by Matt Forbeck
And Molly’s anger burned even hotter.
CHAPTER 12
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After the Pale Blade and his splinter strike team of Servants exterminated all the humans at the portal site, Dural ‘Mdama found that his only regret was that there had not been more of them. His heart surged as they cut their foes down. When the brief battle was spent, he joined his warriors in their cries of triumph. These were the first humans Dural had ever bested, but they would certainly not be the last.
Buran attempted to dampen their joy by pointing out the obvious fact that the humans would be missed by those who had sent them. Dural knew that was a reasonable concern, but he quickly put an end to Buran’s complaint by having the Servants toss the bodies out into the darkness, where the monsters that had frightened the humans in the first place could have them. If the gods were with the Servants, any humans who came looking for their allies would likely think that the creatures had killed them.
After all, Dural considered, how could the Servants of the Abiding Truth have possibly gained entry into Onyx?
But he certainly was not foolish enough to stay there and spoil the secret of their incursion. It was one thing to take on a handful of humans with an advance strike force, but a major reprisal by their enemies could have wiped out his team completely and wasted any advantage they now held.
The small group of Servants swiftly returned to the first site they had entered on Onyx, and Dural made Even Keel seal off the portal to the place where the monsters roamed. They would have to try another location and yet another, if need be, until the right fortification availed itself to them.
The next place they found via the portal system stood entirely abandoned, and this one had plenty of space for all of their forces. According to Even Keel, it was approximately a hundred kilometers from the primary human settlement and in a completely unoccupied territory, which put plenty of room between them and their foes. The chances were incredibly small that the humans would locate the Servants there, much less accidentally stumble upon them, yet it allowed them an opportunity to spy on the humans from a safe distance.
The location turned out to be even better than Dural had imagined. It was large and well protected, with a receiving portal capable of letting them finally send through much of what they had originally brought to Hesduros. Panom would no doubt be furious when the Servants that Dural had left behind began reneging on his original promise, transporting much of their arsenal into Onyx, but that was due to Panom’s own foolishness.
Once the splinter team had set up camp there, the Pale Blade called the rest of his warriors from Hesduros, and they ferried as much of their weaponry and equipment as they could manage to their new fortification. Panom would have to make due with whatever remained, which, to Dural, was still far more than the weak kaidon deserved. Many of the heavy vehicles had to remain behind regardless and would guard the portal on Hesduros until he found a way to bring them through to Onyx.
The new site was a large Forerunner structure composed almost entirely of a seamless ivory substance with angular and geometric adornments. Inside, the structure’s primary space was a long chamber with a narrow, perpendicular navelike segment at its center. As the structure rose upward, it had dozens of floors with different configurations. The lowest lay entirely underground, while ramps and interwoven passages rose to each of the higher levels.
The level where they had emerged through the portal stood twenty meters above Onyx’s surface, with several pathways to parapets and turrets. The most impressive aspect of this place was the ceiling, which climbed another hundred more levels above the highest floor, almost entirely out of sight. Vast, semitransparent apertures allowed light to flood this structure all the way to the very bottom, but despite its general openness, it somehow also felt entirely secure.
Clearly, the home of a god, Dural thought to himself.
He named the place the loah t’mok croiha ava mid ‘telecam, which in his tongue meant “The Great Cathedral of the Esteemed Avu Med ‘Telcam.” Dural hoped it paid appropriate homage to the late field master, although most of his warriors would simply refer to it in shorthand going forward as the Cathedral.
It certainly reminded him of the cathedral-strongholds of old Sanghelios. The massive structure was formed around three spires, each of which launched up into the arched ceilings, with buttresses so high that they could almost not be seen from the ground. Its very nature inspired awe and reverence for its creators, making it the perfect fortress for the Servants of the Abiding Truth.
It took Dural’s warriors days to get everything into the structure, and even more to effectively install their weapons and vehicles to the Pale Blade’s liking. By the time they were finished, what had been a desolate chamber was now transformed into an impenetrable and fully weaponized citadel.
The site was entirely covered by several dozen gunner nests, including a variety of plasma turrets and directed energy emplacements, as well as explosive mortars, flak cannons, and targeting sensors they had placed with strategic care in the surrounding dense forest.
To Dural, it seemed as if the Cathedral could withstand anything the humans could throw at it, just shy of an attack from one of their nuclear devices. He was pleased, but he could tell that discontentment was growing among the Sangheili.
“Your warriors are getting restless,” Ruk said, as he, Dural, and Buran surveyed their accomplishments from a vantage point high in the Cathedral. “They have tasted battle once on this world, and now they ache for more.”
“As do I,” Dural assured Ruk. “We did not come here to set up a keep only to become farmers. I already have plans in motion that will bring us the kind of victory that has eluded Jul ‘Mdama and his Covenant for so many years.”
“And just how do you propose to do that?” Buran said, thinly veiling his contempt for the young leader. “Will you attack another group of weaklings to prove our superiority?”
The old shipmaster had become surlier with each day they spent inside Onyx. It was as if the very air in the place irritated him. Dural wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this growing insolence, only that it tired him.
