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.
"I'm
afraid they will have to, Sangheili." the Didact informed the Elite,
who, having been told even by his God this horrible fact, looked
crestfallen. "Otherwise, the Flood shall regrow again, form another
Gravemind eventually, and overthrow us."
"But...our home. Our history. Where will we live?" R'tas asked desperately, tears flowing down his drawn in cheeks.
Unexpectedly, Fleet Admiral Harper went over and placed a consoling hand on the Elite's shoulder.
"You can stay here. On Earth. All of you. And...once Reach has been rebuilt and terraformed, then you can have it."
It
was a generous offer, one which everyone in the room, bar perhaps the
oblivious Didact, understood. Reach had been humanity's main planet
before the war. The Elites had glassed it. That the humans would give
it to their once-foes was incredible.
"Hold on a second, Earth
is overcrowded as it is with refugees from the colonies. Not to mention
the fact that half of Africa is glassed. How on Earth, no pun intended,
will we fit the Elites on too?" the Governor of Earth cut in, speaking
for the first time in the meeting.
"We'll find a way." Harper replied bluntly, and that was that.
"That
is indeed a wondrous promise, human. On the behalf of my species, I
thank you." the Arbiter cut in before R'tas could reply, nodding
respectfully. R'tas turned to face his friend.
"But Sangheilios Arbiter. We can't--" the Imperial Admiral broke off, and the taller Arbiter patted him gently on the back.
"It is not Sangheilios any more my brother. It is a Flood world, and must be purged."
John
was distantly listening to the conversation, but the details bored him.
All he cared about was the fact they now had a plan. The next question
by the Prophet of Equanimity jostled him back into the present.
"What if we should fail?"
The Spartan nearly laughed, Equanimity was unknowingly quoting Shakespeare's Macbeth. However, the question itself was a serious one. The Council looked amongst each other, unnerved.
"Then the Galaxy is doomed." Harper said gravely, in a rather over-dramatic tone of voice. John looked up.
"If
we do fail...there's always Halo." the Spartan suggested. His words
were met with gasps and noises of disapproval. John then launched into
a fuller explanation.
"If we fail, then the Flood will destroy
everything anyway. Halo only affects lifeforms with enough biomass to
sustain the Flood. If we activate it, the Flood will be starved.
Millions, perhaps billions of years after they've died out, life which
started off as bacteria will have evolved. Eventually, the Galaxy will
be populated again. Life will go on."
The words hit hard to
the Council. It was a horrible thought, that Halo would have to be
activated in order to save the galaxy. However, it was a thought which
could be necessary. Everyone instinctively turned to the Didact, seeing
as how he had built the array in the first place.
"What John
says is true. Should the worst come to the worst, we should indeed
activate Halo. Life, eventually, will be reborn." the Forerunner said
wisely, and there were no more arguments. Something about the Didact
made you believe everything he said.
"Which Halo would we
activate, theoretically? I take it you know where the rest of the
array's locations are Didact?" Cortana questioned, and the Forerunner
nodded.
"Installation...07 would be the best. It is on the
fringe of the Galaxy, far from the Sangheilios Flood outbreak. I shall
head there with 2401 Penitent Tangent. However, in the event
containment on the ring has been compromised, I will need some
assistance." the Didact replied, looking around the room. John had an
idea.
"You can take Tom and Lucy with you. They won't be much
help at Sangheilios; they're lost without a full team. But they can
handle a few escaped Flood forms on a Halo ring." the Spartan told the
Forerunner, who nodded.
"Then it is decided. Once this meeting
is adjourned, I, 2401, and the two aboriginal Reclaimers shall head to
Installation 07. Should the worst come to worst, send Guilty Spark with
a message. I will activate Halo." Aboriginal Reclaimers. The Spartan IIIs. Quite why they were deemed as being so, whilst the Spartan IIs were not was a conundrum to John.
There seemed to be looks of reluctant acceptance amongst everyone at the table. The Arbiter then cleared his throat.
"It would seem that we have a plan then. When do we leave, united as one, for Sangheilios?" the tall Elite asked.
"It
shall take us a few more days to prepare. On Wednesday, we'll get
moving." Harper took control, but no one seemed to mind. It was Monday
now.
"May the Gods shine upon us." Daedalus rumbled, and, already stood up and on the process of leaving, the Didact laughed.
"I
am no more a God than you, Jiralhanae. I am but a man, and a flawed one
at that." the Forerunner lectured the Brute, who seemed to turn a deaf
ear. Strange that he should refer to himself as a man. John thought.
As
the Spartan was about to stand up, someone burst into the room.
Commander Samuel Bairns, and he looked frantic. Harper rose cautiously.
"What is it Commander?" the old Fleet Admiral asked tentatively. The Commander's eyes were wide.
"The
Flood! They've followed us here! To Earth! At least forty ships!"
Bairns cried. There were gasps around the room. Imperial Admiral R'tas
Vadum' stood, a determined air about him.
"Then it seems it is
time to show the Parasite who they are dealing with. To arms, my
friends, let us grind this accursed infection into dust!"
"This one has forgotten whether it's heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate" ~ Blasto, the only Hanar Spectre.