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As I prepared to gather my tools for the operation, I thought about getting breakfast for a change. I don't necessarily have the savings to get food in the morning, even though I don't need to eat. It still feels refreshing to be able to eat.
Before I left my room I received a call from Luminastra.
"Hey Caelon, can I get you to do me a favour?
I was kinda surprised since she never asks for favours unless it's something she can't do.
"Yes, I can. May I ask if it specifically involves my projects?" I was curious if she suddenly became interested in the science field.
"No, its regards to the person picking you up today. This ship that is supposed to pick you up is the one where my brother was in charge. I couldn't get in physical contact with him for many cycles, and mother is worried about him. Yesterday, when you saw me get upset, it was because the connection was some how disoritated. So I couldn't make anything out in the background, most likely from the maintenance on the ship"
I looked in front of me towards the door and asked "How many cycles specifically?" I felt unnaturally uncomfortable in that moment.
"I haven't seen him physically in more than 7 sol cycles, and I haven't talked with him for 3 cycles and even then we barely talk but I'm worried he did something to hurt himself."
Oh, well, he certainly hurt himself more ways than possible. Quite literally, if I'm right about this dreaded feeling.
"What's his name?" I sighed, I was already feeling that this day would be a bad day.
"his name is Hourogh"
I nodded my head but wanting to get more out of this, I went ahead and asked if she had gotten any other information. Turns out she gets paid by her brother from time to time. She told me it was weird since she even returned the money, but he'll resend it to her the next time. She has done some digging and found that the ship her brother pilots does a sort of taxi service to the edge of the Sol system from time to time. She also couldn't get in contact with the people who used the ship. As they simply disappear near the mining operation at the resource site.
"Why can't you go? Did something come up?" I was just curious at that statement
"Yes Im due for a meeting relatively soon, it's in regards to the planet its very confindantial" She seemed somewhat saddened at her own reply.
"Ok, ok, don't fret, you can count on me." I said womewhat carefree
"Thank you, Caelon"
Might seem outa pocket but compared to humans in the future from now, these humans in this era harbour deeper affection, since your father and mother practically raised you for centuries. Living for thousands of years has its perks, and that is one of them.
Fast forward
Once I was on the streets, an hour in and I noticed the roads were much busier than usual. I suspected the first contact happened with the forerunners near the Orion arm on the southern side of the territory. Most of it was due to the expansion of humanity in this era, in the long run, they had every reason to shoot at the infected planets, even if there was no outburst. As someone who used to specialize in any conceptual form of infection, it's better to bring in the heavy... heavy flamerthrower. Once transcendent beings infect real space, it's like trying not to breathe on land, because you simply can't, you're vaporized. Your nervous system still thinks there is matter in the space that inhabits you, think of yourself as a container that holds your volume to your shape or form, but it turns out you were dead already. Your nervous system didn't know it yet as it received phantom signals from nothing but the brain's last echo of pain.
That was a virus that interacted with living matter and their mass then burned away the space they currently reside in, pretty basic stuff, honestly. Not like I was hit by it.....
That was long ago, but anyway
I appeared to get closer to the platform. Across from me, I see crowds form as they watch the news. I suspect it has to do with the live footage happening right now.
I catch a glimpse, there were 2 warships on fire in the atmosphere of a planet. Sincerely, I hope they have insurance. Taxpayer money is going to waste here.
The streets where crowed, with the air space getting substancial increase of trafic. Our short king moved towards the ship where a 9-foot-tall, power-armoured individual was resting against the ramp of the ship.
The ship itself looked like it seen better days, it was 1 km long with sleek dark gray armour padding, it reminded me of that forerunner vehicle that resembles a UNSC Pelican overall, 1 particle beam and 10 point-blank turbo lasers for self-defence
"Hello, my name is Caelon I was told that this transport will get me to the edge of the Sol system" I decided not to use my full name for now.
The tall individual snapped its back straight and looked around, confused. "Hmmm...?"
They just stared at each other, Caelon, knowing he caught him lacking.
"cough, cough.... You must be the person Luministra was referring to". He extended his hand, and clenched his fist. I imitated the same way, and we fist bumped. Which is the equivalent of a handshake around here.
"It's Luminastra, and I hope the ride will go smoothly as I have places to attend, and bugs to sqaush"
The giant looked languid at me while rubbing his neck.
"Same, Same... thy neames Hourogh-valien, I'll be the pilot of this ship."
From what I've seen so far, he's on some form of stimulation. His readings are off, my HUD shows his pheromones indicate increased VOCs, and his gear skin suit is emitting stronger norepinephrine derivatives. If this were another era, like the 21 first centry, he would be like a taxi guy doing weed while driving you. Except now it's a ship. Thats something I'd do, so I can't blame him, I want what he's on.
