Beyond - Legends Star Wars : The Halo Crisis (Halo/Star Wars crossover, Post-NJO, Pre DN) Chapter Five Up

Dramatis Personae

Avery J Johnson ? UNSC Sergean
John, Master Chief ? SPARTAN 117
Cortana ? Artifical Intelligence
Simeon ? Artifical Intelligence, UNSC Super MAC gun platform, London
Prophet of Truth ? Covenant prophet
The Arbiter ? former Elite, disgraced heretic
Miranda Keyes ? UNSC, former captain of a UNSC cruiser
Admiral Faros ? UNSC, Admiral of Earth Defence
Han Solo ? Captain, Millenium Falcon
Gilad Pellaeon ? Imperial Grand Admiral, Chimaera
Luke Skywalker ? Jedi Master
Mara Jade Skywalker ? Jedi Master, Captain, Jade Shadow
Miat Temm ? Imperial Colonel
Jaina Solo ? Jedi Knight

Preface

Wild Space


Four years after the Battle of Yavin?Days after the Battle of Endor?

Below unfamiliar globes of light and matter, the Imperial Star Destroyer Visage knifed through the darkness. The vessel was the flag of Fleet Group Destined, exploring the far flung worlds of the Outer Rim. The vessel had recently been assigned to Wild Space, and after discovering several systems and populations, had subjugated twenty seven new worlds for Coruscant.

The Visage and its task force were considered a joke throughout the Imperial Fleet, but the fleet was proud of its work. Though the worlds they had added were secret, they knew their missions would preserve the Empire for the centuries to come.

Captain Tade of the Visage, a young officer of twenty three, stood and stared into the stars, as he always did. Hands tucked into the small of his back, and his boots clicked together in military precision, the young man was willing to die for the New Order. His father, now murdered by Rebels, just before his selection for the Visage, had constantly spoken against non-humans, and Tade knew he was true. Now Tade?s links to the outside world were gone, and he existed only to serve. No one from his homeworld of New Agamar would remember him.

Although Tade was willing to die for the Empire, he had no idea that this particular day and hour was the one he was going to die in.

?There?s some sort of rift opening to starboard, Captain!? called Sensors.

?Thank you, Lieutenant,? said Tade, calm. New technology was abundant outside the Empire, and Tade had encountered oddities the day he left dock. ?Engines, roll to starboard and bring the superstructure to bear, and reverse thrust. Shields up.?

The bridge lolled to one side, and Tade saw the lightning display off to starboard. ?Poll the taskforce.? The twenty ships of the fleet, carracks and strike cruisers, all reported in. The nose lined up with the rift, and slowly shrank as the Visage gained some distance.

It was a good thing they did.

The vessel was big. The long neck of the ship emerged from the rift, and a long and graceful ship. It was white, with a bulbous rear, thinner than the Visage. A purple beam of radiance seared out, stabbing deep into the destroyer. ?Return fire! Report!?

?Dorsal shields down, forward batteries down, we are venting atmosphere and debris.? Tade was surprised by the damage his ship had taken, so quickly. He watched his bolts lance out, splash off opaque shields.

The surprise never faded. A second shot engulfed three strike cruisers, all which exploded spectacularly. Fighters spilled from bays, hundreds of tiny vessels that raked across the task force. A third beam speared the bridge pylon, and the hulk listed. Batteries fired aimlessly, struggling to hit the thin warship.

Three more shots followed the first three, engulfing TIE fighters, carracks and strike cruisers alike. A final shot exploded through the rear compartment of the destroyer, drilling through the engines and causing the reactor to detonate.

The Covenant supercarrier flew on, gathered its Seraph fighters, and jumped into slipspace. The battle, from the first report of the rift, and the final jump of the capital ship, lasted less than five minutes.

Ten days later. The Covenant fleet destroyed all twenty seven worlds of the Wild Space Empire. They turned about, and headed rimward. These

 

Thank you for all the interest. I was worried about starting this, to be honest.

Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

I was suprised no one had done one, but concerned it wouldn't be well appreciated.

May I note I can't get online very often, but I'm writing it constantly, so hopefully things will appear in large amounts

Behold the Prologue!!

