//------------------------------// // A Bigger Plan // Story: Straight up, HE-spewing, Dee-vine Intervention // by Obvious German //------------------------------// The first thing Lorenzo imagined about the afterlife, before his eventual demise, was a field of snow-white clouds and the golden gates that led to Heaven, where the brave souls who sacrificed their lives go as they deserved it. He was one of them, and he was damn proud to be one. Unfortunately, where he was didn’t seem like the afterlife. Staring up into the grey void and the blue luminescent lines that rimmed the ceiling, he groaned and blinked thrice, moving his numb arms around. Quickly reverting to military training, he reacted and immediately gained ground to find that he was in some sort of a chamber, probably alien because of the glyphs that glowed on the struts of the room. Then he noticed he was not in his Grizzly and that Russell was not anywhere to be seen. In fact, nobody was here except for him. He let out a depressed sigh and patted his body to find that his emergency M6B still in its holster. Reacting, he quickly pulled it out and attempted to lock on to the scenery to no avail as it was clear he was the only organic lifeform here. This didn’t meant he would re-holster the pistol, no. He was still keeping it steady on several openings that white light shone through, expecting a nasty surprise in the form of an Elite or a Flood combat form. Then he saw a tall and alien-like shadow moving into the chamber and he quickly shifted his steady aim towards it, fearing it might be something malevolent. But something in his mind told him to stand down, and he followed the mental order begrudgingly. As the figure came closer, he heard a serene voice speak to him. “Hello.” It was the first thing he heard from the figure as its features became visible to him, an almost human face being the first thing that struck him hard in the head. “Sorry to be so impromptu, but I had to do it.” “Who are you?” Lorenzo asked it as he watched it move along with such grace that even ballet dancers couldn’t match. Both awestruck and curious, it was the best of his interest to find out why was he still alive after the supernova. “And what is this place?” “I am the Librarian, and I’m assuming you are wondering why you have not been incinerated?” She hit the jackpot, and now Lorenzo was certain there were going to be answers. It was interesting enough to talk to an alien, more or less survive a fucking supernova at point blank if it can be considered. Her elongated arm then swept across the place and she spoke. “This is the Sanctum of this shield world. Beautiful, isn’t it?” “Depends,” Lorenzo grunted as he loosened a little bit while maintaining full alert on her next move. “So, how in the hell did you save me from a supernova?” “It’s a little hard explaining Forerunner technology to a human, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out yourself,” the Librarian replied and was promptly asked another question by the concerned human. “Okay... so where’s my men?” Lorenzo questioned as he raised his brow, his hand still on the pistol. The Librarian sensed his state of alert and calmed him down. “Do not be afraid, I will not hurt you,” she responded and instantly, Lorenzo felt no need for his pistol to be withdrawn and holstered it back before she continued on with answering question. “As to where your fellow soldiers went, I’ve just sent them to another world, they will most likely reach their destination after our little conversation.” “Wait, what?” Lorenzo took a step back and processed the Librarian’s words. How on earth... It’s not possible! Where is their ship? He didn’t see any, and it was enough for him to tell that this was complete bullshit. But somehow, he trusted her as she did in fact, save him from being scorched. “Indeed, our technology works wonders,” she responded, proceeding to explain why the confused Marine captain was here in the first place. “And it helped me bring about a plan I compiled over the eons, which is why you’re here.” “Hmm...” Lorenzo hummed, now eager to listen to the reason why the Librarian had brought him here, instead of Snowdrop or even Douglas. It could be anyone in fact, but why him? “Go ahead, I’m listening.” “Very good, now then,” the Librarian continued. “Let me enlighten you on your task.” “We are the Forerunners, a race of intelligent beings that disappeared into the farthest rims of the universe after the activation of the Halos, and I am a Lifeworker. Since the discovery of your species, I have studied you for eons and watched your empires fall and crumble even after the