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Alien Brethren: Chapter 6: Remorseful Incentive
Posted By: Alex L (Greek Elite)<yoshi64y@aol.com>
Date: 7 October 2005, 11:52 pm
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I know how you guys are excited to read the next chapter so here it is. Keep on the look out for Chapter 7 as well, it's tailing Chapter 6 fairly quickly. In any case another quick thanks to those who comment and read Alien Brethren and there's two more things i'd like to say. First off, and most importantly Happy Birthday to my friend John (AKA General Banks). Without him I wouldn't be typing Alien Brethren nor would I be the good Halo player that I am. Also, i'd like to say thank you to whomever posted the various oracle names in one of the boards for Bungie.org. Thank you to whomever made that post! And with that, enjoy:
Chapter 6: Remorseful Incentive
"How's it coming with the light bulb?" John asked the hard-working Grunt who was trying his best to repair the oracle.
"Almost ready!" Squeaked the Grunt excitedly. The Phantom that was carrying the six Covenant and Baxter was now hovering over the ruins of Halo that were located nearby the Forerunner tram. Alei had told him to keep a steady speed around the area since he did not know what their next destination would be.
"The sooner the better Kaskut but take your time. The oracle is vital and if it should malfunction then all my planning and gathering will have been pointless," Alei said.
Alei 'Limoto looked around and saw diversity among the contents of the Phantom: two loyal and very powerful Hunters, a crafty Jackal, an essential and ferocious Brute, a reliable and handy Grunt, and a brave, deadeye human.
He was glad that he had Baxter on his team and he remembered it really wasn't his team any more, it was John's. John had saved his life from the other Marines and had spared him. He hoped one day he would do John a favor or save his life so that they were equal. He began to wonder what it'd be like, in his past journeys if Baxter were part of his squad.
Alei recalled the many battles and expeditions he had went on when Kaskut, Betronus, Lib, Ralna, and Kalno accompanied him. Betronus was the pilot and occasionally fought by Alei's side, Lib was the scout and devious one of the group, Ralna and Kalno were the main heavy fire of the group, and Kaskut was the mechanic and Alei's sidekick.
He remembered how Betronus would always berserk when the humans were pelting Lib or himself with heavy fire. Betronus had always had a friendly rivalry against Alei where they both competed to see who got the most kills and who saved whose life the most. Lib and Betronus however were more then just acquaintances.
From Alei 'Limoto's memory Lib was once surrounded by two Warthogs with nobody else with him to fend off the humans. Right when Lib had lost faith Betronus arrived with a Phantom from nowhere and single handedly defeated all the opposing human vehicles with the barrage of plasma fire from the Phantom's turrets. From that day forwards Lib was forever in debt to Betronus and the two of them were the best buddies. This reminded Alei of his debt to Baxter.
Alei kept the memories flowing through his mind as he recalled the first day he met Kaskut. His armor wasn't red back then and Kaskut had just joined the Covenant. He recalled Kaskut being a nervous breakdown when he first met him since he'd never been in battle before. Surprisingly however Kaskut had been the Grunt in his squad with the most kills. Alei was impressed with Kaskut from that day forward and the two of them had been good buddies ever since.
Then he recalled first meeting Ralna and Kalno. It was Alei's first mission when he had inherited his red armor. Ralna and Kalno were recruited to his team (which already consisted of Betronus, Lib, and Kaskut). The two of them had a disgraceful history as they served higher ranking Elites before but failed them. As punishment the two Hunters were recruited to Alei's squad and with Alei's leadership the Hunters were more promising then ever. Alei racked his memory trying to recall when the Covenant had been split up and sent on various different missions. It was some time shortly before Alei was sent on a mission to Earth.
Alei treasured the memories he had with his squad and then he recalled a few missions before he met any of his current team members, when he was a blue elite. He remembered one of his missions when he was quite young; his entire squad was his family, literally. It consisted of his father and his brothers. Alei had enjoyed being part of the squad and enjoyed the missions they went on but as his memory recalled more details of that mission he quickly shook his head not wanting to witness in his mind what had happened again.