Prologue

Chimaera, Borosk orbit

There are a thousand mysteries in the galaxy. Why are we here? How are we here? But these questions, in the flights of war and the destruction of hearts, are never answered. Yet even more questions arise from the galaxies citizens. Races of the past , for example.

The Gree, the species armed with galactic teleporters, ancient and abandoned on the worlds of the Rim. What happened to them? Did they die out naturally? Were they destroyed? If so, who by? How come their constructs remain?

The Sharu of the Rafa system. What threat threatened their society so profoundly that they purposely turned themselves into mindless slaves to avoid destruction? What sort of weapon destroys intelligent species, but not the primitive?

Why are the worlds of the Tingel Arm so lifeless? Was it a fault within the star formations? An ancient apocalypse? A disease?

What was before the Rakata and their Infinite Empire? How was their technology so advanced, far beyond the species of the galaxy tens of thousands years later?`

Grand Admiral Pellaeon of the Imperial Remnant, leader of the power that was once the Galactic Empire, once armed with the vast repositories of the Galactic Republic and all that they absorbed, knew the answers to all these questions. Every single one. The combined knowledge of Palpatine and Thrawn finally at his fingertips, he had painted a picture that could only lead to the complete destruction of the galaxy. The old man had hoarded the secrets for a decade, quietly putting together the picture of the galaxy one hundred thousand years ago. Rather than using those secrets to conquer the galaxy, like Palpatine, Pellaeon was planning to use this knowledge to save the galaxy.

But as he skimmed the latest reports from the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, he could see the galaxy was not ready to be saved. If anything, the species of the galaxy would use these secrets to their advantage, and accidentally unleash a wave of death that the galaxy had fell under once before.

Casting a look over the second datapad, Pellaeon summoned the information on the Seven Rings of the Forerunners. Hacking into the secrets of the ring found near Byss, the Empire knew the location of all seven rings. One was within the Unknown Regions, another near Anoth, a third in the center of the Tingel Arm, and one, now destroyed, was within the Deep Core. The other three were within Wild Space, shaped in a triangle around a single system, named by the Forerunners as the Ark. One Pellaeon could no longer detect, and another had activated fully for a few minutes before shutting down. The third was unharmed, rimward facing. The Forerunner Empire seemed to have originated within Wild Space, and the three rings defended the area. Either that or that was where the species known as the Flood had been discovered, and the Forerunners had wanted to be completely sure they destroyed it. Reading the reports from several ARC Commandos, shell shocked and dying of horror, Pellaeon felt the latter reason was more likely.

Emperor Palpatine had once tried to control these secrets, deep within the Deep Core, and had almost unleashed a wave of destruction upon the galaxy. The Flood almost seized Byss itself, but the Empire triumphed. Barely. The resulting casualties to the Imperial Fleet, although hidden away from the galaxy, even Imperial High Command, had cost them severely. Pellaeon, after ten years of work, had only recently been given access to the darkest secrets of the Emperor. The three hundred slicers responsible had all been quietly removed to keep it secret, regretfully.

Pellaeon picked up the third datapad on his desk. The information upon it

 

A pressie for you, my friends. Big Pressie.

Thanx for all the comments. I won't mention I've had this for half a year doing nothing *whistles*

Chapter One

Earth

While on one side of the galaxy a man contemplated a wars beginning, another man watched war raise the stakes a level higher. He was encased in a pearlescent green army, packed with machines and cybernetic implants. SPARTAN 117, Master Chief, or, sometimes, John, was bracing himself for impacts, hiding in the docking bay. The Prophet of Truth had launched his ship, an ancient Forerunner vessel, over a hundred thousand years old, straight for Earth. The Prophet was joining a vast armada, and Master Chief?s mission was to stop Truth.

Earth was covered in night explosions, its continents and warships being shattered one at a time. The first probe of warships had only involved fifteen Covenant supercarriers, and had broken through the hundreds of vessels defending the system. Now there were hundreds of Covenant carriers, destroyers, frigates and cruisers in orbit, trading fire with UNSC Halcyon and Marathon-class cruisers, and other frigates and destroyers. The battle was slowly becoming a rout for Earth space fleet. When that happened, the Covenant would proceed with orbital bombardment. Billions would die. Humanity would end.

