Twenty-Four: Truth, Thy Name is Vengeance

Come to Reach. We have something you should see.

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Some of the ships of the Last Fleet were hanging in low orbits above Reach when the Infinity arrived with the Separatists. None of them had really seen the ships in question up close until then, but even at nearly six kilometers long each, the Infinity and the Shadow of Intent were dwarfed by all but the stealth corvettes and the smallest frigates, which flitted like songbirds around the larger ships.

The ships in question were - were ripping up the glass that now coated the surface of Reach, exposing rock and earth underneath. But that wasn't all; the massive hunks of glass were pulled into the ships and passed through them - and then rained back down to the surface as rock, as soil, as air and water. As seeds of plants that grew at high speed before their very eyes, sprouting and flowering and breeding and dying back, but more slowly with each iteration until their native biomes were fully restored. Enormous swarms of dropships were even releasing wildlife back onto the sections of the planet that had already been re-terraformed. Even the oceans were being refilled and replenished.

Aine appeared on a holotank on the bridge. "Handshake protocol, sir," she said to Lord Hood, "We're all being invited to dock with the Perfect Storm. Us and the Separatists."

"And which ship is that?"

The AI gestured to the holotable on the bridge, where a hologram of the local space appeared, the Storm marked. The flagship was massive, easily more than ten times the size of the Infinity, yet because of their imprint and the memories it had given them, they knew that she was only a medium-sized Forerunner ship, if that, and the Last Fleet itself was tiny, only twenty-three ships.

The Battle of the Maginot Sphere had involved close to five million ships, even if only a small fraction of those - about eighty-six thousand - had actually been warships.

Only a few of the ships were actually at Reach, however. The Call of Midnight, a similarly-sized battleship, was running parallel to the Storm over Reach's largest continent, stripping away the vitrification and restoring the planet. The supercarrier Gift of Life was even bigger than the battleships, running along in their wake, her clouds of dropships doing continuous loops to release fauna into their restored biomes.

There were also a number of other ships doing other sweeps over the planet, scanning for anything significant that survived, and two destroyers sat in high orbits above the planet, standing guard just in case; their ship IDs indicated they were the Ring of Winter and the Worldquake. Though they were much smaller than the battleships, their firepower was even greater, and the Worldquake, at least, was aptly named; she had been converted from a "planet-cracker" Miner ship into a destroyer.

"Go ahead and take us in, Aine. Let's see what the Commander has to tell us."

"As you wish, sir."

The Infinity's engines fired, the Shadow of Intent with them, and bit by bit they drew alongside the Storm. When they were close enough, the battleship spun out a net of hard light for each of them, "catching" them gently and drawing them to soft-dock on her side. They settled in without even the slightest jolt.

Hood and a few others - both of the Keyes', Admiral Parangosky, Doctor Halsey, a handful of scientists, and one lonely diplomat - left the bridge and made their way to one of the cargo bays, where the Spartan-IIs were already waiting, alert but calm, at ease. A large and comfortable-looking ship - a repurposed council ship, the Night Wind - was also waiting, having just settled on the deck. It easily carried them all across the gap into one of the Storm's bays, where they met up with the Arbiter and some of his trusted warriors - and Nethalia, second-in-command of the Fleet of Shadows.

"Welcome aboard," she said, inclining her head to them all, "The Commander and Lady Cortana are within. Please, this way."

"Thank you," said Hood as they all moved to follow, "Are you able to give us any hints about what he wants to show us?"

"Something that we ourselves only recently learned," she answered, "and something we hope will be conducive towards peace between humanity and the former Covenant."

They rode a transport system - an internal bullet train - though not for very long. Nethalia led them through another hall after that, and they emerged on an observation deck near the bow of the Storm. The glass being ripped up was closer now, and they could see that the bow had been reconfigured into a funnel shape to suck it all in.

There were two people watching. One turned to look at their approach.

It was Cortana, but not as they had known her. She was flesh and blood now, and wore Forerunner armor that roughly mimicked her appearance as an AI in the Origin, blue plating with blue-white pulses of light sliding over her. Her hair was dark like Halsey's had been, but it still had a distinct navy cast to it.

She smiled at them, then touched the other's arm. He looked at her, and then turned to face them.

It was John-117, as unchanged as the day he'd arrived in their world.

Halsey was the first to speak. "How…?" She began, taking a step closer to look Cortana over.

