Chapter 8: Descent
December 26th, 3241, 1151 hours
Requiem, Epoloch System
Location Unknown

"Cultist Down!" Kim shouted as she saw one of the heavily augmented soldiers fell. She moved forward, keeping to the cover of the Forerunner tunnel they had moved into.

The Spartans led the ONI combat personnel who wisely stuck more to the protection of the floating metal structures. They were fearless, but were very much aware of how much danger the Dark Legion could cause them.

These forces had been the first contact that they had found. Thousands of cultists, many of them Human surprisingly enough. John had read the intel reports that had been supplied before the mission actually began. A fair bulk of these men and women had once been prisoners recruited into this mysterious group that had been calling themselves the Dark Legion. Responsible for several attacks on civilian sectors, they would be willing to kill themselves and others to further their own goals. John had no idea what that was though, but he was fairly certain that it involved the Didact in some way. That could not come to pass.

Cortana could give them coordinates that coincided with true north on the planet, but there was no region, no country, no routes or anything that could be determined. The inside of this world was artificial, which meant everything was just a bit too perfect. Just enough to determine that something wasn't right.

Though none of this was in the Spartan's mind as he charged into a Dark Legion soldier, knocking him down the hallway with broken augmented limb sputtering into the sky.

He took cover at the nearest pillar. "Armand, keep them pinned there. Juliet-22, pass on my right and take the kill shot!

"Wilco!" An ONI combat operative with black armor nodded. He waved for his unit to follow him to the right of the Spartan. The leader, a Commander by the name of Dmitri Orlav, otherwise known as 'Dima' to his friends, was noted for his pitch black cap that he wore with the ONI logo stitched across its front. He wore a golden pair of what appeared to be sunglasses that operated no differently than a VISR.

Juliet-22 was effectively invisible with the Spartans pinning down the Dark Legion cultists. The ONI agents hid themselves by using Forerunner architecture to mask their approach. The hallway in general was about twenty meters across split into three walkways. Each third of the hallway had regular support pillars and Forerunner accents of floating metal. Highlights cast glows on the hallway. It was important then that shadows wouldn't be cast on the walls.

Dima was a combat veteran and a field agent. Fighting wasn't unknown to him, but these freaks were different. His threat detection spotted three of them over the wall, outlined in red. Each was roughly in the shape of the humanoid creature, but parts of the body were missing or muted, courtesy of their augmentations.

"Get behind them." Dima ordered his men. Two agents slipped around the accent, guns raised. Their plasma rifles unfolded as safeties were released. The targets never saw them coming... but then they turned, somehow becoming aware of their presence. The cultists were vaguely Human. Their faces were covered with invasive augmentations - camera bundles in their eyes, rebreathers, and what almost seemed like headsets permanently attached to their heads. It was foolish to think that they wouldn't have their own heads up displays or threat detectors. Dima had to silently laugh. They were on even ground.

The ONI agents fired. The plasma rifles cracked as superheated energy heated their air. white hot bolts crossed the room, slamming into the closest of the cyborgs. They screeched as their bodies were scorched instantly by the shots. Their wounds cauterized from the extreme heat. Not a drop of augmented blood fell on the alien floors from the agents' weapons.

Dima ordered more of his men to pocket them in while the Spartans continued to fire from the opposite end of the hallway. Another cultist was caught by a bullet from the armored soldiers, this time a woman. She said nothing as her head jerked back, blood and brain matter splattering on the wall. Three cultists down in the space of thirty seconds.

John was about to call the all clear and order them to move up before he saw a glint further down the hallway. Thinking immediately that it was the refraction of a scope, he took a knee and sent three rounds downrange. The light moved.

"We're not safe yet. Juliet-22 keep to cover, move towards the next room!"

"Aye-aye!" Dima said. "Split up! Half on this wall, half on the other!"

The ONI troops did as their commander ordered. Dima stuck on the right-side wall., pressed as close as his armor would allow. He could feel only the slightest resistance from his energy shield. All of his men had some sort of protection. They could deflect some small and medium caliber rounds, but something big from a sniper rifle would tear through, and a large output plasma round would short out the emitters quickly. The flak armor could protect them on their own, or so they were told.

One of the snipers down the hall tried his luck, sending a shot downrange. The bullet ricocheted off one of the pillars. whining as it lost its energy on impact. A clean miss. He must have been trying to keep them in cover. It wasn't working.

"Armand, go!" John said, pointing down the hall.

