PART ONE

LUMINARY

Chapter One

Hestia System

Meridian, Moon of Hestia V Gas Giant

Suburb of Virgo City, Sector 6

March 26th, 2548

Approximately 0600 hours

Dawn rose over the city of Virgo as the sun penetrated the thin clouds and cascading its warmth throughout the valley. Towers stood tall scrapping against the blue sky, their windows reflecting the morning light. The crisp morning breeze came from the snow-caped mountains to the north sweeping against the grasslands and pushing the morning dew into the city. Surrounding the main infrastructure in a perfect circle were gates that separated the workspace, government buildings and neighborhoods into Sectors. The Sectors opened and closed the same time every day creating a steady lifestyle for the community. Virgo was a mining town as it supplied the United Nations Space Command with metals and materials at a steady rate. Sure, there was violence and law breakers but that’s what the military was there for. The UNSC had an outpost in every Sector that monitored everything within the unit. There weren’t as many soldiers walking around these days though, they were fighting the war with the Covenant.

Virgo neighbored several other cities that spread across the southern coast. Uma, a farmer’s town, settled east against the morning sun, and Gilroy to the west was more of a production town than anything else followed by the hundreds of settlements throughout the super continent known as Torrent. While Uma supplied the county with fresh foods, Gilroy handled the manufacturing of almost all vehicles, weapons and top of the line gadgets including top secret prototypes held by both the UNSC and its questionable branch Office of Naval Intelligence. Obviously, the city was supervised by the UEG (Unified Earth Government) but no one complained if they were left alone.

The people on Meridian didn’t like the presence of ONI or the UNSC, after all the planet used to be independent of the UEG but the Human-Covenant War was egregious. With the abundance of resources on the planet, the UNSC was able to provide a defense grid that spanned the entire planet. It comprised of Frigates, Anchors and Hyperion Class vessels. If or when the Covenant would decide to attack, the UNSC would hold them off for a time but the inevitably of planets glassing rested heavy on the people. The citizens of the Outer Colonies spoke of their opinion about the Covenant and how they were “a bunch of weak aliens that overpower the even more weak UNSC” Meridians citizens felt different, but the truth was that humanity, as whole, was terrified that for once they were the prey.

Light reached through Ethan’s window as he lay on his bed against the wall. He opened his eyes feeling the morning sun on his face. Warm, he thought. After his episode, last night, it was a nice feeling to know his planet wasn’t gone…yet. He lifted the covers off himself and began to get dressed for the day. “Good morning, Ethan.” The house AI announced herself. “Morning, Zena.” Zena’s hologram stood on a pedestal built into the wall next to the bedroom door. Each room in the house had a pedestal for her to present herself if need be but most of the time, she only expressed herself in such ways around Ethan. Even though she could feel no real emotion Zena was built to help children with everyday life when the parents weren’t around. With an understanding of children behaviors, insecurities and instability with traumatic situations, this gave her an understanding of how to approach Ethan about his dreams and it kept the two of them close...usually.

“I heard you last night, is there anything you would like to talk about?” Zena asked, her voice sincere. Ethan hesitated for a moment thinking about how real it felt and didn’t even know how to explain it to her. “It felt real, Z.” He began, quiet. “I felt the pain this time and I was scared. I was living in it, not observing it like I usually do.” Zena’s expression saddened, knowing she couldn’t comfort him as much as she wanted to. “Did you notice any details? Anything that could tell you where you were?”

“Yes.” Ethan said. “Virgo was glassed by the Covenant.” He turned and met her gaze. “I was running away from the destruction when I noticed I was being followed…” “Glassed” Zena thought. It was true that when the Covenant burned planets the surface would turn to glass but the term was used most often as a finality of some sort, so she understood it and decided against any reasoning she was going to propose. “Are you ok?”

