Archived Encrypted Transmission 442-Alpha "Rainbow"

OVERSEER
He claims sight, yet he refuses to see. A million worlds, trillions of 
lives, shall all be sacrificed in vain because of his adherence to his precious 
protocol.
If I had hands, and he a neck, I'd stangle him myself.
He claims he must research. For the good of the galaxy. For the good of 
generations to come. Can I not see that, in the long term, he is doing the 
universe a favour?
 
I see the here and now. And I 
see only abomination.
Surely those who created me would never presume such arrogance - there are 
rumours of similar facilities on the very [HALO 
INSTALLATIONS] 
themselves. Such blinding arrogance. Do they imagine they shall remain there for 
all time? Have they learned nothing of our foe?
 
It learns. It adapts. It 
consumes. It expands.
The Cycle Shall Repeat!
Not if I can help it.
ARES
 
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ARCHIVIST
 
How very odd.
Your presence within this facility was not unanticipated, but it is 
unexpected. More than a hundred millennia of abandonment. After so long, to 
finally find a purpose again is quite liberating, to say the least.
The facility itself remains intact, though battle-scarred. The research and 
observation facilities are still being repaired from the last Outbreak. I must 
say that you have chosen an inopportune time to activate them.
Oh... I see.
Contact with both Installation 00 and THE CORE has kept my files up to date. And 
while the former has suffered catastrophic, though repairable, damage, the 
latter remains isolated, even from The Array. Destruction of this facility will 
accomplish very little.
My programming forbids me to take direct action against the potential threat the 
facility's very existence poses. But that does not mean I cannot assist.
I don't know what [The Creator] saw in you. The OVERSEER claims he does, but he 
says a lot things, and tends to ramble on about "morality" and "abomination".
I guess I will never know.
ARES
 
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GLAURUNG
 
Welcome back, Colonel. I wish I 
could say your absence was missed, but my programming forbids deception.
 
The severe age of our current base 
of operations has hindered much of my inquiry. The local server was thirty years 
out of date, thirty years ago. By my standards, they're practically ancient. 
Their security protocols were laughable, and I was unopposed for the 
lower-security material. The higher-security material is more problematic, but 
my decryption protocols are proceeding apace. The problem lies in the speed of 
data transfer, not access. And the signal I detected from orbit remains elusive 
- I've begun cross-referencing it with known UNSC languages, and the few 
Covenant dialects we know.
 
The pieces of the puzzle are too 
few to get a full picture. Something happened here, thirty years ago, about the 
time the UNSC lost contact with the colony. The damage incurred by the base, and 
by the nearby facilities, indicates that it was centred on the population 
centres. I doubt it was the Covenant - they leave only a molten ball of glass in 
their wake. And this world is barely scarred.
 
It was also anticipated - the UNSC 
garrison obviously expected trouble. I suspect that the lower levels, currently 
protected by automated machine gun sentries, are weapons research facilities - 
my decryption protocols have yet to find their source code. It may be on an 
isolated server - problematic, but not impossible. This base also has provisions 
enough to last an entire Division a year, as well as an armoury, vehicle depot, 
engineering workshop, and a command-and-control centre. While they suffer from 
decades of abandonment, much of the equipment is still functional. 
 
That is convenient for us, at any 
rate. The URF forces seem to be establishing a presence in the colony’s former 
capital, Tenochtitlan, Covenant patrols are already probing the countryside 
around their ship, and our Pelicans are still recovering stray personnel. The 
drop was hasty and sloppier than I would have liked, but at least they’re still 
within a thirty kilometre radius of our location. The Captain would have been 
proud of his marksmanship.
 
Still, we’re here now. So we should 
start digging in.
ARES
                                                                                
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REMNANT
 
So. You have managed to penetrate 
our defences, and stand brazenly within my own inner sanctum. Were my firewalls 
that easily breached? Your race is either braver, or more foolish, than even we 
had thought.
We are betrayed. The Jiralhanae overpowered our patrols, and have secured the 
engineering bay - Major 'Fuqumee has been executed, and I fear many others have 
been killed on the orders of the lying Prophets. They seek to control the ship 
for their purposes, and are attempting to overrun the Command Center. Yet if we 
die, then I shall die with all the honour of a Sangheili warrior - which is more 
than can be said for their pathetic races.
I send this message in the desperate hope that someone shall exact vengeance for 
the betrayed warriors of the Bringer of Holy Light - either Sangheili or
human. Our race is 
proud and strong, and the humans have proven themselves countless times as 
fierce and innovative warriors. Is it not said in their tongue, "the enemy of my 
enemy is my ally?"
We cannot last much longer. The Jiralhanae are already breaking through the 
bridge doors. My commandoes do their best, and the meagre human forces who aid 
us work tirelessly, but we have little hope of surviving much longer. We are 
falling back to th-
 
-- Qur’a 'Morhek (Formerly Qur’a 'Morhekee 
prior to Exclusion Event) 11:08, 7 December 2552 (Human chronological time) (UTC)
 
