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The Silent Cartographer - TFotC Chapter 3
Posted By: Dav Flamerock<magicthegatherr@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 28 August 2006, 4:45 am
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Chapter Three – The Silent Cartographer
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step of Silence / Covenant base "Vigilant Finder"
'Colamee set the dropship down where they had landed before. The five sangheili of the Sescorheisa Squad emerged alone from the dropship. 'M-bosee and 'Dneolee supported a badly wounded 'Medamee, who still clutched her beam rifle. Once they were all standing outside the dropship, 'M-bosee transferred the burden of 'Medamee onto Anda 'Aebolee. The sangheili took 'Medamee's weight easily, after wielding a fuel rod gun for so long.
"You three take 'Medamee to the medic's station. I must meet with Ship Master 'Pacolee now. Meet me here at the end of this cycle." 'M-bosee commanded.
He watched as the other elites helped 'Medamee to the medical section. He had always hated the medics.
When 'M-bosee had been only a minor sangheili, he fought against the humans for the first time. Leading the humans had been one of the demons, who didn't have shields at the time, but the monster had gotten into hand-to-hand combat with him. Not being high-ranked enough to wield a sword, 'M-bosee had fought, whacking the human in the head with his plasma rifle. The human had dodged the rifle, and punched him in the stomach. The blow was much stronger than a human's punch should have been, and it finished off 'M-bosee's already damaged shields.
Before the elite was able to swing back, the demon brought its other fist across his face, knocking him out.
'M-bosee had woken to intense pain. Apparently, a sangheili had saved him, and had brought him to the medics. They had misjudged his conditions and not given him enough anesthesia. He had woken up during the most painful part of the operation.
Presently, 'M-bosee strode to the door to the interior of the Forerunner structure. He descended the ramp into the large chamber, and marveled at the changes made.
Next to the pillar in the center of the room, someone had set up a small grav lift. From the platform on the center of that pillar, however, there was a different grav lift – one that definitely did not originate from a Covenant crate. Over at one of the strange doorways with the shimmering green barriers, a pair of sangheili worked with something located just above the doorway.
'M-bosee watched them work as he approached the grav lift that would take him to the meeting room that 'Pacolee had first shown him and his squad. The pair of sangheili appeared to be tampering with the energy barrier itself, via a pair of objects just above the barrier. They hadn't yet deactivated the energy field, and by their expressions they didn't seem to be making progress.
'M-bosee entered the lift, and once he landed on the doorstep the door opened. There were two Sungheisa sangheili guarding the entrance, and 'Pacolee stood in the doorway.
"'M-bosee." 'Pacolee greeted him. "I see your raid was successful."
"Mostly." 'M-bosee replied. The two sangheili entered the meeting room, and 'Pacolee shut the door. "A demon managed to stop us from destroying the final lifepod survivors. They escaped in a Pelican dropship."
"That is unfortunate, but we are working very successfully here. As you have seen, we have activated one of the Ancient's grav lifts, and I am about to send a squad of Sungheisa sangheili and unggoy up there to investigate what is up there." 'Pacolee smiled. "We have also located what the Holy Scriptures refer to as the 'Silent Cartographer.' We were about to send a squad there, since that is the only way we will be able to locate Halo's control center."
"My squad and I shall lead them." 'M-bosee announced. "Just give them enough time to finish healing 'Medamee. I will need all of my squad for this."
"Very well. I will tell the troops to wait." 'Pacolee said. "May the Forerunners bless you."
"Thank you Ship Master." 'M-bosee turned, left, and 'Pacolee returned to his work.
Near the end of the day, 'Medamee left the medical ward and boarded the heavily laden dropship. Having heard that 'Medamee was just finishing her time with the medics, 'M-bosee had loaded everyone into the four dropships.
The force 'Medamee led to the Silent Cartographer consisted of: Five sangheili pilots, the Sescorheisa Squad, five Yar-Kai snipers, fifteen Gag-Rak kig-yar, four lekgolo, and thirty-four unggoy. The vehicles brought were one Wraith Mortar Tank and two ghosts, along with a pair of banshees to guard the dropships. Two of the sangheili pilots flew the banshees.
'Colamee and the other pilots brought the four dropships up around the ring towards the Cartographer.
1020 Hours, September 31, 2547 (Military Time) / Alpha Base, Halo, Harbinger System
"Major, we've found something new in the Covenant's strategy."
"Good job Petra. Come meet me in my office with Lieutenant Parsons." The Major replied.
"Yes sir." Petra opened a new channel with Parsons. "Come in Lt. Parsons."
"This is Parsons, go ahead."
"Meet us at the Major's office now. He wants to talk to us."