activation of the rings. But you, out of the billions of humans out there, are special.” “Uh-huh,” Lorenzo responded as he leaned against the cold glistening walls of the sanctum, rubbing his beard. “During the indexation of your kind, I have placed many seeds throughout your genes. Some of which will become in my primary plan, while you are my other...plan,” the Librarian stated as Lorenzo’s concern heightened. Was there something nasty in store for them? “The idea for a tracked war machine, the invention of combat suits, ancillas and finally, the remarkable idea of subjugating a fully grown adult to watch a child’s program.” “I’m a little slow,” Lorenzo cut in. “I know about the suits and the tanks and yadda yadda, but what about the last part?” “Do you not know of your friend?” The Librarian asked him calmly and Lorenzo instantly had MacBeth appear into his mind. He was a pretty decent guy and a good friend to be paired up with, but had an odd taste for that little girl’s show that was shown almost four centuries ago. It had its charms, like any other TV show, but what made this one so different in that the Librarian had to include it into their genes? “You mean Mac?” “...Yes, the one you call ‘Mac’” She replied uneasily as she didn’t like to use odd slangs, even though she respected the humans. “He is one of the major players in this plan as his knowledge of the race inside it will prove to be useful, along with his ancilla.” “Guh...Ponies?” Lorenzo stated after he remembered the time when he and Russell, along with an unwilling Atkins, watched it with MacBeth who already had modified the AI to resemble one of the elements in the show. “Man, and I thought it was only for lil’ girls...” “Ah, but sometimes, an odd one out might be the key to victory,” the Librarian calmly declared and went on to explain the more darker side of the plan. “Now then, are you familiar with the term ‘destroyer’?” “No shit,” Lorenzo boldly replied and sighed. “Good, then you will know what is coming up,” the Librarian explained as she continued on with a more secretive side of Forerunner projects. She remembered the race that ended up almost extinct because of them in another reality and their horrible machines that would repeat the cycle of destruction every millennia. “Long ago, during the war between your ancestors and ours, we tried to find a way to build a war machine powerful enough to subjugate a planet’s populace into surrender without harm. In doing that, we built an enhanced version of our slipspace engines and we discovered more than a million different realities in which your kind exists in. Amazing, isn’t it?” Now Lorenzo was getting many other ideas. Different realities? Holy shit, did this mean that the old sci-fi shows that premiered on the silver screens of old was actually real? Not that it mattered, since they already had something compared to hyperspace from Star Wars. But never the less, an interesting revelation. “In one particular one, we found a race of highly intelligent beings that called themselves the Leviathans. They were willing to help us, and so we started Project Reaper. But in the end, we caused more destruction than we ever wanted to, more so to the species we nearly killed off.” “We made them, we made the Reapers,” the Librarian sadly confessed, as Lorenzo tried to scrounge up what a Reaper was exactly. Surfing the UNSC Net during his free time had given him plenty of information and other... things, and he remembered an old video game series, primitive to what they could whip up now, in which a human commander allied the entire galaxy to fight cuttlefish-like sentient ships. Then he realized those very ships were the Reapers, and it dawned on him that the Librarian’s kind made them. How was this possible? It was only a game, how can it be he met a being whose species made these nightmarish entities? There was more headaches than answers, even more so than the logic of the shield world. “Jesus...” Lorenzo gasped as he slapped his face. “You...you made them?” “Yes... yes, we did,” the Librarian guiltily replied as she turned away, almost close to shedding a tear for the many deaths of the Leviathans she witnessed. The Reapers were as powerful as the Forerunners, but were more sophisticated and cold-blooded which proved the Librarian’s attempts to shut them down little more than just a nuisance. Shortly, the Forerunners were forced to leave the doomed reality and hoped that it would find a way to deal with itself, as she put her hope high within that realm’s humans. “I designed them, the Leviathans created them.” “So...you drew out... the Reapers?” Lorenzo