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The Revelation of War, Chapter Six
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 4 October 2004, 11:35 PM
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Chapter Six: Blackout
1615 hours, September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC stealth frigate Valiant Knight
Imbari System, near Imbari V
Captain Gary Rayford stood up and walked slowly over to the Command Console, not taking his eyes off the primary viewing screen. The bridge crew had nearly fallen into a state of shock and disbelief when the Covenant fleet entered the system, but now remained in tense silence as their CO analyzed the situation.
Rayford had the primary viewing screen centered on a massive cruiser, no doubt the flagship of this monstrous fleet; it was far larger then anything he had ever seen. The ships surrounding it were not magnificent, but each possessed more firepower then his own ten-times over. This was subdued by the fact that he was also out of Archer missiles.
The fleet of ninety-two ships was slowing converging in-system on Imbari V, spread out in a line-search manner, obviously searching for any human force before they made their final stop at the small green planet. Rayford's hopes of pulling through this were small, even for his usual optimistic stance on bad circumstances.
The Melbourne, the only ship that came with them to the Imbari System that had any substantial firepower, was now a floating debris along with the Covenant cruiser it had collided with. The Triton was an abandon wreck waiting to explode, it's crew long gone and probably on the planet surface by now.
This all left him and his ship the only thing standing in the gap between ninety-two Covenant ships and the fallen world. His thoughts ran to how the Marine's may have faired on the surface. His last direct contact with them, more specifically with the ODST platoon that had launched from his own ship, was when they were en route to the City of Rocere to start the search for the last artifact. After that, he had only overheard reports of the entire Company of Marines go missing, and the ODST platoon heading to that location.
He hoped that they could somehow get a hold of that artifact, and prevent the Covenant from finding it. But if things were going down there like it was up in space, they had already lost.
"Captain," the XO said softly, breaking Rayford of thought.
Rayford turned and looked at him, along with the rest of the crew. Their faces were white and etched with fear, some not blinking as the fleet of enemy ships made way towards them and the planet behind. The worst part about this was that there was no UNSC fleet large enough to save them, even if one were to miraculously appear. The Covenant had dealt a fatal blow to humanity, leaving them shattered and thin.
"Minimum operating powers, turn to a direct heading for Imbari V." Rayford said.
The Valiant Knight made a sweeping turn back towards the planet. Rayford calculated they would have twenty minutes before the Covenant would arrive at the planet, and they were ten minutes away.
There was nothing left to do but hope against hope that something could be done on the surface.
1615 hours, September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)
At the possible location of the artifact
Imbari System, planet Imbari V
Kren slowly stood up and wiped his face with a hand bloodied by his Platoon Sergeant's fatal wounds. He shakily looked around; the flattened forest was dotted with bodies, some human, others Covenant. In the distance five crashed drop-ships burned, the same ships that had dropped off this group of Covenant soldiers.
He wasn't sure how or what happened, but the light emitting from the hole was more intense, and it appeared to be more unstable. But his mind was flooded with other thoughts as he stood there.
His entire platoon, the same men he had fought with at Milestone, the same he had befriended and trained personally, all these valuable soldiers and men lost in a split second firefight with aliens. He couldn't understand how much they had survived together, only to be lost in a single fateful fight. But one question ate at him the most.
Why had he survived?
Kren stumbled mindlessly toward the hole, stepping over Covenant bodies and past his deceased comrades, and tried to figure out why he had survived; why he was the lone survivor. How many countless times had he been on death's front step and still pulled through? He was sure that even the last encounter with that Elite should have been his death, but somehow, he had survived by the last act of McCollum.
His heart raced as he remembered the explosion that had sent him flying, then the horrific images he had seen shortly thereafter. Something was out there trying to stop him, but on the other hand, something was keeping him alive.
But why had all these events pulled together, leading him to this place? This one point where he stood before a force of unimaginable magnitude, and to get here claim the lives of more then just his own men? What part was he playing in this war?