When Avu Med ‘Telcam had been alive, Buran had held back such impudence, but now things had changed. Buran had never been fond of Dural’s relationship with the field master, nor was he pleased with the Pale Blade’s rise to power. It only made sense that Buran was uncomfortable taking orders from a warrior decades younger, and he finally had reached the point at which he meant to vocalize it.
Dural knew that the day was quickly approaching when his patience with the fossil would run dry and he would be forced to put the Sangheili down.
“We are superior,” Dural said. “We have nothing to prove.”
“Or perhaps you simply want to alert the entirety of the human military that we are here so they can rain down death upon us while we cower in this Cathedral of yours?”
Perhaps today is that day, Dural thought. His hand snaked out at a speed Buran could not foresee and struck him in the throat. The grizzled Sangheili collapsed next to him, grasping his neck and struggling for air.
The Pale Blade loomed over him, hissing, “You are fortunate that we three are alone here, Buran ‘Utaral! If you had tried to shame me in front of my warriors, I would have been forced to tear your head from your shoulders!”
Buran nodded a weak apology through his coughing and choking.
“We have weapons and warriors,” Ruk said to Buran. “But we lack heavier vehicles and ships. With some effort, we managed to move a number of Ghosts and Banshees through the portal, as well as our Shades, but nothing larger than those. We must be strategic and careful in our planning, as the Pale Blade no doubt has been. If we attack the human settlement head-on with our current forces, they are sure to slaughter us.”
“You speak the truth, Ruk,” Dural said, leering down at Buran, who still grasped at his neck. “But there is something we require even more. Fortunately,
we have the favor of the gods on our side. What we need will certainly come to us if we strive for it.”
“And how shall we do this?” Ruk said, evidently confused by Dural’s vague language. The younger warrior was not ready to challenge the Pale Blade in the way that Buran had. At least not yet. Not after Dural had made such an example of the pathetic old shipmaster.
“We have managed to transport most of our warriors here, less the small contingent we left behind on Hesduros to safeguard Song of Wrath. That has freed up Even Keel to explore the portal network on Onyx itself and to begin the hunt for others of its own kind: Huragok native to this world.”
“I take it the Engineer was successful?”
“Less than I hoped for, but more than I feared. It discovered evidence that one of its kind is currently working in a part of the sphere that it called the Repository.”
“Only one?” Ruk said, surprised. He backed away as Dural glared at him. “I mean no offense, Pale Blade, but I had thought that this place might be filled with such creatures.”
“It may well be,” Dural said evenly, keeping his temper under control. “But it is a large place, and if there was a communications network the Huragok used here at one time, it has long since fallen into disrepair. Finding them will be painstaking work. We are fortunate to have discovered even one of them so soon.”
Buran, regaining his breathing, lifted himself up and away from Dural, remaining low on the ground to avoid angering him once more. When Buran spoke, his voice was but a whispered rasp. “Where is this Repository?”
“That is the best part. It is but a short distance from the main human settlement.”
Ruk rubbed his lower mandibles, suspicious. “That seems like quite a coincidence.”
Dural shook his head and clacked his mandibles. “Not so. Our Huragok located this one because it is already working with the humans. Otherwise, it would not have been so active or readily detected.”
Ruk’s eyes widened. “So the humans have already captured a Huragok. Perhaps they do have more?”
Dural nodded. “And taking it from them shall be so much sweeter than simply finding one alone, but it also requires a bit more planning. This Repository is sure to be guarded, and it is far away from here. We will have to infiltrate it by way of a portal.”
“That may limit the number of warriors we can move into place there at once,” Ruk said.
“Yes, it will. But do not be concerned. While we may not have vehicles, the Servants of the Abiding Truth have another asset we can bring into play as we secure this second Huragok. The same one that our kind has always wielded since the beginning.”
Ruk stared back at Dural expectantly.
“Chaos,” the Pale Blade told him. “Utter chaos.”
CHAPTER 13
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More trouble?” Tom-B292 said as he kicked his Jackrabbit into high gear. The two front tires on the armored tricycle pushed together, giving him more maneuverability at high speed. “Seems like that’s getting to be a habit.”
“Inside the perimeter this time,” Lucy-B091 said as she slung her identical vehicle out and away from Tom’s. That would give her a better view of the upcoming target once they crested the next hill and keep them spread apart in case of a surprise attack.
Tom enjoyed the way the Jackrabbits hugged the ground, almost too close for safety. The two Spartans usually spent so much time in aircraft when they left Paxopolis and Trevelyan that he relished the chance to zip along the ground at speed, watching the landscape roll by beneath his wheels. He just wished he knew exactly what they were headed for.
“So,” Tom said over his comm. “Sensors tripped at this location? That’s not particularly informative.”
“That’s the Huragok for you. They know something’s happening out here. They’re just not sure exactly what.”
Tom grunted at that. “You realize where we’re headed, right?”
“It’s the place where Jul ‘Mdama escaped from Onyx. You think Prone to Drift would ever let me forget that? He’d never had anyone blackmail him like that before.”
