HALO: The New World

It was nighttime. I was sitting, leaning against a marble wall, as I scrolled through my datapad and recorded the events that happened to me. I couldn’t sleep, both because of my memories and because I simply couldn’t. A Spartan can go without sleep for a good deal of time, and my limit was two weeks. I had already gotten plenty of rest, what with all the knocking me out and sleeping for a day.

Tohl ‘Vadam struck me as friendly, seeing how he didn’t try to kill me on sight and how he had told me about his coming to this world. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him, or even trust anyone in this world, but he was my best bet. Intelligent, experienced, strong, and honest. The traits of a Spartan. If he were human, he would make a great Spartan IV.

As it were, he was an Elite, had killed one of my friends, and had killed many others. The pros and cons were confusing, almost as much as trying to understand the motives of the ponies. I just couldn’t comprehend it all.

It was just too much.

Tohl ‘Vadam came to talk with me last night. We agreed to head back to the Forerunner site, and readied ourselves. I didn’t have any of the usual caring effects to take care of my armor, such as the nanobots that repaired and upgraded it while not in use, so all I could do was check my ammo, shields, and be off.

With just the two of us, we made it to the building in just under five hours. There were some torches for light, but enough to provide cover. With my enhanced eyesight and Tohl’s predatory vision, we had no trouble maneuvering through the possible lines of sight. As we entered the building, I stopped and held a hand up, fingers together. We waited, and then I heard it again: a sound akin to wet leather being dragged. We also heard some squeaks, as if someone were rubbing rubber on rubber.

We readied our weapons, until we saw pink and purple lights drift towards us. It entered the light, and we saw what it was: a Huragok. Huragok are biomechanical computers built by the Forerunners, with actual minds and feelings. They were sapient, but they had one desire in their lives: to repair and build. They were like autistic children, focused completely on their job, hence the name the UNSC had given them: Engineers.

It signed to us with it’s tentacles, ends splitting into thousands of miniscule cilia, flexing in the sign language that Huragok communicated with. The UNSC had never been able to translate this, mainly because the ones we captured had been boobytrapped with explosive harnesses by the Covenant. And here in front of me, a live one floated, attempting to communicate.

“We cannot understand you. Can you make a means of speaking to us?” I said, praying that it could make a translator for itself. It signed again, before drifting away. It returned soon, with a small box attached. It motioned again, and then a neutral, robotic male voice spoke from the box: “I am Tends To Sway. I am the Huragok left in this facility. Do you know where the masters have gone?”

Masters? Oh, it must mean the Forerunners! I felt bad for the creature, being left to take care of a building and it’s owners never returning. “The Forerunners are gone. They have been gone for over ten-thousand years. Will you help us? We need to get back to our own species.”

Tends To Sway tipped it’s head, as if confused, before responding, “I will help you. I need the masters, the Flood have escaped the study sectors. I cannot contain it, and the Sentinels have been destroyed. The Promotheans will not listen to me, saying that they obey the Didact. If you help me eradicate the Flood, I will help you return to your kind. Please hurry.” We had a deal. That was great news, it meant I had a sure chance to return to the UNSC.

Tohl leaned over to me, whispering, “The Flood? We will be hard-pressed, if we were to face it alone. I was deployed to New Mombasa, and had been sent into the housing buildings to check for the Jiralhanae. I did not find any, but I encountered two infected humans in one part. I explored the room they were in after their deaths, and found photos of a tall, white-skinned man with black hair, and a red-haired woman. Both had glasses. There was also a human video camera in there, facing a seat. They were dangerous foes, and I nearly fell.”

No….. He couldn’t have… Oh my God… I broke down in tears, slumping while sobbing in my helmet. Tohl ‘Vadam had killed my parents, after they had been infected.

“Is there something wrong? Spartan?”

“It’s just that… Those were my parents. You killed my parents.”

He looked surprised. “I am sorry, Spartan. I did not know.”

I looked up, tear stains on my face, hidden by my helmet. “No need to apologize. I should thank you. You saved their bodies from being a weapon, and brought peace to their souls. I feared they had burned from the glassing, like so many other humans.

“Thank you.”

After I had gotten back to my feet, the Huragok patiently waiting, I shook my head. I had just broken down in front of my ally, and Elite, and thanked him. I was surprised, I’ve never been this sentimental. I had never been this emotional before too, since I came to this place…

“We must go now. Please, follow me.” The Huragok interrupted my train of thought, motioning for us to follow. As we walked, we came to the room with the Flood corpse and the body of the griffon still tied to the pillar.

“The natives of this planet had come, and fought. They attracted the attention of the Flood, and some were infected. I am afraid that none survived the battles what ensued.” Tends To Sway explained, as we strode past the mangled remains of ponies and griffons. I had said earlier that this place was missing the homey touch of a Spartan. I was wrong, and it had the mark of death that came with the Flood. If it got out of this facility, then the world would fall. What was it called anyway?