The bulkier Spartan started to sprint ahead, keeping his eyes locked on the area where he thought the sniper was. He could see a little bit into the next room, a cavernous space with many raised platforms. The entire facility was situated into a mountain which looked rather small from outside. Nothing on this planet was as it seemed.

The sniper took another shot, this time he aimed to take Armand down. The bullet missed him, but was still close enough to knock him off balance from the air pressure shift. That bullet impacted further down the hall past the huddled UNSC forces.

Armand was quick on his feet though.

"Hey, try not to get your head blown off!" Kim said.

"Trying my hardest!" He plucked the handgun from his holster and on the run, fired several shots towards where the sniper was. He saw a flash of blood in the air.

"He's hit! Move!" Armand called back to the men.

"Juliet-22, make your way into that room, but keep your eyes open! Weapons up!" John commanded.

Dima nodded. "Come on!" he said, leading the charge. "Hit them like an avalanche!"

The combat agents fired suppressing rounds at the sniper, keeping him pinned. The Legionnaire couldn't do anything but duck down and keep his head below the banister. For the moment, their advance was good. The ONI troops, now overtaken by Armand, entered the large chamber.

It was a massive room three football fields across studded with power pylons that shot energy to each other and up the tall interior. Dima stole a glance upwards. He couldn't see the roof. The edges of the walls just closed in to a point. Ramps led up the center of the room with this platform jutting up and above it. The sniper had been here earlier, but they couldn't see what he had been protecting.

The sniper returned, this time flanked by two other riflemen. These Mobians were not wearing robes, so the extent of their augmentations could be seen. The Legionnaires had both their arms replaced by cybernetic claws. Their eyes had ocular implants placed into their skulls with two snaking power cables wrapping over their heads to join a backpack that no doubt contained their power supplies. The guns in their hands were stolen BT-42 battle rifles, standard issue for police forces in South American nations. Dima could see the magazines jutting out at a ninety degree angle from the body of the gun, just before the muzzle flash sprouted from each barrel.

Armand plucked his handgun from his holster and fired two shots at the gunman on his left. The first bullet slashed through one of his arms, causing him to drop the gun, causing a round to ricochet off the floor, off the banister, and back into his own chest, causing blood to splash in the air. The third round went through where his heart would have been. The rifleman stood in momentary shock before falling out of sight.

The gunman on Armand's right though hadn't noticed his comrade fall. He lined up a shot and fired at one of the ONI personnel, piercing through his weakened shield and leg armor, severing an artery. The ONI agent fell screaming to the floor, clutching his wound. Another agent fell back to assist him - Dima's second in command, distracted by Human nature. The Legionnaire smiled crookedly. One of them had had taken the bait. He gazed through the sight again, and fired a single bullet straight through the back of the soldier's head, piercing the energy field and cracking his skull forward. The limp body fell on the man who had been shot through the leg.

Armand head the cry over his COMs and two lights winked on his HUD. The vitals of Lieutenant Junior Grade Val Portsmouth started to blink rapid yellow, while the light of Lieutenant Commander Jorge Ruiz snapped to black. Two men down, with another man likely to die if they didn't move fast.

"Chief! Man down!" he said over the group COMs.

John silently began sprinting towards where Portsmouth fell. A few rounds pinged off his armor, bringing his shields down to twenty percent strength. The suit started to blare a shrill alarm, warning him of the danger. Portsmouth clutched at the wound up ahead, pushing the body of Ruiz off him. He didn't even see the Spartan pick him up, but within seconds, he was behind a portion of the room out of the line of sight. He placed the Lieutenant down on the ground, looking up to see Kim jogging into the battlefield, lunging ahead with her suit jets. His entire team had entered the room and were pushing on the top of this ramp.

He scanned the wound with his helmet. The bullet had passed straight through, cutting part of the femoral. It wasn't a complete break though, but it was extremely serious. If he didn't act fast, Portsmouth would bleed out. Already there was a trail of blood leading to where he had placed the ONI agent down. He removed Portsmouth's helmet. The shaved remains of his blond hair seemed to glisten in the sweat that covered his skin. His blue eyes were dilated, unfocused, and his mouth was twisted in pain.

"Hold still." he commanded the man. John reached into a pouch on his belt and retrieved a biofoam canister, injecting it into the wound. He could see the yellow-green material clot around the wound. Blood stopped pulsing either because the biofoam had stopped the bleeding, or there was nothing left to bleed. John silently hoped it was the former.