"Umm, did something reacently happened?" I'm usually passive when it comes to peering through people's lives, so I have a feeling him being like this is probably related to the news.
"Yeah, sorry if I got the wrong impression but as you seen... those high and mighty pricks declared war on us." I simply stared at him through my helm as my intuition told me something wasn't normal.
"Yeah... but thats probably going to get resolved soon if not, then all well." I shook my head at him while adding, "If it's about the outbrake, I" I stopped mid-sentence to watch him go stiff, while even an advanced human of this time would not notice how quickly it transpired. With my hidden perks, I saw his ethereal aura freeze. Now that was a dead giveaway for me and... Im happy for a test subject.
"What do you mean? The hoax that happened a few system cycles ago?" He started being agitated, and my HUD, which I've selected to detect any change in air quaility started to pick up irregularities, so like the kind harted personal I decided to de-escalate the situation.
Simply putting my hands up in a surrender gesture while keeping a friendly posture.
"Yeah yeah its all a hoax now please lets not be late for the resource site" I used 70% of my remaining stored narrative points to alter this outcome, which worked as it started to lead me up the ramp. Gosh I'm broke on those points!
While I was contemplating my acquisition of the attributes, I walked in the corridors of the ship, and I sensed the very space around us was off, it's like a 6th sense. Passive probing to different outcomes that would result in me fighting. It was not past a threshold I'm familiar with, but the most likely outcome will be that, at some point within a few days I'll be fighting inside the ship if I don't leave.
I call these hostile echoes, they warn me if anything has bad intentions but they are limited.
We were nearing the command pit, and on our way we had small talk about how things were going for other planets under human occupation, complete blackout near the other systems but the leaders aren't really releasing information in quarantined zones. I knew what was happening but I didn't bother to voice it out since I'm a nobody, and it was already to late for this planet. As soon as the flood broke loose near the Umbral System 30 years ago it was only a matter of time until this system and the forerunner system practically next door became victims of ancient cosmic horror bullying.
I already arranged plans for people I want alive. I even had encounters with the flood here and there. No big outbreak until 4 days from now as planned. Only people who didn't have full-body suits 24/7 will insta-morph. My tempering made it passive in infecting people. Good thing I played with my companion's ego to see who has the best armour. This bet has been going on for 5 years now, which isn't a lot considering you can last up to a century inside the armour with no maintenance and still be what's considered hygienically clean for this era. I don't feel bad for being unapologetically persistent.
The flood came to this system 7 solar cycles ago. At the time I used a binding vow with the universe to permanently take away 99.95% of all narrative manipulation and cosmic causality I had and will have in the next 10 solar cycles. Which is a good deal considering this effectively canonizes the events of what has happened when the binding vow started and when it ends, and that canon is the flood just being extremely passive here, or rather the primordial having its sight on forerunner human discourse. It won't be able to detect any changes since every universe is a living entity, and my deal cuts off any form and phenomena that disrupts this planet's peace. I haven't lost a lot of power, since I didn't have much to begin with in terms of raw AP hehehe...
Once inside, Hourogh sat at the pilot's seat and manually typed in the coordinates for the resource site, no use of AI ..... another dead giveaway, sorry my digital friend.
I refrained from asking why not use AI but I knew I was pushing it. Even I dont know what stage the hive mind is at, I'm pretty sure there are key minds in play based on the meta powers I felt, those poor souls were pulled from slip space... skill issue.
We started to exist through the atmosphere. On the way out, dozens of ships were lined up waiting for permission to dock at the floating space station in low orbit. The sight was awe-inspiring for anyone who enjoyed business and capital, but for me it was just statistical numbers, can't save them all.
Before we finally touched the star road at the designated transportation hub, I quickly sent an detaild encryption package to my companions. I trusted they had faith in me to meet on time, at that location.
Once we were at the hub, we aligned in the lane and we zoomed off to the edge of the Sol system. It was instant, thats the best description I could give the speed we travelled. I recognized Pluto in the background, we were at the asteroid belt that surrounds the solar system. Right at the edge of the solar system.
He looked towards me on his left. I was looking at the panels to my right, which indicated that critical life support failed 7 solar cycles ago. "Say, do you have anyone special to think about?" He looked keen on me answering that conversation, or at the very least have a small chat.