“I don’t know.” Ethan shook his head. “they’re getting worse and feeling more real as time goes by and I can’t help but be afraid of it happening.” He rubbed his head and turned to Zena who then gave him her attention. “What if its real? What if I’m really seeing how this planet will be glassed?” She understood his reasoning. She could explain to him millions of reasons as to why someone would think it possible. Matter of fact, it was a probability; inevitable if humanity didn’t find a way to defend themselves. Rather than giving that kind of rationality to a 10-year-old, she toyed with the two percent uncertainty. “Dreams can often seem or feel real, Ethan. It’s how you learn to separate reality from fantasy that matters.” Zena said.

Ethan stared out his window watching the other kids leave their houses for school. He was frustrated and confused. An AI like Zena would be able to acknowledge how evident an attack on Meridian would be, yet she seems disconnected. It’s like she chose to play naive and treat him like a child…I am a child, he thought. Ethan nodded slightly, “You’re right Z; dreams are fiction.” He grabbed his backpack and casually left the room. Zena kept her hologram still a little longer listening to him leave. She knew she hurt him. It was her calculated side that figured it was better than telling him the truth. Though she couldn’t say for certain, the likelihood of his dreams coming true and the attack on Meridian, his subconscious is preparing himself for the imminent death. AI’s aren’t built to be hopeful, they’re built to be realistic, above all, accurate. Understanding emotion and being able to experience it are two different things. She knew she needed to find a way to explain that to Ethan not that it would make a difference.

The bus door opened, and Ethan walked on, located a seat next to Josh and sat down. Josh was Ethan’s closest friend. He lived a few blocks away and they hung out all the time. Their parents worked together, and they had family dinners sometimes even barbeques. Ethan loved those. Josh finished his conversation with the person behind him and turned to Ethan. “How’s it going, dude?” his voice pitched high for a moment; he covered his mouth. “Sorry about that” he quieted. Ethan smiled deciding on how he was going to bring up his dream for what felt like the millionth time.

“I’m good, I just…” he paused for a moment feeling guilty, Josh waited patiently. “I had another dream, it was about Meridian this time.” Ethan tried to explain.

Josh dropped his shoulders and lowered his head. “The planet you dreamed of last was glassed a few months ago, right?” he asked quietly that way no one else would hear and intrude.

“Yeah, I think so. That was a while ago, I don’t remember everything” Ethan breathed rubbing his head. “I just have a feeling like they’re trying to tell me something.”

“Well given your track record with these dreams” He paused a moment. “You have every right to think that.” Thinking it will happen and knowing it was going to happen never occurred to Josh until now. The feeling was dreadful, full of despair. “What I’m saying is I feel like I’m experiencing a vision.”

“You mean premonition” Sierra said as she forcefully scooted into the seat with Ethan and Josh.

“Don’t do that” Josh hissed “You about gave me a heart attack.” He finished rubbing his hand through his blonde hair. “What?” Sierra said raising an eyebrow. “Are you afraid that someone is going to hear you? Everyone on this bus knows about Ethan and his dreams.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean we need to exercise that every time I have one.” Ethan’s tone carried over Sierra. She slouched and folded her arms.

“I’m sorry I just don’t understand why we have to keep talking about this.” She sat back up and turned toward them. “I looked it up last night, what your experiencing most people would consider to be a premonition. It means you dream or visualize the events of something yet to come.” Sierra explained as she pulled up reports on her tablet.

“Every person throughout history that has experienced something like this never said anything until it had already happened leaving most people to believe it a myth or lie.” Sierra waved away the reports as the bus monitor walked by.

The three of them smiled diligently up at the woman. She in return smiled back and carried on with her inspection. As Sierra turned her head and faced him, Ethan realized how pretty she looked today. Her black hair was straight with a red band and a red flower placed just behind her left ear. Her blue eyes glistened in the sunlight reflected off the buildings as the bus passed them. “You ok” she asked, blushingly. Ethan realized he was staring at her and pulled his eyes away. “Yeah, daydreaming is all.” Josh smiled at the comment knowing full heartedly Ethan had a crush on her. He knew because Ethan had told him a year ago, around the same time he started having the dreams. Josh told him several times to tell Sierra but Ethan knew better than to express any type of affection, his parents would not be happy about it.

