Chapter Two
September 16, 2552
Spending weeks in transit was something Twilight had a great deal of experience with. It seemed no matter how far she went from home there was somewhere farther away still she needed to rush too.
The accommodation provided by Thel turned out to be a Sangheili barrak with an adjoining officers quarters. In due Sangheili stupidity the officers sleeping slab, because calling it a bed was quite frankly an insult, was even less comfortable then the barracks sleeping slabs. The unicorn mare was sure it was due to some twisted sense of honour or pathological fear of comfort, the dutiful protectors of the Covenant where odd in there own way.
Still Thel, it turned out, was a more agreeable personality then she had anticipated, she had spent years dogging him in an attempt to gain access to the front line of the war and had been kept at arm's length masterfully. No doubt the Council of High Prophets had aided the Supreme Commander in avoiding Twilight and her sworn inquisition.
Now that Twilight had access to more data on the battles and strategies employed in the war then she could read in a lifetime it seemed all the more pointless, searching the database she found nothing incriminating the Covenant in any wrongdoing, where excessive force was used or civilian elements are targeted it was always earmarked and dealt with in tribunal to an Equestrian standard, the war was on a scale too great for Twilight to catalogue fully in a lifetime, but everything she read, everything she searched, even the random documents and correspondence she plucked from the database, it all pointed to the same conclusion.
Twilight had plenty of time while in slipspace to work on her report, she had finished it in fact, the words had come slowly and Twilight had found herself rewriting sections of it again and again until it sat before her. Years, millions of lives in a horrific war and she had written just over a five hundred thousand words. The report itself was several million in order to include all her citations and documentation she had gathered and personally verified, but here it was, finished.
A years long war, millions of thinking lives lost, all just neatly filed away into a computer core.
A shrill chime, to the Sangheili it was a soothing tone, but Twilight had much sharper ears, tapping the screen Twilight collected herself and trotted out of her little cabin, she would finally know where that Human ship was fleeing too.
Hopefully she would find out why something seemed so wrong about all of this.
The main barrak, a long thin room with beds along one side and seating, cleaning and storage facilities along the other, the room also had a section where three or four people could exercise, something that Twilights pilot and one of her honour guards were taking advantage of.
Both were naked and had been holding up their entire body weight using only wings, while a screen next to them recorded when one of them moved themselves from almost touching the floor to pushing themselves as high as they could, the rest of her honour guard would normally be cheering and betting on one of them.
Of course the moment her door opened the lot of them shot up at attention, there little game forgotten, the only times Twilight had seen her subordinates acting like people are the times when she had used her active camouflage system to wander one of the many ships she had found herself on over the years alone.
The treatment did not bother the mare, or at least that was what she told herself, she had a job to do and it had to be done in a professional manor. Anyway if she wanted a friend she could always send a message to her brother, that always made her feel better.
Turning to look at the screen besides the exercise station Twilight was surprised to find that her Pilot was winning by quite a margin, an impressive feat and a new personal best for the mare.
“Excellent work Major Dash, You may continue when I have gone” Twilight turned to the seated Griffons “I will be making my way to the bridge and I will require two units for escort.”
In an instant her Honour Guard Champion had squawked an order at one of the standing griffons and the pair donned armour and collected there weapons, the pair fell neatly in step with Twilight as the mare made ready to leave the Barrak.
Exiting Slipspace almost always flung normally quiet and peaceful ships into loud, crowded manic places, if something was going to go wrong, it almost always did so just a few moments after the ship had emerged in its destination and reactivated all its systems.
Such activity would turn most halls into pointlessly loud places Twilight did her best to avoid, however when the barrak door opened Twilight was not blasted by a wave of sound this blessing was not registered but there was a very good reason for it.
Today a cloud of Huragok had decided to remove the floor just outside of her room. Stepping confidently onto a deckplate that did not exist and then squealing in terror before a powerful talon caught her was incredibly undignified no doubt this entire situation was a conspiracy.
Looking around and inspecting the hall revealed that she had never been at risk of injury, just falling into inactive wiring and having her clothes ruined by the waste denatured coolant. Nor did she have a captive audience, the only witness of her embarrassing fall where four gently floating Huragok and her own subordinates. The Huragok had turned to look at her, or rather to see if she had broken anything by falling onto it.
“Why was I not informed of this repair!” The Unicorn expertly let out a long series of whistles as she was carefully put down by her Champion.
“Unicorn granted access to computer files, not marked for Engineering notification.” the closet responded to her but turned away once it was sure she did not damage the ship.
Staying and shouting at the Huragok was tempting for a moment, but was entirely pointless outside of catharsis. They did not care in the slightest and would ignore her if she did not communicate in there awkward whistling language, Twilight had to act in a respectable and professional manner regardless. Besides this was likely the machinations of the Supreme Admiral, comfortable accommodation indeed.
Turning in a huff Twilight made her way to the bridge, just a few more weeks and she could never engage in petty power politics ever again.
