. Pinpoints of light from distant stars painted the vast emptiness, though it was barely illuminating. No planets or systems for that matter, were anywhere near this region of space. Which was why a portal, a doorway to slip-space, opened up long enough for dark shape to emerge. When the portal closed, the shape vanished, black on black and blending right in. It was the Black Star, one of the new prowlers created by Haven. Her systems activated in full, stealth features coming online. Her engines dimmed, and the sensors reached out in all directions. They had been sent out to trace a signal from a group that may have been in danger, but their directive was not to directly assist. They were to observe and report back whatever they found, which was at the moment.....nothing=

--Haven System--

=Refits of the warships were now very close to completion. The weapons, the shields....no longer cheap knock offs, but the original weapons. Though the Council itself was not looking forward to informing the Admiral of this. After all, the decision was made without even giving him a chance to hear of this=

"That'll doit."

Gitz said once the waypoint appeared on his Heads Up Display.  He started jogging down the ships halls towards Zeru.

=to alphonse and gitz=

they don't have shielding but be careful nonetheless

--Black Star Location--

=The captain of the prowler, Cpt. Tyrell, walked onto the bridge and looked around at the staff. He moved over to his sensor officer, Lt. Murphy=

*Tyrell*
"Lieutenant, anything on long range scanners?"

*Murphy*
=She double checked her equipment before answering, but even then she shook her head=
"It's all quiet out here sir. We're probably too far away."

*Tyrell*
"Possibly. But I'd rather we stay as far out as possible. We'll wait in this region for a half hour, then make a short jump towards the signal origin again."

Gitz went over his weapons, making sure they were lock and loaded.

"Are you sure killing these guys won't start any political shitstorms?"

--Covenant Outpost World, Elated Dream--

=In the past week, N're Shar's meager battlegroup had been added to and increased. His carrier had been repaired, as were the ships that survived the Reclaimer attack. Four more destroyer class vessels had been added, along with six battlecruisers and eight corvettes. It was more than the simple battlegroup that defended the outpost. In fact, it had been replaced with a smaller group. N're Shar was in charge of finding the human Fleet Master known as Jason Shepherd, and the Forerunner world he dwelled on. His orders came from Avu Med 'Telcam, leader of the Neru Pe 'Odosima (Servants of Abiding Truth.) They were an old religious sect, one that Shar belonged to that believed the Forerunner were gods, and that any tampering with their relics was blasphemous. But, after being saved by humans who had re-purposed that same technology, especially when one of the holy ships had attacked them to begin with, he was starting to have doubts about the sect and their...stance. N're still held that the Forerunners were gods, but as with the Prophets, he had doubts about the teachings of the Servants. If the relics were left for them, then perhaps it was the intent of the gods for them to use them? Certainly, it seemed the humans had no trouble utilizing the technology, especially if the gods had not struck them down. These were questions N're hoped to have answered, and it seemed that the best way to do so was find this world the humans had claimed, or inherited as the human Fleet Master put it=

(N're Shar)
"How soon before we are capable of leaving?"

*Navigations Officer*
"The group is almost in formation Fleet Master. We shall be ready to jump to slip-space in ten minutes."

(N're Shar)
"Very well. Intel was collected from informants within the Jiralhanae fleet that disappeared. We have the possible coordinates of where this, human controlled Forerunner world is located."
=And soon, all his questions would be answered=

=shortly after responding to gitz he ends up catching up to him=
 
btw if your wondering why we're going in and not swarming them is to avoid massive collateral damage to the ship and crew
 
=gets a private comm from the bridge's senior officer=
 
sir we just got confirmation that the one one you mentioned is still alive,shall we begin?
 
yes begin immediately
 
understood
 
=the officer enters a series of commands into a screen and hits enter and shortly after a mysterious individual who was in cryo begins to awaken and start to exit from cryo stasis on a unspecified  ship far away and after shaking off the after affects immediately heads to the hangar bay  and takes off in a hidden shuttle which then jumps to slipspace=

*Nav Officer*
"Fleet Master, we are ready."

(N're Shar)
=He waved a hand in acknowledgement, and soon the fleet made the jump to slip-stream. Silently, he had doubts about this mission. After all, he saw first hand the power of the Forerunner ship, and that one had been broken at best. To travel to a Forerunner world, filled with weapons and ships that could be fully functional seemed suicidal. And yet still he went. Why? He may have felt gratitude, however slight, for the humans that saved them but was it enough to seek them out?=

*Nav Officer*
"Fleet Master, you look troubled."

(N're Shar)
=He shook his head, becoming aware once more of where he was=
"Forgive me. Our mission has me facing many questions.