Before he could proceed, he deflected another round with his shield. The Spartan whipped around, catching sight of a Legionnaire up above. The canine smiled wickedly and held a large handgun. That bullet had removed a third of his shield. It was powerful; modified in some way. The Spartan was forced to leave Portsmouth on the floor. He compressed, and then leaped into the air, using his thrusters to give him extra height. The time it took for him to grab the ledge bring himself over, and land a blow from his fist to snap the Legionnaire's neck was about two seconds. The cyborg's body whipped around, but not before parts of it started to glow in several places. John's instincts immediately transmitted 'explosive' to his brain, and he sprinted down the ramp at the opposite side of the ledge.

The explosive was much larger than what was thought from the size of the Mobian. Fragments of metal from the armor, possibly double designed to act as fragments like a grenade, hit his back, collapsing his shield. Though none of the metal shards had pierced his armor, the concussive force made his head hurt somewhat. His armor blasted a warning tone. He was unprotected and needed to keep to cover. The pulsing alarm was in his head as he pressed against the wall, hoping that no more marksmen were waiting to take a shot at him. The danger passed. His shield refilled slowly. He could feel himself pushed ever so slightly from the wall by the barrier. He had to leave Portsmouth for now. His display still showed his light blinking quickly, but he was still alive.

Dima and Juliet-22, protected by Armand and Kim, made their way to the top of the ramp. The sniper had been taken by Armand, who had climbed the ledge, and thrown down the hallway they had just come. The sniper had actually survived the throw, but Armand had fixed this by shooting the Legionnaire twice in the torso. The Legionnaire had then exploded as its last ditch systems activated.

The Humans couldn't understand the level of cruelty that the Legion would put on its own members. Some of the fighters had apparently been conscripted by Julian Kintobor upon his escape from the High Moon Prison almost exactly one year prior. Those men had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, rape, crimes against Humanity, and various levels of scum that warranted being locked away forever in the worst possible place. However, there were Mobians within the ranks of the Legions. Tens of thousands of them at least. It was because of this that Kim had vowed to eliminate every single one of them. She had no idea what had convinced them to turn around and pledge allegiance to a man who had hated their society.

But something hadn't added up. Robotnik may have been insane, but he was not capable of the level of absolute insanity that she had seen in the way these men and women had been twisted. While Kintobor believed in the 'clean' concept of Roboticization, these people had been savaged, which had given the UEG the impression that there was another person in charge; calling the shots. Kim reasoned that this person was a Mobian who could turn her own people to their cause. She wondered at the thought. Overlander and Mobian working together to control everything. It was a strange contrast to the union between Mobians and Humanity.

The Legionnaires had been guarding what looked like some sort of floating frame. There was a small encampment that was set up. Somehow, the Legionnaires were able to get a truck up here. The vehicle was Human made, a Mainz-Trager 870 Superhauler - made for heavy interstate trade runs on well-developed worlds. Several tents were hastily built, and weapons crates were strewn about. Guns scattered the camp, but there was nobody else there.

Juliet-22 took a knee and had their weapons raised in case anybody else was hiding. The Spartans took a step forward ahead of the ONI personnel. John kept his eyes on the motion tracker in his helmet. He saw nothing. At the same time, Dima and his men's VISRs displayed no hostile outlines anywhere in the camp. It seemed that they were alone.

John was confused. He could swear that there would be more of the Legionnaires here. There were enough tents for close to a full platoon, but they had only gone through perhaps ten at the most. Where were the other twenty or so? Were they out on patrol? If that were so, they would just need to wait for them to get back.

But that didn't explain the truck. How did that get here? He decided to consult Cortana in the silence of his helmet.

"Any ideas?"

"Something about this camp feels... odd."

John didn't understand. "Care to explain?"

"Does something about the frame feel off to you?"

John knew immediately saw what she meant. The Forerunner material here formed parts of a floating arch. When they had advanced, it seemed part of the accents in the room, but now that he was able to look at it clearly, it was most certainly a doorway of some sort.

"That's a teleporter."

"A Slipspace Terminus to be precise. This one seems much larger than the ones we've been familiar with. The signals coming from it are identical to the transit grid I accessed on Installation 04. This is a staging point, but I don't know what's on the other side. It could lead to anywhere on Requiem's surface, or perhaps even deeper into the planet."

"What do you mean 'deeper'?" John asked.

"We've already passed through one layer of the planet's surface. It's not crazy to think someone made it deeper than we did."

