{"sf1_id":859598,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Legacy of the Precursors, Chapter 1: Lost","author":"Drake_The_Traveller","words":2292,"posted_at":"2015-05-11T02:53:00.000Z","tags":["Character Development","Halo","Human","Story Progression","Story Series"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/859598-legacy-of-the-precursors-chapter-1-lost","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/859598","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=859598\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Legacy of the PrecursorsChapter 1: LostNot until we are\nlost do we begin to find ourselves...-Henry David\nThoreauNoble Six was not a fool;\nhe had fought the enemies of the government for as long as he could remember, both\nhuman and alien. And so as he saw a marine become enveloped in a blazing\ncerulean explosion, scattering charred flesh and bone into the ashen night air,\nhe realized one very important fact.This was to be where his\nservice ended.Reach...the pride of the\nUNSC and once thought to be an impenetrable fortress world, was nothing but a\nmolten graveyard, home to the fading remnants of the surviving UNSC forces gradually\nbeginning to dwindle out of existence as they fought with a terminal ferocity. They\nwere like beacons in the blackness, snuffing out one by one until only the dark\nwould remain. This was the twilight\nyears of humanity. Hope was dead, and it\nhad been so for many years. What had once started off as a vicious fight for\nsurvival gradually deteriorated into a desperate gambit to hold the enemy back\nfor another year, another month, another day, another hour....another minute, the\namount of human life spent on a daily basis to stop the inexhaustible march of\nthe Covenant was beyond obscene. Thousands perished, almost hourly, and there\nwas no end in sight that did not entail the extinction of humanity.The Spartan-III dashed\nbehind the smoldering wreckage of a warthog LRV and emptied his MA37 into a\npack of grunts charging past the hulk of a charred out scorpion. As his weapon\nbarked its deadly song, a rain of bronze shellcasings cascaded from the\nejection port and piled around his boots, sending puffs of ash into the air as they\ndisturbed the thin layer that seemed to cling to everything.This ash was the\nleftovers of Reach's funeral pyre.The M118 7.62x51mm FMJ\nArmor-Piercing projectiles pin-cushioned the small squad of dwarfish reptilians\nand splattered their luminescent blue blood all across the dimpled concrete of\nthe exterior of the mountain base he decided to use as his last stand. His assault rifle\nclicked dry and he growled, standing up to leg it back to the molten doors of\nthe facility, chased by a fusillade of green and blue glowing spheres of liquid\nlight. Inside the doorway to the highland complex, a pair of surviving marines\nlaid down a withering barrage of rifle fire in an attempt to keep the covenant\nof the spartan's back. Six slipped through the\ndoorway as he felt a short burst of heated plasma fire splash across the shields along\nhis plated spine and they dropped to a dangerous level. As soon as his armored\nbulk passed the heavy doors, they slowly grinded closed, sealing with a dull\nresonating boom and buying them all some time to set up their last holdout point.\nThe spartan stood in front of the door and reloaded his rifle, slamming a new\nmag in and pulling the bolt. They only had a few minutes to prepare for the\nenemy's arrival. Their plasma weapons would soon take care of even the meter-thick\nTitanium-A doors.Once they breached the\nbarrier, they would swarm in and kill every last human left alive in the\nfacility. But before that happened, Six intended to give them all a gift, the\nspartan way.He turned to the two soldiers\nwith him; they both were just unassuming men. Survivors where there would soon\nbe none. And yet they had endured hardship and suffering to the same lengths that\nhe had gone through during the failing war for Reach. And they still stood with\nstrength and courage, willing to face their ends with honor and integrity. These two men impressed\nSix, far more than any spartan he had worked with. They were not augmented like\nhe was; nor did they have the training, endurance, and equipment bestowed upon\nspartans. And besides all these differences, they stood with him even after\neverything they suffered through, loss, pain, and things much more unendurable.Yet even that aside,\nthey were strained to their limits and they had fear etched into the crevices\nin their aged faces and wide eyes. Both men were experienced veterans, both of\nthe insurrection and of the early days of the Covenant war. \"W-what do we do now\nsir?