=Not that he would divulge them. N're needed to look strong, confident, and in control. But most of all, sure of himself, that their mission left him with no doubts=

=A world in ruins was all that could be said to describe the scene of this once lush and rich forest planet. Now, it's surface was scarred, blackened, and burned with molten slag and twisted metal. And for all the life it once held, for all the pride it's people felt in the strength of their army and themselves, there was not a single cry for help. No desperate calls for attention, no gentle whispers among survivors saying to their children that everything would be alright. Only silence, and the echoes of a great civilization haunted by centuries of war and death having finally met its brutal end. But, among the wreckage, there was a single spark, a tiny light that shone in the darkness, and a voice which spoke its name=

[Voice]- X-808-AT04 "Wraith" online.

=The voice was harsh and metallic, and came forth from a form equally so. Dim white lights shone along the smooth black surface of its body, giving the slightest illumination to the impenetrable dark. Standing there where three others like it, bearing lights of Silver, Green, and Cerulean. One stepped forth and spoke=

[Silver]- Welcome back. Can you hear me?

[White]- ...yes.

[Silver]- Good.

[White]- Where are we?

[Silver]- X No Sigma's laboratory, 107th level. A frigate fell on top of us, and we've been trapped for some time.

[White]- How long?

[Silver]- I'm not sure.

[White]- Why did you choose to awaken me?

=There was a long silence=

[Blue]- You are the last of us. We've lost contact with all the others.

[White]- What has happened?

=The Silver-lighted one stepped forward again=

[Silver]- You have no memory of the events since you were shut down just before the attack began. We don't know much more than you. What we do know is that we need to send a signal past the attackers to the Alliance. They may be able to aid us.

[White]- Why haven't you already?

[Silver]- The long-range comm station is on the 111th level, but none of us have the access codes. None of us, except you.

[White]- How do you know I have the codes?

=The silver, blue, and green -lighted machines look at eachother briefly=

[Blue]- Because we made you. You were created here without the knowledge of your body, to be activated in time of extreme crisis.

[White]- What happened to my body?

[Green]- After the attack began, we saw that you were only able to send one, maybe two messages, before we lost track of your signals. We suspect they exterminated you.

[White]- Who has been leading in my stead?

[Green]- All the others were killed. We are all that remain...

--Haven--

(Miranda)
=Well, I was done for the day. Or at least, that's what Argo kept telling me. Apparently, he had turned himself into my own personal assistant and was now urging me constantly to take a break and not overwork myself. But it was hard to just take a break, when you were in charge of an intelligence group created to maintain constant security and intelligence gathering. However, it got so bad Argo ended up locking me out of the system, and while smart I wasn't smart enough to tangle with an AI. So, I took a break, but not on the Serenity. Instead, it seemed high time I gathered some personal intel on the one thing we had the least amount of knowledge on: Haven. Ironic, wasn't it? We spent so much time gathering intel on everything outside the planet, but never anything about the planet itself. Reliance on the Archives was the main issue, but some things had to be learned on ones own=

"Silver, can you meet me outside the Vigil HQ? I wanted to explore some of Haven, outside the cities and I'd like a tour guide."

(Silver Light)
=When the call came, a fraction of my runtimes were devoted to overseeing the retrofits of the human ships. It was a somewhat lonely job really, and when Miranda--as she was named--called I was more than willing to oblige the request=
"Certainly Miranda, I shall be there momentarily. Might I ask where you would like to start looking?"

(Miranda)
"The shell. It's hollow, honeycombed right? Take me to see the shell of Haven."

I stood, crouching, as the rainfall ran down my visor, watching the rebel base codenamed TIGER Base for signs of unusual activity. I had covertly inserted into the jungle with a squad of ODSTs about three weeks ago, to observe the rebels and gather intelligence.

In the three weeks we'd been here, we had mapped out much of the bases' exterior, its outposts and the surrounding jungle, along with an estimate of the rebel's numbers.
There might not be a lot of them, but they're well armed... I see Covenant gear down there... How could rebels get a hold of that kind of ordnance? They wouldn't attack Elites or Loyalists... scavenged, mayb-

"Lieutenant," The ODST sharpshooter whispered, snapping me out of my thoughts, "Contacts in front of the base."

I nodded to the sniper, bringing my binoculars up to my face. It was too dark. Activating my VISR, I focused the binoculars on the front of the base.

He was clearly talking to someone, but from this angle, I couldn't see who.

"Red team, do you have a visual on objective TIGER? Who is TIGER-ONE talking to?"

"Ma'am. TIGER-ONE is talking to an Elite."

--A Few Minutes Later--

(Miranda)
=It was cold outside the base, and despite wearing a parka and warm leggings, I still shivered as a strong wind rolled down the mountain. Sometimes, I wondered why in the hell Vigil had been stationed here in a snowy mountain range, but then I remembered that I chose the locale for its seclusion=
Dammit Silver, show up already.....