"Sorry if that way random, but recently I have lost myself, please do indulge yourself in this conversation." He spoke softly
I contemplated the question for a few seconds
"I would like to think so yea" I responded. He made a motion to remove the tinted layer that covers the face. I saw his face for the first time, and he had a deep complexion and broad facial features. He was the equivalent of an 37 year old from the 26th century Halo. His age is between 370 and 500 years old, but he may be older depending on his caste. His eyes were full of longing and sorrow.
I looked towards him "Do you have anyone you cherish? Any family?" I asked since I knew where this was going, I might as well try.
He looked ahead at the window of the observation bridge, were I turned to look too, and I saw the resource site operation was ongoing in the far distance.
"I would like to think so as well... I...I can't recall the last time I saw my mother, or when the last time I last spoke with my father. I know I have siblings, but I can only hope they're doing well for themselfs"
He looked towards me and started walking towards the console, where he opened up the ramp. He then started to walk towards the exit. Once he was slightly ahead of me, he motioned for me to follow him.
As we stepped out, I took in the sights of the ships using their beams to melt and break the material on the asteroids. I saw drones flying around and storing the goods at the local refinery.
"So Caelon, how would you be paying me?"
I looked at Hourogh, and I wanted to pay installments since thats the guaranteed method to save money.
"You take installments by any chance?"
Honestly, I'm scum sometimes, if this were the future, more people on Erde-Tyrene would've looked at me even more differently. I wouldn't blame them, I do play around their awkward norms.
He took a momment and he seemed to contemplate whether to get the payment now or installments of mutually agreed goods. He looked at me with a tired look.
"Are you tight on currency? "
I shook my head, "No, I'm not here is your fee." I paid him his due, I wasn't about to haggle
this guy for credit pricing. I did give slightly more than was reqired though.
"Thank you for the extra tip, though I do have a question." His body posture exerted curiosity, like looking into a ravine full of knowledge.
I couldn't exactly see where he transferred the money I sent him, as I know he didn't hold onto the money I gave him, he sent it to somewere else in an auto deposit.
"Hummm?" I was interested in what he had to say.
He made a gesture to take off his helmet, and I calmly looked at his face. He grasped his helmet, and with a siziling pop, he took it off. He looked towards the mining site, his whole demeanour looking normal.
"Do you believe in monsters?" He gave me a hard stare
I looked at him, wondering why he'd ask me that.
"What do you classify as a monster?" I was out of the loop with this.
"The kind that..... we should've made peace with, but instead it became something far worse than thought possible. Say what if the rumours are true? About what happened to the exploration fleet, to the colonies at the galactic rim? About that dust?" He looked sad as if recounting past moments, and he started walking away from me at a slow pace.
I knew where he was coming from to know it all ends in nothing but flames and eternal nightmare.
"If such a thing existed... I would want to understand why it thought it was ok to commit atrocities, each living being, no matter how insignificant they are to the greater forces out there, they all have unique stories that should be cherished and not thrown asunder."
I turned around from him with my head down, and the place suddenly got an eerie silence. The machines were working in the background, and dead workers at their stations were hard at work, contraptions all operating, but all of the outside noise I muted.
"Thats why I believe no monster is greater than the monster we choose to become! Isn't that right, you creature?"
When I turned my head, Hourogh was no more. Only the flood remained.
I was saddened at this moment. I kept saying to myself that he is no more, but my empathy, driven by my philosophical understanding, never quenched my thirst for more. I wanted to know about the life form before me for who it was, and what it thought it stood for, but at last, he was just a number passing the time.
I didn't know if he had loved ones or what his beginnings were. I knew he was in close contact with Luminastra and was a sibling, I knew he had been dead for some time, his mentality driven to nothing but the infection whims. He knew of the Flood, how it reached this system here. He was probably fighting off the cells that rewrite his neural pathways for months, if not longer.
Personally, I didn't watch him turn or hear his screams. He was dead, and a flood combat form was already within arm's reach of my position.
With movement faster than the combat form thought I could muster, I swiped its legs, and in mid-fall, I grabbed its left leg and started smashing the combat form around. Eventually, with well-timed smashes and controlled movement, its leg armour gave way, and I gruesomely removed its leg. It shreeked but thanks to Hourogh removing his helmet, I simply grabbed its oversized face mid-toss and crushed it in one go.
I wanted to relieve some displeasure, so I chosed that monster to take the beating.
With the body in front of me, I motioned my arm gauntlets to transform into a small flamethrower. I proceeded to thoroughly burn the body until nothing but ash remained of the flesh. I picked up his armour and stored it in my pocket dimension.
This reminds me of the outcome of humanity's ancient empire, they took the full brunt of the first flood attack while fighting the forerunners aggressively at their peak. Many worlds are doomed to die, and in the oringinal the flood dont make it to Erde-Tyrene this soon. But every outcome I change demands an even greater retribution.