\" The older of the two asked. He clutched his shotgun in trembling hands and spoke with a nervous fervor. \"We fight, and we die.\"\nSix replied humbly in his gravelly tenor. For the spartan there was no other\noption, nor should there have been. He had been recruited at a young age and trained to give\nhis life for his government. The choice for him...was simple.Both men nodded\nuncertainly, they understood his response but lacked his conviction. \"Right,\nsir, of course, sir...\"Six rolled his\nshoulders. \"Here's the plan. On the sixth level of the compound, there is an experimental\nslipspace drive. We will go down and tamper with it. My fellow spartans did\nsomething similarly before. The end result will be a lasting memory for the\nCovenant...there is no coming back from this.\" He added softly.The two men nodded solemnly.\n\"We understand, sir.\"\"Good, follow me.\" Six\nwalked past the two marines and down the barren hallway. They passed down\nseveral floors and stopped at an armory. There, they filled up on ammo and Six\ngrabbed a few other things. Once they were topped up, they traveled down another\nfloor and arrived at a large empty laboratory. In the center was a massive\ndevice plugged into a wall feed with a dozen thick black cables. Papers and\nequipment were scattered across the floor and empty coffee cups littered the metallic\ntables. It seemed that the scientists had been evacuated, post-haste.The power was off for\nthis level of the facility so Six had to close the heavy steel doors himself,\ntrapping both him and the marines inside, which didn't matter much considering\nthat they were not planning on leaving anyways. \"Set up a barricade.\"\nSix ordered as he walked past the two men and began to tamper with the device.\nThe marines began to flip the tables in the room and place them a few meters\nfrom the door in a semicircular wall of thick steel. Meanwhile, the\nspartan-III tore of a panel on the center of the machine and reached his\ngauntlets inside. It was good that he had learned how to tamper with slipspace\nrectors beforehand or this wouldn't have been a viable final mission. He ripped\nout a wire and began to intertwine it with a diode near the heart of the device.\nHis plan was to create a feedback loop inside the experimental drive and cause a\ndeadly resonating cascading detonation of raw energy. That in itself would\nlevel the mountain and kill most of the Covenant on this continent. It would be\nhis final act of vengeance. If they wanted Reach, they better be willing to pay\nthe price for it.Soon, as he began to\nwork, noises were heard on the other side of the bulkheads, words spoken in an\nalien tongue. \"Contact, sir, we've got covies on the outside!\" One of the\nmarines shouted, shouldering his rifle and aiming at the doors. Six picked up the pace,\ntrying to get the machine primed before the Covenant managed to break through.\nBut time was not on his side; the door was turning a molten cherry color and melting\nin the center.  Even as he was turning\nof the last cascade failsafe, the door bubbled outwards and exploded, showering\nthe room in liquefied steel. The marines ducked, but Six was splattered. His\nshields ignited and deflected most of the damage, but he felt the intense heat,\neven through the thick layer of blue and white MJLONIR. Inside stormed three\nelites in eldritch silver armor, wielding bright swords composed of pure plasmatic energy. They were met\nwith a blistering hail of assault rifle fire. The one leading the charge had\nits shields shattered and it was riddled with bullets, gurgling in spite as it\nthudded to the floor. The other two made it\npast the fire and one swiped down, cutting through the barricade. The two\nmarines stumbled backwards, trying to stay away from the elites and their\ndeadly blades. Six saw this and finished\nwhat he was doing before he charged into the fray. Just as one raised its\nsword, intent on bringing it down on the helpless marine underneath its hooved\nfoot, he collided into it.Six sent both of them\nfalling to the floor in a heap. It roared, splaying its mandibles in anger, and\ntried to cleave its sword into his shoulder. Six caught the blade and\nredirected it to dig into the steel floor. With his other fist he socked it in\nthe head, dazing the beast. A cry of pain alerted\nthe spartan to the death of one of his men. He whipped his helm around to see\none of the marines hoisted into the air, impaled by an energy sword. The elite\nbarked a mocking laugh at the man as he squirmed on the blade and screamed,\nlike a bug under a pin. Soon, his protests died\nand he went limp. The elite continued chuckling as he lowered his blade and\ndropped the soldier to the ground with a scoff. \"Pitiful creature...