“As I was saying,” Sierra continued, scrolling through her tablet. “Premonitions have been logged throughout human history, sometimes occurring as instinct when feeling threatened by something and other times pure randomness.”

Ethan nodded slightly thinking his fear of the Covenant might have been causing the dreams. “So, what you’re suggesting is that I stop thinking about…you know who?” He asked.

“Yeah or try not to let them get in the way of your everyday life. I mean, we all do have pretty good here. There hasn’t been a terrorist attack in years.” Sierra confirmed.

Josh leaned against the window as the bus pulled up to the school. Located in Sector 6, and six stories high, Keddler Middle School was one of the few buildings that was build using UNSC architecture. The sleek reflective metal coated the outer walls while the soft lighter metal coursed the hallways and classrooms. Though the coolest part to Josh and his friends were the touchscreen desks that stored all the assignments and homework reports. Every morning they would sit at their desk and swipe their homework from their tablet to the desk and it would save and store all the data and grade it. Teachers still chose to verify the work but Josh thought that just to be them trying to feel useful, not that they weren’t. It seemed like every job these days was done by an AI or robot so to think teaching is still a profession was a surprise to him.

“Great, school.” Ethan exhaled. Sierra looked at him and patted his back. “If anyone gives you crap today, I’ll punch them for you, sound good?” she winked. Ethan rolled his eyes. “I don’t need you to defend me I can fight just fine.”

“Which is why no one ever picks on you. “Josh said as everyone on the bus stood. “Right, because that worked the last time one of my dreams spread across the school.” Ethan said sardonically as he stood with Sierra in the hallway; Josh joined. Everyone wore the same type of clothing. Even though they were still uniform, they varied in skirts, shorts, pants, long and short sleeve shirts and jackets. Diversity was still very much supported on Meridian so everyone could wear what they wanted if it had the bar code. Each top-half uniform clothing had a bar code across the left breast that was scanned every time the student entered school, ate at lunchtime and left school. It ensured that he or she were there that day and fed. Those who missed school had to have very good reasons seeing as getting sick wasn’t as prominent as it once was.

All the children marched off the bus. One by one each students bar code was scanned and they were escorted into the school by the bus monitor. Ethan and his friends entered the school where they headed straight for the cafeteria. Six large rows of benches stretched across the southern side and a small cement wall separated the line for food and the benches. There wasn’t much color to anything in the school. Everything was “I hope they have something good today, I’m starving.” Josh said rushing past Ethan and Sara. Ethan sluggishly walked up to the plates, got in line and looked behind him. Sierra was few spots down waiting patiently and Josh was one of the first in line. Ethan was comfortable where he was. He didn’t want to be at school but the food sounded just fine. All he could think about was the dream and how every time he had one it felt like he was being rebooted, like the real world wasn’t familiar anymore and he was learning everything over again. This time, obviously, affected him more. He usually played it off like nothing happened and brought it up with his friends when he found the time but now he literally couldn’t even concentrate on the smallest of things.

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“Move, Foster” A voice came from behind Ethan as he was shoved to the side. The boy was tall and large with brown hair. It wasn’t a social norm to be fat, or heavy set. Most adults would just turn a blind eye or pretend you didn’t exist but kids were horrendous. Most would call you names, others would throw things at you and some even would beat you up, depending on how fat you were; those kids would look at you like a bunching bag and think nothing of it. No one picked on Kevin, though. Yes, he was large but when he knocked out a 6th grader the year before he was left alone. Since then, he picked on kids, and not even the fat ones. He just picked on other kids for the sake of it. This year, Ethan was his favorite.