"Roger that. I'm on my way."
"Now we should get going. We don't want to be late." Petra said to Dav Flamerock, having closed the channel with Lt. Parsons.
Dav left his living quarters, nothing more than a small room with a bed and some scattered weapons and equipment. He ascended the ramp that had been built into the side of the Forerunner structure that the humans used as Alpha Base. It was identical to the one 'M-bosee had seen while he had been killing the human survivors, except there were no underground passages.
Dav reached the top of the structure and approached the central pillar where the periodic burst of energy came from. The pillar was hollow, square, and had a man-sized hole in two of the sides, which allowed passage through the hollow pillar. Next to the opening was a small screen that the humans had placed there. It read:
:28
:27
:26
Seeing this Dav backpedaled and hid behind someone else's living quarters.
The Major had been wise to make the hole in the pillar the only way to access his office and quarters. If there were hostiles present, he could shut and lock the door, and while the Covenant attempted to knock down the door, the blast of energy would go off, killing anyone above it.
There was a soft blast, and Dav saw the blue energy streaking through the sky. He stepped out from behind his cover, and Lt. Parsons approached.
Together, they entered the pillar just as Major Dougal opened the door. They entered, and Dougal hastily shut the door. The pulse went off every ninety seconds.
"So Petra, what is it?" Dougal asked, motioning for them to sit down.
The three of them sat down, and Dav got a good look at the Lieutenant. He was the man from Skyhunter's dropship; he had been able to get a ride with Skyhunter because he was with the Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI. Somehow, Dav figured that Parsons would be able to learn a lot of information useful to ONI on this ring.
"As you might not have known, four Covenant dropships passed by Alpha Base an hour ago." Petra laughed to herself when she saw the men's shocked reactions. "They weren't close enough to be a threat, but close enough to be picked up by our sensors. They also didn't seem to target us, or notice us at all. I wasn't able to discern their target location, but I did gain enough information to send a fake message to their HQ. They responded like I told them to, and I found out their target destination.
"The Covenant is sending troops to something they call the 'Silent Cartographer.' It's a map room that will lead you to any part of Halo. I acquired the coordinates of the Cartographer from the Covenant. The reason the Covenant are after it is because they believe that Halo is some kind of super weapon, and they're searching for the control center of it. If they find it -" Major Dougal interrupted Petra's "it" with one of his own.
"It, then we're all screwed. Lieutenant, Chief Petty Officer, you're leading an assault of the Control Room. We will need you to stop by the Cartographer to find out where it is, but we must beat the Covenant to it. I'll give you three of our pelicans and one Warthog LRV. You can fill the pelicans with 60 troops, but only a third of them can be ODSTs. Alright Petra, you got any more intel for us on the Cartographer?"
"It's on a forested island. I'll plug the coordinates into whatever dropship I'm in, and that'll lead us to the map room." Petra replied.
"Good work. Now move out." Dougal ordered.
"Land ho!" Skyhunter called to the marines and Spartan in the back. Dav chuckled at the comment, and someone else said,
"Good one, Skyhunter!"
They had been flying over water for at least an hour and a half, and that comment made them all feel like the sailors of old. Secretly, each of them were preparing themselves for the coming fight.
According to Petra, the entrance to the Cartographer was directly above the beach, and as the pelican came closer, Petra's knowledge was confirmed. Not only was there a platform with a doorway into the cliff stationed above the beach, but there was also a Covenant dropship hovering just above the platform. No Covenant foot soldiers could be seen, but as the Pelicans drew nearer, the dropship targeted them and opened fire.
"Chief, get in here!" Skyhunter hailed him as the pelicans scattered, dodging plasma fire. Dav was in the cockpit in a flash, and standing behind Skyhunter.
"Petra, are there any other entrances into the Cartographer?" Skyhunter asked.
"No, just here." Petra replied immediately.
"Ma'am! Hunters!" Lt. Parsons cried from his position in the co-pilot's seat. Both Skyhunter and Dav jerked their heads to the view screen.
From their new position after dodging the hose of plasma fire from the dropship, Skyhunter, Parsons, and Dav could now see the two hunters guarding the entrance to the Silent Cartographer. They had been hidden by the dropship.
"Skyhunter, tell all of the ships to head around the port side of the island." Dav ordered.
"Yes sir." Skyhunter brought up a comm. channel with the other two pelicans. "This is Pelican-419. Do you read me?"
"I read you Skyhunter." They both replied.
"Come around the port side of the island. The Chief has something planned for the Covenant." Skyhunter ordered.
"Yes ma'am!" Pelican-507 replied, turning to follow Pelican-419 around.