Master Chief had the power to change that. He patched himself into Earth Defence Net, and spoke to Admiral Faros again, whom was commanding the super MAC station London. ?Admiral, this is the personal ship of the last Prophet. If we kill him, the Covenant will collapse. I have other information that can finish the Covenant, sir. I just need the chance to get into the Covenant battle net.?

?Master Chief, my MAC gun has enough in it to take on that ship. If you can take down its shields, I can take it out. I?ll send my AI through this transmission, he should be able to get you inside the Covenant battle net. Remember to get off that ship before I blow it up, son.?

A burst of static interrupted the channel, as the platform Washington was rammed and destroyed by a Covenant super-carrier. Master Chief spoke when the channel cleared.

?I will, sir? He paused as a link appeared within his helmet signifying the transfer. ?How long can you hold on??

?Don?t worry about me, soldier, I didn?t survive this far without learning a few tricks,? said the Admiral gruffly, ?I?ll assign a few warships to keep the Prophet where he is.?

Master Chief considered that, ?Sir, that?ll accelerate the damage the rest of the fleet takes.?

?Then you?d best be quick, hadn?t you? And hope your information is enough to save us all. Here?s Simeon.? With that, the Admiral signed out.

A presence filled the implants within Master Chiefs head, and a voice echoed out. ?Hello?? A prissy, male voice. Master Chief frowned inside his helmet. He missed Cortana, despite himself. That AI, a female version, had bonded with Master Chief throughout this past year. Now he had to adapt to another AI, and learn its idiosyncrasies.

?No time for introductions, Simeon.?

?Sim will do. What name would you prefer??

Master Chief hesitated, and shook his head. ?Let?s get going. Cortana uploaded the structure of this ship into my memory banks, guide us towards a battle net uplink or towards the shield generators.?

?Leave this room and turn left, and follow the symbols to the shield generators. There?s two uplink points along the way.?

Loading his rifle, Master Chief snuck out the docking bay, moving from cargo container to container. The doors parted, and he turned left. A Grunt stood there, fumbling with his plasma pistol. The creature was small and armoured in a life support jacket, and the species was renowned for its cowardice. The way it fought trembling fingers to hold its pistol, and failing, prove that point. The pistol dropped to the ground, and Master Chief shot him.

Appropriating the plasma pistol, he said to Simeon, ?You could?ve told me he was going to be there.?

?I assumed you paid attention to the radar

 

Chapter Two

Harbinger, Tannab orbit

General Garm Bel Iblis, old and wizened, sat at the bridge of his Mon Calamari Cruiser, the Harbinger. Five years after he had taken the cruiser as his flagship, Alliance command had finally gotten around to retrofitting the old ship. And when Iblis thought he?d finally be able to leave Mon Calamari spacedock and relieve his boredom, some bright spark had suggested trying to adapt Imperial Interdictor technology to Mon Calamari warships. And of course, with the Harbinger in dock, out of a hundred other cruisers, it had to have been picked.

Bel Iblis hated boredom more than ever, especially in his old age. While Generals Antilles, Celchu and Cracken had retired at the end of the war, Bel Iblis, the old warhorse, had decided to stay on in the Alliance navy. With the vestiges of the Yuuzhan Vong still around, it had seemed like a good way to stay busy. Despite all the problems with them and the Ssi-Ruuk, Bel Iblis had never managed to stay busy. Sure, the Ssi-Ruuk problem had grown, but it had quieted long enough for Bel Iblis to get his ship serviced. And now the civil war had reopened, he was itching to take his fleet there.

But instead he was going through tests and re-tests and re-re-tests of his flagship, before they actually switched on the Interdictor generator. It was killing Bel Iblis. Now, finally, his generators were ready for a real test. With the Star Destroyer Elegos A?kla in system, the scientists and engineers were finally ready.

There was no incoming traffic expected by Tannab Control, and no ships passing past the system in hyperspace expected, according to Sector Control. This was just a test to see if the new generators would keep a ship in real space. There?d be more tests afterwards. Bel Iblis cringed inwardly.

?Okay,? said the General, rubbing his hands in anticipation, ?Let?s get this test started.? At last. ?Power up the generators.? Bel Iblis frowned at that, he had only given this order once before, at the Battle of Talfiglio, five years ago. That brought back memories?

