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Ascendant Part VI
Posted By: Archangel's Blade<archangels_blade@hotmail.com>
Date: 6 July 2002, 7:29 pm
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Author’s Note: Whew, it’s finally done! This chapter has been plaguing me for the better part of three weeks. Editing, thinking, typing, editing again. Now I know what the HBO Fanfic greats like Vector40 and Ian Barnes have to go through. It really makes you appreciate what they have to go through to give you a bit of reading pleasure. Thanks, guys, for the inspiration, and for all those great stories.
Commander Michael A. Sheener
Battlecruiser Bulldog
Orbiting the Recaptured Colony Summer
4:22 p.m.
"Whaddya mean ascendant? Ascendants are supposed to be like gods! We can’t fight those!"
"Admiral Stygia, please calm down. That’s what the grunt told me, and what it told our chief interrogation officer. If it’s a godlike figure, maybe killing it off will mean that the Covenant will stop attacking us. Maybe that’s their ‘god’."
"But how can we find it? And even IF it’s real, the way you described it, it’s made of energy. How can we fight that?"
It had been two days since the recapturing of Summer. With my prisoner, I had managed to gain an appointment with Admiral Stygia, our commanding officer. I told him all about our failed attempt to save the humans on the planet, and also the cause of their deaths.
I had run into unforeseen difficulties when a powerful being, something as old as the Forerunner themselves, attacked me. I was hurled into a control console that ran power to the life support systems of the Cryopods that the humans were contained in. The destruction of the console had not only killed the humans, it had electrocuted me. The electrical shock had triggered the release of memories that weren’t even mine. How they got there in the first place is still a mystery.
The being was referred to as ‘master’ by the Covenant warriors. Whether it was one of the Covenant gods, or a species of the Covenant that we hadn’t encountered before, or the one of the Prophets, I don’t know. And neither do any of us, as the grunt I took prisoner on the planet died in interrogation. Such a weak species they are.
"For some reason, Admiral, memories of others were released in my mind when I was electrocuted. I don’t know how the hell they got there, but I do know one thing: they all talked about some medallion of an ancient race found on earth as early on as the Medieval ages. One told me where it might still be located, in the Museum of UNSD and Alien History."
"And what relevance does that pose? How do I know you just didn’t go loony when you got electrocuted?"
"Well, it might be related to the ‘Ascendant’. Maybe it will tell us what the hell we’re facing. And, if we’re lucky, it might tell us how to fight them. And as for the question about my sanity, you’ll just have to trust me. However, I need to get a hold on the medallion to be sure."
He let out a defeated sounding sigh, "Tell me what it looks like, and I’ll get it brought up for you."
Battlecruiser Bulldog
Orbiting the Colony Summer
4:18 a.m.
Commander Michael A. Sheener
"Sir, sorry to wake you sir, but the package you ordered from the museum has arrived, sir."
"It’s okay, private, I wasn’t getting much sleep anyway."
"It’s down on C-deck, landing bay #4."
"I’ve got it, private."
It looked like the long-awaited medallion had finally arrived after 8 days of waiting. Leisurely strolling down the long, Titanium A hallways, I made my way towards the landing deck where it was located. Passing a group of marines playing paintball for accuracy training, I stopped to listen to their sergeant yelling at them.
"What the hell do you pansies think you’re doing? Just because the Covvies aren’t here, doesn’t mean I won’t get tough on your candy asses!! Hurry up and shoot each other, or I’ll join in and waste you novice wimps without breaking a sweat!"
I remembered a time just over two months ago when I couldn’t hit the broadside of a Longsword hanger. I decided to join in. Grabbing a spare gun, I shot them all in 30 seconds flat, taking no hits to myself, as I had the element of surprise.
I eventually went to the landing deck, after two more rounds of paintball. The sergeant of the squad had insisted that I teach his "motherfucking wimps" how to shoot. In the last one, the squad’s sniper, a corporal named Joseph Patterson picked me off before I could find him. I could see why they made him sniper.