"All done!" Kaskut cheered apparently having completed his work on the oracle. Everyone was so excited at Kaskut's accomplishment that even Betronus had come out of the cockpit to witness it himself as he put the Phantom on autopilot.
Everyone watched it in silence then Lib spoke, "Are you sure you fixed it?"
"Why didn't we just find an Engineer and have him fix it?" Betronus asked glaring at Alei.
"We could not have trusted an Engineer with the oracle. They would have notified the Prophets," Alei argued.
"Me fix, ME FIX!" Shouted Kaskut and he gave the oracle a good kick with his odd shaped foot. Kaskut yelped in pain and he began swearing in his native tongue, grabbing his foot while the oracle's center light began to flicker on and off and slowly began to hover. Everyone watched in awe as the spherical artifact began hover and its light slowly turned green. By judging the way it moved and acted Baxter figured it was broken or out of use for a long time.
Then a cheerful and somewhat charming voice emitted from it, "Greetings, I am 16807 Remorseful Incentive. I am…"
Betronus had grown eager to hear what truths the oracle had to speak and interrupted it, "You are the oracle and you will do as we say and answer our questions. Got it?"
"Just let the thing talk, fuzz ball," retorted John who gave Betronus a nasty glare.
"Ah! A reclaimer! How pleasant! I have long waited for your return. Thank you for repairing me," the sphere said, happy to see Baxter.
"Whoa buddy, I didn't fix you and what's a reclaimer?" Baxter replied.
"I fixed you holy oracle!" Kaskut said proudly.
"None of this is important! Can we please get on with the questioning?" Lib growled.
"I grow impatient, 'Limoto!" Betronus snarled.
"Then keep quiet and I shall ask," Alei said growing agitated by the impatience and bickering on the Phantom, "Holy Oracle, we have repaired you and activated you in hopes of finding a truth that we all seek."
"You may then ask. I am entitled to answer any and all of your questions," Remorseful Incentive chimed.
"We seek the truth about Halo and the Great Journey. What can you tell us?"
"Well, my data banks contain nothing pertaining to what you call 'the Great Journey' but I have what you seek about the rings. The rings built by the Forerunners were used to contain an outbreak of a parasite known as the flood. Should protocol for containing the parasite be ignored and an outbreak occur a Reclaimer is issued to go to Halo's Library and recover a key."
Ralna roared in excitement as if recalling something the oracle had said. "Yes Ralna, he means the Sacred Icon," Alei replied.
"The icon? Haven't the Prophets spoken of it before?" Betronus asked.
"Yes, it appears to be the key to the Great Journey," Alei replied.
"This Great Journey you speak of has no relevance to the key. Once the key is used to activate the rings the Flood will be rendered helpless to the ring's power," 16807 Remorseful Incentive continued.
John recognized this part. He had heard the story from another marine whom asked the Master Chief about his mission on Halo. To clarify things for the other Covenant on board he asked, "And how does the ring render the Flood helpless exactly?"
"Surely you already know the cause and effect of Halo reclaimer," 16807 Remorseful Incentive said nervously.
"I know plenty well what it does. Why don't you enlighten them?" Baxter replied with a smirk on his face as he nodded to the other Covenant on board.
"Well…" 16807 Remorseful Incentive began nervously but stopped as the Phantom abruptly began to shake vigorously. The rumbling of impact on the Phantom threw everyone but the Hunters off their feet.
"What was that?" Lib asked cocking his head in all directions.
"I believe we're under attack. Betronus, go to the cockpit and…" Alei began but was cut off by Baxter. "NO! Nobody's doing anything until the light bulb talks!"
"You crazy?" Kaskut asked, frightened at the scenario.
"Baxter we can find out…" Alei began to speak but was once again cut off by the Sergeant.
"NO! That thing's talking now! What did Halo do? What happened to the Forerunners?"
"They…They…" The Phantom was pelted again by something strong and very hot and a rush of adrenaline flowed through everyone's blood. Then finally the oracle screamed "THEY DIED!"
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