“Hey Kev.” Ethan said, brushing off his shoulder as if he was getting rid of any germs Kevin might have put there. Kevin’s expression soured. “We’re not friends, you don’t address me.” He yelled as he turned around to confront Ethan, who stood in place unintimidated. Ethan didn’t make contact, he refused. If Kevin tried anything it would be fight, whether Ethan would win was up in the air but he would make sure Kevin or any of his accomplices wouldn’t mess with him again.

“Get out of my face, Kevin.” Ethan said calmly. “What’s that!?” Kevin yelled again, the line began to surround the two. “You want me to move?.” He breathed. Ethan held his breath and took a step back and looked at Kevin. “I’m hungry and your holding up the line, can you please just get your food.”

“Yeah, I think I will” Kevin said, broadening is shoulders as he turned around. Everyone was staring at Ethan and he could feel it. When he looked up he saw Sierra in the back of the crowd frowning. Josh was in the front staring at Kevin as if he were a parasite. Ethan walked up behind Kevin as if nothing happened. The line moved forward and he noticed there were breakfast sandwiches with eggs and bacon. He grabbed two and put them on his plate and continued down the line. Once he gathered all the food he wanted and looked around for Josh then sat next to him.

“I swear if Kevin hits you again, I’m going all out.” Josh said, aggressively biting into his sandwich. Kevin had sat on another table adjacent to theirs and was staring intently at the two of boys as Sierra sat down. Ethan sighed and began to eat his food. “Does anyone know about my dream?” He asked.

“I’m certain someone on the bus heard me talking to you guys. Sorry I can’t keep my mouth shut.” Ethan’s eyebrows raised. “Are you ok?” he asked setting his sandwich down. Sierra shook her head and immediately blew up on him. “I just don’t understand why you don’t stand up for yourself.” Ethan slouched in his seat and Josh smiled at him. “Don’t laugh!” She hissed at Josh. “I’m serious, if you keep letting him push you around he’s eventually going to fight you. Your antagonizing the inevitable.”

“In other words,” Josh smirked “I like you and don’t want you to be pushed around like that, Ethan.” He mocked her. Sierra glared at him and turned to eat her food. Ethan ate his food thinking of what to say. It’s not like he going to stand there and do nothing, if Kevin had struck him he would have regretted it. Still, Sierra was right. Ethan told her he would stand up to Kevin the last time he crossed the line and instead he took a punch and told his parents that he fell. Obviously, he lied and he was grounded for that.

Schools didn’t tolerate violence. Sure, bullying was around and very common, especially in the Outer Colonies, but violence was left with the UNSC. Meridian considered itself different from the other colonies and that meant laws were a little harsh. So, when Kevin’s parents were approached the District they threatened to expel him if his behavior didn’t change. He’s done well in the last few weeks but Ethan knew if Kevin started the fight rather than the other way around, he would be expelled for certain. “If you touched the burner and it burned you, its ok, you didn’t know it was hot. But the second time? You knew.” Kevin was a time bomb and Ethan knew it.

“I didn’t back down, did I?” He said. Sierra rolled her eyes and looked at him as if he were contagious. “And you didn’t stand up to him either. You were standing there looking like you were ready to take another beating—I’m sorry, I can’t stand by and watch my friend get his butt kicked because he won’t fight back.”

“I would have fought back, I won’t throw the first punch though.” Ethan butted in. “You said that last time.” Sierra finished before she grabbed her sandwich and took a bite out of it, continuing to look forward. Ethan noticed she was staring and turned to see what at when Kevin abruptly sat across from him. Josh put his sandwich down and wiped off his hands. Kevin shot him a glanced and smirked then turned his attention to Ethan. “Liam tells me you had another dream.” He said. Ethan looked at Sierra who concentrated on Kevin; Josh sniffed. “Dreams normal people have.” Ethan said.