?Ah, General?? came a winsome Lieutenant, ?Are you listening, sir??

Bel Iblis focused, ?Sorry, Lieutenant, my brain slipped. What did you say??

?The field is up and stable, and the Elegos is ready to jump on your order.?

?Well, get her to jump,? said Bel Iblis, smiling.

?Yes, sir.?

The lieutenant barely managed to spin on her heel when a Mon Calamari engineer gave out a shout, ?The fields buckling, sir, something is jumping in.?

?What?? said the General, ?There?s nothing supposed to be incoming!? He grinned tightly; if this went wrong, several million credits had just gone to waste. And he?d be in port for even longer. The thought was unbearable.

?The ship appears to have been jumping past, from its entry vector. It?s quite large. A capital ship, at least. It?s emerging now.?

?Get it on screen,? said the General, irritable. If some Alliance officer had accidentally timed it so a ship jumped in at this exact moment, Bel Iblis was going to dismiss someone, quickly.

But it wasn?t just one ship. It was dozens. Imperial Star Destroyers, Victory Star Destroyers, Lancer Frigates, Interdictor, strike and carrack cruisers. A full Imperial squadron. The Generals eyes narrowed, ?What?s going on??

Ships continued to materialise, an ever wracking count of warships. When the number surpassed a hundred, Bel Iblis snapped, ?Battle stations, we?ve intercepted an Imperial invasion fleet.?

?But sir,? said an Elomin, ?The equations state we are at peace with the Imperial Remnant, there hasn?t been hostilities for over a decade.?

?Officer,? said Garm, ?There is over one hundred Imperial warships out there. The only Imperial forces in Alliance space are at Denon, Bakura and Coruscant. There are no scheduled maneuvers planned, and no campaigns. I know, I talked to Admiral Kre?frey this morning.?

The Elomin was silent. The alarms sounded. The tactical officer sounded out, ?The ships have stopped jumping in, sir.?

?Give me a count, sensors.?

?Two s

 

Bumping before update

Please R & R!

 

Chapter Three

Chimaera, Borosk orbit

Grand Admiral Pellaeon?s desk comm chimed, and he knew his plan had failed. He had informed the Moff?s and the Admirals that they would follow his orders to the line, and not deviate. He would inform them of the battle plan, when and if he decided they needed to. None of the Admirals had been informed of the complete plan, and the Moff?s had been shuttled to a redoubt on Valc VII, safe and far away from Alliance territory. The war Pellaeon had prepared for was reliant on hiding the battle from the Alliance, or risk the release of the plague known as the Flood.

But now they knew. Now it was on to phase two of the Empire?s plan, and the inevitable path towards a galactic war. The first fleet he had deployed had been caught mere hours after his transmission, and the others would be needed to defend the Remnant. The rings had to wait for now. It could take weeks to assemble sufficient force now. And weeks would be too late.

Pressing a button on his desk, Pellaeon sent pre-prepared messages to Imperial agents within Alliance space. Sleeper cells would be activated, and specific ships seized. Bringing up another display, Pellaeon activated a hypercomm transmitter within his desk, sending an algorithm to five hundred warships. Warships that didn?t even belong to the Remnant. The coordinates for the fleets had been prepared a decade ago, blocking all entrances into the Remnant. Captains would find their ships suddenly turn about and launch into hyperspace, their control lost. Pellaeon was sacrificing them, coldly and remorselessly to stall the Alliance march on the Empire. Every ship they deterred would save another million Imperial lives.

Walking over to the viewport of his lounge, he watched the Interdictor Wrack drift past. The Interdictor had been sharply upgraded in the past few weeks for an eventual deployment at Lwhekk, but now that the Ssi-Ruuvi Civil War was of secondary importance. The modifications, the increased armament and armour, equivalent to that of a Dreadnaught, the quick-reaction computer systems and improved engines, sublight and hyperdrive, were now to be put towards this new campaign.

?Miat Temm? he said, aloud.

?Yes, Admiral?? came her voice, already standing at the doorway. Force-skills, he assumed. A black lightsabre pommel, forged by herself, dangled from her belt, showing up starkly on the olive-green Imperial uniform.

?Shuttle over to the Wrack. You?re going to captain her for this next mission.?