The bridge was filled today. Sangheili tradition dictated that all work shifts where to be active and on duty when exiting slipspace into enemy territory, the theory is that anyone who died in the short window of time where a ship is near helpless after a jump could be replaced immediately, in practice, Sanghili had become very adept at returning to their bunks and returning to sleep after leaving slipspace.
Twilight trotted around the towering figures admirably trying to stay awake and made her way to the chair beside Supreme Commander Thel.
“You are here to observe us existing slipspace.” Thel remarked, looking at her with an odd expression, it was rare for his kind to engage in small talk, no doubt he was doing it for her benefit.
“Yes, I have also finished my report, just in time”
“Ah... So you will no longer need Administrator access to my ships datacore?” Thel clicked his mandibles.
“No, that should be everything I need, once we deal with the fleeing humans I can return to High Charity and make my report, then it's back to Equis” There was a pause after that, a slightly awkward silence that was broken by one of the bridge crew.
“Exiting Slipspace, all stations be ready” Suddenly, the blanket of quiet fell upon the room, the noise of thinking creatures about you was stifled, the kind of sound one only noticed in its absence.
Then that twisting feeling in her gut, a moment of wrongness, then reality asserts itself.
“Systems coming back online, no alarm.” One by one the bridge crew all began to call out reports on ship systems and communications from the rest of the fleet, things vital any competent shipmaster.
“Detecting a large structure in System, displaying” and with that, what little noise had slowly began to fill the room was silenced.
A gasp of air, a wordless cry, it could have been Twilight herself and she would not have known. The room was filled with the strangled sounds of the devoted standing before the shadow of the Gods.
“By the Prophets” “It can't be” “I am unworthy” “What is it doing here?” Duty was abandoned, slowly at first, but rapidly spreading through the bridge and Twilight could hardly find it in herself to blame them, her face wet with tears, dumbstruck.
“To your stations! Rtoko 'Saramaiee, deploy six probes I wish to know everything there is to be known of this system. Xot 'Malkamaiee, update the fleet, they are to remain in position until after the Council of Masters has concluded its session!” Snapping back from the stopper of the divine the bridge crew went to work with an incredible fervour, the reserve bridge crew moved quietly to a section of the bridge where they would not be in the way and began praying quietly. Twilight would likely have gone over to join them but Then suddenly rose to his feet.
“You are calling a Council of Masters?” she blurted out, her eyes still blurred, the Sanghili nodded.
“Yes, this situation demands it” he turned away from her.
“As Inquisitor I demand a place within the Council of Masters of the Fleet” rubbing her face Twilight rose to her hooves and stared up at Thel, there was a moment of contemplation.
“Very well, this shall make you my subordinate however” The mare smiled.
“Then I submit myself to your service Supreme Admiral” she turned to look at the still image of Halo hung in space that filled the holographic projectors “I submit myself gladly as we walk The Great Journey together” the two devoted spent a moment to look into the image, then they hurried away for there was work that needed to be done.
Stepping together with Thel into the holographic conference hall Twilight took the time to look about herself. The room was very small, with a single chair and a table that protruded out of a large and powerful holographic array, clearly Equestrian in design.
Twilight stepped neatly to one side of the chair and Thel took his seat. The lights dimmed until the room was coated in shadow and then the room seemed to stretch forward. A fleets council of masters was comprised of the most influential figures that had found themselves in a given fleet. Such a council could number in the hundreds should the fleet be of a sufficient size. Such a large conference would be entirely possible and even easy to manage as the sophisticated Equestrian systems operated to manage volume levels and priority speakers.
This particular council was relatively small, it included all of the Shipmasters of the various capital class ships in the fleet as well as the few figures of particular authority and importance, like Twilight. Nine Sangheili bore the holographic mark of a shipmaster, two Kig-Yar also had such a mark and curiously a San'Shyuum was also present as a shipmaster, the last shipmaster was sat beside Twilight. Other figures had joined this council and where present in this conference much like Twilight, standing besides the shipmasters who hosted them.
Most prominently to her right the Prophet of Stewardship, standing upright even in his advanced age, no doubt with the aid of some gravity manipulation. His smug expression was indicative of his current authority, with Halo so close he could demand the fleet, and the Supreme Admiral, submit to him as per the Reclamation Protocol.
Standing behind one of the Sangheili shipmasters closer to the back Twilight Spotted Field Master Noga 'Putumee. He was a well respected ground commander and had, in theory, authority over all ground forces spread throughout the fleet, however, it was common for such forces to be very loyal to the ships they were assigned to.
Almost entirely invisible Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee quietly stepped into view, the holographic systems having trouble projecting his armour as an image given its stealth properties.
“Why is the Equestrian here?” The voice came from one of the shipmasters, his holographic notation identified him as Lat 'Ravamee. Before anyone else could speak for her Twilight turned to address the shipmaster.
“This is a unique situation and thus I have submitted myself to the fleet and have been granted a place on the council of masters as is my right as Inquisitor.”
“Your presence is-”
“Indeed” the calm and pleasant voice of the Prophet of Stewardship managed to overpower the slighted shipmaster ”our Unicorn friend has seen with her own eyes as we all have, this is not a situation for petty politics nor the time to air grievances. We stand in the presence of Halo, a divine wind upon our backs, this could well be the most important step in The Great Journey no doubt the days ahead will call upon us all.”