Once in the landing deck, I headed for the supply ship that had arrived with the box. Grabbing the small titanium crate, I easily tore the sealed lid from its welded joints. Seeing what I wanted, I carefully removed the medallion, and tossed the box aside, where it clattered across the Titanium A deck.
The medallion was a small, round disc. It looked something like the chip that my AI, Archangel, was programmed onto. However, I had left him to socialize with the other Spartans’ AIs in the commonroom computer.
Taking the medallion, I wondered if it was a disc. I decided to take a chance, and I slid it into one of the slots in the side of my helmet. It just barely fit, and amazingly enough, it worked. Not amazing just because it was a little off size, but the fact that it was an alien disc, not a medallion at all!
A small picture showed up on my helmet’s HUD.
There was a man, with the background behind him showing a ship, with sparks flying from the ceiling. Men in armor similar to my own ran past, yelling orders. The man in the foreground started to speak.
"This is Captain Arnar of the Forerunner cruiser, Armageddon. If you are watching this, it means that we may not have survived our landing on the planet labeled on the starcharts as Terra. If you are Forerunner, I would like to inform you that the war against the aliens that name themselves Ascendants is not running well, and that the Ringworld installation has been abandoned.
"The Project to create the new superweapon species known as the Flood was running smoothly. We had almost created a gene that would allow Forerunner to command them in battle. The ‘Ascendants’ attacked before we could integrate the gene into the Flood, and we were forced to unleash the Flood as a final defense. The Arrkans were annihilated on Threshold’s moon, the Covenant coalition didn’t work well, and the Sentinels, as you know, are ineffective against the ‘Ascendants’. However, the aliens sent a collection of captured Covenant after us, instead of attacking directly, as they usually do.
"During the ensuing battles, the Flood and remaining loyal Covenant turned on us, which unfortunately, was expected, and we were forced off the Ringworld by Ascendants, Covenant, and Flood. However, the Ascendant command force with the Covenant was all but wiped out. Watching hidden cameras while evacuating discovered this little tidbit.
"The Flood project was a success in a way, as the ability to inhabit the bodies of their victims made them stronger. Armed with Forerunner technology and weapons, the Flood annihilated the Ascendant force on the Ringworld. They also, unfortunately, annihilated all the Forerunner they encountered.
"As I stated earlier, we are currently trying to land on the planet of Terra. Maybe we can start a new colony of Forerunner. Maybe we won’t survive. Maybe a Flood stowaway could mutate us into Flood. It doesn’t really matter anymore, anyway. We know that we will never see the planet of Gjeddan again; our ship is too damaged to go much further.
"To any who finds this, and has encountered the Ascendants: good luck."
Well, it was a message from a species connected with the Ascendant, I thought as I removed the chip from my helmet, It just wasn’t anything that could help us. But maybe, just maybe, there might be remains of the Forerunner ship.
Forerunner ship…. On ‘Terra’, or Earth as it is more commonly known….
We were Forerunner. That would explain it. The human race consists of the descendants of a Forerunner force that crashed on Earth! The Covenant were after us because this alien who conquered them ordered them to wipe out every Forerunner they found! They hated us because their ‘god’ hated us! I had to show this chip to Admiral Stygia! This would explain a lot about what the Covenant wanted to FLEETCOM. Of course, ONI wouldn’t like the fact that I, a soldier, had found this out before them….
Klaxons blared, red lights flashed, and a voice came up on the intercom.
"All hands to battlestations! I repeat, all hands to battlestations! This is not a drill. We have an inbound Covenant taskforce. Prepare to repel boarders. Ready the Longswords, and all Spartans, get those AIs ASAP."
Shit, I thought, the Covenant want this planet pretty badly. Morale hadn’t been very good lately, even with the new Spartans. The recent victories had improved it slightly, but this winning streak can’t keep going forever. I had to get to the Spartan commonroom before the Covenant reached it. Or worse, found out what was in there: the very reason why ex-marines could beat them this easily. AIs.
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