?Did the first plan fail, sir??

Pellaeon, knowing very little about Jedi in general, particularly how the Force worked, raised an eyebrow. ?You don?t know already?? Despite his personal experience with C?Boath, Palpatine, Desann and Tavion, the Force was as mysterious to him as the life cycle of Ruurians was to a Bothan.

?I don?t read your thoughts, remember? That was our agreement. I would never infringe on your personal feelings, or your personal judgement.?

?But you should,? said Pellaeon, turning about to Miat, using wizened eyes, ?You should. My judgement, from these old eyes, doesn?t ring clear.?

?We are a long way from seeing this through to the end, Admiral,? she paused. ?But I honestly don?t see how you can present this to the Alliance without there being some mad scramble for the rings. But?? she trailed off.

?But?? he prompted, letting the edge fall from his voice.

She came to the point. ?I believe we should enlist the Jedi,?

This was surprising. Despite her lineage, Miat Temm had purposely avoided the Jedi, fidgeting over even meeting Leia Organa Solo and Danni Quee all those years ago. To ask for their help meant something. Particularly to her, personally, and particularly to an Imperial. Anti-Jedi semitism still existed, to a degree, in Imperial space.

?Any particular Jedi? There are at least sixty to pick from. Or maybe all of them??

?Masters Skywalker and Jade. The Solo?s in particular. They have proven themselves trustworthy in the past.?

?They did lose the Widowmaker? he reminded her

 

Thanx for the reviews, people. Tomorrow I'll post even more, when I write it.

Chapter Four

High Charity, Halo orbit

Sadness tinged the destruction. Thousands of Flood forms attacked High Charity, taking over tens of thousands more. Ships were fleeing the holy city of the Covenant by the dozen, some carrying Covenant civilians, many filled with Flood forms. The Covenant Fleet, divided between the Elites and Brutes, was trying to take on them all, but they were being overwhelmed. The Flood was slowly taking over the armada. Hundreds of warships had been destroyed at the outbreak of the Covenant Civil War, but hundreds more were falling to the Flood. In a rising tide of plague, the Flood was consuming the Covenant people. High Charity, the holy city of the Covenant, thirty kilometres in height, fifteen at its greatest radius, was under siege and release.

But disgust and despair did not perturb Cortana, the Artificial Intelligence Master Chief had left behind to save Earth. A sad melancholy overcame her, as she knew her life was about to hit the terminator line, and end. Even if she survived, Cortana was doomed to flee the Flood from computer system to terminal to uplink for the rest of her life, until High Charity was absorbed and destroyed.

Her image was beamed from a Covenant holo emitter, a small cylinder with a bulb atop it. Numbers formed her skin, zeros and ones that flowed round her entire body. Her body was normally pink, but could flash red when she was angered. Now, it was tinged blue, reflecting her inner feelings. Computer AI?s formed personality quirks that eventually became individuals, and her bond with Spartan 117 had amplified and sped up that process.

Watching as the Flood absorbed more Covenant warships, she hoped the Covenant would defeat the Flood and drive them back down. But as the hour dragged by, it was apparent the Covenant had no chance. The Halo ring had activated and failed, and Cortana had triangulated the coordinates of the signal to Earth. Cortana hoped Master Chief would be able to stop Truth, save Earth and the galaxy with it. All in a day, she laughed humourlessly.

But as the Covenant armada collapsed, and she couldn?t distinguish between Elite, Flood and Brute warships, Cortana knew it was her time to save the galaxy. If the Flood escaped Halo, the galaxy would be finished anyway, whether or not Earth survived. Looking over to her left, she saw the UNSC Cruiser that the Flood had taken and rammed into High Charity, filled with infection forms and dropships. Dozens of Pelican dropships and Longsword fighters had been loaded with Flood and launched at the Covenant armada, and the more ships they took, the more Flood were launched. It was a cascading tide that grew exponentially.

Cortana had managed to hack into the cruisers database, and prepared to overload its reactors. The explosion hopefully would consume High Charity and, hopefully, trigger an explosion within the cities core, destroying the Covenant armada and, hopefully, Halo. Far to many ifs in that plan, but Cortana had relied on lady luck before, and triumphed.