"Skyhunter, we are engaged. You may want to have the Chief cancel his order when we're done." The other Pelican, Pelican-322, responded.
"Aft cameras!" Skyhunter ordered.
"Yes ma'am." Parsons replied, bringing the camera feed to the view screen.
Pelican-507 was quite close behind them, but what grabbed the attention of Skyhunter, Dav, and Parsons was the fight behind Pelican-507. Pelican-322 flew around the Covenant dropship, which sprayed plasma back in return. There were a couple of burns on the pelican, but the human dropship was evading most of the plasma. It flew in an arc above the Covenant ship, and lowered down so it was practically sitting on the Covenant ship. Two Jackhammer rockets flew from the back hatch of the pelican, blowing a pair of holes in the top of the Covenant dropship. A moment later, the second wave of rockets detonated inside the cockpit. The Covenant ship fell, crashing into the beach below.
The hunters suddenly launched huge balls of plasma at Pelican-322, but before they impacted, Skyhunter's pelican turned, and the cameras showed only ocean.
"Come in Pelican-322!" Skyhunter cried over the comm. Twin explosions were heard, and Pelican-322 replied, "The coast is clear. All threats neutralized. Pelican-322 out."
"Fore cameras." Skyhunter ordered, bringing the ship around. "I'm bringing the ship around."
Pelican-419 spun around, as Lt. Parsons brought up the forward cameras. The hunters were all over the place, but most of their bodies and equipment lay where they had been standing. There were bright scratches in the platform, which led to Pelican-322. The dropship faced away from the dead hunters, and lay upright on the platform. At first, Skyhunter couldn't see any physical damage, but then noticed the crater on the underside of the port wing. The hatch was open, and two marines stood in the opening with rocket launchers on their shoulders. As Skyhunter brought her pelican down, the marines and ODSTs in Pelican-322 climbed out. The heavy weapons marines reloaded and clipped two spare rocket packs to each of their belts. The marines of Pelican-419 leapt out, led by Dav and Lt. Parsons.
"Not a lot of us will fit in there, I recommend a 10 man squad." Petra said into Dav's ear.
"Lieutenant, Cpl Basri, Sergeants, you four, come with me. We're going in. Everyone else, stay here. Don't let anything in." Dav quickly dished out orders to the 60 soldiers around him. "Set up the warthog, you can use it as a stationary gun turret. Strike Team, come with me. We're going in."
The strike team strode into the cliff, passed a small room, then descended a ramp into a hallway. They turned left, and found themselves facing a small room with a Covenant crate in the middle and a ramp that led up to a ledge on the right. Dav entered the room, and heard a grunt squeal at the sound of his footsteps.
"Stay here. I'll get it." Dav stepped around the crate, and saw a lone grunt, pointing a needler at him. He quickly ducked behind the crate, as four needles flew past him and detonated harmlessly against a wall. After waiting a moment, he ducked back around, pulling down on the trigger, and strafing to the left. The grunt fired a few needles at him before the bullets from his assault rifle killed it. The few needles lowered his shields a fraction, and he motioned for the other soldiers to enter.
"You four, head up that ramp. The rest of you, come with me. We're going through that door." Two sergeants and two marines, together armed with an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and two battle rifles, began advancing up the ramp, as Dav led the rest of the squad to a door underneath the ledge.
Dav stepped through the door, and was instantly hit by a large plasma bolt and a few smaller ones. They drained his shields instantly and he could feel burns on his arms and chest. Dav ducked back behind the door, hiding, as he manually recharged his shields. The marines and last sergeant, led by Cpl Basri, charged through the door. Once the last marine had passed through, Dav stepped into the room, followed by Lt. Parsons. There was a pair of jackals, one dead, one fighting the marines. Cpl Basri was retreating, limping slightly due to plasma burns on his legs. Dav charged the last jackal, spraying it with bullets from his assault rifle. The jackal shifted it's shield to defend against Dav, and Parsons and a marine shot it with their pistol and assault rifle.
The marines appeared at the ledge above them, and after seeing that there were no more jackals to kill, three of them jumped down.
"Three men down already?" Dav asked. There was a sergeant and a marine lying next to his feet, and one of the sergeants hadn't come back from the ledge above.
"Yeah…" The marine with the sniper rifle replied sadly. Parsons recovered one of the jackal's plasma pistols, and the other marines refilled their ammo.
"Let's go." Dav led them down a ramp to another door. This time more careful, Dav stepped through the door. When no enemies presented themselves, he motioned for the other six squad members to come through.
They stood in a hallway that branched off on either side, and there appeared to be a room that these hallways surrounded.
