Shadowfall: PRECURSOR

The wind screamed and searched any crevice for purchase as it tried to barge its way inside. N'Kulto Nkhamm held perfectly still listening to the howling wind as it pressed against the Oracle's massive library trying to find a way in but the fully functional energy doors held it at bay. N'Kulto felt a bit out of place here, he had been raised as a soldier but was no more than a simple errand runner for the Oracle of this facility. After their intial shaky treaty with the humans was forged, Elite command had sent N'Kulto and several of his brothers in arms to secure various forerunner structures scheduled by the covenant to be ransacked but were put on hold after the Halos had been discovered. With the war long over and the Covenant dissolved with its members preoccupied with infighting, these facilities had been long forgotten and there existence withheld from the humans. N'Kulto had found this "library" fully operational and being maintained by K7-49 or the Oracle as N'Kulto referred to him. The long dormant AI had began restoring the facility to full power after the failsafe was activated by the first HALO and all structures were activated. This library housed all the star charts of the Forerunners and had been a sort of observatory for them as they charted the endless reaches of space. But today N'Kulto was more interested in hearing about a specific facility and its location. He had discovered it while panning through the endless charts and had seen some very interesting references, "Powerful tool", "Handle with Care", and "Danger" were just a handful of words that told N'Kulto that this would be worth checking out and may very well serve as his way back into normal soldier ranks.

" I have the information you seek, it took me some time aquiring it, but I am most pleased to be of assistance"

"I am pleased to see you this day N'Kulto NKhamm, son of Ibris NKhamm of the third order" the Oracle chimed cheerfully " I have the information you seek, it took me some time aquiring it, but I am most pleased to be of assistance"
"Yes, you have done well Oracle. Was any of the information fruitful?" N'Kulto replied "Unknown N'Kulto NKhamm, I have not been programmed to seek inherent worth in information, merely the value of maintaining it and keeping it organized." "I understand Oracle, if you would, transfer the date to one of the main terminals and I will review it" "Transmitting now N'Kulto NKhamm."

N'Kulto believed the gods truly smiled in his favor this day, not only was the information very valuable, the report itself gave the location of a device if employed could disable all electronic devices within a three planet radius. This information and device would most assuradly secure N'Kulto a place on Shipmaster D'Vronon's Vessel. " I am sorry Oracle, but I must take my leave. I am needed elsewhere. You have been a most diligent and worthy companion these past months and I will miss our talks greatly" N'Kulto lied. "Oh my, it is a shame to see you go N'Kulto NKhamm son of Ibris NKhamm of the third order. I do hope you will return when able, the years do go by quite slowly while I work alone" "I will return Oracle, and will bring additional helpers for you" N'Kulto lied again. It was easier to shower the AI with praise and false promises than tell it the truth. For an artificial intelligence, it was extremely needy.

N'Kulto allowed himself one more sidelong glance at the library before he climbed aboard the banshee and headed to his ship. N'Kulto wasn't necessarily unique by standard size dimensions, but the suit of armor he wore caused him to look very imposing and almost like a predator on the hunt, which was exactly what he was. He stalked down the corridor using the milky darkness to his advantage as he surveyed the situation. He had arrived on the planet less than two cycles ago and had been checking countless Forerunner stations ever since. This station was however very different. It was occupied by humans, not merely humans but Spartans. N'Kulto knew he would not be able to explain his appearance there and him being caught could very well trigger the end of the treaty between the Elites and the Humans, which would definitely not get him the desired return he was hoping for. Instead of his instinct to simply attack and kill these two Spartans who had setup camp on one side of the facility, N'Kulto had opted to use stealth and take inventory of the facility. He was mostly sure he had found the device but was unsure as to how he would get it out of the facility unnoticed.

"Pvt.Bosely seemed very out of place in Spartan armor, he was more of an egghead than a jarhead but was still a crack shot when it came down to it"

"Delta Four to Delta Base over?" the private chirped unenthusiastically on his comms "Delta Base to Delta Four, you're a go" "Just reporting in, nothing to report however. Sir if I may be bold, when are Delta Three and I going to be relieved, with the infighting on the outer colonies babysitting a forerunner derelict seems to be a waste of resources." "Stow it spartan, Brass ordered us to babysit so we will babysit until relieved. Suck it up, you'll get to put your life at risk soon enough, Delta Base over and out" the comm clicked off without waiting for Diggs to reply. "Damn it, now I know how those paper pushers feel."
Diggs, had been a member of Delta squad since the spartan program had been reactivated a couple years ago. As the colonies began to return and be rebuilt, insurrectionists once again rose up looking to separate themselves from the UNSC citing the Covenant war as their reason for wanting autonomy. Since the civil war had broken out, Diggs and his squad had been assigned to this backwater planet boasting forerunner "treehouses" as Diggs called them to protect the structures, but they had recieved no additional information. Bosely, Diggs' squadmate was much happier to be here than Diggs was. Pvt.Bosely seemed very out of place in Spartan armor, he was more of an egghead than a jarhead but was still a crack shot when it came down to it. Sgt. Farnsworth and Pvt. Biggsley were at another of the "Treehouses" performing similar guard duty. As Diggs settled back down to scan the radio channels for any unauthorized chatter, he caught a glint of movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to see what had moved, he saw nothing and assumed one of those damn swamp bats had just swooped too close and had continued on its way.

N'Kulto silently chided himself for being so bold as to move about the Spartans base camp when his back wasn't completly turned towards him. As the Spartan spun around to look in his direction, N'Kulto remained perfectly still and heard him mutter something about swamp bats. N'Kulto didn't dare chance another instance with the Spartan so he quickly stepped back the way he came and determined he'd find another route to the otherside of the facility. He was further curious that the Spartan didn't want to be here, he concluded that this soldier might not have been informed of the value of this device, which would work in N'Kulto's favor.

A familar pain

Doubled over by the pain inside me, my mind screamed at me to move but I was left inert, unable to move. You think all your life that if and when death comes you'll be able to face it like a man, look it square in the eyes and say nonchalantly "What took you so long?", but my end was far less cinematic and much more extreme terror as I screamed before the bubbling coppery taste choked off my air and I fell to the floor twitching.
"What took you so long?"
As I lay there thinking about all the things I should have said or done my mind devolved in one repeating track "Help me, oh god help me!" but then I remembered I had told him to go to hell just a few minutes earlier.