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Shadows of Archon II (part 28) - My Nano-machines Are Smaller than Yours
Posted By: Wado<wyamauchi@msn.com>
Date: 23 November 2002, 1:26 pm
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In the dead emptiness of space, two ships drift together in an eerie silence. The first ship, the Holy Light, a sleek Covenant Light Cruiser built for stealth and speed is dwarfed in comparison to the second ship, the Sh'rekhan. The Sh'rekhan has traveled over 60 thousand light years for this meeting. Its sole purpose is to retrieve a special package from the Covenant.
Not much else is known about the Sh'rekhan or other ships of Forerunner design, except that they always seem empty -- Vast corridors and enormous lifts completely void of anything but darkness and echoes.
So it happens that inside this particular Forerunner vessel the Covenant Prophet Lextus, who has arrived from the Holy Light, floats in darkness and virtual solitude. He is waiting to speak to his masters, the Forerunners. As he waits, around him swirl breezes of different temperature and in the distance, but not too far, small blue lights dance and dart about breaking up the emptiness.
Lextus knows he is not alone, but his Forerunner masters choose not to reveal themselves -- Save for one voice that bellows from above. "Prophet Lextus, I am the voice of Margoth," said the voice. "We expected that you would have brought the one known as Spartan and the Index to us. Your failure is not acceptable but it is understandable." The voice softens and appears to get closer. "Tell me Lextus, by what means have the humans turned the true Covenant against the gods?"
"Oh great ones, it is through the Prophecy of Descent that the Covenant waivers," said Lextus. "The first sign, the Heart of Darkness has been heard. The second sign, the coming of old kings -- the Praetor -- did come to pass. Now the third sign, the rising of a world from the flames of retribution has occurred. The prophecy speaks of the return of the gods and the return of the great hunters. We now know that the great hunters spoken of are the Archons. They have returned and as in those ancient times so many thousands of years ago, the Archons once again tempt the true Covenant against the gods. Even my most trusted have been exposed to the knowledge of the Archons and are at risk of turning. You could not have arrived at a more opportune time -- the Covenant has lost the way and we need your guidance."
"As always, we will prevail where servants have failed," said the voice. "Lextus, you have faltered and failed, but we are the all wise and powerful, you must stay the path of righteousness and once again walk the straight and narrow. Open your mind to us and see the light."
"Yes, I wish to be the faithful, the strong of faith," said Lextus. "I no longer wish to see the contradictions of knowledge."
"Lextus, you are not the first to falter and you are not the last," said the voice, "but that was to be expected, such is the nature of imperfection. Only those of us that have ascended to that place between insanity and godhood have reached perfection. We are in balance and all revolves around us. Open your mind and you shall be forgiven."
As Lextus looks up, the dancing blue lights surround him and project narrow sparkling lights that burn into his flesh. In the light, Lextus fades away until he is transparent and no longer casts a shadow. He has become a phantom, a shell of a being between the worlds of life and death.
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My Nano-machines Are Smaller than Yours
"Spartan," whispered Covenstein. "Caution when entering the next corridor. The few narrow paths aboard Forerunner vessels are suspected hiding places for their servants."
John looked carefully down the paths ahead. Three possible choices to travel -- the left path elevates slightly into a vast room, the right path descends slightly into darkness, and the center path stays level but narrows until it is only wide enough for one.
For the last hour, John, Cortana, and Master Noc Covenstein have been sneaking through the corridors of this ship. It all looks so familiar, like they've been traveling in circles.
"Cortana, are you sure?" asked John.
"No Chief, it's just a hunch," said Cortana. "We could continue up; the Forerunner designs tend to have command and control on the upper levels. As we ascended each room got larger and grander. Strange though, according to my calculations, we should already have reached the top of this ship long ago, and even with Master Covenstein's help, I'm still not able to break into the informational systems of this vessel. Something is not right, we need to break the pattern."
"Covenstein, which way?" asked John.
"We could go down Spartan," replied Covenstein. "Into the darkness and unknown is the path that the Forerunners would use to hide their most valuable things, but I concur with Cortana that something is not right. It is as good a time as any to break our pattern of exploration and the center path is the most obvious way to do that."
