Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo The Second Stage ❯ Blast From The Past Part 1 ( Chapter 5 )

VanDread Halo The Second Stage

Disclaimer: I don't own the two series where this story is based on so don't ask...

Chapter 5

Blast From the Past

Part 1

< >: Thoughts

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100,000 years before the rise of human civilization...

Offensive Bias looked over the data contained in it's inventory, the counter part, Mendicant Bias was beginning to unleash eh full might of it's forces as the A.I who formerly served the Forerunners sought to annihilate it's former creators. The new A.I's purpose was to fight with the rogue construct and defeat it before it spelled the doom for all the sentient species in the galaxy, along with those who were the ones that the Forerunners sought to preserve before the Flood consumed them.

As it turned to face the soon to come battle, all of it's Key Ships were brought to bare before the full might of the Flood Fleet under the leadership of the rogue A.I. The Key Ship was the most powerful force in the Forerunner Navy and could easily destroy ships that were not up to it's massive shields, armor, and weaponry. However the Flood Navy under the command of the rogue construct had far more ships than Offensive did in it's fleet, at least 4.8 million. Though most of the fleet in question comprised of not just Key Ships but also other craft once owned by the Forerunners, their numbers as well as the Flood's willingness to use suicide tactics would make this battle extremely difficult.

Originally the plan was to allow the Forerunners the chance to use the defenses of the Maginot Sphere to fight the Flood while the rest of the Forerunners would hide in their Shield Worlds to ride out the battle as soon as the Halo Rings were fired, but that all changed the very second the Gravemind convinced Mendicant Bias to side with them, in that instant, knowing their greatest defender was now their greatest threat, the Forerunners knew that their fate had turned for the worst, for in developing the A.I, they had imbued it with all their knowledge….as well as the locations of the Shield Worlds themselves. That meant that the Flood would know where to find them and crush them all in a series of deadly attacks.

There was no doubt that those of their kin who were on the rogue A.I's fleet had been consumed by the Flood and were lost forever in the clutches of the Gravemind. The defensive Fleet under Offensive Bias' command were at least 1000 combat worthy warships. These were supplemented by the emergency ships marshaled by Didact, the leader of the Forerunner military force, the three Fleets lending support to the coming battle were the Suppression, Security and Emergency Circumstance Fleets, bringing the Fleet total to at least 11,000 ships, still outnumbered by the overall might of the Flood controlled Fleet.

Didact looked at all the information, knowing that this would be the final battle, he had just gotten word that his lover, the Librarian had destroyed her own fleet of Key Ships, preventing them from being used by anyone else, as well as sealing away the portal to the Ark. She was all alone on that simple yet beautiful world, the one where she found a species worthy of being saved. He hoped that her sacrifice was worth it, and the race she risked her life to save would be worthy of carrying on with their task to guard and shepherd the universe. As for him….the time had come to end the Flood scourge once and for all.

He and no doubt all of his brethren in their ships…and their colonies were all going to dies, there was no escape for them now, the Flood had them at a corner and no doubt there was nothing that they could lose anymore. He and every one of his kin knew that as soon as he gave the order….the galaxy would be purged….to begin anew.

Long ago he was horrified at the thought of using the Halo Array and he argued about it's use. But now with this before them, there was no other choice.

He turned to face Offensive Bias and spoke to the Construct.

“Any sign of them?”

“My data indicates that Mendicant will make his move here Forerunner. It would be best that things are prepared.”

“True….farewell Offensive….this will be the last time we will see one another.”

Didact made his way to the teleportation system and moved to the first of the Halo Rings to begin the process of powering up the Halo Ring as Offensive got ready for the fleet of his rampant `brother' to arrive.

It was not long before the battle alarms sounded all throughout the fleet as Slipspace openings began to appear before the large fleet of the Forerunners, from those openings came more ships, their ships, millions of civilian craft and then large numbers of military grade ships, however the Forerunner crews who were part of the Fleet of Offensive knew that the ships before them were not of their group….they were not manned by their brethren, but by the twisted mockeries of their comrades as they were infected by the Flood, there was no turning back now, they might die, but they were not going down without a fight!

As the Fleets faced each other, the two sides waited for two hours, and it was then that Mendicant Bias made his move as a quarter of the Fleet came right at them, they were merely small freighters and pleasure craft, yet numbered at least 1.7 million, they were not firing their weapons, rather, they were going to storm the Fleets by sheer numbers. It was a basic strategy, fill the battle field with so many targets the enemy didn't have enough time to fight so many at once….the battle had begun .

The space before the Fleets was filled with ships as the Forerunners held their line and continued to fight, taking down ship by ship but it was not long before the ships of the Flood began to board into one of the nearby vessels, but the Forerunners were not going to go down without a fight as the ship that was being boarded charged right into the coming horde of ships, crushing several, spilling the number of Flood warriors into the cold void of space. The ship going on, piloted to the very end by it's crew of Forerunners, even if they were slowly being overwhelmed

The two Fleets begin the fight one another and it was not very long before the ruined hulks of ships all over the place, the ruined husks of civilian ships filled the area before the fleet and these were joined by the ruined husks of smaller ships that were of the military class. The place was lit up as explosions were seen as well as energy weapon trails lit space up in a cascade of utter annihilation. Mendicant was lost in it's rage to annihilate the beings who once created it while offensive held it's own, while lacking the free will or creativity of it's brother A.I it was more methodical and logical. There was no doubt that countless Forerunner crew members on the ships commanded by Offensive were either killed, consumed, or driven mad by the raging battle before them.

One could only imagine the sheer horror before them as ships fired their weapons to glowing point, burning ruins of ships of every size filled space, bodies of both Flood and Forerunner floated in the cold vacuum of space. It was a scene of apocalyptic proportions as both fleets continued to smash into one another like ravenous beasts thirsting for flesh and blood.

However, the battles were going into the favor of the Forerunners despite the tremendous losses, for the battles were a feint. For the one who was going to send the death keel to the Flood in this moment was already in position.

Didact watched the battle unfold before him, he looked at the vessels of his comrades the colonies of his people, and even the ships controlled by the Flood now smashing and fighting with Offensive Bias. He thought of all the suffering his people had undergone, the loss of so many loved ones and kin. He then thought of the lives lost fighting this parasite that came to this galaxy to twist it into a mockery of life. He thought of the once pristine worlds reduced into nightmarish hells by the Flood. He thought of the hubris of his own people, treating the Flood like an infection instead of treating it as a threat to life. And finally….he thought of his lover the Librarian, he had read the last message again….her asking him to fire thee array to end this, and allow life to begin anew.

He looked at the images of the beings his lover had sacrificed her freedom, safety and very life to save, the ones of that simple world she was now trapped on. He shed one single tear and spoke his final words for his lost love.

“Librarian….I hope than we will meet again on the Great Journey beyond this life.”

He then turned to the beings, looked them up and saw what they were…

They were the ones known as Humans. The species his lover believed were precious and worth saving. He thought of her words about his belief in the Mantle….maybe she had been right, but it was still something worth believing in. Life was precious, something that the Flood could never understand or comprehend in their undying drive to consume all living things. He felt that while it might have been flawed and led to this moment. It gave his people something to believe in and it gave him the will to face the darkness of the Flood despite the odds stacked before them.

Now he felt that it was time to pass on the Mantle…no…it was time to pass on the need to defend life to those who were able to defend it….to unite those who would inherit the newly cleaned galaxy if ever such a threat as the Flood came back. As he looked at the Humans before him and read the catalogues made by his love, he made a decision on humanity, he decided that they should reclaim the galaxy should the time for their rise came to them.

With that, he typed the last codes into the Forerunner database. With that done, he turned to the panel before and slid in the Index, in that moment, the Halo Array came online. He watched the display as well as the massive sphere of glowing energy appearing before him. He closed his eyes and bid farewell.

In that moment, he heard the signal that all the Halo Rings had fired…and then he died. And with him, the fall of all life to sustain the Flood.