He had always expected to die among his men, fighting a relentless enemy. He had made it past all those times that should have claimed his life, he had made it passed all those misfires, close calls, and now the last battle that claimed everyone except himself.
He took step after step toward the beam of light, which grew in intensity with every passing second. He stopped within an arms-reach and stared down into it. Despite the brightness, he could see down into the hole, to a very plain floor.
In the center lay the last artifact.
Kren inched towards the edge, then leaned down to jump; the floor was no more then 5 meters down. He then slowly put his arm out and into the beam of light. Nothing happened.
He eased forward and jumped down into the hole. All his training was telling him not to, all his logic went against it. But he hadn't gotten this far for nothing, and with the situation he was in, death wouldn't be a bad option out.
He landed and rolled out of the fall, feeling the pain from his own wounds shoot across his body. The light in the hole made everything an off-tint, but he could still see clearly; the hole was circular and was about 30 meters in diameter. In the center was the last artifact, sitting atop a rectangular crate-like object; it was exactly the same as the containers that lined the walls of the underground room at Milestone, where the second artifact was found.
Kren wearily walked towards it, his body aching from the abuse it had taken over the last day. The fight with the Covenant, combined with the massive explosion just hours earlier, had left him injured in more ways then one. But he was nonetheless alive, which meant he had to finish this.
He stopped a step away from it and looked at it for a minute, recalling the events and actions that had happened the last time he came across one of these artifacts. The difference here, though, was that this one was active in a totally different manner then he had ever seen before.
The artifacts were known for the ability to portray and show the future, thus allowing the future to be changed by taking measures in the present. He had done this personally on numerous occasions, leading him to believe that the chrome ball had a direct affect on how the artifacts acted to a specific person or being.
The surviving Elite with the chrome ball on this planet was somewhere, and was no doubt getting the same abilities from the artifact that he had.
Kren paused.
He had survived, along with his platoon, all those situations because he was able to get insight from the artifact, thus changing the future so certain events didn't happen. In that case, then he may have, along with his men, been destined to die long ago, but somehow they had foreseen and prevented it. For all he could have known, Milestone would have been the last planet he would seen in life.
Kren clenched his fists. That was how his platoon had been killed. The Elite with the chrome ball took measures to stop him and his men, and it partially worked. The Covenant arriving in force at this location was no accident.
It was deliberate. It was foreseen and planned by that lone Elite.
But the problems couldn't end there. Possessing the chrome-ball gave one tremendous amount of capabilities; that Elite would stop at nothing to ensure that the Covenant gained control of this last artifact. That could mean an entire Covenant armada entering the system....
Kren unclenched his fists, fighting the rage within. It was time to stop this.
Aboard UNSC stealth frigate Valiant Knight
Rayford double checked the sensor report about the Covenant fleet slowly closing in. They were just passing by the wreckage of three of their own ships and the remains of the Melbourne, and were nearing the still intact Triton.
How nice it would be for that reactor to explode right as they passed, Rayford thought.
"Sir, anomalies originating from the planet." His XO announced.
Rayford turned and looked over his XO's shoulder.
"What...?"
At location of the last Artifact
Kren reached out and grabbed the artifact.
His vision immediately went white.
Kren blinked several times as his surroundings came into focus. He was floating several meters above the ground, and he could see and discern everything. This was just like having the chrome-ball, except so much more comprehensive.
While with the chrome-ball he could go where he wanted and see what he wanted, with the artifact he could be anywhere and everywhere at once; almost like he was omni-present. Kren instinctively focused and time raced backwards, bodies from the flattened forest ground rose, their weapons came back up into their hands, and rifle and plasma fire started racing around.
He watched every minor action in detail, from his First Squad Leader coming back to life after being hit, then back to when they were all still hiding, to when the Covenant drop-ships were circling overhead.
Kren thought and it reacted at the same speed. He flashed backwards in time, through the weeks spent on the Valiant Knight, then back to Milestone, to his assigned post training his platoon, to Officer Candidate School. Kren watched his life's history race before him, all at the speed of his own thoughts.