\" The elite\nmuttered in contempt as he turned around, the software in Six's suit\ntranslating its words.Six snarled and turned\nfrom the elite he was fighting, scrambling off the floor and charging the\nalien. He wrapped a gauntlet around its throat and elicited a surprised grunt\nfrom the monstrous alien. Then he grabbed the kukri sheathed on his shoulder plate\nand rammed it into the elite's side, burrowing the blade in to the hilt. The elite warbled in pain and\ntried to shake him off, but it was to no avail as he repeatedly slammed the\nkukri into the alien's side until it fell to its knees. Six lowered his helmed\nto the side of the elite's mandibled face and whispered. \"Pitiful creature...\"\nBefore clamping his armored bicep down on its windpipe and twisting his arm sharply\nto the right. There was a brutal series of pops\nand the elite shuddered before going limp. Six stepped away from\nthe now dead alien and turned to look for the last remaining marine, only to\nsee the elite he had left alone, spearing him to the floor with his blade. The\nsoldier fired his handgun into the elites face as the alien twisted his energy blade\ninto his gut, rounds deflecting off of its shielded helm. Before the marine could\nfinish, he died, arm falling to the deck and releasing the magnum to clatter\naway. The elite looked up from\nhis fresh kill and looked to the spartan as he ripped his blade from fallen\nsoldier's stomach.   \"It would appear Demon...that it is just you and\nI now.\" His low guttural voice filled the now empty room. Six remained silent and\nsimply grabbed the hilt of the energy sword from the fallen alien under him and\nactivated the blade, wielding both it and the kukri in either hand.The elite tilted his armored head and bowed, reptilian eyes gleaming with what could be considered either amusement or bemusement. \"And so it shall be. You will fall by my hands.\" The elite\nroared and charged him, Six snarled and sprinted full force at the elite. The two titanic forces\ncollided violently.The elite lowered\nhimself under the spartan's swipe and shoulder bashed him, carrying the\nspartan with him to slam into the slip space device. Six's brain was rattled\ninside his head underneath his helm and he dropped the energy sword. The\nspartan smacked his gauntlet against the elite's helm. And the alien socked him\nin the gut in return. The heavy fist lowered his shields dangerously and it\nwarbled in rage.Meanwhile, the machine\nwas picking up in intensity; the small inaudible whine that was building up could\nnow be detected by the spartan and the elite's ears.That is if they were\nnot busy wailing on each other. Both combatants were so\nabsorbed in trying to kill the other that they paid no attention to the\nmachine. Light began to radiate out of the exposed panel on the side of the\nmachine as Six brought his kukri down into the elite's shoulder, sparking off of\nhis shields. In retort, the elite\nslammed his fist into the spartan's helmet, bringing his full force to bear.\nSix was knocked to the floor by the machine and scrambled back to his feet, scowling\nat his opponent. But before their bout\ncould continue, the machine's high pitched whining could no longer be ignored\nby either party as it reached a crescendo. Both looked at the device as it\ndetonated, blinding both of them in a harsh blue light.**********The mountain imploded,\nshaking the entire continent and causing devastating earthquakes as the\ntectonic plates shifted, tearing jagged gaping holes across the surface of\nReach. Countless Covenant soldiers and even surviving UNSC forces were caught\nin the wave of destruction that ravaged the continent. When the dust cleared\nand everything settled down, a good ninety percent of all Covenant ground\nforces on the planet had been killed and the rest could not be found. It was a\ndebilitating blow to the enemy's armies. Millions had been fighting on Reach's surface.\nSix's final act of\ndefiance would resonate through time and shift the direction of the war, add\nthat to the package they had delivered and victory became a very real possibility\nfor humanity. But his sacrifice and contribution would never be told. No one\nhad been left alive to record it. But, perhaps Six's\nreward was not remembrance, but something he would never have thought possible...a\nchance, at something more.","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/860005-legacy-of-the-precursors-chapter-2-somewhere-someplace.json"}