That turned the tide around as Mendicant's fleet, once outnumbering the fleet of it's brother A.I was now outnumbered, Offensive took that moment to counter attack as it knew that now was the time, although half of it's auxiliary fleet had been taken over by the Covenant and was now the spear tip of Mendicant's assault the firing of the Halo Array had killed the beings in them, rendering them as nothing more than pilotless husks of ships. It was then that Offensive activated the self destruct sequences in the ships as well as creating uncontained Slipspace ruptures, the effects tore into the rogue A.I's forces as ships were consumed in fire, torn apart by debris, or by the uncontained Slipspace ruptures.

The battle was now in the favor of Offensive, but unknown to him, one such Key Ship was not entirely destroyed, the damage to the ship was extensive and had sent the wrong signal to the A.I that it was destroyed through the activation of it's self destruct sequence, but in reality it was dragged into a Slipspace portal, and despite the damage, it somehow managed to remain relatively intact, despite the crew being all slain. The Slipspace rupture that it was near to also was accidentally recalibrated into a much different setting and instead of ripping the ship to shreds, brought it into itself.

As soon as it faded away in the chaos of the battle, the ship burned through the atmosphere of a planet and soon landed in a totally new world…, the results were explosive as dust and rock filled the sky and as the land became calm, the ruined Key Ship lay there, a silent tomb for those who were all slain in itself, and testament to the ruinous battle it had just been in. Yet the ship was still intact, housing it itself the knowledge of the Forerunners…waiting for someone to try and claim it.

**************

In the other dimension...

The Spartans IIs were currently training once more with their MJOLNIR Armor in the shooting range, that is wit the exception of John who was currently reviewing some tactical information on the holo-table with Mendez as well as Dr. Catherine, they were currently working on improving the combat records that were acquired by the Nirvana Fire Teams in order to make judgments on the new tactics of the Harvester Shock Troopers. The fact was that since the Master Chief had more experience dealing with the Harvesters than the others he was the one to turn to when they needed information on the enemy they were currently facing.

“They seem to be getting smarter, before they would only move en masse to overwhelm their foes, no tactics whatsoever, but they began to evolve and learn, now they seek cover and can be a lot harder to hit.”

Mendez nodded as he spoke.

“They are learning quickly, that much is obvious, there will come a time they might even act like real soldiers instead of cannon fodder.”

The UNSC scientist then spoke as she looked at the records.

“That might be true, but they seem to have not changed their weaponry, they may have upgraded their weapon systems to be a lot more effective, but they still use the basic models, if we can update the Nirvana crew's equipment, then we have a chance.”

The Master Chief agreed and that brought back a previous encounter with the Harvester Shock Troopers, the Harvesters were caught off guard with the upgrades to the Megele Laser Rifles, as those were easier to field as well as being more precise and powerful. However he kept in mind that while it was easier to deal with the Harvester Shock troopers for the moment, there was no doubt that the recent upgrades they had indicated that the Harvesters were learning how to fight back more effectively meant that they would have to revamp the whole crew's reactions on how to deal with the Harvester Boarding Parties as well as their forces on the ground.

He had placed that recommendation to Captain Magno as well as Commander Buzam, they agreed and began to make some much needed changes.

**************

In the Engineering Bay...

“How goes the work Parfait?”

The bespectacled head engineer turned to see Magno and Buzam there as she was working on a data pad. The head engineer looked the data pad over one more time as she reported to the head officers of the Nirvana.

“We can get to work on this immediately captain, it might take us some more time that normal, but we can improve the Security Teams' protection well enough.”

Buzam nodded at the news.

“They will need it, do what you can Parfait.”

“Yes Commander!”

As the two officers left the Engineering Bay, they thought back on the latest report handed by the Master Chief as well as the reports on the injuries suffered by the crew on the last battles with the Harvester Shock Troopers. While the Nirvana Fire Teams fared better than most in battle due to their training, equipment, as well as experience, the Nirvana's Security Teams needed to rethink their tactics and strategies in order to match up with the Harvester Shock Troopers. The lessons learned by the Nirvana Fire Teams in all of their battles as well as their missions had made them into a very effective fighting force in the minds of the two women. In fact, they would be able to give the Megele Armed forces something to test themselves against as the women of the Nirvana Fire Teams had gained a lot of combat experience and skills than most. The skills handed to them by the Spartan proved invaluable as the women of the Fire Teams were able to think on their feet, act accordingly to shifting battle conditions, lead and command when needed or when the Master Chief was not around to lead them, and more.

The elderly captain recalled how the women of the Fire Teams were before they were trained by the Spartan, and she thought of how they were now. They were currently undergoing their training once more, under the watchful eye of their NCOs

The Security Teams needed to up their abilities as well as their equipment and training, which was why the two had decided that they were going to allow the Nirvana Fire Teams to train the Security Teams on the lessons imparted to them by the Spartan to help minimize casualties among the Security Teams. They also needed to learn how to fight as a good force, as while they were well trained, the Security teams have never been in this kind of situation before, they relied on their previous Megele Laser Rifles as well as their Laser Rings but those were proving to be inadequate in dealing with the Harvester forces when they were able to hit the Nirvana.

That was why they had begun to change the outfits of the Security Teams, while the uniforms worn by the Security Teams were comfortable, effective as well as pleasing to the eye by Megele Standards; they were not meant to be used for such rigorous combat as was now being faced by the crew when dealing with the every growing and changing operational doctrines of the Harvesters. Former members of the Security Teams who were now part of the Fire Teams learned that lesson early one when they started their training with the Spartan. While the clothes were able to clean themselves as well as being tear and heat resistant as well as comfortable, they were nigh useless in the battle fields that they were on and offered little to no protection from weapons fire.

Magno and Buzam decided to remedy that by having Parfait graft high grade body armor into the new Security Team uniforms as well as making the fibers more resistant to damage as well as tearing, the ceramic armor would be denser as well as having a specially made ablative coating to deflect energy and heat damage from the armor plating. They were also going to be outfitted with a new development that Parfait had managed to come up with on her spare time, a small shielding system that replicated the MJOLNIR Shield system's ability to cover the whole body but based on the same shielding system that Parfait had developed for her own Power Armor series, the shields were rechargeable and were not prone to burning out, but they were going to have to be replaceable to make sure that the shields were not stressed, the shields could be locked into place and could be easily removed as they were running on a very effective power cell system.

The two women also decided to ask one of the Spartans or Chief Mendez to recondition the Security Teams in order to handle the full physical requirements in order to match up to the standards needed to defend the ship more effectively, as they had learned that Franklin Mendez was the one who taught all the Spartans in their younger days, he was the perfect choice to retrain the security teams to be tougher as well as better conditioned to even the odds a bit more should the Fire Teams and the Talvernian allies be in a mission on the ground, or if he was too busy, they could ask the other Spartan IIs.

To that end, the two hope that the plans would ensure that their Security teams would be able to match up with the Fire Teams themselves in ability as well as physical skills. They were not planning to remove the Security teams but to make them better in a way that would provide the women with a much needed edge in combat with the Harvesters, it would be difficult, but there was no other way around it. They also planned to allow the Security Team members to be equipped with some of the weapons already in use by the Fire Teams such as the UNSC weapons as well as the Covenant based weapons. This would give the needed arsenals to match up with the enemy.

Parfait had also come up with a new concept that could soon be put into use, she had taken inspiration from the SPI Mark II Armor used by the Spartan IIIs as well as an old concept she had discovered in the Nirvana's old data banks. Originally the old Earth scientists had come up with the concept of artificial muscles known as carbon-nanotubes, these were specially made materials that when hit by a current can actually increase their tensile strength, elongation and contraction qualities as well as their durability made them very effective substitutes for the Reactive Liquid Metal Crystals used by the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, the SPI Mark II were not equipped with it but they were easier to make since they were less expensive so as she studied them, Parfait used this concept she found to help the Security Teams with having the ability to carry heavier equipment as well as extra weapons and ammunition., the carbon nanotubes would not be able to match the raw power of the Spartan IIs who were already formidable even without their MJOLNIR, but they were cheaper and easier to make, namely due to the advances of Megele manufacturing technology.