John considered what she just said. "You mean the planet's hollow?"

"That's supposition, but as I said, not impossible."

John switched back to his external speakers. "Commander."

Dima wheeled around at the sound of his rank. "Spartan? Know what we're dealing with?"

"This is a Slipspace portal. Cortana theorizes that it can take us deeper through layers of Requiem's structure."

"Yes, but I'm not sure about that. As I told the Lieutenant, it can lead anywhere."

A Petty Officer piped up. "We should pull back and report to the Admiral."

That was actually sound advice, but John needed to know what was on the other side. Ideally, nothing short of a whole platoon would be used to proceed, but John felt like he didn't have time to wait for heavier reinforcements.

Then again, he didn't know what would be on the other side.

He made his choice quickly.

"Commander Orlav, I'm heading through that gate. Legionnaires may be falling back and took whatever they had here with them."

Dima loosened his posture. "There could be an army on the other side of that."

"I'll deal with it." John said evenly.

Orlav was impressed with his demeanor. The Spartan betrayed no other emotion other than willingness to do his duty.

"I'm going with you." the Commander said.

The Spartan turned to look at Dima with a deepened respect for the man.

"Commander, that won't be necessary." Cortana said. "You shouldn't place yourself in unnecessary risk."

Dima appeared to weigh those words up, but shrugged. "Blyat, I think I'll be fine. It's just a little walk."

Orlav walked towards one of the weapons crates, slinging his weapon over his back. He took a look through whatever the Legionnaires had with them, noticing that several of the rifles were military grade. In among the rifles he found one that caught his eye, a Knight Armories Halberd II. The gun looked almost like it had been designed as an aircraft. It was angular, painted nearly black, and its magazine wrapped around it, obviously extended to hold more ammunition. It was shaped almost like a letter 'W' when released from the weapon. Dima slapped one of these into the weapon and charged it, racking the wing-like handle on the front of the gun. The sound of the weapon chambering the round almost sounded motor like. Three lights winked on just under the sight.

"Privet, moy milyy!" He looked at the gun with reverence, then slid the safety into place, cutting off the handle from reciprocating. He grabbed several additional magazines, slotting them into any belt he could get his hands on. Dima looked more like a two-legged tank when he was done.

"I think I'm alright to go." he nodded. He addressed his men: "Everyone stay here and guard this gate. Iannuci, you're in charge until I get back. I give you tactical command and authority. If we do not get in contact with you, you will make your way back to the Prowler. This you must do for me, yes?"

"Si, capisco." Iannuci, who had as strong a Sardinian accent as Dima had a Russian, said. "I'll do it."

"Wait!" a voice down the hall called out.

Guns were raised. The entire ONI crew looked to see who was making the noise. Three figures were running towards them. Two were wearing jet black while another wore civilian clothing albeit with several armor plates put over the arms and legs. The figure, clearly Humanoid and female. When the figure got closer, she was obviously Mobian from the bright purple color of her dyed fur. It was an Echidna with a strange double barreled shotgun placed in an overly large thigh holster.

"Wait!" she called again. "Wait for me!"

"Who the hell are you?" Dima asked, walking forward.

The Echidna ran up the ramp almost tripping on the Forerunner details. One of the agents, a large man with an impressive mustache caught her under the arm. The other two were Human, and obviously ONI. The combat personnel stiffened when they saw three bright yellow bars on their shoulders.

The mustached man spoke first. "Commanders Scott and Baulkner. ONI Section One."

The men were tempted to salute, but in a warzone, this was a very dangerous thing to do. They wisely kept their hands to their sides.

"And you...?" Dima asked.

"Julie-Su Marisdaughter." She huffed, catching her breath. "House of Luger. Uh... civilian, I guess." She held out her hand to Dima, who took it after a bit of hesitation.

"Please forgive my ignorance... but what are you doing here?"

"Please address us with that question, Commander." Scott said.

Dima bit his lip slightly. Though he and this agent were the same rank, Scott was technically his superior, even outranking the Spartans in both rating and authority.

"To answer your question, some of the fleet has been able to make it through the portal on the outside of Requiem's surface. We followed the last known coordinates of your Prowler and followed you here."

"But why are you with us? Doesn't Section One operate better alone?"

"Miss Su has knowledge of the Dark Legion and how they operate." Baulkner explained.

Dima raised an eyebrow.

"Can you fight?" John asked after a brief silence.