With John at point and Covenstein closely behind, they slowly move down the narrow center passageway. "The Covenant that built this ship must not have wanted Grunts to go down these corridors," mumbled Covenstein to himself as they approach the end. Covenstein exhales completely and squeezes through the last section -- even though Covenstein's Grunt body is much shorter than John's Spartan frame, the narrow and tall dimensions of the corridor make it hard for a Grunt to get through.
"I need to go on a diet if I'm..." whispered Covenstein before he was abruptly stopped by the vision around him. The corridor has led into an enormous chamber lit by the glitter of thousands of piles of treasure. Bars, nuggets, and coins of gold, silver, platinum, and even more rare and precious metals line the sides with equally impressive piles randomly scattered throughout the room. Other piles contain gems and crystals that refract the light creating millions of tiny rainbows. Intermixed between the piles are life-like statues of intimidating looking Elites with spines that protrude out from their upper backs.
"Elites like that haven't been seen in thousands of years Spartan," said Covenstein. "They were the Immortals, the honor guard to the Forerunners."
"Get ready," said John. "I don't like the way these statues are looking at me."
"Chief, I'm picking up broken communications from outside the ship," said Cortana. "The message appears to be repeating but I can only make out the words break orb... hmm... I don't know what that could mean."
"Spartan, my sensors are picking up movement from all directions," said Covenstein, "but I don't see anything."
"Nothing on movement sensors," added Cortana. "Wait, movement, this doesn't make sense... 40 meters, 30 meters, 20 meters... they should be right on top of us."
Brrrrpt, brrrrt... John opened fire igniting the ground with high explosive armor piercing rounds.
"The floor is moving," cried Covenstein. "We're being overrun."
Brrrrpt, brrrrt... "Hang on," said John as he grabbed Covenstein and leaped into the air, landing both of them on top of the arch over the entrance. John looked down saying, "Cortana, what are these things?"
"Chief, they appear to be micro-machines armed with plasma cutting torches," replied Cortana. "Look out, they're climbing the wall."
"Machines huh," said John.
"Chief, larger objects moving on sensors," said Cortana.
"No time for that Cortana," said John as he reaches into a pouch on his side.
"Spartan, I've observed that your weapons fire has hit some of the statues," said Covenstein, "and those statues are beginning to move."
"Watch out!" cried John.
Boom! John and Covenstein are blasted off the ledge and to the ground from the explosion of a plasma grenade.
Immediately the tiny machines swarm Covenstein and burn down his shields. "Argh! They burn through my armor," cried Covenstein. "This is the end of me."
"Noc!" yelled Cortana.
"Noc, hang in there," said John as he throws down the small sphere that contains the nano-machines that were intended to be used to disable the Covenant fleet.
"Chief, behind you," said Cortana.
John spins around just in time to dodge out of the way of a sword wielding Elite. "Remialcer..." the Elite spoke many words in an ancient tongue. Behind the Elite, two more Elites began to move.
From yet a fourth Elite, another plasma grenade skips past John -- A very close miss. After throwing the grenade, the fourth Elite disappears using his cloaking shield.
"Surrender Spartan," said the first Elite in English, "and we shall be merciful." The first Elite then disappeared under cloak leaving only the outline of his energy sword dancing in the air.
The second and third Elites both raised short rifles that were worn over their right arms. On their left arms they wielded ornate energy shields with a slit that the rifle could fit through. They too went under cloak leaving only their arm mounted shield and strange rifle visible.
The four Elites surrounded John -- they circled like a pack of hunters waiting for signs of weakness. John, however, is a hunter himself and slowly turned waiting for them to make the first move.
"Now," said Cortana as the third Elite fired from behind John.
John dove to the side. The energy ball missed its mark and struck the first Elite who had just jumped in to attack John. The ball expanded into a plasma web that surrounded the first Elite, both immobilizing the Elite and slowly burning through his shields.
John unloaded a full magazine into the outline of the fourth Elite while side stepping to keep the fourth Elite between himself and the second Elite. At the same time John tossed a fragmentation grenade over towards the third Elite.
The third Elite braced behind his energy shield. The energy shield took most of the grenade blast and what was left over was easily stopped by the Elite's personal shield surrounding his armor. The Elite returned fire at John, this time instead of firing a plasma web, his rifle fired a continuous energy beam which he waved back and forth making it very difficult for John to evade the attack.
