Fun fact: Viltrumites can go several times the speed of light. How do I know?
Well, Ridley was able to go at about the speed of light, and I had shot past him without meaning to. To solve that, I simply recalled him to the Familiar space as I continued my journey on my own. It still took me several weeks and dozens of near misses with planets and asteroids before I reached it, Earth.
As I let Ridley out to stretch his wings, the Gacha pinged.
[Gift from beyond the veil, 1x Random Gold Ticket] (TNBenz)
[Gift from beyond the veil, 1x Random Gold Ticket] (Shadow_solder7)
[Gift from beyond the veil, 1x Random Gold Ticket] (Boscoso)
Sweet! Let's see what I get.
[Spinning, spinning, spinning, done!]
[Altar of Water]
|Rare Item|
HOTA - An altar of fire that collects mana from nature to give birth to spirits of water and ice; as the owner of the altar, these elementals are naturally loyal to you.
[Stalagmite Burst]
|Uncommon Ability|
Allows you to unleash stalagmite blades that erupt from the ground as spikes to impale your enemies.
[Electric Discharge]
|Rare Ability|
Allows you to channel potent electricity through your body and discharge it; with training, you can channel where your electricity goes to aim it more precisely.
The Altar of Water and Stalagmite Burst were mostly useless since I alone was a one-man army, but sure. The Electric Discharge would be useful, however. Frying a ship's internal circuits should be pretty interesting.
'Heads up, patrol vessel inbound.' Ridley said over the mental link as I turned to see the Forerunner ship angle toward us. I'm surprised it hasn't fired on us, but I guess word has yet to leave Maethrillian.
That is strange, however. Even if Faber is being more aggressive after the lore-bomb I dropped on them, the Didact and Librarian should have been able to hold on for a bit, especially since the Prometheans are supposed to be at the height of their power right now, since the Human-Forerunner was just ended.
Since the ship wasn't firing on us, we ignored it and flew past it. I briefly considered stopping at Mars just to check it out, but ignored it in favor of landing on Earth. Since I didn't want to freak out any locals, we headed towards the Himalayan Mountains.
"Ok. Now what?" Ridley said after ten minutes of standing around. I shrugged until something descended from the atmosphere. Noting the lack of weapons, I kept Ridley from destroying it as it hovered above us before its occupants descended.
"Husband and wife, united as one. How charming." I snarked as soon as the Didact and Librarian landed softly. 'Crap, forgot they were that much taller than me.' I thought too late as the Didact growled.
"You would do well to watch your words, alien. Or I shall rip it out of you!" The Librarian gently laid a hand on her husband's arm. "We come bearing gifts, and seek understanding." She said as a crate of something floated out from behind them.
Ridley wasted no time opening it to see what was inside. "What is the catch? No gift is ever truly free." The Didact snorted, but I ignored him. "I have a proposition for you." The Librarian started as she held up her hand, and a mini map of the galaxy appeared.
"As of now, the Didact has cleared the few pockets of Flood left in this galaxy; Human captives, however, speak of unending swarms of Flood tearing through their civilization. We believe the Flood have left the galaxy."
I nodded and studied the map as I dug up old lore I knew from Halo. "You are right, the Flood will return. Not anytime soon, of course, but at most ten thousand years from now. The Ecumene will not be ready; I'm sure you've already seen what the Master Builder is aiming towards."
The Didact nodded grimly as I scowled. "Then we have no time to waste. My species is long-living, but I doubt even I will remain around that long, so I have a few things I would like before pledging my support."
The Didact nodded; it seems he would be the one negotiating. "I have seen what Faber has planned, but the Prometheans still hold considerable sway. What do you seek?"
I listened to a few things. A set of Forerunner armor for myself and Ridley, a ship capable of traversing the galaxy, preferably one that had assemblers on it. A map of the galaxy that I could tweak and expand upon, and access to the Domain.
"No. You will not get access to the Domain. All others I can grant, but not this." The Didact said firmly as the Librarian backed him up. "Despite our gratitude for your help, the Domain is something we have kept safe for millennia. It is not ours to bargain with in the first place."
I conceded, and Ridley and I followed them back to their ship. Once on board, the onboard Ancilla began scanning Ridley and me to fabricate fitting combat skins as the Didact and I continued with minor details.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a Fortress-class ship; the Council had already voted they be decommissioned since they didn't believe the Flood would return. I was able to secure the design seed for a custom Dragoon vessel, however.
Since the Didact and Librarian still had business here in Sol, I would have time to design the ship myself. At least the shell; they would still be using their technology to make sure the ship was worthy of being considered Forerunner.
As for the map, Ridley had already dug it out of the case they'd given us. Turns out they'd been tracking me since we left Maethrillian. They were surprised, and a little horrified, that my physical body was able to cross the galaxy all the way to here in such a 'short' amount of time.
As I thought about what I wanted my future ship to look like, the Ancilla alerted us that our combat skins were finished, so we went to try them on. Despite being made for combat, the armor was very comfortable.
Of course, we started stress-testing them by fighting outside the ship as we followed it to Mars, or Edom as the Forerunners called it. They took their time since there was no apparent hurry, though the trip took about two hours.
That was still more than enough time for Ridley and me to destroy three combat skins before the Ancilla was able to make some that wouldn't break apart. We obviously got spares since we knew how much fighting we'd get into in the future, as I revealed other familiars of mine.
"How strange. I have never seen such reading before." The Librarian and her personal Ancilla were currently scanning the Desert Elemental sisters; Dune and Oasis were their names. Lust was currently stress-testing her combat skin as the Didact put IG-88 through the mill.
The poor droid was currently putting himself back together after being torn apart for the third time. The Didact ended up commending the droid for 'a decent distraction' as he expressed a willingness to create more such droids.
I vetoed that. I had no interest in millions of murder bots like IG-88 running around. IG-88 was cool on his own, but I'd rather not risk it at all. Though I'm sure he might be a decent weapon against the Flood, maybe using him in Doom would be better though.
Eventually, we made it to Mars, where the Didact inserted the design seed for the new ship to be made. Since it would take a while for the ship to be made, and for the crew to arrive, we'd be staying on Erde-Tyrene for now. Not that I minded; it would be nice to explore Earth before Humanity began tearing it apart.
A/N- So, I have several ideas for what his ship should look like. Obviously, the ship will be made with Forerunner materials and have the same weapons as a Sojourner-Class Dreadnought, but its appearance needs to be changed. Vote below on what you would like to see.
UNSC Infinity- scaled up from 5,694.2 to 9,430 meters, same as the Sojourner
Emperor-Class Battlecruiser- scaled down to 9,430 meters from 12Km lol
Gloriana-Class Battleship- scaled down to 9,430 meters from 20km
Sh'wada-pattern Super Carrier (Long Night of Solace)- scaled down from 28,960 meters to 9,430 meters
Executor-Class Super Star Destroyer- scaled down from 19,000 meters to 9,430 meters
Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer- scaled up from 1,600 meters to 9,430 meters
This is all for rule of cool. No matter what shape it takes, it will still be armed the same as the Sojourner-Class Dreadnought from Halo. This is all cosmetic in nature, the crew, complement, and armament of the ship will remain the same. Upgrades WILL be made to the ship later to increase size or add more ships to make a fleet, if you want.
That's all for the future; however, vote on what looks coolest. You can also suggest something else, I don't care. I just want something cool, man. Peace.