As the two women left the area, Buzam turned to speak to the elderly Captain who she had followed for years.

“We've still have time to make it back to Tarak and Megele, but I have no doubt we're going to have to be on our guard, the Harvesters will what they possibly can to deal with us.”

“You are right BC, we've been a real problem to them now, they can't ignore us forever and I have no doubt that they will do whatever it is they can to deal with us, but as long as we're doing our duty to humanity, I am not going to bow down.”

“Neither am I Captain, but we do face a problem.”

Magno nodded, she already had a very clear idea as to what Buzam was referring to.

“The First Generation on Tarak and Megele are our biggest concerns, we need to find some way to convince them that the best chance humanity has to survive this coming assault from the Harvesters is to fight together, that in itself will not be easy. I wish we could have some people to speak to them of this chance. The men of Tarak will be quite a problem in their own right, since most of them are extremely stubborn. I doubt they would listen to women even if we are pirates.”

“We do have Tarak men on the ship Captain, surely they could help us in this matter?”

“Maybe, but we don't know if the leaders of Tarak have decided to create some sort of propaganda run to hide the truth from the rest of the people on their world, not to mention that they would not believe them easily, Hibiki is a Third Class citizen and from what I gather, they are treated as menial laborers and workers, so I doubt that Hibiki could be able to gather much support on Tarak.”

“What about Bart?”

“Bart may have a chance since his family has some considerable status in the planet, but I doubt that he will be able to do enough. His family are the ones who deal with the manufacturing of food pills, they don't have the necessary political clout to help in convincing them completely.”

“What of Duero himself? He is an elite after all.”

“True, but even then, there are only three of them Buzam, we need more than just them, besides, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be people on Tarak who would do anything to keep their people to be fighting us women. We need more men from Tarak to help us convince the rest of the men to stand down and try to come to a truce with women…and that is where things can get dicey.”

Buzam had a very good idea just what Magno was saying, it was going to be hard for them to be able to convince the women of their home world that working with the men would be a lot more preferable than fighting the Harvesters all on their own, the two senior officers had accepted that working together was far better in beating the Harvesters and their forces than trying to beat them alone. It would not be easy since the women of their world viewed men as inferior and ignorant brutes as well, there was no doubt in their minds that it would prove to be a real challenge for them all. However it was then that Buzam had a thought and this had something to do with the current members of their crew. She knew that the male and female members of the Talvernian contingent were going to have some difficulty when they arrived at Tarak and Megele as they were from a co-gender world and being dragged into two other worlds due to their respective genders would no doubt be something they would dislike. However the greatest concern for her were the members from the other dimension.

She worried what would happen to the female Spartans as well as Catherine and Cortana as well as the male Spartans and Chief Mendez, there was going to be quite the mess to deal with the very second they were in the custody of the two worlds, there was also the danger of the technology that the Nirvana's crew had, the men and women would fight over it all, and no doubt would reverse engineer the technology in order for to use for their own agendas.

Buzam then spoke to Magno about her fears on the fates of their allies including the Spartans, Catherine, Mendez, and Cortana as well. Magno was silent as they walked back to the bridge and she then spoke.

“I will not let anything happen to the Spartans, Dr. Catherine, Cortana, or Mendez, they have helped us in so many difficulties and the thought of them being taken away will be bad news for us all. However, I need to take care of another matter….I want to talk to Dr. Catherine about the Spartan II Program.”

Buzam then asked the elderly captain the question that plagued her the very second she realized just what Magno had in mind.

“Do you really think that she will tell you that captain, the Master Chief might have told us about it months before….but I have a feeling that Dr. Catherine might object to telling her side of the story, and besides, despite how….disturbing it was to learn what the Master Chief and his fellow Spartan IIs had gone through in the program, you cannot deny the results.”

Magno sighed at that.

“I know….but I still wish to know her side of the story either way, for now we need to take care of other matters, that can wait, we still need to be on the lookout for the Harvesters just in case they decide to try and get the drop on us when we least expect it.”

Buzam nodded at that as they arrived at the bridge, the Commander then turned to the elderly Captain as she spoke to her once more.

“Here's hoping that at least we can find some way to turn things around BC.”

**************

They had no idea that they were going to get their wish in a way that was going to rock the boat like mad.

**************

The Bridge…

The Bridge crew were currently running their usual routines on the bridge when the Clarion Spy Drones began to pick up some unknown signals, Ezra and the others began to focus the scanners to figure out what the signals were and as soon as the Buzam and Magno arrived on the bridge, they were able to find out that the there was not one signal, but two though apparently the distance was garbling up the signal rather badly.

“What seems to be going on?”

Belvedere spoke first.

“There seems to be some sort of signal coming before us captain, though it seems to be actually two signals, we're trying to figure out if it's some sort of distress signals from other people or something else entirely.”

Buzam was quickly curious as well and nodded for the bridge crew to do what hey possibly could to figure out the origin of the signals. It took about a few minutes for the crew to decipher the two signals since the two signals were very far from the Nirvana's route, but as the ship continued to move through space it was not long before they were able to separate the signals and to their surprise, one of the distress signals was a Megele signal!!! And to really throw a monkey wrench in the mix as one would say it, the other signal was that of Tarak!!

Buzam looked at Magno in surprise and she did the same to her commander.

“What could a Megele distress signal AND a Tarak distress signal doing all the way out here?!”

“I have no idea….as far as I knew Captain, none of our ships or that of the men have never left our solar system due to the magnetic storms and debris belts that surround it. What do you think? Should we take a look as to what is going on around here?”

Magno thought about it and weighed their options, something was not right about this, however, they needed to know just what was going on. If this was a trap made by the Harvesters to bring them in for an ambush, then it was very well thought out, but as far as they knew from what they were able to scavenge from the data archives of Rabat's ship, there was no mention of any ships from either their world or that of the men being far beyond the magnetic storm and debris belt.

On the other hand, if this was a genuine distress call from both their worlds, then they would be advised to NOT turn it down since there was a chance to get some new allies into fighting this war with the Harvesters and they could help them forge an alliance between both Tarak and Megele. However even this had problems, if both were indeed from people from both Tarak and Megele then there was a chance they were already fighting one another and those were merely survivors. Even if that was true, they couldn't afford to lose this chance.

With that in mind, she turned to Buzam and gave the order.

“Have everyone on combat alert status BC, we're going to check those signals out.”

Buzam nodded and gave the orders, Magno then turned to Cortana who had just arrived and heard the whole thing.

“Cortana, can you send out the Drones to verify the location of the signals?”

“Already on it Captain.”

Cortana went to the holo-tank and quickly slid into it and was now in her AI form and made the call to send out the Clarion Spy Drones as well as dispatching a squadron of Longswords to act as a forward recon squadron to make sure that if this was a Harvester ambush, the Nirvana was not going to run head long into it as well as give the Harvesters the false idea that the Nirvana was on it's way there already.

All over the Nirvana, the rumors of the located Megele and Tarak distress beacons spread and there was talk of what to do when that happened, Bart was already on his way to the bridge to lead the ship in that direction while Duero got ready for the soon to come patient calls if there were injuries to be brought in. his experience with treating female patients would come in handy as well as his still existing understanding on how to heal injured men, however there were some problems with the idea since these were men from his world and they might be hostile towards women.

As for Hibiki he was already in his Vanguard, ready to launch out at a moment's notice, already decked in his Marine Body Armor and his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle there with him for combat use in his Vanguard's cockpit along with extra ammunition along with his M6G Magnum and Combat Knife.