"Flood biomass," John answered, tilting his head just slightly, "We can reshape ourselves to look pretty much however we want, and we can do the same with excess biomass. That, coupled with our 'mysterious technological telepathy,' and…" He gestured to the embodied AI, who grinned and did a little spin so they could see her from all sides.

"Still don't know how that works, huh?"

"Not in the slightest. Our best guess is neural physics, but we don't know how that works either." He pursed his lips briefly, looking unimpressed, then continued. "But I asked you here for a reason.

"I know you at least were there when Harvest was first attacked, Sergeant," John said to Johnson, "but for the sake of those who weren't... In mid-January, 2525 human time, the Covenant first made contact with humanity on the Outer Colony world of Harvest, kicking off nearly thirty years of bloody warfare and billions of deaths on both sides. The official reason was that humankind's destruction was the will of the Covenant's 'gods'."

Nethalia snorted loudly, but John ignored her.

"You say it like that wasn't actually the case," said one of the Sangheili.

"Because it wasn't." The Spartan flicked a wrist, and a hologram came up. "Do you recognize this symbol, Field Master?"

"Reclamation," the Sangheili answered automatically, "A marker of Forerunner artifacts in the Covenant. But you showed us that that is not the case - a mistranslation of 'Reclaimer.'"

"Indeed," John said with an approving nod, "And one of the central tenets of the Covenant faith was that firing the Halo Array would cause those who died by it to ascend to godhood, yes? The 'Great Journey.'"

"Correct," said the Field Master.

"That is also a misinterpretation. During the reintroduction following the firing, the San'Shyuum were the last to be returned to their home planet, as you saw. While that was taking place, the Forerunners were making plans for their own species - to depart the galaxy forever, and for their people to slowly fade away. Their leader, the IsoDidact, felt strongly that they had failed the galaxy that their Mantle-" He said the word with disdain. "-had 'placed in their care.' He felt that they deserved to be forgotten. To go extinct. They had traveled far and done much, had designated humankind as their heirs, and though they never explicitly said where they were going, for they all parted ways in the end, they talked amongst themselves that this was to be their last and greatest journey.

"And some of the San'Shyuum overheard, prior to their reintroduction." He let that hang for a moment, then continued, "All of that came together in January of 2525, on High Charity. Unbeknownst to any of us, a fragment of Mendicant Bias had stowed away on the Anodyne Spirit, the keyship you called the Forerunner Dreadnought. It was him that the Covenant originally called the 'Oracle', and it is fromhim that this knowledge comes. Dream Chaser, if you would, please…"

A hologram flickered to life in the center of the room, in life-like full color. The Sangheili - and a few Spartans - hissed. "Truth, Regret, and Mercy," the Arbiter growled for those who did not know, "before their ascension to Hierarch."

Though the three spoke in Sangheili with an unseen individual - Mendicant Bias - 117 provided translations for everyone else. And they all saw. They all heard.

The three Hierarchs had known that humans were the Reclaimers, the heirs of the Forerunners - Mendicant Bias had told them on the keyship. They had known, and had chosen to eradicate humanity anyway.

"Whether Truth really was the power-hungry megalomaniac he seemed to be, or whether he truly wanted to eliminate what he saw as an 'affront to the gods' and a threat to the cohesion of the Covenant, we do not know," said the Commander, folding his arms, "The enemy Flood took him before we could, and so he is forever beyond our reach. But given the - Changing of the Guard, the Great Schism, and how he abandoned Regret to the Spartans and Mercy to the Flood… well. I know what we think. We will leave it up to you to decide what you think."

"Can you give us a copy of that to take with us?" Hood asked, "I think the rest of HIGHCOM should see it. Maybe even the rest of the UEG as well." He exchanged glances with Parangosky. "Your second-in-command was right when she said this might be conducive towards peace."

"We certainly hope so. Humanity and the Covenant have been at war long enough. Soulseeker?"

"Working. Trying to ensure compatibility with the UNSC and the Covenant networks. I assume you would like one as well, Arbiter?"

"Indeed." The Sangheili dipped his head in assent. "But there are those among my people who will not be so easy to sway. The Covenant still has fierce adherents even now."

"What if their gods came and spoke to them? A significant portion of the Fleet is Forerunner. With your permission, the Gift of Life could follow you back to Sanghelios." John gestured in the direction of the supercarrier. "That would be kind of hard for them to ignore, their gods coming back in the flesh to tell them to calm down."

The Arbiter hummed. "We will consider it, but regardless of what we decide, thank you for offering."