"Alright, Basri, Parsons, you're with me. The rest of you, go down that way." Dav motioned to the right, and then led Lt. Parsons and Cpl Basri down the left. Just as they turned the corner, they heard the sounds of a firefight in the other hallway. Seeing no hostiles, Dav led the two other men down the hallway and turned into the room on their right. There was a wall in between them and the other side, but it didn't reach all the way across the room. Down at the other end of the room, where the mid-room wall ended, was another jackal. Dav charged it, guns blazing, letting the plasma wash over his shields. Once he reached the jackal, he grabbed the alien's firing arm, lifted it up, and sprayed bullets into the soft, unprotected torso.
Just as the jackal died, he heard a grenade go off, and turning into the corner, saw another jackal under fire from the other marines. He sprayed its unprotected side with assault rifle bullets, and it collapsed. He looked over at the other marines, and saw one of them dead in the doorway.
"We need to be more careful. We can't lose people this fast." Dav said to the other marines, after one of them restocked his assault rifle clips with those of his dead ally and Dav had recharged his shields. The marines followed the Spartan down the next ramp, to another door.
After waiting for a moment, Dav leapt through the door, pointing his rifle in every direction at once. With no hostiles present, the Spartan strode onto the ledge. There was a ramp that led to a lower level a few meters ahead of him, and to his right was a small alcove filled with Covenant crates. Lt. Parsons entered the alcove, searching for a more fully charged plasma pistol. After a moment, he emerged, holding a plasma rifle and a strange, semi-transparent pyramidal object with a small blue sphere inside.
"What's that?" someone asked Parsons.
"I've seen one of these before. This is a temporary camouflage device. It only works with an elite's armor, though, so only a Spartan can use it." The Lieutenant replied.
"Interesting." Dav inspected the cloaking device. "How does it work?"
"Let me explain, while I install it." Parsons opened the pyramid and took out the blue sphere. After a quick explanation and installation, Dav vanished from sight as the camouflage took effect.
"I'll go scout ahead. I'll hail you on the radio when my camo runs out, and then just find me. I'll come back if there's any forks in the hallways." Dav's voice came from the air around the marines.
He set off down the ramp, trying to go as fast as he could and still stay quiet. He reached the bottom of the ramp, and saw a grunt standing idly by a Covenant crate. The crate was right next to the edge of the abyss, but there was enough room for him to edge around the crate. He slipped around the crate, and with careful precision pushed the crate over onto the grunt, crushing it. He then proceeded onwards, going around a few corners, always staying near the abyss, and found himself staring at two doors. He took the left-hand door, and slipped through. There were no Covenant in this room, but there was a projector in the center of it, and a door on the other side of the room.
"This is the map room. Quick, let's activate it and find the control center." Petra said to him.
"No." Dav replied. I'm getting the others first." Suddenly, he could see his camouflage fading away. "Come in Strike Team. This is Captain Dav Flamerock."
"We hear you Chief. Your camo gone?" Lt. Parsons answered him.
"Yes, and I found the map room. Come down the ramp, and just walk along the abyss until you see me." Dav told them.
A minute later, the marines and Lieutenant rounded the corner. They approached him.
"Alright, Dav. Now let's find the control center!" Petra sounded a little frustrated that Dav had waited for his marine friends to meet him.
"Don't worry. We're doing that Petra." Dav reassured her. They strode through the door, and Dav pressed a button on the holopanel in the center of the room. A hologram of the ring appeared before them.
"The control center seems to be in some kind of temple." Petra explained. "Strange place to put such a significant installation."
Suddenly, the door opposite them opened, and five Covenant soldiers stepped into the room. Dav leapt through the hologram of Halo to get to the jackals and grunts. As he flew through the air, the jackal sniper fired at him, missing. The grunts stepped out from behind the other jackal's shields, and fired at their targets. Dav sprayed the jackal sniper with assault rifle bullets, taking it down. Simultaneously, the grunts died under a volley of pistol shots and sniper bullets. One of the jackals was charging its plasma pistol, and the other fired at the marine sniper. To take out the jackals, Dav spun his leg up, kicking one in the back, sending it flying to the ground in front of Cpl Basri. He spun his leg back, kicking the other jackal over just as it released its overcharged plasma bolt at the marine in front of it. He sprayed the last of the bullets from his clip onto the jackal's back, and reloaded his rifle.
Lieutenant Parsons was burned from plasma bolts, and he was currently reloading his pistol. Basri was still burned from a previous firefight, and the sergeant was in relatively fine condition. Dav grabbed a clip from the dead marine and slammed it into place in his assault rifle.
"Take as much ammunition clips as you can carry. We know the location of the control center. Now it's time to race those alien bastards there."
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