The men of Tarak were not the only ones getting ready for the soon to come encounter, the Nirvana's Dread Squadrons were already scrambling out for battle and were heading into their Dreads and were now in the process of setting up a defensive screen for the Nirvana as well as joining the other squadrons of Longswords that Cortana was already sending out to help with the operation and to add an extra punch to the attack force. The Nirvana Fire Teams were also eager to see if the rumors were true and were already getting dressed in their fatigues as well as their Marine Body Armor as well as getting their weapons for combat. The Security Teams were also getting suited up for what could happen in the coming minutes.

As for the Talvernians, they were getting geared up for the soon to come mission and were already getting their weapons and equipment ready for the call to go down there and beat feet with the rest of the ground teams or support their allies in defending the Nirvana from boarders as they had already done well enough on their own under their officers.

As for the UNSC allies of the Nirvana pirates and the men of Tarak, they were also getting ready for the soon to come mission, the Spartan IIIs got their weapons ready and more than prepared as their work the repairs and maintenance of their SPI Mark 2 Armor was already finished while the Spartan IIs had done their routine run checks on each other's MJOLNIR Mark V Powered Assault Armor. Despite the fact that the MJOLNIR series was the pinnacle of UNSC research into Power Armor, the Spartan IIs took no chances with their gear at all times and would routinely check each other's MJOLNIR for any signs of damage that would compromise it's ability and functions in battle.

The only exception to that was John's MJOLNIR Mark VI as it was already at the pinnacle of power as well as the enhancements given to it by the Paeksis, that made the MJOLNIR Mark VI a lot stronger and better than the previous MJOLNIR Mark VI

**************

In the bridge…

“That's where the signals are coming from?”

Magno and the others looked at the world before them, it seemed to be fairly basic, though it was hardly spectacular, there were sections of land that had trees and there were signs of water there as there were lakes, rivers, and large bodies of sea water, judging by the incoming data from the Clarion Spy Drones.

The Nirvana had taken a more unique course in order to avoid any possibly Harvester ambush forces that might be waiting for the right moment to attack them, they however intended to ambush the Harvesters and turn their plans around. They did so by moving well within the shadows of the planets and floating celestial masses that were near the planet that they had determined the signals had come from, they had broken away from that plan when it was determined that there was no sign of any Harvester forces in the area. They then decided to examine just where the signals were from as well as scan the planet for any sign of the sources of the signals that they had picked up.

Ezra nodded.

“The signals appear to be coming from this planet Captain, we're still trying to locate the sources but they appear to be located some fair distance from one another at the moment.”

“I see….keep scanning, we need to know just how two signal sources from our home world of Megele and that of the men's home world of Tarak is out here of all places.”

It took a while but as soon as John and the others including Mendez, Tom, Lucy, Fred, and Catherine arrived to see what was going on in their mission to find out just what was going on before them, that the Bridge crew were able to locate the source of the signal from their world of Megele. They located the spot and Cortana quickly began to enlarge the images to see just what sort of source it was. The image appeared to be a fairly large frigate type ship that was arrayed in the same fashion of the pirates' own cruiser before the ship formed with the Ikazuchi as well as the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Only this version was a lot larger than the pirate cruiser and apparently better armed and armored though it appeared to have been through one heck of a fire fight.

The ship was currently near the planet and on a stationary orbit over it, so far it appeared to be immobile at the moment.

The color was deep magenta and despite the distance between it and the Nirvana due to the pirates being cautious still even though they were now assured that there was no sign of the Harvester ambush force in the area, the Clarion Spy Drones were able to get them the information that they needed to determine the ship's origins.

Buzam looked on ands replied.

“That's a Megele Navy Battle Cruiser….but such ships are supposed to be used only in rare missions. What could that battle cruiser be doing all the way out here?”

“That's a very good question BC, and that is something we are going to do our best to answer, are there any life signs on the ship?”

Celtic and the others looked on and then Ezra replied.

“Yes there are life signs captain, but it appears that the ship has suffered considerable damage and is not able to move properly, and there seems to be some considerable damage to it's ability to communicate unless it's done in short range communications.”

“I see….do we have an ID tag on the ship in our archives concerning any Megele Navy ship?”

Amarone ran through their pirate database and managed to find a name, though it was a name that surprised her.

“We do Captain….it's the Ruby Rapier.”

Magno gave a slight frown and that was noted easily enough by the others and Cortana who was still in her AI form faced the elderly woman.

“What seems to be the problem Captain?”

“That cruiser is a pirate hunter, we dealt with it before when it came to look for us in our base, the commander of the ship is named Cassandra Royce, she is one persistent woman and we had managed to evade her for quite a while, she's something of a believer in the propaganda that men are the enemy and all that, so she might react badly if she finds herself around men, her crew might feel the same as well.”

Cortana snorted a bit and replied.

“Sounds like a real charming lady…”

Magno grinned a bit but she still frowned at the ship.

“The Ruby Rapier is one of the most advanced ships that the Megele Navy has since making battlecrusiers is not someone one does everyday due to the money and effort going into making that kind of ship. Not to mention is houses some of our world's best military forces for both ground operations as well as for space combat, at least a division's worth from what I recall in our days of gathering information as well as setting up the pirates for the first time…but how the heck did it come to be here and this far from Megele, let alone in this kind of shape?”

Buzam then spoke to Belvedere.

“Is there any sign of Harvester wreckage?”

The blonde bridge crew member shook her head.

“None that the scanners picked up Commander, and the damage on the Ruby Rapier doesn't match the kind of damage from a Harvester attack.”

Buzam thought about that and then recalled that there was a Tarak distress signal in the area to and as much as it sounded odd to most listeners, the silver haired and tanned commander wondered if the Ruby Rapier had an encounter with the men that resulted in the Megele Battleship getting this much damage to itself. She then decided to voice her concern to the rest of the people on the bridge.

“Is there a chance that the Ruby Rapier was attacked by the men of Tarak?'

That got a reaction from the bridge crew as Celtic replied.

“Begging pardon Commander, but there is no way that the men of Tarak could have done this to the Ruby Rapier.”

Belvedere nodded as well with Celtic.

“I agree with Celtic, no offense to the men here….but the idea of them being able to do this to one of our world's own battle-cruisers with their technology is kind of hard to picture.”

Amarone also nodded.

“The Ruby Rapier is one of the best crewed ships of the Megele Navy, not to mention one of the most well armed, supplied, and equipped….there's no way it could have suffered that kind of damage from the men, we attacked their fleet and we gave them a run for their money as well didn't we? And we were not even the military…”

Magno coughed a bit to end the discussion and replied.

“It's true we beat the men of Tarak and their fleet no less than a year ago….but let's not forget that we caught them off guard due to stealth and surprise, not to mention the majority of them were merely recruits and novices. Keep in mind that there are other men on Tarak who are not to be underestimated. Not to mention they might have learned from what we did to them and developed new tactics and technology to counter us.”

“It might seem impossible at first, but there is no doubt that the men are far from stupid, you all know that to be true, after all, we have one such young man serving here on the Nirvana as our Doctor and he's one of the best I've seen, we've got a good navigator with us who is also from Tarak and we have the young man who forms the VanDreads. And of course the others who have helped us make it this far. If there is one thing that I've learned in my younger life and in this trip it is to never underestimate anyone on the basis of gender.”

The meaning of those words was not lost to the rest of the bridge crew and that was when Buzam ordered the bridge crew to scan for the Tarak signal. They needed to know just what sort of ship was it from Tarak that came with the Ruby Rapier and if it was the one that caused such damage to the Ruby Rapier. It was not long before they spotted the ship in question and it was a sight as well.

The ship resembled the very same ship designs used by the men of Tarak, so much so that it resembled the new sections attached to the old Ikazuchi very well. However, there seemed to be some considerable increase in it's overall length and therefore it was very large in scope than the ships that accompanied the Ikazuchi at the time they had launched the attack on the Tarak fleet a year ago. Magno and the others frowned as they didn't recognize the ship design as it clashed with the older ship designs of the men of Tarak, but Mendez looked at the ship with a critical soldier's eye and replied.