"Of course." He turned back to everyone else. "You're welcome to explore if you like. Just know that locked rooms are locked for a reason, and if you get lost, just ask Soulseeker to guide you back or send someone to get you. We're still going to be here for at least another week to finish re-terraforming, maybe two to monitor the planet afterwards."

Doctor Halsey and the other scientists immediately started looking around, craning their heads in all directions and making notes on their pads.

"Soulseeker, if you could ask Peace and some of his team to come talk to the UNSC's scientists and the Sangheili, that would be great."

"On their way, Commander."

"Peace-in-the-Deep-Sea is one of the heads of the Builder contingent," he explained, "specifically the group that handles developing new technologies."

"It would be good to speak with them - and learn under them if we can," said Halsey.

"It would be interesting to have some collaboration on all sides, from all peoples, especially now that the Third Ecumene has collapsed. We'll discuss it. - And Soulseeker?"

"Sir."

"Get the Librarian on the line. Tell her she has some visitors. I think Doctor Halsey at least will be eager to speak with her."

The scientist went nearly incandescent with joy and eagerness. The Builders in question came by, and led most of the scientists and Sangheili away. When they had gone, Fred asked, "And what about us?"

"What about you?"

"What are your intentions towards us? Graveminds are greedy, you said. Do you want us to join you?"

"It would be nice, I won't deny that, but I don't expect it. Especially not now that the UNSC will need you more than ever."

"The Insurrection," said Kelly, tilting her head, "What you read in the Domain, about early humanity - it's true?"

"It is." John nodded a little sadly. "The UNSC has to put the Insurrection down, by force or diplomacy, and unfortunately I cannot help you. Not directly at least."

"The rest of the galaxy also needs your attention, not just us," said Hood.

"Indeed. But that doesn't mean I can't help you at all." Another Forerunner appeared at his side and handed over a fist-sized metal cube before disappearing again. John popped it open to show them what was inside: a smaller cube glowing a soft blue - a data crystal. "This has the recording of Truth, as well as every scrap of intel we have on all the Insurrectionist cells. Every. Last. One. Tech, materiel, funding, personnel, access codes, backdoors - right down to the brands of cleaning supplies they buy, if we can find it. What you do with it is up to you." He closed up the cube again and handed it to Hood.

"Why me?"

"Because we know you, and we trust your judgement," the Spartan answered, "and we trust you to do what is necessary, and no more."

The man squeezed the cube gently as if to make sure it was real. The Spartans could hardly believe it themselves; this one intel drop effectively handed victory to the UNSC. "Thank you," said Linda.

"Don't thank me," he replied, "because some of your biological families are a part of it."

That made them all straighten. "You know about their…?" Keyes started but trailed off.

John gave them a smile edged with some undefinable emotion. Bitterness? Grief? "As a favor to the children you used to be and the friendships I had with my versions of you, we arranged for your biological families to be moved to safety shortly after the war began in earnest. Most of them were alive at last check - before the Battle of Zero-Four - but some of them… Well. Most of you were replaced with flash clones, as some of you know."

Daisy, Ralph, Joseph, and Oscar shifted a little. They had escaped once, shortly after the augmentations, trying to return to their homes - only to find that they had been replaced. It hadn't gone well for some of them - Ralph had killed his clone - but they had seen the state the clones were in. And all of them knew that there were side effects from flash cloning, at least back then; Déjà had taught them as much.

"Your clones didn't have your memories - they weren't you - and some of your family members recognized that. Some of them did nothing, just cared for the clones as best they could for as long as they lived, but others… I doubt they actually know it's true, but some of them insisted that the deaths of their children were the work of a government conspiracy. They joined the Insurrection seeking revenge."

"How many?" Fred asked.

John's gaze went distant for a second as he consulted with the intel. Then he said, "Six."

Six families out of seventy-five wasn't bad. Well, seventy-four, since Soren's family had died before Doctor Halsey came for him.

"What about your family?"

"They don't exist here; Cortana checked. Although, apparently you and I are cousins." He looked to Darius-116. "In a manner of speaking, anyway."

Darius nodded in satisfaction, then tilted his head. "Are we ever going to see you again?"

"Bold of you to assume the UNSC could ever get rid of us; we can't even get rid of ourselves. But I'm sure we will, and if you ever need a hand, just open a COM link and ask who's on duty. One of our ancillae is always listening to UNSC channels; they'll help you out as much as they can."

"We'll do that. Thank you."