He then snapped back to the present at his own command, then focused on the actions taking place at the present time on the planet. He saw the minimal fighting still taking place in the cities, some human groups trying to evade Covenant patrols, every last speck of information that dotted anywhere on the planet.
He then turned to face the sky and space. He saw the wreckage of the Melbourne, along with the other three Covenant vessels, to the abandoned Triton, to the Valiant Knight in low orbit, to the massive Covenant armada making it's way closer to the planet.
He almost passed that last one by. The Covenant were here in force.
Kren watched and looked into the future. The Covenant ships effortlessly annihilated the Valiant Knight, then dropped thousands of troops onto the planet in search of the last artifact, which they also eventually found. But most interesting, he couldn't find himself in this future. He wasn't with the artifact or anywhere else.
It was like he didn't exist.
He shrugged off the thought and looked far into the future. He saw the war progress, saw the millions that dies on both sides, the ships lost in battle, the planets falling one after another as the Covenant progressed.
But then he saw the end. The end of the war, the moment the fighting ceased to exist between the Covenant and Humanity. He saw the final battle and the victorious side.
Kren willed himself and let go of the artifact. His vision went bright white again, then slowly cleared.
He was standing in front of the artifact at the bottom of that hole.
Humanity didn't need the artifacts to win. They didn't need a special power or a hand-up. All they needed was hope and the will to defeat the foe that had pushed its will against theirs.
The artifacts weren't going to make the difference in the war, only every life who fought against the nemesis of Humanity would matter, only every soldier and volunteer could make the difference.
That's all they needed to win.
The Covenant were still going to get this last artifact, however. He had just seen it happen in complete and perfect succession. Kren frowned as the realization that there was nothing within his power to stop this came to mind. But the future hadn't come to pass yet; he was still in the present and still had the artifact in his possession. If the Covenant were going to acquire it, how could he stop it?
All his options were gone. There was no way out of this one. It was time to make his priorities, and his top priority was to keep this out of the Covenant's hands no matter what. They could win without it, they could beat the Covenant without having the trio of artifacts. There was only one thing for him to do.
Kren reached into his Load Bearing Vest and pulled out a remote detonated explosive charge. The Covenant can't get what doesn't exist.
He set it next to the artifact, then brought out the remote detonator.
Could he have known? Could he have foreseen this? This would be the final act he ever made to stop the Covenant, but he had never seen it coming down to destroying the one thing they were sent to retrieve.
He couldn't think about the countless times he was supposed to die, the countless times something, somehow had saved his life. All the events that had taken him up to this point, this one point in time where he was making a conscious choice to end the Covenant's greatest asset, and then his own.
His life.
Kren stared at the artifact with the explosive set next to it. This last act would be for his men, his comrades, and for Humanity. It would put them that much closer to winning the war, which merited beyond a doubt his actions to remove the artifact from existence.
He thumbed off the safety on the remote.
And depressed the button.
Aboard UNSC stealth frigate Valiant Knight
Rayford snapped a look back at the secondary viewing screen as alarms began going off. The screen, which had momentarily before showed the planet, was now pitch white. He covered his eyes as the flash fed through the armored windows and turned the bridge pure white. He then felt the initial vibrations as the ship began rocking back and forth; it then began groaning as the reverberations grew more intense.
"Helm take us out of the system!" Rayford yelled, covering his eyes, knowing that opening them would lead to instant blindness.
"Sir," the helmsman yelled back over the noise that was growing more intense. "We have no system destination set!"
Rayford stumbled and fell to the floor as the ship made high-pitched twisting noises. The force from whatever just happened on the planet would rip his ship apart. They needed out.
"Make the jump!" Rayford yelled forcefully.
The slip-space engines were already warmed, and the helmsman blindly hit the control panel at his station, hitting several other controls in the process. The frigate's slip-space drivers tore a hole in space, and the frigate slipped in.
Rayford noticed the background in his closed eyes go back to normal black. He cautiously let his hands off and opened his eyes. They were in slip-space, heading to an unknown system.
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