“That ship's almost the same as the old Halcyon-Class Cruisers the UNSC had and got out of storage the fight the Covenant, although this is a lot wider than the Halcyon cruisers, and a lot larger too. That must be a capital class ship of some sort.”

John and the others who were from the UNSC nodded, the ship indeed have a resemblance to the UNSC Halcyon-Class Cruisers that were replaced by the Marathon-Class Cruisers in the UNSC Navy. Originally meant to be scrapped and retired from service due to not being able to match the overall firepower and technical advances of new model ships, the Halcyon-Class Cruisers were retrofitted and given better equipment, weaponry, armor and more when the war with the Covenant started.

The ships were unique to the UNSC due to the heavy cross bracings used in their construction and another thing that separated the Halcyon-Class Cruisers was the hexagonal honeycomb designs that they were based on. This design and the cross bracings gave the ship amazing durability and structural integrity. Halcyon-Class Cruisers were able to weather a storm of weapons fire that would have crippled other ships and Halcyon-Class Cruisers were able to maintain their form despite nearly losing all armor and suffering hull breaches in various parts of the ship.

The ship that showed the strength of the design was the Pillar of Autumn as despite the extensive damage the ship had apparently suffered in the battle over the first Halo Ring found by John and Cortana, it was able to land virtually intact on the Ring and remain so until he and Cortana blew it up to prevent Guilty Spark from firing the Ring and causing the death of all life to contain the Flood. John also knew that a number of the ships were also present in the Orbital Defense Force over Earth and played a key role in holding off the Covenant forces.

The crew were finally able to get the name of the ship and Belvedere spoke out the name.

“That ship`s name is the Titan's Wrath….but there is no mention of such a ship in the data archives of the Ikazuchi.”

That made the others wonder just what was going on, until Bart came in and looked utterly awed by the sight of the ship.

“That's…by Grand Pa…that's really the Titan's Wrath?! I thought that whole story was just a joke!! Some sort of bed time story or propaganda trick…but it's real….the Titan's Wrath is really real…”

Magno then spoke to Bart.

“What's wrong Bart? Do you recognize the ship?”

Bart nodded but he was still awed by what he was looking at.

“I've never seen the ship Captain….but I've heard of it. It was my grandfather who told me about this story when I was still a kid…he said to me that the Titan's Wrath was supposed to be the result of some sort of black ops ship construction program that the First Generation cooked up years before. That ship was supposed to actually be the first ship of it's kind and had been based from a good deal of gathered data from the Ikazuchi's data archives before the First Generation took that section of the ship. The data talked about a battle-cruiser with amazing fire power, armor, and more and could carry an entire division of soldiers complete with ground forces and enough supplies to allow a full scale campaign to be undertaken, it could serve as a battle cruiser and staging platform for ground assaults on entire planets. The First Generation was supposed to have taken great interest in the ship and planned to build it. It was supposed to be the first ship that the Tarak Navy would have and the most powerful of all ships.”

“But then the program stopped and was discontinued….or at least most of us thought. There were some wild stories that the program was actually hidden away and would be kept as a backup, just in case that the attack on…well, the attack on Megele failed or something like that. Anyway, the program was supposedly forgotten though there were rumors that said that the discontinued program produced a super battle cruiser….and that is the Titan's Wrath.”

It was then Duero came in via the communications network and nodded as well.

“I've heard rumors of the Titan's Wrath as well, and even I thought that it was a rumor, even though I and Bart are considered First Class Citizens as well as our comrades, we were never told to deny the rumors, at first I thought that it was indeed nothing more than rumor, even when there were whisperings back in the Academy that a considerable number of previous graduates from Tarak's various Academies all over our world as well as exceptional science minded people and engineers, technicians, and more were being sent to some secret location near the planet, I discounted it….but now…it seems that not everything that the top brass said was a lie after all.”

Magno couldn't help but feel some unease about this revelation as she looked at the Titan's Wrath. To think that the men of Tarak actually had a ship that could be able to stand up to and cause considerable damage to one of the Megele Navy's best battle-cruisers. It was something that made her wonder just how the men had kept this ship a secret from their intelligence sources, not to mention that if the men had such a classified program to create that machine for war, what would have happened if that ship was alongside the Ikazuchi when they tried to attack no less than a year ago.

However it still raised a good number of questions in her mind as to why it was only now that this ship was released? If this Titan's Wrath was supposed to be a special project ship and was kept completely away from even the First Class Citizenry, why was it only now that it was unveiled?

“What sort of weapons is it supposed to have anyway?”

Duero and Bart shook their heads and Bart replied.

“We don't know….but considering that it's a black ops ship Captain, and the people who took part of it's construction, then it must have a large number weapon systems and equipment that is considered to be very much S-Ranked fire-power.”

“S-Ranked?”

Duero took over at the explanations.

“On Tarak we usually have a ranking system for all major weapon systems, from E-Rank which is very basic and anyone can use with relatively basic knowledge to S-Ranked which is highly classified and dangerous weaponry to be handled only by the best trained and experienced crews. The Titan's Wrath was rumored to have been the site where some very exotic weapons tests were conducted for ship borne weapons, that's all we know Captain.”

Buzam thought it over and replied.

“That would make the Titan's Wrath the unofficial flagship of the Tarak Navy, but why would they unleash it now, if this was indeed the first ship of it's kind, why risk exposing it?”

Fred was the one who spoke out.

“Your attack on the Ikazuchi would be the reason….you attacked and embarrassed the men no doubt….and now they are REALLY angry about it. Angry enough to bring that ship out from the shadows, Bart, just when did this ship building program supposedly disappear?”

Bart thought about it and replied.

“At least 50 years ago from what I recall.”

Fred nodded and Catherine replied.

“That's plenty of time to construct other ships and develop new technologies, they might have dispatched specialized mining teams to gather asteroids and strip mine them for the resources to help aid in the construction of the ships without taking too many supplies from the official production lines, that way everyone else thought that the Ikazuchi and it's escort fleet were the only note-worthy fleet that the men have….keeping the Titan's Wrath and any other ships like it well away from prying eyes and open ears.”

Mendez nodded at that and then Cortana did a scan on the ship in question to get a much better look. The ship appeared to have suffered considerable damage as well, but remained virtually intact and could no doubt still take on the Megele ship despite the damage it had sustained. The former UNSC AI had to give the men credit for keeping such a ship a secret from the women and this Titan's Wrath looked to be a serious fighter if it was able to cause this much damage.

“I can't really say just what sort of armor they have on that thing, but it's rather sturdy indeed to take that much abuse and still remain intact. They must have copied the data from the Ikazuchi and then purged the original data from the archives to keep the program a secret….rather clever actually.”

Magno sighed, it seemed that this was not going to be an easy day for everyone as she had suspected the very second they picked up the signals.

“To think I'd get to see this at my age. Are the ships doing anything yet?”

Cortana looked over the data and so did the other members of the bridge crew and shook their heads with Ezra speaking.

“They seem to be on some sort of standby mode, probably waiting for the other to make the first move, they don't seem to know that we're around at the moment since we're well out of weapon and sensor range.”

Buzam then spoke to Cortana.

“Are there any signs of Dread squadrons around the Ruby Rapier at the moment? And is there sign of Vanguard squadrons around the Titan's Wrath?”

Cortana did the scan and replied.

There are numbers of Dreads around the Ruby Rapier, though from what I can determine they appear to be defensive formation at the moment, no doubt shielding their main command ship from possible attack, there are signs of engineers working on the ship already.”

“What about the Titan's Wrath?”

“There are a larger number of Vanguards all around it, but from what I am able to determine, the Vanguards appear to be different from the former Vanguards that you ladies first dealt with.”

Buzam was confused by that and so were the others and Cortana decided to elaborate a bit more as more information made it's way to her.