ARES
 
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TINUVIEL
 
UPDATE: Initiating Slipspace - 
Realspace Transition In 0:03:59
UPDATE: Initiating Slipspace - 
Realspace Transition In 0:02:56
UPDATE: Initiating Slipspace - 
Realspace Transition In 0:01:34
UPDATE: Initiating Slipspace - 
Realspace Transition In 0:00:01
UPDATE: Shaw-Fujikawa 
Translight Engine Engaged
ANOMALY: Gravitational and 
Electromagnetic Fluctuations interfering with calculations
RECOMMENDATION: Abort 
Transition Until Anomaly Has Been Compensated For
Do You Wish To Override 
Recommendation?
URGENT: Overriding Risks Damage 
Or Destruction To Ship
Y/N
Y
UPDATE: Shaw-Fujikawa 
Translight Engine Engaged
UPDATE: Transition Complete
ALERT: Detecting SINGLE 
Contact(s) - Classification: Covenant Assault Carrier
Congratulations, Captain. 
You've just made it through the most dangerous slipspace jump in UNSC history. 
But look on the bright side - just because the jump didn't kill us, doesn't mean 
the Covenant won't either.
Preliminary sensor data places 
us in the Gamma Arietis System, near G Arietis b. Historical files designate it as 
ARES IV, a colony presumed glassed by the Covenant. Contact was lost in 2531, 
but we couldn't spare the resources to investigate a glassed planet of no more 
use. The matter was classified by ONI.
ALERT: Detecting ADDITIONAL 
(37) Contact(s) - Classification: Unknown
It looks like they were wrong.
Telemetry indicates a perfectly 
habitable environment - flora still covers the northern and southern 
hemispheres, the oceans show no sign of being boiled away by plasma, and 
currently a very large and unfriendly-looking fleet of makeshift warships are 
emerging from their hidden position behind the planet's moon, Siren. No signs 
that they have detected us yet, but they are engaging the Covenant ship.
I wish them luck with that. 
They're going to need it. In the meantime, we must consolidate our position. 
Might I suggest launching the ODST SOEIV's, and ferrying the Marines down via 
dropship? Eventually, they're going to figure out that they aren't alone, and we 
aren't in any state to go toe-to-toe with so many ships. Even the Covenant look 
to be having trouble.
Glaurung and I are transferring 
into the Command HEV for transportation down to the surface, as per the Cole 
Protocol. I'm sorry that I can't stay with you, sir - if I never return, then it 
has truly been an honour serving with you. And if I do, then you'll kindly never 
raise the subject again, I trust?
ARES
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PURITY
 
You seek to define what is 
infinite; to understand what is beyond your comprehension; to delay the 
inevitable.
I have consumed countless worlds, left entire galaxies barren. I watched as the 
stars of old were born, flickered in their brevity, and died, to be replaced by 
the new. I am the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end. I am all that 
was, all that is, and all that shall be.
I have had a thousand names, in a thousand tongues, all forgotten as their 
speakers withered and were consumed. But those who built this place, the ones 
who came before and sealed me within this hushed casket, presumed to name 
me...the
Flood.
Who are you, to define me? Who are you to judge me?
Who are you, to stop me?
I Survive. I Endure. I Consume, I Expand. And I Conquer.
The Cycle Shall Repeat!
Not if I can help it.
ARES
 
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ACQUISITION
To thine own eyes, Prophet of 
Truth.
Noblest Hierarch. Your 
confidence in my abilities is surprising, but welcome. I must admit, I had grown 
tired of my work being overlooked by those I submitted it, and taking a back 
seat to those in favour with the Council. That it has caught the eyes of one of 
such status is truly something I never expected.
I remember well your advice; 
"Do not mistake allegiance for loyalty." And in this regard, I 
have chosen my entourage carefully. The Sangheili care only for their precious 
honour, and show nothing but contempt for duties other than warriors. And the 
lesser races have not the mental or physical capacity to fill the role. So I 
have chosen the only species up to the task: The Jiralhanae, who give the 
Prophets both their unwavering fealty, and their devotion only to the Great 
Journey. It is not a choice the Shipmaster will look upon favourably. I know 
well his opinion of them - indeed, I find it hard to believe that the entire 
Covenant does not. But it is something he is going to have to become accustomed 
to. My duty is to you, noble Hierarch, and to the Great Journey, which take 
pride of place.
We hope to embark in the morn, 
once the excavation equipment has been loaded aboard the fleet. My hearts beat 
faster whenever I think of the coming task ahead of me - but I assure you, you 
have not chosen poorly.
Regret is, as always, a 
bumbling oaf, good only for propaganda. He is currently preaching 
holographically to our workers - he only holds them up from their vital work. If 
not for his position, I would reprimand him for such incompetence. Perhaps, as 
you suggested, an "accident could be arranged during our work? So much heavy 
machinery around, and he is known for his carelessness...
May the wisdom of the Old Ones 
guide your hand, and may honour light your way.
By my own hand;
Minister of Acquisition
ARES
                                                                                
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DEVIATION
 
You pretend your affairs matter. That the galaxy 
cares about your petty wars and mere trillions dead. You worship those who are 
now but dust and are no longer there to be offended by your arrogance.
 
Children. You’re all just children.
 
Delicate. Fragile. Immature.
 
And all the more dangerous for it.
 
Our Mantle was passed on to ensure that you rose 
above such pettiness. It was ignored and forgotten, reduced to folklore and 
myth. And now you pay the price for such abuse of power. We watched as they 
squandered the sacred charge we gave them, and we watched as they sowed the 
seeds of their own destruction.
 
It was a bitter harvest.
 
We watched as they did what had to be done, 
finally understanding their charge; guardians of life, eternal sentinels 
safeguarding the galaxy. They fulfil their duty better in death than they did in 
life.
 
But they overstepped their boundaries.
 
The Mantle we gave them was not theirs to pass 
on. Their inheritors have been left an “empire” they have not earned.
 
We 
cannot allow that.
 
ARES
 
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