Space E-war

[The Kingpin]

"We won't be able to deal with the Geth yet. so our little floating friend here will have to go first. Tell me, what is it the Covenent were trying to get from you?" inquired Serephir...

[dinoman666]

"Several things, actually," Mendicant replied. "They asked about the location of the Ark. Peculiar. I thought they knew. I told them, of course. They wouldn't be able to activate the station without a member of the your race, Reclaimer. However, I doubt they will be able to get to it, either." "Wait, what's the Ark?" Lissarkh asked. "The station that will activate all seven Halo Fortress Worlds simultaneously. It is, however, used only in extreme emergencies." "I doubt the Covenant care about that!" Grievous barked. "Why did you tell them where it was?!" "Because it is located in the starless space between galaxies known as dark space." Grievous sat back, eyes narrowed. "Good enough, I suppose. I certainly don't know of any starship capable of extragalactic flight."

[The Kingpin]

"Why my race? I don't know of Vardia ever having a hand in the making of the Halos or the Ark..." said Serephir, eyes narrowed...

[dinoman666]

"I apologize, Reclaimer, but I do not have that information. It is likely, however, that my makers chose the humans for their genetic diversity, or something similar," Mendicant said. "Did the Covenant ask you about the Geth, by any chance?" Grievous asked. "As a matter of fact, yes! However, I could give them no concrete information, just as I cannot give you." "But aren't the Geth Forerunner creations? Surely you know something." "I know one thing: the Geth were not true creations of my makers. They merely provided the Quarians with the necessary technology to create the Geth and let them develop on their own." "Sounds like your makers liked to meddle with other races," Lissarkh added. "To a... degree, yes," Mendicant replied simply.

[Evil Eye]

"Indeed," was all Naz'h said. "Then our business here is over. Good luck with the intruder," he finished with the ghost of a smile.
Naz'h sent a message to Kh'nez.
Beam everyone back on board, it was a hoax.
Understood, the First Mate said in reply.
Those under Naz'h's command on the shuttle seemingly disappeared, a flash of bright light following.
Simultaneously, the same happened to all his men aboard the freigher.
Appearing on the bridge of the BOM, Naz'h took a seat in the center chair once more. Setting a command into the ship using the control panel in front of him, he sat back, the ship flashing into warp speed, toward their next source and destination.

[dinoman666]

Vido rolled his eyes and cut off communications, the screen going black. "Alright," Vorhess barked, "Let's get out of here. We've got some treasure to sell!" The Blue Suns ship leaped into Hyperspace, disappearing from the system completely...

"Any other inquiries, Reclaimer?" Mendicant asked Serephir politely.

[The Kingpin]

"Considering the genetic diversity of humans, you'd think they'd be a bad choice for keys to the ultimate WMD" said Serephir as he considered things. Vardians weren't quite human as other bases of the race would be considered. Vardia's increased oxygen levels and marginally lower gravity meant that Vardians were somewhat taller than the average human, averaging at 6'-4'5''. he considered the other issues regarding the Covenent and Geth. the thought froze him however. "Grievous....do you remember who else tried to use Geth to do their bidding?" he said...

[dinoman666]

"Please, I prefer that you would call the Halo Installations by their proper name, Reclaimer," Mendicant Bias said.

Grievous nodded. "Saren, that human, and the Reaper that called itself Sovereign. Why?" He had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer, but he shook it off for now...

[The Kingpin]

"I am more worried about the latter of the three. what do we know about the Reapers so far?" said Serephir. he didn't want to say it himself in case he had misheard or in case his memory had blurred the facts...

[dinoman666]

"I'm afraid I have no information on these 'Reapers' you speak of," Mendicant said. "But aren't the Reapers Forerunner creations?" Grievous asked. "I wouldn't know," the AI responded. Grievous shrugged, then turned to Serephir. "Well, we know that the Reapers were an ancient race of sentient starships that nearly wiped out the Forerunners. The Flood and the Halos are what actually finished them off. Naturally, when I got a chance to actually speak with Sovereign, he didn't divulge much more information than that. What I do know, however, is the Reapers are certainly not big fans of organic life. I doubt the Covenant would work for them."

[The Kingpin]

"Remember Saren? Sovereign was controlling him....what if a Reaper's controlling the Covenent leadership?" said Serephir...

[dinoman666]

"True, but Saren was valuable. He was a scientist. He knew quite a bit about the Forerunners and their technology," Lissarkh hissed. "The Covenant may have revered the Forerunners in the past, but they certainly don't anymore. They barely understood them in the first place. Why would the Reapers need the Covenant to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy? I doubt they'll be able to do it by themselves, even with the Geth's help." Mendicant Bias hovered nearby, talking mostly to himself. "I do recall a major calamity among my creators that coincided with the first appearance of the Flood around 100,300 B.C.E. Interesting..."

[The Kingpin]

"Why does any general need troops? as powerful as he may be, having an army to follow their orders through is what makes the general truely powerful" said Serephir as he eyed Grievous and Mendicant...

[dinoman666]

"That's the problem. The Reapers are their own troops," Grievous replied. "There's hundreds, maybe thousands of them just waiting for a chance to reenter the galaxy. The Covenant would merely be overkill. There's also another problem. How could they possibly be controlling the Covenant leadership? They would need Ripa to at least be partially cybernetic, and as far as I could tell, that wasn't the case." Lissarkh nodded, but then replied, "True, but remember that Sovereign was using Saren before he even became a cyborg. It must have convinced him to join it, or the Reapers have some other form of mental or psychological control we don't know about."

[The Kingpin]

"Re-enter the galaxy....And where, Grievous are they since they're not in the galaxy?" said Serephir, trying to direct Grievous' attention to the most notable problem in their predicament...

[dinoman666]

"Dark space," Grievous replied. "The starless area between galaxies. At least that's what I got from Sovereign and Saren, as well as some databanks I hacked into remotely in Saren's base on Zanthoria."

[The Kingpin]

"As is the Ark" said Serephir grimly. "If the Reapers could get ahold of the location of the Ark, they'd be able to destroy all sentient life without having to fight at all" said the General as he eyed Lissarkh, Grievous, and Mendicant...

[dinoman666]

"But wouldn't they need a human to do that?" Grievous asked. "The Covenant isn't exactly human-centric." "Maybe the Reapers want to find out the location of the Ark, and they think the Covenant knows?" Mendicant turned to the trio. "Unlikely. There are no recorded coordinates to the Ark. However, there is a Slipspace portal that leads directly to the Ark." "That must be what they're looking for!" Grievous exclaimed. Turning to Mendicant, he asked, "Do you know where this portal is? Maybe we can beat them to it." "My apologies, but the data regarding the portal's coordinates seems to be missing or corrupted. Perplexing. I don't remember purging that data..."

[The Kingpin]

"By chance were you deactivated while in custody of the Covenent?" inquired Serephir...

[dinoman666]

"No, I was operating quite efficiently at the time," Mendicant replied. "It would appear that this data had been purged a significantly long time ago."