"Chief, that beam is similar to the weapon used by Guilty Spark's Sentinels back on Halo," said Cortana. "Hey watch out, don't forget there are two of us in here."
"What's their armor made of?" said John as he strikes the stunned fourth Elite several times before finally knocking the Elite down with a stomp kick to the side of the Elite's knee.
The second Elite now has a clear shot at John and fires an energy beam. Both the second and third Elite track John with the beams and knock down his shields just before John manages to dive behind a pile of metal.
John reloads his rifle from behind cover. "Cortana, I'm still picking up four moving enemies, don't tell me they're all still okay," said John.
"Bad news Chief," replied Cortana. "All four Elites are back up and attempting a flanking maneuver on us. Their armor and shields are stronger than anything I've seen on Covenant Elites and their weapons appear to be of Forerunner design, Chief, as much as I hate to say it, we need to make a run for it."
"I have no problems with a retreat," said John, "but there's no escape from these guys. They've been holding back, if I run away, they will mark me as a coward and hunt us down without mercy. I don't know how I know, I feel like I've fought their type before."
"Then this is the end Chief," said Cortana.
"Yes," replied John. "On the count of three, I'm going after the Elite with the sword, he appears to be their leader, we don't stop until one of us is dead."
"I'm ready Chief," said Cortana. "If it comes down to it, they won't take me alive either."
"One, two, three, go!" John charges out from cover directly at the first Elite. "Kihaaaaa!" yelled John as he fired his battle rifle.
As the beams from the second and third Elite struck John, small explosions blasted over the heads of the Elites. Each explosion was like a small plasma grenade followed by a wave of needles. The needles homed in on the Elites causing other explosions.
Against the wall next to the entrance stood Covenstein. In his hand he held a strange looking grenade the shape of a spiked ball with a handle. "Eat needler grenades you Immortal pains," said Covenstein as he tossed the grenade and quickly grabbed another from a satchel he wore.
A bigger explosion was seen next to the fourth Elite. The Elite rolled on the ground having just been hit by his own grenade. All around him the tiny machines with plasma torches swarmed -- biting and cutting away at his armor.
Before the swarm could reach the first Elite, he raised his sword and with a mighty shout, he charged at John. "Mahaaaaaaaaaaa!"
As they approached each other, John dove forward at the Elite's legs in the shape of a small, elongated ball turned sideways. The Elite jumped up and over John with graceful ease. However, as the Elite took to the air he soon realized the mistake in his technique.
John rolled up quickly and zoomed in his sights on the head of the Elite. Without the aid of thrusters or anti-gravity, once the Elite took to the air, he could rotate but not change direction -- This made his movements much more predictable.
John fired three shots at the flipping Elite before the Elite landed. The first shot hit its mark as did the second, bringing down the Elite's personal shield. The third shot hit dead center below the left ear, penetrating the armor.
The Elite landed facing John. Arms at his side, he staggered until bam! John placed a round through the left eye socket of the Elite. The scrambled brains of the Elite oozed out of the eye socket, the ears, the nose, and the mouth of the Elite. Thud, the Elite hit the ground.
John quickly turned his sights on each of the other Elites in turn but the swarm had already got all of them.
"Well it appears your nano-machines were of use after all," said Covenstein with a smile. "Using them to take over the tiny Forerunner machines was an excellent idea. I could not have devised a better plan myself."
"You're not so bad either Noc," said John.
"Chief, Noc, we're not out of this yet," said Cortana.
Cortana could not be more correct; above the group appears the Prophet Lextus. "Spartan, watching you in action almost makes me think that I should spare you," said Lextus, "but alas, this ship has sped far from Earth while you were busy fighting, there is no turning back. The god Margoth is waiting for you."
John zooms in his sights on Lextus and places his finger over the trigger.
"Don't bother," said Covenstein. "It's just a construct, you can't hurt it. I might add a very powerful construct and one whose projector I cannot locate."
"Chief, this is no ordinary construct," said Cortana. "Its power levels are nearly off the scale."
-- Next, Oh Great, Now What --
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