There was murmuring and muttering of agreement following the Prophets words, Twilight bowed her head in respect to the Religious leader.
“We must establish a forward base upon the Ring, discover its wonders, learn of its majestic purpose and all the while report back to the High Council” the Prophet continued.
“That is a secondary objective” The Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee words seemed harsh and guttural compared to the spoken honey of the Prophet
“Secondary? What possible objective could be more vital then our divine mandate?”
“The human ship will arrive soon, we must discover how they knew of this installation, what there objective in this system is and we must prevent any human from reaching Halo” The Prophet nodded, contemplative.
“You are right, the heretics presence is unacceptable”
“The Human ship will arrive in three days” every head in the room snapped to Twilight as she spoke.
“How can you know this?” demanded one of the Shipmasters.
“Human Slipspace engines follow a common design principles and flaws, calculating the time a human ship will spend in slipspace is as simple as working out the distance in space between the system where the ship entered slipspace and the system where the ship will exit slipspace and size of the vessel.” The room was once more filled with silence as the Council processed this information.
“You would not happen to know where the ship will exit slipspace?” The Prophet turned back towards the little mare.
“Human technology focuses on simplicity and reliability, accuracy is simply not a concern of the humans, normally this would be one of their failings but in this situation it is a strength, it is impossible to determine where in this system the human ship will appear but it shall appear in three days.” after she finished Thel began to speak.
“Dispersed recon pickets will have to be deployed, this human ship had two main cannons and could fire them one after the other or even together, and continue to fire many more times in a battle, such an armament could overwhelm the shields of a lesser capital ship and destroy it.” he paused as if in contemplation but begin again before anyone could interrupt him
“The fleet will be divided into four task forces, each containing a Battlecruser and two lesser capital ships. Task force one shall be led by Purity of Spirit supported by Blameless Conceit and Just Cause.” The holographic display shifted at the Supreme Admirals words, the shipmasters being shuffled into groups as they were assigned into task forces.
“Task force two shall be led by Undiminished Entelechy and supported by Reverence and Boundless Awe.” The two Kig-Yar, the lack of bright spines denoting them as both Shipmistresses, turned to look at each other and then at the Singhili that had been assigned to lead both ships, Twilight could almost see the shoulders of the Undiminished Entelechy’s Shipmaster sag at the prospect of dealing with the pair.
“Task force three shall be led by Truth and Reconciliation supported by Esteem and Infinite Succor. Task force four shall be led by Sacred Inquisitor supported by Penance and Pilgrim, Inquisitor, you shall be reassigned to the Sacred Inquisitor and will operate from that vessel ” There was a pause as the Council digested the new assignments, it was interesting Twilight noted, that each of the task forces had exactly four members of the Council, with Noga 'Putumee aboard the Purity of Spirit, Rtas 'Vadumee aboard the Undiminished Entelechy, The Prophet of Stewardship aboard the Truth and Reconciliation and herself aboard Sacred Inquisitor the council would be neatly sectioned.
Twilight also supposed it was amusing to place an Inquisitor on a ship called Sacred Inquisitor.
“When the human ship is spotted each of the task forces will engage from a different vector to destroy it, eliminating the heretic threat to Halo.” One of the shipmasters offered, Thel nodded in assent.
“In the meantime we should explore this system and deploy scouts to discover the secrets the Forerunners have left for us here.” Noga 'Putumee offered, given his lack of authority in space it was not surprising that he was eager to set foot on the Ring.
“Learning the secrets of Halo will be the objective of the Inquisitor and the Prophet” Thel countered “A small force may be deployed for now, various scouting teams and personal attendants to the Inquisitor and Prophet.”
“We should also investigate the system itself” Twilight lit her horn and brought up an image of the system “Halo currently sits in the orbit of this Gas Giant, there is likely a reason for this, we all know that there is no accident in Forunner design, we should also scout the planets and larger celestial bodies of this system.”
“I am in assent with the Inquisitor, while by far the most grand thing we see in this system no doubt there are more wonders waiting to be found in this holy place besides Halo.” The Prophet offered.
Slowly, the Council came to a close, Shipmasters logging off from the holographic conference and the room shrinking until Twilight was alone with Thel once more.
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I like how you gave kig-yar privateers there own ship commands. I really hope your familiar with the expanded lore. Also griffons are really frickin big holy shit.
So in this go around the Equestrians are the law-masters and innovators? The counterpoint to the martial Sangheili? Interesting, and it suggests that Covenant technology may not be quite so moribund as it was in the prime universe. It will be fascinating to see what tricks they have to balance out the rather significant tactical loss of systemic orbital bombardments.
This story is tremendously interesting thus far. Having written my own stories in the genre of Halo/MLP I find such original concepts, like Twilight's position and the inter-Covenant politics, and their integration into canon so refreshing. However, the numerous grammatical errors are a bit jarring. Overall though, I really like the story so far!