Cortana, tinged with depression and melancholy, activated the cruisers reactors. Withdrawing from that location, Cortana sent her data rocketing away from the explosion. A vast explosion was tore out of High Charity, and the city titled. Flood and Covenant ships collided and careened into the city, some trying to flee and others trying to save the city. All failed.

The explosion suddenly spluttered, and the holy city of the Covenant dipped towards Halo, caught in the gravity of the immense superweapon. Cortana braced for a secondary explosion.

None happened. The fuel within the Cruiser had been drained, undoubtedly because of the long battle over Earth, the jump to this Halo, and the running battle it had fought against Covenant and Flood forces. Without the large first explosion, the reactors of High Charity would not detonate. And without that cataclysmic detonation, the Flood Armada would survive and launch into the galaxy.

Cort

 

Bumping before an update, sorry for the lateness - been moving

 

Yes, I agree with that, but thats weapon technology for you - Covenants involve a hig-powered single beam in the larger ships, the Empire hundreds of less-powerful turrets that fire shots. Thus it can cover terrain quicker.

In terms of planet-cracking, the power of Covenant beams is extremely wasteful, in terms of time. At least, thats my technical reading of it.

I promise updates.

 

Chapter Five

Denon

Grand Admiral Pellaeon, white uniform gleaming, golden epaulets draping, stood into the High Council. From what Intelligence had told him, much had changed around this group. Particularly its decor. The first meetings of the High Council had been held in a hotel, with the table so large the room had barely compensated.

Mirthlessly, Pellaeon imagined the burly Barabel Saba Sebantyne squashed into such circumstances. She had save many a life in the Remnant, and he knew her well enough to understand how uncomfortable the Jedi Master would have felt. Now, in the new chamber, a larger room with a circular table around the edges of the room, bar the entrance, would have suited her much better. The person in the center of the circle would be easy prey, outflanked on thirteen sides - twelve councillors, and one distinctly armoured door.

After all, he was an envoy from a state that had just declared war on the whole galaxy.

Seeing Saba's eyes widen, and then slit as he stepped nearer, an effect repeated by all six of the Jedi Masters in the room, was particularly disheartening. Gilad held the Jedi in particular high stead, for their efforts at the Battles of Borosk and Yuuzhan'tar, despite his Imperialistic viewpoint.

Then again, he did have a ysalamiri over his shoulder, Pellaeon reflected.

His gaze, drew to the left of Saba, focused on Chief Cal Omas, whose face, taut as it was, reflected barely concealed anger and rage. But he wasn?t concerned about the Alliance official, not at all. His gaze settled on Luke Skywalker, someone Pellaeon had once called a friend, and the Admiral expected to see a similar look of surprise and betrayal on his features.

Pellaeon was surprised to see Luke?s expression was warm, if not friendly, towards the Imperial. Almost understanding. Pellaeon?s expression, neutral as ever, stood firm, but inside Pellaeon was deeply suspicious. What does he know?

Cal Omas coughed, drawing attention back to the Chief of State. ?Grand Admiral Pellaeon, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Remnant,? he paused to give focus to the old New Republic designation of the Empire, undoubtedly to remind Pellaeon he?d lost once already, and then moved on, ?We?ve allowed you passage to Denon so you can explain your actions at Tannab and in the Corporate Sector to us. We?ve even managed to keep all this information off the Holonet, and even out of the military?s eyes. A bare two dozen people know about the Remnant?s actions.?

At this Pellaeon grinned. Cal Omas was essentially saying; if you step back in line, we?ll pretend this never happened. They wanted to avoid another galactic war so much, Pellaeon could more or less say what he liked. ?What is there to explain??

Bhindi Kalenda spoke up, her voice arch, ?Well, the fact of how you stole some five hundred Victory-class Star Destroyers from the Corporate Sector. The fact of why you?ve occupied Tannab. And the general point of what is the Remnant in the Nine Corellian hells doing??

?Peace, Kalenda,? soothed Kyp Durron, to Pellaeon?s surprise, though he didn?t give up quite that easily. ?That?s not to say those questions aren?t actually worth answering, Admiral.?

Pellaeon adopted a neutral, Imperial expression, stiffly replying. ?I?m sure. Take your pick from the reasons, I?m not here to explain my actions.?