“Tends To Sway, what is the native name for this planet? I have not gained enough information since my arrival, other than a log on a terminal.”

“The inhabitants name for the current country we are in is Equestria. And you activated a terminal? Only Forerunners and Reclaimers can work those.”

Reclaimer? What the fuck was that? “Reclaimer?”

“A human.”

Oh shit. The Covenant had tried to completely annihilate us, in a holy war. The higher-ups must have decided that we were an affront to their religion, and must be wiped out. They worshipped Forerunner artifacts, so the name for humans must have scared them. If the rest of the Covenant found out about the Forerunner name for humans, it would collapse into civil war.

“Ah. There was a video in the log, and it showed a famous human for my species. He came into this facility at that terminal from a Slipspace portal, and then left by one. Can you send me to the surface of the planet he went to?”

“No. The best I can do is send you to the same coordinates he used. Now we must remove the Flood, it may spread from this facility soon.”

Damn. Too much to ask for, I guess.

We came to a large room, with bridges and ramps everywhere. It was beautiful, in a massive kind of way. Perfectly symmetrical, there were halls and corridors splitting off all around the edges of the place. Perfect for an ambush.

I heard a strange whirring, and turned to see Tends To Sway repairing a Sentinel. This was the first I had seen up close, all the others from footage of Forerunner sites. The Sentinel clicked, before it’s “eye” glowed blue, and it floated towards us. “This Sentinel will help you. I am afraid that it is the best I could do. I must leave now, this facility needs care.”

The Huragok left, leaving the Forerunner machine with Tohl and myself. I decided to experiment, and asked, “Can you speak?” I didn’t expect it to, only to sit there, bobbing on it’s anti-gravity thrusters.

“Affirmative.”

Whoa. Heart attack moment right there. We had a friendly, talking Sentinel on our side! It could actually communicate! Tohl seemed awestruck, and I thought he would break down into a blabbering, religious wreck. Where it must have scared me, he must feel to be in the presence of a holy spirit. I couldn’t help but laugh, as the Sentinel gazed at Tohl, probably wondering what the fuck the Elite was doing.

“I do not see what it humorous in this situation. We must go to work now. The Flood is spreading. It must be removed.” It droned, in a computer generated voice.

While we were distracted, the Sentinel turned and aimed at me, before firing it’s laser. I prepared for a fiery end.

I was scared shitless, before seeing it fired behind me, burning an infected pony before it could kill me. “Target down.” Tohl shook himself out of his reverie, upon the sound of a weapon firing. At the smell of cooked flesh, he looked where I was staring, and saw the melted Flood. He seemed startled, surprised that we were snuck upon so easily, and by his religious trance.

“I believe that we should get to work now, Spartan.” He said, before turning around to come face-to-mass of flesh with an infected griffon. He whipped out his Storm Rifle, firing into the Infection Form that poked out of the stomach, deflating it and effectively killing the Flood.

I took out my Battle Rifle, and stood back-to-back with Tohl. As we looked around, we saw the Flood swarming towards us, the only fresh food in the entire building. The Sentinel floated above our heads, firing into the mass, causing the smell of cooked flesh to assault our nostrils.

I fired trio after trio of bullets, tearing limbs off as they sliced apart tendons and muscle, piercing up to three Flood at a time. Tohl kept shooting, with plasma melting hostiles, dropping them to reveal more targets. My Battle Rifle clicked empty, forcing me to unlatch the magazine and insert another. Tohl ran out of charge for his Storm Rifle, so he had to insert a fresh charge as well, leaving only the Sentinel to cover us.

The construct couldn’t keep up with the waves of Flood, falling finally as a Pony Flood tackled it, and it exploded into a pulse of heat, light, and metal, shredding through dozens more Flood. Tohl and I stopped reloading, and we took out our Energy Swords, nodded to each other, and prepared to fight. We had no time left, our fail-safe was gone, we were outnumbered, and we could not hope to kill enough with our sidearms.

It was the kind of moment that Spartans and Elites excelled at. I felt peace for the first time since I came here, and started a famous saying of the Sangheili, “On the blood of our fathers.”

Tohl understood, and joined me in his ritual, “On the blood of our sons.”

We activated our Swords, and charged into the mass, me shouting more of the phrase as I decapitated a group, “Our blades shall light the Path.”

Tohl finished as he cut a large form down the middle, “So all may partake in the Great Journey.”

We fell under the onslaught of bodies, weapons still swinging, burning Flood after Flood as we held, then collapsed under hopeless circumstances.

-------------------- Twilight’s POV --------------------

I was busy studying on astronomy under Luna’s moon, when I felt it. I could only describe it as a shout of honor, courage, of hope in a sea of despair. A cry for help. And there was only one pony-no, human- that I had sensed that from. And Alec needed his friends now, more than anything else.