Twenty-One: Sparks on the Horizon

"The Adonte are reporting that they've lost another exploratory fleet near the core."

"And what, exactly, are we supposed to do about that? The galactic center's dangerous. Even the Forerunners didn't want to get too close."

"It wasn't natural processes that destroyed it. They didn't even reach the outer bands."

John gave the current Primas Uperbia, As'seli, a side-eye. She had called him to Cortasetii for a meeting, and they were currently walking slowly through the Capital Gardens. "Enemy action, then? But from who? I know there's unrest right now because the Chancellor's a weak-willed and corrupt dick, but I hadn't thought it had descended into actual fighting."

"It wasn't one of us. Something from outside…" Her eyes went distant, trying to See. "For the past several nights, I have dreamed that I was home, but the walls were weak and wooden, rotting and filled with maggots. I heard winds and birds beating at the windows and doors and the corners of the house, trying to bring it down. And then I awoke."

"You think it's a prophecy?"

"Well, my people aren't exactly unknown for our foresight. Most of it I can understand - the Ecumene is corrupt now, rotting; it will not withstand this unrest, not without drastic measures. But birds? None of the dissenting parties uses birds as a motif."

"The external attacks, perhaps?"

"Possibly." She frowned deeply. "But even my most powerful advisors can see nothing of our foe. How can that be - what great power do they have that can block our sight?"

That made John frown too. What could block the Gultanr's "sight"? There was so much they didn't know. Even now their technology grew in leaps and bounds, but still, essentially no one could explain how the Gultanr's foresight worked. It just did.

"...I don't know."

Asseli shook her head. "More than anything, I am concerned for the Adonte and the Lituni. We ourselves are not invulnerable, but they are on the furthest edge of the Ecumene and are therefore, I think, the most vulnerable. Both from without and within. And the Adonte at least have been disproportionately affected by these vanishing fleets."

"I can shuffle some things around, provide an escort if they mean to try again. If nothing else, it may give us some answers."

"I think that would be best. We will need to keep it from the Chancellor, though. For some reason I've yet to understand, he doesn't like you very much."

"I suspect it's because he wants the Fleet's lucrative transport network - and because he knows I can't be bought. Or, rather, the price I would ask is nothing he'd ever be able to pay."

"Your wife?"

He gave her another side glance again, this one amused. "Maybe."

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The destroyer Worldquake and the stealth corvette Out of Shadow were pulled out of rotation and dispatched in secret with the next Adonte expedition, seeking other planets to colonize. Their homeworld had essentially been a paradise, peaceful, no major predators or inclement weather to speak of, so they had to be a lot more selective than some others with the planets they made into new homes. The core was unsuitable in that respect - even the rim was too close to the black hole - so the Adonte were there more to "mine" resources.

Their fleet dropped out of Slipspace on the edge of the rim, the last-known of the previous fleet. The sky was thick with stars; John had never seen so many clustered so close together before, and everything was bright enough that there were no shadows. There were thick clouds of nebulae throughout the area as well, as dynamic as the stars swirling around the black hole at the center of the galaxy.

The remnants of the previous fleet had been pulled into a rough orbit around a red giant not too far away, and most of their fleet moved slowly under impulse to intercept, running every scan they had on the way. Out of Shadow raced ahead, cloaked by every bit of stealth tech she had.

The fleet had definitely been shot down, rather than destroyed by tidal action. Déjà's analysis indicated that the engines had been taken out first, half-melted by high intensity plasma akin to Covenant weapons. Then the ships had been boarded; there was the wreckage of a few unknown boarding craft mixed in with the Adonte ships.

"These can't be pirates," said John, "or at least no pirates that we're familiar with. That's a first-order destroyer right there, and those two were cruisers; anyone worth their salt would go for capture rather than destruction. No emergency beacons?"

"None," Déjà reported, "They didn't have time. Caught by surprise."

"Mm. Ironheart, tell the fleet to stand off while we investigate, and take us in closer."

Out of Shadow slipped slowly into the debris field. "Commander, I'm reading only a few corpses, just a fraction of the personnel roster," said Ironheart, pulling up the data.

"They were captured," John said, knowing the instant the words left his lips that they were right, "Hostages? We've never received any ransom demands. Or…"

Slavers.

He had a split second's warning, a shiver up his spine, just enough to say, "Ironheart, come about!"

The ancilla swung the Shadow around just in time to see a flotilla of unknown ships transition back to realspace beyond the debris field, behind their fleet. They were dangerous-looking things, all identical and roughly cylindrical and every one bristling with exposed weapons. Another, larger ship dropped out behind them, the same cylinder but definitely a carrier of some kind.

Their weapons were charging, preparing to fire-

[Chaser, fire! Target the carrier!]