=I didn't have to wait long though, because the teleporter pad warmed for a moment, and then a column of gold light emerged. It quickly sank back down, but hovering over the pad was the familiar form of 376 Silver Light, the monitor of Haven. It still amazed me that he ran close to everything on this world, especially in such a small body. But then again, he was a Forerunner AI=

(Silver)
=Swiveling around for a brief moment, I fixed my eye on Miranda, standing not five feet away=
"Ah, greetings. I must say, your request was most curious to me."

=Hovering at her head level, I floated over to her=
"Not even the Inheritor ever asked to see the interior shell of Haven. I admit, it is not much to truly marvel at, but if it what you wish..."

(Miranda)
"I don't know. It just seemed like something worth exploring. Besides, it would probably be one of the few places on the planet that actually looks Forerunner."
=That said, I stepped on the pad and waited for him to join me=

(Silver)
"Quite true. Though I suppose it goes without saying, that it would be best not to interrupt the Huragok as the work."

(Miranda)
=Right as the pad activated, I blinked and turned to look at him=
"Wait, the wha--?"

=And then we were sent off=

"Say again, Red Team. Did you say an Elite?"

"Affirmative ma'am."

"Understood. Return to the extraction point."
ONI need to get my report.
The rain was getting heavier now. As we moved back towards Rally Point Charlie, I started thinking.
What the hell is an Elite doing with rebels?

Eventually, the jungle started to thin as we neared our pelican's landing zone, the ODSTs making up Green Team left to guard it and the pilot were inside.

"Prepare for dust-off. As soon as read team arrive we-"

As if on cue, gunfire sounded from within the jungle. "Red Team?" I yell into my comm, "Report?"

"We got spotted-" the ODST fired a burst from his SMG "-bastards had a sniper. No casualties."

I pull the bolt of my Battle Rifle, loading the weapon.
"Corporal Jones, you're with us. Lomas, Jackson, stay with the pelican."

I run back to the jungle, Corporal Jones and the sharpshooter following behind.

"I think you need to worry less about the collateral than about all the things these rogues could be doing to your ship.  I doubt they thought they could take over such a large ship with only a few soldiers."

A door could be heard hiss open down the hall a ways, along with a voice sounding from the same area.

"Wort wort wort!"

they don't got plans to do that they just want to cause as much damage and casualties as possible

=hears the voice and stops making sure his weaponry is ready to go=

Gitz quickly racked a 5.56 bullet into the chamber of his assault rifle. He took a knee next to the wall and aimed down the hall. Through a door, a squad of Elites piled into the hallway, not noticing Zeru or Gitz, yet.

"Are there any friendly split-jaws on this ship, or should I start firing?"

"Understood."

The last bit of dialogue had alerted an Elite down the hall. As he started to raise his plasma rifle to Gitz, he pulled the trigger. The Elite fell down lifeless after three short bursts that Gitz put into it.

=soon as gitz fires raises his pistol around the corner while bringing up an impact blade on his left arm and fires 3 shots dropping another elite and wounding a third=

two down 97 and a half to go

As soon as the rebels came into sight, I dropped to one knee and fired a burst from my rifle, the three rounds hitting one of them in the centre of the chest, dropping him.

The ODST sniper fired, the bullet flying by me and into one of the rebels while Corporal Jones fired his SMG.

I fired again as I moved into cover behind a rock, weapons fire exploding around us.
"Red Team, move to our location, we have you covered."

"Negative, lieutenant. Quinn took a needle in his abdomen, we can't move."

I looked over to Jones and the Sharpshooter,
"Keep them distracted while I get to them!"

They both nodded, signalling the affirmative and upped their rate of fire. I activated my active camouflage and moved towards Red Team.

I followed the lieutenants orders and kept the enemy suppressed, occasionally bothering to hit one of them. The op thus far has been dull and I was glad of the change.

I kept low as I moved towards Red Team, silently hoping that the rain wouldn't disrupt my camouflage too badly.

"Red Team," I said into my comm, "I'm almost at your location, get Quinn ready to mo-"

I was cut off as the ground beside me exploded in a flash of light, sending flying sideways and disrupting my camo.

I impacted with a tree and landed on my back beneath it, blood trickling down my face and down my side.

THe flash of green lights up one side of my vision and my VISR polarises to match. I fire the last two shots from my clip and duck down, looking over to where it came from. There was the Lieutenant, lying against a tree. I pat the ODST next to me and count to three on my fingers. He jumps up and starts firing and I sprint over to her, taking her arms and pulling her back into cover.