"My whole life. This isn't the first time the Legion's appeared." Su explained. She tapped the shotgun on her holster. "I can handle them."

"Well, more help is always a plus." Armand said. "Chief? You good with this?"

The Spartan didn't say anything for e moment before saying evenly, "Let's get moving. You, stay behind us. If things get bad, we can deflect some of the incoming fire."

They turned towards the door. John waited until a panel appeared from the floor.

"She's going to slow us down." he told Cortana in the privacy of his helmet.

"You're not wrong, but Armand's right. We can use any help we can find."

"I'm not responsible if she takes a bullet."

"Just be your usual self and kill anything before it gets to us. Problem solved."

"Good plan. Easy to follow."

Julie-Su looked at the other ONI personnel and said, "I hope I'm not a problem."

"You're a breath of fresh air." Kim said, lifting her helmet off her head for a second to reveal her face. She winked for a second before slotting it back on and sealing it.

The echidna suddenly felt a lot more comfortable with one of her own around. Despite their genetic similarities, she still considered Humans aliens before anything else.

John keyed the gate. A swirling dark blue vortex formed in the center of the Terminus. It was large, almost twenty feet across.

The newcomers looked ready, but Su had a bit of uncertainty on her face as any civilian would. She drew her shotgun and checked the magazine before holding it at half height. "Let's do this!"

"Move out." John said beginning the march forward. Before he crossed the Terminus threshold, he noticed that Portsmouth's light had winked off.

He walked into the portal and found himself tugged by vertigo. There was no indication he actually went anywhere, and instead of bumping into a solid wall, he appeared in a strange location. Around him were rocks, crags, mountains, and canyons, but what was different was that each of these things went into the distance and started to curve. Not away from them as was normal, but up and over their heads.

The place he was in was a hollow spherical area which may have been a hundred miles across, with lines of magma running all over the surfaces, forming yellow orange lines in the distance. Cortana was right. They went deeper into the planet. Far deeper than John had thought they would. He had an odd idea of where they might be.

The other members of his group, Orlav, Kim, Armand, Baulkner, Scott, and Su, all appeared in the time he had wondered about this place.

"Welcome to Requiem's core." Cortana said. "We're approximately 4,120 miles from our entrance point."

"Core?" Julie-Su asked. "Like, the core of the planet?"

"That's impossible." Dima said. "How are we here?"

"We can worry about that later." John said. "Right now we need to find out where the cultists went off to."

It didn't take long. After ordering his group down the natural passageway from the Terminus' exit point, they found what looked like an identical camp from the entry area. However, this camp was filled with corpses - dozens of them. Legionnaires, both Human, and Mobian, covered the ground. Nearly all were still in one piece. None of their explosives went off.

"Kim. Take a look." John said.

The Spartan edged forward, rifle raised. She came to the closest body. This man's chest had numerous cables and miniature arms coming from it. His face seemed original, until she saw that his eyes were compound, like an insect's. She averted the gaze from the dead man and looked at the divot in his upper torso.

"They're getting better at this." Julie-Su grumbled. "Finitevus is using Kintobor's skill in machinery to make better implants."

"Finitevus?" Cortana asked.

"An outcast. Someone who has no business of breathing. I'm sure he's in charge."

Kim brought herself closer to the wound, getting down on one knee and peering over. A part of her was afraid the Legionnaire was going to get up and grab her, but the man was dead, if he could be called a 'man' anymore.

"That's cauterized blood, but this doesn't look like a bullet wound or plasma. It's like the burning was local, but this was still a projectile in some way."

"Hard light." Scott said.

"Oooh shit." Baulkner added.

"What does that mean?" Dima asked.

He got his answer. Around them, bright lights covered their vision. When they disappeared, strange things stood around them: several bipedal creatures with hunched backs, glowing blades, heavy plated armor, and glowing blue faces roared at them.

They were ugly, but moved with unnatural grace. Julie-Su gave a gasp of horror at them, but Scott and Baulkner knew exactly what they were looking at.

"We've got Prometheans!" Scott screamed. "Fall back! Grab some cover!"

Dima didn't need any convincing as he shouldered the Halberd and backed off, cursing in Russian.

"Kim! Get out of there!" John roared.

The Mobian Spartan was still looking at the dead Legionnaire as they phased in, and looked up and gasped just as the first Forerunner monstrosity charged towards her with blade raised. As it reached her and knocked her on her back, it's faceplate slid open, revealing a skull-like face that screamed at her.