shakily asked her as he remembered the old gameplay videos he watched for his own amusement and the amount of carnage showcased in the actual game. “I thought it was a game...too.” “It’s not just a little game, it’s real,” the Librarian replied as she bulked up herself and prepared to tell Lorenzo about the heavy task that would be bestowed upon Hell’s Jokers. “Are you ready?” “Wait, you want...us, to stop the fucking Reapers?!” Lorenzo screeched and knew that even the weakest of the Reaper’s ground force would send them into the bowels of self-inflicted insanity because of their twisted and malevolent bodies, similar to the Flood’s combat form. “No... not the entire Reaper armada,” the Forerunner explained. “There must always be a first for anything, and for the first of the Reapers we built Harbinger, a self-thinking Reaper that is more dangerous than even the Didact himself. The reality’s humans have already stopped and turned them into helpers using a device they made, but somehow Harbinger has kept his original objective as I had predicted eons ago.” “You knew about this?” “Not really,” the Librarian shrugged ungracefully, Lorenzo taking it as a no. “Continuing on, Harbinger has somehow found the link between the multiverse and has possessed one of the beings in one of them, which I have sent your troops under your command into.” “You mean the ponies...?” Lorenzo was still having a hard time taking in the fact that talking, colorful and intelligent ponies actually exist, albeit in another reality. “Damn...that’s bound to be bad.” “Worse to come, the being he chose to control had previously become overcome with vileness the likes of the Flood, and he will stop at nothing to rid his own reality’s organic lifeforms. That’s why you’re going to be sent there,” the Librarian responded as Lorenzo began to sink into hysteria. “No, no! I will not go into that pony place just to get lasered by a fucking cuttlefish demon!” He shrieked and starting panting, the Librarian tried to cool him down. “Please, you must cooperate with me! If you don’t, Harbinger will find a way to reboot the Reapers’ original purpose and once he’s done with destroying all life in his reality, he will destroy everything in all realities!” The Librarian pleaded and Lorenzo quickly calmed down and gained back his wits, while reaching for his pistol out of self-precaution. “Whew... I’m so sorry, it’s just that... I’ve been through the Covenant and the shitty parasites, but fighting a ominous and almost invincible intelligent ship?” Lorenzo panted and took a quick breather before going back to what he was saying. “Couldn’t you choose Red Team instead? I’m just a tank commander!” “That’s why I chose you,” the Forerunner revealed to him on his choosing. Lorenzo tilted his head and raised his brow again at what the Librarian revealed to him. “You might be the playful one, but you and your men are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes in planning.” “Huh... does that make me God or something?” “No, it means that you are going to play your part as the commander of these brave souls,” the Librarian bestowed the role upon him, with Lorenzo feeling a little over weighted. “Damn... that’s going to be tough as nails,” he remarked as he pulled out his pistol not at the ready, but just to carefully study it as he reached the closing lines of his conversation with the Librarian. Could he do it? Be the commander of Hell’s Jokers and possibly save millions, or trillions, of organic life from the Reapers? He had recalled one of the fearsome blares of one of them, and it made him shudder. But they were not unstoppable, just like the Covenant as he remembered watching ships and ships overwhelm two or three with heavy fire. If the Librarian was indeed telling the truth, Harbinger only had a possessed body and not his ancient Reaper form while they had the firepower to take on a Scarab. Whatever the odds are, Harbinger was outnumbered and outgunned, Lorenzo then reconsidered his hasty decision of ditching it and just dying. Then he made a decision that in the future, he will look back and say, “Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.” “I’ll do it.” “Good, now then,” the Librarian said as lifted up her hand to project a holographic screen, which showed the remaining time needed for the slipspace warp to complete to Lorenzo’s surprise. The Forerunners were this advanced, no wonder why the Covenant wanted the shield world for their inactive and most likely destructive armada of ancient starships dating back before the Stone Ages, as he predicted. “It is almost time, I hope that he hasn’t picked