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Arrival at Earth part 5
Posted By: KaoS KnitE<h2masta228@yahoo.com>
Date: 3 October 2006, 4:51 am
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"Your Grand Excellency, the Ark has been located. It seems it is beneath the desert of land between this city and that the humans call "Voy," I believe that it has been covered by many millennia of land. It seems they have built on it and are oblivious of the ancient artifact beneath their feet." the Supreme Commander of Regret Sangieli had spoken to Regret.
Regret thought well before he gave a reply. They would first have to clear many cities and troops to begin the excavation of the artifact. No that would take too long and they would be outnumbered. The original plan was to send the 500 or so warships to Earth from the Unyielding Heirophant and activate the ark. But after the disaster of this incident, he was going to find the ark on his own and make up for the time lost: as well as get Truths :seat" into the divine beyond. It was a flawless plan, but it seemed as if there were not only human resistance there, but more than that of Reach and civilizations upon the surface of their planet. It seemed as though the humans actually lived there as their home planet.
Having to excavate it would not work, since his fleet would be overwhelmed and annihilated before he had a chance to even begin his work. The other option was far too risky for glassing the surface would require in orbit flying, many more ships, less resistance, and would have a high chance of scarring the Holy Artifact. When he was about to reply he was interrupted by the Communications Commander.
"Incoming message from High Charity, it's the Prophet of Truth."
"Very well, put it on hologram 3."
The office reverted the message to message to port 3 and a small image of Truth appeared. A very annoyed and displeased Truth spoke "Regret, I am speechless by your actions. It seemed that you had different intentions then what was planned. You jumped blindly into human territory without even the slightest Intel. Your actions were unjust and you will return immediately and speak wit us. Your fate is ultimately up to Mercy and his wise council.' The hologram disappeared and left all of the command centers crew speechless.
Regret knew that now he had to activate the halos or else he will be left behind on the Great Journey. This day kept getting worst with each passing mili-unit. His troops had been slowly annihilated by the humans and now this. Time was short and he needed a plan fast. Its struck him: Delta Halo. First, he would make the jump to slipspace inside the atmosphere. Since the fabric of space, time, and now air particles are being ripped apart, the collapsing of the atomic structure should produce a violent enough explosion to take out the city and the neighboring area in which the Ark is located. He would then head to the new Halo, which he found the coordinates of in a relic found on a distant planet in this system, and have time for his last sermon. Then he would activate the ring and begin the Great Journey. As for the Ark, he would leave it uncovered as to show the polishing of the divine gift as he makes his way into the beyond. I am blessed with genius, Regret thought.
"Alright, pull the gravity lift and make slipspace calculations to the newfound these coordinates and prepare the jump into slipspace." Regret ordered his Navagations Captain. "We will meet up with the troops already stationed there." Now he directed his conversation to the Comm. Commander "Record this message and send it to Truth via superficial transmission."
He received two consecutive "Yes, Great One." Then Regret looked at the camera lens and spoke "Wise and Great Truth, I was reckless to head out without consultation. I am deeply apologetic and I will see that you, and Mercy, will find it in your hearts to forgive me. To show my deep apology, I present you with a gift: the coordinates of another Halo. Troops are already stationed on the ring. I hope you find this helpful within your master plan. Regret out."
The cavernous room echoed with the sound of silence, icy coldness, and the dampness of the stench of dead corpses. Tens of thousands of years of silence passed and ticked away. He was starved and so were all of his children. This installation was built to confine and destroy him. The rest of the installations were intended for the rest of the Flood. The room no longer felt giant but now small. This was the first of the installations, yet it wasn't 01. The oldest by far and the 4th largest. The room was compromised of the lower underground level of the installations, larger than the extent of the surface to the atmosphere, and at first was for him and his brothers. Now he had combined, or rather fed on, his brothers and accumulated as the major head body.
He extended to the size of about a third of the installation's caverns and boasted thousands of tentacles that could reach to any part of the installation. He had consumed all knowledge of the installations, his makers, and all information they had. He was hungry, not just for food, but for knowledge. He wanted more, he wanted death. A peaceful death. But to starve to it was impossible. He had enough bodies of flood to last him another several eons.
Names. What names? His name? Gravemind. Why? Who? His makers, the Forerunners. They had an experiment, a faulty one. They intended on making a creature that could copy knowledge directly and preserve it. Multiply it. But the creature had a mind. A grave mind. That was him. The first "success." He was a genetic mistake. He was hungry for knowledge. He fed on it, took on a host, a parasite. The same body that is his brain now. The scientist that made him. He killed them all and fed on them. He multiplied at rates so large, they could not be counted. They stopped and sealed him for study. He multiplied and broke quarantine. On and on they would fail to study them. The war had begun. They found that they were too dangerous and must be exterminated. But the numbers were too large. And the more bodies, the more food, the more of them. It was a never ending vicious cycle. It only took years to greatly outnumber them. The war raged and seemed hopeless. He was hungry. All options were eventually exhausted. The artificial worlds they had been working on had neared completion.
With one command on the home planet, they all died. They starved, but they multiplied. 100,000 years have passed. He was still hungry. But he knew there was food now, lots of food. Trillions of bodies, including those of the Forerunners descendants. And they were alive. If only they could escape this prison. But he must not let the weapons be activated again. Not again, not ever again. Never would he allow the monitors to let a reclaimer activate the rings. His minions, children starved and fought to be released. He knew that one of the rings had already been destroyed along with the millions of Flood on there. They were a flood, never ending and unstoppable. The work of curiosity.
Emotionless and thoughts of only hunger and knowledge. Fear of the activation of the ring. Fear of the starvation. Fear of himself. The silence stretched an eternity– a slipsace rupture? Finally, the installation had been found. Finally he would have his food. He felt his children rumble for food. Yes. Food. Knowledge. He was seeking knowledge. Escaping from pain and an eternity of suffering. But how? He did not know, his mind wandered and searched for an answer. But there was no answer. Just hunger. Emptiness. Nothing. He wasn't evil, just fulfilling his purpose: to consume. They would consume at any cost. Nothing could stop them, except the ring world's ultimate weapon. Time neared when he would have his food. Soon. Very soon. Or was it soon when he would be forced to relive the activation of the installations. No. He felt the intentions of those who had set foot on the installation. Barbaric thoughts of a Great Journey. A false paradise they had made of thinking the Forerunners were deities, when they killed their descendants. If the rings were activated, they would complete the Great Journey. No, they would die. He would starve. They were ignorant and barbaric.
He must stop them, but they can't. Only the others can. They now walk the surface of the installations. They must die. None must live. The order was sent out. This time he will not suffer the same fate as he did before. The fate, the fate......
Now it was only a matter of time....
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