The ancilla didn't respond, but all of the Worldquake's weapons rotated back to fire all at once. The carrier was shielded, but the Worldquake's barrage was enough to make the barrier flicker and die, and the last few ripped open the hull at the very front, sending a few aliens spilling out.

Birds. Harpies, hawks and falcons looking vicious and cruel. They writhed in zero-g, now exposed to the vacuum.

winds and birds beating at the windows and doors

"Take us in!"

"On it."

Ironheart didn't abandon stealth, but she did sacrifice some to approach the Worldquake at speed even as the other ship was coming around, swinging to bring the main battery to bear on the enemy ships.

The ships in question had fired on the Adonte fleet, specifically on their engines to disable them and limit their maneuvering, but the Worldquake's shields had been too strong for them to get through. They didn't seem to have detected the corvette and were launching swarms of boarding craft, the smaller ships now targeting the Forerunner destroyer.

[Fire again on the carrier, then focus on the cruisers. Target their weapons and engines; I want one of these bastards as intact as we can get it.]

'Understood,' said Dream Chaser.

The Worldquake launched another salvo, even as half the Fleet mobilized to support them. Perfect Storm, Fog of War, Ambient Wonder, and Touch of Light were only a few minutes out.

Out of Shadow raced past the crippled Adonte fleet, past the Worldquake, aiming for the enemy ships.

[Ironheart, what-?]

'Capturing an enemy ship won't do us any good if they purge their nav databases like the UNSC will – your Cole Protocol,' the ancilla responded, 'We need to find out where they're coming from.'

Lightning fast, the corvette manufactured a handful of tiny entanglement beacons and swung in close to launch them at a few of the cruisers, and two at the carrier. But that close approach got them a glimpse inside.

There were more than just the Harpies inside the ship. Prisoners, slaves, at least half a dozen species including the Adonte, collared in ugly black metal and clad in ragged, prison-gray jumpsuits.

John swore as foully as he knew how. The Shadow flipped up and over the top of the enemy carrier, circling back around to head for the Adonte fleet once more.

It had only been a few minutes, but half of the enemy fleet was already disabled, floating dead in space. Worldquake had also launched her full complement of fighters, which were now flitting between the Adonte ships, destroying any boarding craft they found.

The Storm and her attendants dropped out of Slipspace with the enemy fleet between her and her allies.

[Ironheart's right. We need to let one of these ships escape, but it's not going to be that carrier. Destroy the engines, quick as you can.]

'You got it, Commander.'

Winterspell prepared a firing solution at once and took aim.

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[Get me one of them that's already dying.]

'Understood.'

Out of Shadow glided into one of the carrier's bays and settled smoothly on the deck. The bay wasn't full, but neither was it empty. Several of the Adonte recognized the corvette, knew what it meant, and stumbled over to sit in the ship's shadow.

John disembarked and went to one knee next to the aliens, who looked up at him with flat black eyes. Despite their differences in species - and the fact that the Adonte did not really feel emotions the same way - he could tell they were exhausted. "What happened?" he asked softly.

One of them coughed, then rasped, "The expedition came looking for resources, same as that one, I imagine." Xie gestured to their ships moving about beyond the carrier. "I think they were as surprised to see us as we were to see them, but they didn't even try to communicate with us. They just fired. Disabled the engines, came onto the ships and dragged us off. Put us in their brig…" Xie shook xyr head, refused to say more.

But then there was no need. Venera and Kenera came forward, dragging one of the harpies between them.

Well, half of one. It was missing everything below the hips, fading fast, red blood spilling out over the deck. Others scrambled out of their way, and they dropped the alien at the human's feet.

John didn't even hesitate for a second, just retracted his armor and plunged Flood talons into the alien's neck.

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"They call themselves the Bellogeri."

The Spartan stood in silence in the background while Ferial spoke to the Ecumenical Council, arms crossed, scowling.

"They're slavers, and they worship the Flood. They seem to believe that the Flood is some sort of god, and they seek its return."

That got a reaction. Murmurs broke out throughout the chamber, but Ferial wasn't finished.

"They believe that if they seize dominion over all life in the galaxy, it will return and rule over them. But they seek to hasten that by sacrificing the leaders of sapient beings on an altar on their home planet, believing that the destruction of their authority will restore the Flood's."

One and all the councilors bolted to their feet, shouting, frightened, demanding more information. The Chancellor looked around, panicked, and shouted for order, but no one heard him.

[This will be the end of the Third Ecumene.]

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And it was. Even though the Fleet fought hard to hold everything together, the Ecumene fractured and in some cases even went to war against itself.

But as the Voices had said, they had bigger problems. The Bellogeri knew they were there now, and the harpies were coming to put them down.

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Bellogeri – Bell-oh-gair-ee