The commotion caused by the shrieking and slamming caused a drone to be dispatched. I quickly form anti-matter rifle in my hand and shot it down, before it could even get 3km from my position. I then slipped into the command pit and ran to the pilot's chair.
My three critical objectives are to steal a shipment of ores, kill the one who's been turning people into sleeper agents and modify my Binding Vow. I need to make sure those already infected are dealt with somehow. I'm being a hypocrit with not using my cure, but even I know it might only work before you've been infected. It's too late if you are. This whole place would've sent an enforcer already at my position. This tells me the constructs are all destroyed. The AI's, though... I'm sorry.
The drones here unbeknownst to them, sneaking tiny bits of flood super cells on the materials transported to Erde-Tyrene. I've been actively intercepting those before they make landfall in the refineries there, by slient pin point acurate slipspace, it's how I got materials for my projects and why I kept referring to Hourogh as a test subject for my cure. Sadly, he was too far gone. I have awareness that allows me to gain knowledge on something I want if I'm in close proximity. It doesn't give me the full details, but all it takes is for me to get curious for information to leak into my brain while being near my point of interest.
This and many other abilities are from Terra's database, it's like a cloud for me, but extremely limited since I'm sharing the same process with an uncountable number of myselfs spread throughout this omniverse.
I started making my way to the location of the proto-grave mind, I knew the flood had decimated the human population and I started to realize how for a hyper intelligence of this infection, to plan years with a big Y, ahead of time to this scale at this level with barely 1% of the galaxy already infected should sound alarms to any stratigest out there. The flood or should I say the Primordial, perfectly predicted when to infect, when to morph them, and when to retreat with the infected and molly waoop the forerunners into self-extinction.
Even with a small contract that basically makes this solar system free from any fate, or causality manipulation. They still are OP adversaries to go against. But I kinda did underestimate the lingering effects of meta physics from the precursor tech.
"I guess I need to work overtime as usual" I told myself this from time to time to cope.
The console flashed abnormal readings coming from people down on the ground, their life signatures were empty yet they walked like normal. I already uploaded a program to show who is infected from my guantlets.
I quickly ran a few commands to zoom in and detect by gamma signature emitted by people who are lying down piled up on one another just behind the main factory on its biggest wing. Turns out underneath those people is the proto-grave mind, I assume its entrance.
I quickly check the system to see if any logic plague is still ongoing and it turns out there was, the smart AI was already dead in terms of personality-wise and its thinking was corrupting. I killed it and released it from its suffering, and did a quick system inspection and when I was satisfied everything was safe, I uploaded my own AI to the ship and told it to wait for me at a safe distance.
With the instructions received, I was dropped on top of the roof of the factory.
"Also Conner, please clear a path for me, I dont want to dig by hand" I kindly asked.
"Affermitive" I heard Conner reply.
The ship rotated to face the entrance of the proto-hive mind and shot 2 barrages of lessar with enough damage to melt metal and reinforced titanium.
"ROAaasrrrrr shreeekkkkk"
"Alright Conner better get moving before it decides to blow through its sleeper agents" I said and watched as he departed to the stratosphere.
"Stay safe sir."
Aww he sounds adorable when he's worried. I should give him more cat videos to watch.
"I will Conner, dont you worry" I said while fighting off a 2 combat forms.
I ripped apart the non-armoured one from the leg upwards to his shoulders, while the other one retreated to keep space and study my movements.
The thing was one twitchy little hipster, I give it props to how hard its skin and flesh was, as soon as it made that movement in mid air to land, I was already there at the spot to mutilate it limb from limb.
"You'd think since you're almost double my size you'd be stronger...sucks to suck" I stopped moving and I dropped the combat form to the ground and burnt those 2 corpses.
"Fuck over time" I quickly go through my coms and message Conner
"Is there any ship equipped with a slipspace drive?" I asked a bit too excitedly than I should have.
"There appears to be a few in the area, sir are you planning on doing something illegal?" he asked with concern in his voice
"PFFTT me what? Yes, who do you take me for? I want to use as many slipspace drives you can get your hands on and fully detach them here, so I can explode the place" I responded in a happy voice while making a sinister face.
"But sir, were it easy I would have already blown one up. At your location, might I add" At Conner's remark, I made a poker face with my forehead contracting and eyes squinting.
"Haha really funny, but seriously is it possible within 30 minutes?" I said with a lazy expression, while fighting off spawners, combat forms and those little gremlins, also known as infector pods.
I jump off the roof top into the.....
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Hope ya'll enjoy.