up on the energy being radiated from the slipspace warp...” “You mean Harbinger?” Lorenzo said as he clenched onto his pistol, just as a precaution. “Indeed, that rampant machine is powerful enough to detect incoming signals from starships that allow him to coordinate defence tactics to repel any invasion force,” the Librarian explained as suddenly, the screen shuddered and flickered red to her horror. “No, please! It is too soon-Then the both of them heard a deep rumbling emit from within the chamber as it darkened, the blue lights slowly dimming. So you have returned to stop me. The Librarian huffed and stood her ground against the newly-arrived Harbinger, who was now studying the anatomy of an alert Lorenzo as he made his move to guard the Lifeworker from the Reaper. “I have indeed, for you are my mistake and I regret ever designing you.” Ah, but you have created the master of many, the deceiver of the galaxy and the destroyer of civilizations, so that your own war could be settled. “The war has past by! We no longer needed the monstrous construct the likes of yours!” The Librarian sturdily responded as her holographic projector rippled in front of Lorenzo before the particles turned blood red and replacing the timer was the terrifying form of Harbinger, the alpha Reaper. Irrelevant, you should be proud that you’ve created me. Instead, you sent humans to deal with me, how pitiful. “They will stop you! I have faith in that and no faith in a monster!” Humanity is the monster, Librarian. You cannot see it, but the Didact could. He was right about the extinction of humanity, on how it will benefit the galaxy. They are not meant to uphold the Mantle, and your kind not fit enough too. “Enough!” The Librarian shouted at the red holographic projection of Harbinger, its glowing yellow eyes boring into Lorenzo’s soul. You simply cannot accept the truth, that the Reapers are the true holders as we were always destined to. “The Mantle states that only the righteous will uphold it! And your kind are the complete opposite of that rule!” Enough of the small talk, altering slipspace stream...now. The Librarian’s face turned to shock and looked back at the newly formed readings of the slipspace stream, as Harbinger made several adjustments to it so that her plans could not succeed. Now your plans are put to rest, with the humans scattered across this unhealthy world. This entire system is a joke, a sun orbiting a planet? We are much more capable than doing that. “By doing what? Shitting on our stuff with your big ass scary lasers?” Lorenzo cockily answered back at the Reaper with newfound courage and a sense of justice, to the Librarian’s initial shock. “The Covvies are much more scarier than you!” The Covenant is merely a tool of trade that we simply chose to ignore. “Really now?” Lorenzo replied as the slipspace stream was intensely distorted by the Reaper’s intense scramblers onboard the actual ship a reality away. Indeed. Now that I notice, you are a peculiar human in the sense that you have an aura similar to the human who turned us against our will, Shepard. “What now?” Lorenzo huffed. “If she’s the one saying we’re going to have to slag you, then we’ll slag you!” Foolish talk. I will not be entertained anymore by your insignificant speeches, and so I leave you with a message. The Reapers will return, and there is nothing the universe can do about it. With that, Harbinger’s model disappeared from the Librarian’s projector, causing the Forerunner to scowl in disgrace. “No! That accursed Reaper has altered the stream!” “And that means?” Lorenzo questioned her as he took up a defensive position, in case. “What, we’re going to be ripped apart by the space-time continuum?” “No, it means that all of you will be scattered in different places,” she replied and immediately, Lorenzo understood the situation and its term. Without the complete formation of Hell’s Jokers, they wouldn’t be able to fight Harbinger or his new form. “But the fortunate thing is that Harbinger wasn’t able to completely isolate everyone from each other.” “And so? That means I’m still with my gunner?” “Yes, and that the other vehicle with your friend and his ancilla will be accompanying you,” she explained. “Let us not waste anymore time, Harbinger will strike any time now.” “Alright, so what am I going to do?” Lorenzo asked and straightened, as if the Forerunner were his boot camp CEO. Then she waved her hand in front of his face and he immediately became woozy. “Whoa...” “It’s simple, my dear human,” the Librarian said as the tank commander got down on his knees from the sudden exhaustion. “You need to wake up.”