“The Vanguards that come from the Titan's Wrath appear to be larger and better armored from what I can scan and appear to be carrying a number of weapon systems that appear to be somewhat similar to the weapons we placed ourselves on the Vanguards but these appear to be a lot different as well, most of the weapon systems are fairly standard along with a number of close combat weapons, the same way our own force of Vanguards have. These Vanguards however are not the same, judging by the way these were designed….I'd say that these are the more powerful versions than the Vanguards you ladies fought with before. I don't have any other details but from what I can estimate with the already existing data that I was able to gather, those new Vanguards appear to replicate the ones we have AFTER we gave them the upgrades that they needed though those features appear to be built into the Vanguards instead of being added.”

“What's you're opinion Cortana?”

“Well, despite not getting the chance to look into one of those new Vanguards, I'd say that these new versions are not to be underestimated for any reason,, my guess is that those new Vanguards might have been secretly developed or had been created after the whole Ikazuchi incident so that would explain why these models appear to be better armed and armored. They might not be doing anything yet but be on the defensive while another half of them appear to be working in fixing the damage done to the Titan's Wrath.”

Magno weighed their options, there before them was a pair of two powerful ships and both ships as well as their crews could be potential allies in the war with the Harvesters. However they would have to tread carefully here, one wrong misstep could lead to a disaster and while their ship would be able to defend itself well enough, they couldn't afford to open fire on either ship as both were too valuable to attack, but also too dangerous to ignore. Both ships might be damaged, but the elderly woman was not going to take any risks at the moment.

Belvedere however detected something else on the surface of that world that both the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath and while she was not able to determine for sure what it was, there was one thing that she knew for a certainty…

It was huge…

“Captain….I'm picking up a reading of something very large down there on the planet's surface, whatever it is, it's huge.”

That got the attention of the others for the moment and Magno wondered just what else could be going on before them at this moment, and decided for them to determine what it was first, Buzam moved over to Belvedere and spoke to the blonde bridge crew member.

“What exactly is it Belvedere?”

“I'm not sure….but I was doing a routine scan of the planet with some of the sensors that were not trained on both the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath, and then I picked up some sort of energy signature, I checked it out and found this massive form in the area.”

Buzam turned to Magno and the elderly woman spoke.

“We'll deal with that later BC, right now we still have to deal with both the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath. As soon as we deal with….”

Belvedere cried out a bit more as she finally got an image of the energy source….it was a ship….

But totally unlike ANY ship they had ever seen before in their lives, as the blonde bridge operator brought the image on screen, the rest of the bridge crew saw what she had seen.

The ship was MASSIVE, it could easily dwarf both the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath easily, though covered by massive growth due to the ship being in a location that resembled a swamp area of sorts

Cortana gasped as she recognized it, in her time in the city of High Charity, before she was left behind by John when he went after the Prophet of Truth, and when she had dueled with the Gravemind, she had been able to speak to Mendicant Bias, or at least a portion of the once advanced Forerunner A.I and managed to gain a great deal of insight into the Forerunners and therefore recognized the ship and she knew that she was not going to be the only one who would recognize the wreckage of the ship that was before them .

John recognized the ship well enough and he recalled the battles he had been in when he was onboard the ship when he was teleported there by the Gravemind after the leader of the Flood had taken full command over the teleportation grid system of the Delta Halo Ring to stop the ring from being fired by the Covenant Loyalists during the schism in the ranks of the Covenant that led to the Sangheili joining the UNSC and founding the Covenant Separatists. While he was no expert on what that ship was in full detail, he was well aware of the power the ship possessed as well as the danger it presented.

Catherine, due to her time in the Onyx Shield World had been able to recognize the ship and so did the rest of the group that had been on Onyx as well, though Catherine was the one with the higher level of knowledge and understanding of what sort of ship it was before them due to her time with the Forerunner AI Joyous Rebirth in learning more the Forerunners.

Magno gaped at the sight of the ship, it resembled a lathe tripod of sorts and was truly massive, despite the undergrowth that covered it. She had never seen anything like it before in all her life. Whoever made that ship in her mind must have plenty of resources and power to have been able to make such a massive ship. But in her mind, there was NO way this behemoth of a ship could belong to any human civilization, there was something….undeniably alien about that ship as it stayed there on it's side.

Buzam herself was shocked by this sight and spoke out…

“What is that thing?!”

Cortana replied as even she was awed by the sight before her.

“That is a Key-ship…a Forerunner Dreadnaught…but I though that the one used by Truth to go to the Ark was the last of it's kind….”

Magno managed to get her wits back and spoke seriously to Cortana.

“What do you mean Cortana? What is that thing?”

Catherine spoke seriously.

“That's a Forerunner Dreadnaught Captain Magno and is considered to be one of the most powerful Forerunner warships in existence. I learned about this kind of ship back on Onyx, it possesses armor that could withstand enough damage to literally place any other ship into oblivion and enough high energy weaponry to dwarf even the most numerous fleet to shame. From what I understand of it, the Forerunner made extensive use of energy based weapon systems, and I'm not talking about lasers either, but pure plasma weapons as well as various grenade weapons and Pulse Beams, more powerful and deadly than any laser and can easily shred through living bodies like they were tissue paper, they also used highly advanced shields that could withstand ridiculous amounts of damage. There's no doubt in my mind that the Forerunner Dreadnaught before us would easily wipe out the full might of either Tarak or Megele in minutes.”

Buzam gaped at the implications of this and spoke.

“Surely you can't be serious Dr. Catherine…”

Catherine looked serious and replied.

“I am serious, while we were there in the Shield World, I had Joyous Rebirth copy me a data archive concerning the Dreadnaught.”

The UNSC scientist took out a data chip and walked over to Cortana and spoke to her…'daughter' gently.

“Go ahead and play it Cortana.”

“I understand.”

As soon as the data concerning the Forerunner Dreadnaught came to view, Dr. Catherine began to explain what else she knew of the ship before them all.

“From what I learned, that ship could carry a crew of thousands and enough supplies to feed a solar system worth of beings for a decade or more, and that is just a fraction of it's full carrying capacity. It's supposed to weigh at least 37, 654 tons in all and be at least 14 kilometers across, dwarfing any ship in either UNSC Navy or that of the Covenant Navy. It has a power output that could power an entire planet's cities for untold years and that's only at a fraction of it's normal power output. It has a large number of engine rooms, no doubt nearly a hundred or more and thousands of other rooms as well.”

John nodded as he spoke.

“I saw a Key-ship as well Captain, during the war, the Covenant Loyalists and their forces used it and their forces to go to the Ark, the Fleet back on Earth unleashed everything they had on a ship like that one before us, they unleashed hundreds of missiles and a salvo of four MAC rounds…and it didn't even come close to stopping it at all, let alone damage it.”

Catherine then spoke about something that she had to admit angered her somewhat.

“And what is more interesting….is that the Forerunners made very extensive use of Powered Assault Armor which they called Combat Skin. They have a ranking for it as well, from Class 1 to Class 18 with Class one being a basic system to the Class 18 being the pinnacle of all around combat protection, function, and survival, being considered as near invincible. So much so….that it makes even the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor that I developed look weak.”

Catherine didn't have a happy look and it was due to the MJOLNIR series being something of a great achievement of hers and to have it being registered as ineffective grated on her nerve.

As for John and Fred, the two of them had to admit that if there was something more powerful than the MJOLNIR, they would be more than happy to try it out. For now however, the de facto leader of the Spartans preferred to use the suit that he now had at the moment, while the highest ranking Spartan officer placed those thoughts as side due to the sensitive situation that they had found themselves in.

The implications of this information was not lost to the rest of the crew of the Nirvana, to actually know that there before them was an alien ship that could easily possess more than enough firepower and technology to make the forces on their home system look like toys was very unsettling, but what the Master Chief was going to say next was really going to be a dead rigner.