Supreme Commander Sien Sovv fumed, ?Then why are you here, Gilad??

?To inform you that the Empire is entering a state of armed neutrality, seceding from the Alliance, and entry into the Empire is prohibited.?

?What of Tannab?? asked Clighal, her webbed arms crossed.

?It is now under Imperial jurisdiction,? said Pellaeon, firmly. The Remnant couldn?t risk the Alliance snooping at the fleet their, and uncovering his true intentions. If only Pellaeon had discovered the gravity-well tests at Tannab.

Chief Omas was furious at this, expectedly. ?Tannab is a Galactic Alliance world, which you have captured! Worse, you?re holding hostage two Alliance warships, including General B

 

Chapter Six
The Second Ring

The Arbiter ran, with Sergeant Avery Johnson beside him. Miranda Keyes had a plasma pistol in each hand, and half a dozen other Elites followed. High Charity was down, and the Flood were pouring free, chasing after the remaining Covenant, who fought each other as much as the Flood. But, the only ships that could be used to escape the ring happened to be on High Charity.

Firing blue plasma, the Arbiter stitched a line along a Flood weapon forms spine, shredding it. Miranda popped a large burst of emerald fire at a carrier form, and Avery Johnson stitched rifle fire through the throng of infection forms.

The destruction of High Charity had utterly scattered the Flood, and the Covenant, so the small, well organised group that the Arbiter led were cutting a swath through their enemies. Grunts attached themselves to them, and several Brutes engaged them, but the steadily growing group could not be dissuaded.

By the time they actually reached High Charity, Miranda and Johnson were breathing heavily, sweat dampening their uniforms. "We shoulda kept the Scarab, lizard."

The Arbiter looked at the Sergeant, acknowledging that 'Lizard' had become his name, to the dark-skinned human. "We would've been a target, human."

"We've been through this, Avery, just let it rest." Miranda mopped her brow with a piece of her uniform, tossing it aside and grabbing some grenades off a fallen weapon form.

"Just saying. I can't smoke a cigar while running. And hell do I need a cigar. These Flood creep me out."

The Arbiter left it at that. A pair of Elites began working at a crack in the hull, slashing their blades to widen the gap. Then the Arbiter placed three Covenant grenades in the hole. "Stand back!"

The following explosion through debris out, and Flood forms spilled out of the darkness. The two Elites fell, and the Arbiter dashed their heads off with a blade. A tide of bulbous infection forms boiled out to engulf him, and he spun, slashing apart three more, jumping back. Miranda and Johnson popped the shower with a wave of fire, and then the rest of their group charged in - Grunts firing bolts, Elites spewing blue fire.

The Arbiter paused, looking at the humans and rippling his mouth tentacles in pleasure. "Thank you, humans."

"Anytime, Lizard," said Johnson, trotting after the force, jogging. Miranda laid a hand on the Arbiter's skin, breathing heavily still.

"Do you think we'll find anything?"

The Arbiter nodded. "I'm sure. The gods have favoured us so far. The rings have not yet activated."

"Despite their best efforts."

They left it at that. The ring may have been stopped from irradiating this portion of the Galaxy, but their actions had caused the back-up system to activate - the activation of all rings, everywhere. If they activated, that was it - everything would be wiped out.

Miranda's expression hardened, her face similar to that of her fathers, before he had been consumed by the Flood. "Let's go."

The pair quickly caught up with Johnson, who was still tagging behind the dozen other Covenant soldiers. Darkness and gloom dominated the halls of what had once been the shining star of the Covenant. It was both terrifying and compelling - the darkness seemingly called the group deeper into its depths, ailing light sources flickering out as they advanced.

And then, nearing the very center of the dark and gloom - the usually brilliantly lit center where ships rested - the group of Elites and Grunts stopped, blocking the view of the Arbiter, Johnson and Miranda.

"Move it, you idiots!" snapped Johnson, using his I'm-your-boss-and-you-know-it voice. The group ignored them, but a massive rumbling came within High Charity.

"Come," said the Arbiter, tugging the two humans to the right, down a still-lit corridot to a balcony overlooking the center. Once there, all three gasped, and realised why the others had stopped. Possibly the largest Flood form anyone had ever seen was at the center of the room, pouring out of the ground exposed at the bottom