“Think it’s a coincidence?”
“When it comes to Jul ‘Mdama?” Lucy chuckled.
As they crested the hill, spread plenty far apart, Tom spotted the structure they were looking for. He couldn’t possibly have guessed its original purpose, but like many Forerunner structures, the massive spire in the middle of it made it seem vaguely churchlike to him.
“Looks quiet from here.” He gunned the Jackrabbit toward the structure. “Think one of our people tripped something off by accident?”
“ONI kept the place pretty much off-limits once they wrapped up the investigation after Jul disappeared. They scoured it from top to bottom. There’s nothing there for the folks in Paxopolis to learn from—wait.”
Lucy spun her Jackrabbit to a stop, and Tom slowed down and began to serpentine his rig back and forth to take up speed. He let the front wheels separate again to give the vehicle more stability. “What is it?”
“Down there, near the entrance. You see them?”
Tom peered in that direction and immediately spotted the problem: a set of floating objects, each one a pair of two boom arms centered around a metallic, fully weaponized housing. “Sentinels!”
Tom and Lucy had seen far too many of these Forerunner machines back when they’d been helping train the Spartan-III Gammas back on the original Onyx. It had turned out the entire planet had been built upon a framework of trillions of Sentinels arrayed together.
“Looks like something’s rattled the natives,” Lucy said. “They’re coming this way!”
Dozens of them—perhaps hundreds—were racing toward Tom and Lucy, their beam weapons’ primer glowing brighter with each moment. It was almost as if they’d been waiting for the Spartans to arrive—or someone, at least—but hadn’t had any idea from which direction they might come. Now, though, they seemed like a nest of angry hornets who were ready to sting the intruders to death.
“Opening fire.” Tom grabbed the controls of the machine gun mounted on the rear of the Jackrabbit, from which position it could fire in a wide arc right over his head.
The first line of Sentinels tumbled to the ground, riddled with bullets. Lucy let loose with a burst from her machine gun, and she cut the next line of Sentinels from the sky.
Then the hostile machines got tricky. They fanned out to make themselves harder to target all at once, and arced around Tom and Lucy in both directions.
“They’re trying to surround us,” Lucy said.
“Go left. I’m heading right. Force them to spread out farther.”
Lucy did as Tom suggested. Once they were distant enough from each other, they spun in place, putting their backs to each other to give themselves the widest possible fields of fire. The whole while, they kept gunning down the oncoming Sentinels, pausing only long enough to let the barrels of their weapons cool.
The Sentinels came at them in waves, but Tom and Lucy kept their focus on the machines and patiently mowed them down. A few of the Sentinels’ energy beams lanced through the hail of slugs the Spartans fired, forcing Tom and Lucy to juke back and forth to dodge them, but aside from a few scorch marks, the Jackrabbits survived just fine. Once the ranks of the Sentinels thinned, the Spartans set to chasing them down, mopping up the last of them until the skies stood clear and the ground lay littered with Forerunner parts.
Tom tapped his comm to report in to Mendez. “Had a slew of Sentinels waiting here for us, Chief. All cleared out now.”
“Any idea what they were doing there?” Mendez asked. “We haven’t had any Forerunner incursions like that inside the gates for months.”
“Moving in to inspect,” Lucy said.
The pair of Spartans zoomed toward the structure and parked their Jackrabbits a short walk from it. They leaped out of their roll cages, unlimbered their assault rifles, and stalked into the building’s main compartment, the one Jul ‘Mdana had
escaped from.
Lucy pointed at a thin layer of sand covering the structure’s floor. “Tracks here. Looks like Sangheili.”
Tom spoke into the comm. “Any chance this was due to some kind of field trip? Maybe a detachment of our own Sangheili came out here for some reason?”
“I’ll check the logs,” Mendez said skeptically. “But that would be the first I’d heard of it.”
“There’s only one other possibility,” Lucy said. “We have a breach.”
Tom grimaced at that thought. Had someone figured out a way to get into Onyx from outside, using the portal system? “If so, our jobs just got a lot harder.”
CHAPTER 14
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Once school was over for the day, Molly raced over to the Pax Institute’s gym for her first self-defense lesson from the Spartans. After the incident in the dining hall, she was looking forward to the catharsis of stretching her muscles and beating the crap out of someone else for a change. Not that she had much chance of laying a fist on a Spartan, but she knew it’d be worth trying it just to work out the rage simmering in her since lunch.
When Molly burst into the gym, she found both Lucy and Tom waiting for her, sporting recreation fatigues emblazoned with the Spartan branch logo: a strident eagle with its wings spread wide. It held three arrows in one claw and a bolt of lightning in the other.
Despite having suffered through an awful day, Molly flashed a grateful smile when she entered. She still couldn’t believe this was happening. How many people get to train in self-defense with actual Spartans? Back on Aranuka, she could never have imagined this in a million years.
Then she spotted a handful of other students there, and her cheeks flushed.
She instantly understood what had happened. She might have been the first student the Spartans had approached, but she hadn’t been the last. She knew exactly who the three others were.