“Captain….I must insist that we do not allow anyone to get their hands on that ship and whatever salvageable technology and data is still on it.”

Magno looked at the Master and asked a simple question.

“Why?”

The Spartan already had thought everything through ever since they discovered the massive vessel and what could be the results if anyone got their hands on it.

“If either your people on Megele or Tarak get their hands on even a fraction of the technology and data there, they could use it to wipe each other out and that would have been for nothing. Or if another civilization were to get it, then who knows that they could so with it. We can't be sure that all the human colonies and their people in the galaxy at this moment are aware of the Harvesters even if we have already dealt with Rabat or what their agendas are at the end of the war with the Harvesters, what if they use the data for their own ends? Or worse….the Harvesters get their hands on it…if they do, they could have access to information, schematics, design plans that would push their technological edge to the limits, they could develop weapons and units that would be difficult to stop…”

“Or worse….they could get their hands on the ship itself and reactivate it….that would give them a weapon that would wipe entire battle fleets, and with what they already have, they would be unstoppable.”

That made Magno and the others realize just what they had to deal with before them, here was a truly alien warship that had more than enough power to dwarf the combined might of the Megele Navy or any other Navy existing in their dimension, and it would also contain a huge amount of technology and data. The possibilities that would occur if the ship was claimed were limitless in scope….and so was the danger.

If the people on either Megele or Tarak got their hands on the ship and what was inside of it, then they would use it for their war, but they would bring it to the scale of total annihilation, something that they could not afford since the Harvesters were coming, and the Master Chief was right in saying that other human civilizations may have other agendas that could work against fighting the Harvesters.

And the mere thought of the Harvesters getting their hands on such a juggernaut of a vessel and the data inside of the ship was truly terrifying. It had taken a GREAT deal of luck, planning, and sheer desperation for them to defeat one Harvester Battle Ship, and there were no doubt more of the vessels that the Harvesters had at their disposal, as well as their ever updating forces and their ground forces, if they got their hands on the data and the ship itself….then nothing could stop them from harvesting the organs of every human colony.

Magno looked at the information and thought of the implications of it all and spoke solemnly to the Master Chief.

“What do you have in mind?”

“We need to get into the ship and locate the main command console, get the ship back online and then purge the data archives completely, delete everything that could be used by the Harvesters or anyone else for that matter.”

Catherine then replied.

“We should preserve that information John, we're talking about a massive amount of information here and if we preserve it, it could help protect humanity, give them a fighting chance when the time comes.”

“Ma'am…are you sure about that?”

“Yes I am, I know I'm asking a lot, but the information the Forerunners left behind is too valuable to be destroyed and in the right hands, could do some great good in the universe, and it will keep it away from those who will use it for their own goals or for genocide.”

John considered it and nodded.

“All right, we'll copy as much data as we can manage to take with us, and if we have the chance take the technology there that we can carry in the Nirvana to keep it out of enemy hands, but since we can't stay here with the Harvester Armada making their moves on the colonies, then we should destroy the ship completely, leave no trace of it for anyone to find or anything worth salvaging, there must be no debris left of that key-ship.”

Buzam then spoke.

“You want to destroy the ship?! Master Chief, if what you and Dr. Catherine said is true, then even if we do use all our combined arsenals here on the Nirvana, then we'd still barely make a dent in that ship, we don't have that kind of fire power.”

Cortana nodded.

“The Commander's right John….there's no way that we can destroy that Key ship even if we use every weapon in our arsenal. Besides, if we do manage to somehow destroy that behemoth of a ship, there's no telling just how big of a bang we could be causing. And if we need to destroy every inch of it, then we're going to need some REALLY serious ordnance.”

John nodded and replied.

“We already have it…or at least, the plans.”

“What do you…no, John, you CAN'T be serious about that are you?!”

“I am.”

Magno and Buzam wondered what Cortana was saying and it was Amarone spoke out the question.

“What sort of weapon are you talking about?”

The Master Chief replied.

“Have you ever heard of a bomb powerful enough to literally split a planet in half?”

Magno and Buzam looked at the Master Chief and wondered just what was the Master Chief driving at and it was Dr. Catherine, seeing that this was by far the only viable option they had at the moment in denying the Harvesters or anyone else, who explained the basics, though she kept in mind that what she was going to tell the others from Megele and Tarak was considered a UNSC secret so she decided to rely only on the basics.

“The weapon that John is talking about is known to the UNSC as the NOVA Bomb and is considered the most powerful weapon the UNSC arsenal, it basically is a cluster of 9 nuclear fusion warhead cores sealed in a special material casing. Basically, when the NOVA is detonated, the casing contains all the released explosive energy and focuses it in itself, making the explosive energy a hundred times more powerful than before. This blast is powerful enough to destroy fleets and celestial bodies.”

That was when Kelly spoke as soon as she walked into the bridge in her normal tone with a considerable amount of wit with her to spark things up.

“The NOVA Bomb's also known by another name, and this is Planet Killer, I can't believe we're actually going to use one of those, you really sure that will be enough Squad Leader?”

John actually had no idea, but the NOVA was the only weapon he knew of that packed such destructive force, if that was the kind of fire power needed to prevent the Forerunner technology and that Dreadnaught out of enemy hands, then so be it, that ship cannot remain intact.

“We have no choice, we can't bomb it from orbit and we can't stay here long either just in case the Harvesters launch an attack on the rest of the human colonies while we're here. Besides, the ship might be run by an Ai, but there's no telling that other dangers might be found on that ship and what could happen.”

Kelly then spoke to the Master Chief who was her closest friend and commanding officer.

“Can we take the ship with us? If it's on our side then we can have a serious advantage over the Harvesters.”

John thought about that, if the ship was on their side, then they would have a tremendous advantage over all the opposition before them, however, he knew from experience that the Key Ship was a massive vessel and no doubt would be a valued asset, but the fact was that there was no way they could take the ship with them and maintain operations with it, they would need a crew of nearly thousands and there were too few of them to teach the others how to read Forerunner symbols along with the language, then there was the fact that the technology and data on this ship would be too valuable to be left alone in it and would make too tempting a target for the Harvesters or other groups with dark agendas to pass up. Not to mention the ship might have the chance of being infested with the Flood.

It was a remote possibility, but one the Master Chief was not going to take chances with, he mentally shuddered at the thought of the Flood making their way into this dimension and causing all sorts of havoc.

“I don't think so Kelly, we don't have the crew to man that thing, and we're not sure what shape the Key Ship might be in…and there is a chance that there could be Flood Infections onboard that ship, we cannot let it remain there so we have to destroy it at some point. That is too valuable a resource, but also too dangerous to leave behind.”

Cortana thought about it and Catherine did so as well, they understood the situation and decided that John did have a point, valuable as a weapon the Forerunner Dreadnaught may be, it was too risky to take with them if things went wrong and if the ship was in such bad shape then there's no telling what might happen.

Buzam looked at the Spartans as well as Mendez, Cortana, and Catherine with considerable surprise. When the shock began to wear off, she decided to ask the next question that she knew was going to no doubt throw her and everyone else listening into the conversation into a loop that no doubt would take a while for them to recover from.

“Just how big a yield does this NOVA Bomb have?”

Cortana replied.

“The standard NOVA bomb has a full yield of at least 36 Gigatons, and in old earth terms, that's equal to having 36 billion tons of TNT going off at once.”

THAT got a reaction from Buzam and Magno as the elderly woman looked at them and then spoke.

“36 Gigatons?! And just HOW big is this NOVA Bomb?”

Catherine then replied.

“It's about the size of a large disc with nice clusters around it that house the fusion warheads. One or two men can carry it and arm it to detonate with a timer or with a trap system. I know that it sounds impossible and even I have to admit that using a NOVA sounds like….overkill, but the Forerunners built those ships to take tremendous amounts of abuse and there's no telling how much time and firepower we might waste if we tried using conventional methods to destroy the ship once we copy the data from the archives, then purge it's archive and take what we can. Personally I'm not even sure that one NOVA can be enough until we can get an idea of just how much damage the Key-Ship already has.”

Mendez understood John's logic and supported the move, the Spartan I who had trained the Spartan IIs and the Spartan IIIs then spoke seriously.

“Then we'll put more than one NOVA in there, Spartan-117 is right, we can't leave that ship intact for whatever reason, we have to destroy it utterly.”

That was when Celtic spoke.

“I know now is not the time….but shouldn't we deal with the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath first?”

Buzam looked at the screen towards the two ships, the vessels from both Tarak and Megele had not noticed them yet and had not made any moves on them or on each other at the moment, apparently the crews on the ships were still busy repairing and focusing on one another that they ignored the Nirvana as well as the behemoth ship that was right below them. The silver haired commander knew however that it was only a matter of time before both vessels got into a fight once more and that was going to make things a heck of a lot worse than they really needed to be.

With that in mind, she spoke to the others.

“Celtic's right, we still need to put a stop to both the Titan's Wrath and the Ruby Rapier, they might be able to help us, plus we could use their support if we are to go back to Tarak and Megele, it's risky, but we should intervene before they get enough momentum to destroy one another.”

Magno nodded at that and decided to get things underway, hopefully they were going to make the right move, as soon as they prevented a massacre here between the people of both their world and that of the men, then that would be much better for all involved.

“All right, the time for hiding is over…Bart, Cortana, arm up your weapons and ready for anything.”

Both nodded and got ready as Magno got in touch with Meia and Hibiki and as the Nirvana comes out of hiding to reveal itself, they know that the time has come to reveal themselves to both the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath, it was a desperate move, but hopefully they would be able to make both stand down and get ready, as there was no telling what could happen.

Magno and the others knew that sooner or later, there would be trouble as there was no doubt that the Harvesters would soon show up and they could only hope that they had enough time to get ready for them. Not to mention that the elderly woman had hope that even though this was not going to be easy, this could very well not just net them allies, but to also help heal the gap between men and women from their home system.

They all needed to stand united against the Harvesters, or else they would be wiped out one by one.

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Some distance away…

Several robotic eyes looked at the situation before them at the moment, the eyes were watching both the Ruby Rapier and the Titan's Wrath, observing the two ships to determine just when was the right time to strike as prime organs were up for grabs.

But then, they spotted two even bigger prizes, a massive ship trapped on the surface and a certain vessel that had been a thorn on their masters' side…

The Nirvana…

The eyes moved away from the shadows of a nearby floating asteroid that was filled with holes and the eyes belonged to a band of Cube Fighters. It seemed that the Harvesters were going to be there soon enough…

And they were ready to unleash the troopers they had created to slay the Spartans…and also to take their bodies for examination.

It seemed that this war was going to get even more hectic than before.

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To be continued…

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Author's Notes:

This is done, not too bad for an opening chapter, even if this one happens to be rather short, but I have to cut down on having too much text in my work anyhow.

Well now….it seems that the men of Tarak have MORE than just Vanguards in their arsenal, I would like to offer my personal thanks to one of my readers Hang Tuah for contributing the ideas that gave rise to the Titan's Wrath as well as the soon to be revealed expanded arsenals of not just the men of Tarak but also the women of Megele so the credit will go to Hang for the contributions made to the still growing story of VanDread Halo The Second Stage. There will be some needed modifications to the contributions to fit with my own plans but so far they appear to be able to work out well enough.

I also would like to thank Laser Crusader for the still growing patronage done to my works and also for the contributions that were given to me for the still expanding story of VanDread Halo The Second Stage. The contributions will soon be shown in the coming storylines and will be woven deeply into the soon to come ending of VanDread Halo The Second Stage.

Now as this chapter is finished, you can bet that things have gotten really heated now that the conflict is growing bigger.

Tarak and Megele will also reveal a greater deal of their military arsenals in VanDread Halo The Second Stage and it will be considered as well expanded material, and just like the expanded arsenal of the Harvesters, both Megele and Tarak will have some very unique forces that will only be found here in the story and not in either manga or the original anime.

And to really throw in the monkey wrench, the next chapters will have the Harvesters unleash their newest terrors, all made to deal with the Spartans in particular.

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For those of you who are familiar with Halo Lore, then the NOVA Bomb should be familiar to you all so I don't need to explain all the details and schematics on this UNSC Weapon of Mass Destruction. But for those who are not familiar with it, I'll provide the details.

The NOVA Bomb was the creation of Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and is actually nine fusion warheads that are encased in a lithium triteride shell. As soon as the NOVA Bomb is detonated, the lithium shell contains the blast well inside itself. By doing so, the contained release of energy grows to at least 100 times than normally possible had the nuclear warheads been detonated separately and in a normal fashion. The weapon was originally designed as trap that Covenant would be curious enough to take with them for study to their supposed home planet, something that the Vice Admiral wanted to happen, though if that didn't work, it would ensure that the Covenant would suffer massive losses before they could get to attack Earth.

The sheer power of this weapon which is considered to be the UNSC's only Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMD has named it the `Planet Killer' but due to the slowly depleting stock of weapons grade nuclear material in the UNSC-Covenant War, the order to deploy a NOVA Bomb into battle was considered to be a sign of great desperation and is considered to be serious matter for such a destructive weapon to be called into battle.

Apart from being used in the novel Halo: First Strike, the next mention of the NOVA Bomb being used was in the Battle over the second discovered Halo Ring and the quarantine of the now Flood Infested High Charity as Cortana contacted UNSC High Command to deploy a NOVA to eliminate High Charity, however that request was either denied due to the dwindling nuclear supplies they had at the moment as well as the need to defend the Inner Colonies that remained safe, or was accepted but due to High Charity entering Slipspace before the NOVA could be brought to bear though this is impossible due to the ease of spotting a nuclear weapon when coming out of transit from Slipspace.

Now I'm no nuclear weapons expert, but essentially one nuclear fusion warhead that is used in the NOVA Bomb (at least by my own estimates and perceptions of the kind of nuclear warhead used in the NOVA Bomb) is a 40 megaton nuclear warhead.

50 megatons is equal to 40 million tons of TNT, now that is a LOT explosive force, now since the NOVA Bomb has 9 fusion warheads encased in the specially made lithium triteride shell that form the bomb then it would translate to this setup.

.9 X 40 Megatons X 100 = 36 Gigatons

45 Gigatons is equal to at least 36 billion tons of TNT…if that doesn't blow up the Forerunner Dreadnaught, then I don't know what will.

But this should be fun!!!

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Here's something for you all to enjoy, it's short but interesting…

The Megele soldiers accompanying the Spartan IIs and Spartan IIIs as well as the Tarak soldiers could only gasp as they saw the massive frame of the Forerunner Dreadnaught, they though that their worlds ships were far better than the other….but this monstrous ship was something else.

“By Grand Pa….that is one BIG Ship!”

“By Grand Ma….it's HUGE.”

Ash groaned and turned his head to face the two forces and spoke.

“Hey! Quit your yapping and get to work, we don't have the time to look like a bunch of idiots!”

The women growled and so did the men and it seemed that a fight was going to happen but then John shouted.

“ENOUGH!!”

As soon as things calmed down as the de facto leader of the Spartan IIs glared at the group, the Master Chief gave several signals to Kelly and Linda, both nodded and moved in and so did Fred as John turned to the others and spoke.

“Need I remind you that in least then four hours, a Harvester assault fleet is going to come in and wipe us out, and if they do and get their hands on this ship and everything inside it…then it's all over for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, do I make myself clear?”

The Spartan IIIs nodded and so did the two groups and the Master Chief nodded as he spoke to his COM Link.

“This is Spartan Blue team to Horsemen-071, we need the NOVAs here ASAP.”

“On it Chief!”

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See you on the next chapter!