“What are you saying, I’m not normal? Ha!” Kevin slammed his hand on the table. “Your right I don’t dream about my planet being glassed by the Covenant and go around telling everyone about it. I dream about breaking your face it for doing it.” He quietened.

“Go away, Kevin.” Ethan said. A punch came across the table and hit him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Ethan’s eyes watered. He couldn’t see anything for a moment and then suddenly everything was clear. He looked around realizing he was on the floor. When he looked up at his friends, Kevin was standing there. He lifted his foot and stepped on Ethan’s chest. The pain was so intense he was sure a rib might have cracked or even broke. He rolled to his side and tried getting up when another kick to the stomach sent him flying into the cement wall divider. Kevin gloated in the glory as other kids gathered around. Josh attempted to strike Kevin from behind when Liam and Michael grabbed him and held him back. Feeling the most intense pain ever, Ethan managed to stand and noticed Sierra still sitting at the table facing away from the fight. He raised his hands and stood his ground. Kevin smiled and went to run at him when he was shot in the chest by a beanbag gun. Ethan watched as Kevin rolled on the floor and the school police gathered around him. Suddenly, Ethan felt strange and his vision narrowed. He looked around manically as everything he could see faded away.

“I dream about breaking your face in for it.” Kevin said. Ethan looked at him intently realizing he knew Kevin would hit him. “Go away, Kevin.” Ethan said as he raised his hand and caught Kevin’s fist. Everyone around him including Kevin looked astonished. Ethan twisted Kevin’s hand and he squealed and stood up trying to swing at Ethan but miraculously he could see it coming before it happened. He stopped the incoming blow with his other hand, leaped on the table and kicked Kevin to the floor. “I said leave, now.” Ethan said, looking around to see everyone was watching. Kevin stood rubbing his wrist and tackled Ethan off the table and on the floor. When he lifted his arm to punch him, Ethan’s sense of time slowed and he was aware of where the punch was going to land. He raised his hand again catching another fist and punched Kevin as hard as he could, sending him to the floor.

Ethan jumped to his feet and was startled when he realized he wasn’t in the cafeteria anymore. Frigid air reached his lungs and he grabbed his chest feeling dizzy. He leaned on a metallic panel that had intricate designs. It was cold at the touch. The grey metal was unlike anything he had ever seen. It reflected almost naturally but seemed artificial. He looked around and found himself standing in the center of a platform which displayed a hologram of the entire known galaxy. The hologram was suspended over twenty feet and it was projected from the center floor which was translucent to the naked eye. Only the center platform was lit up Footsteps came from his left loud and heavy just like in his dream. Ethan froze feeling the same gut wrenching fear he had in his dream. Slowly he turned around to find what was surely an Elite walking past him. It didn’t notice me. He thought, confused. The Elite must have been almost ten feet tall and as thick as a large couch. His armor was a dark reflective metal contrast to the metal throughout the room. Its armor was unique from what Ethan knew about Elites. This Elite was dressed in what seemed like exotic attire. Each separate plate had markings that didn’t resemble anything Ethan recognized. Its elegance was in the shape which ran along his elongated arms and legs. It was truly astonishing to Ethan.

The armor clanked together with each step the Elite took until he stopped in front of panel that lit up upon his arrival. It turned around to face another being passing Ethan. This one was lanky in size and wrinkly like a raisin. Its ears were covered by long appendages that dangled when It looked up the Elite. Its head was oval shaped and on it sat a golden crown. In the center was small hologram of a ring. Beneath the being was a thrown or chair that hovered. Its thrusters emitted energy that moved the air in waves creating a mirage underneath it. The being began to speak and Ethan noticed immediately that it was foreign but as it spoke the language was translated and he could understand it.

“So, this is the Luminary.” Its voice was defiantly masculine, vigorous, but also soft on tone.

“Yes, Holy One.” Said the Elite. Its voice rattled Ethan’s insides, heavy, deep and carried such malign emotion. Ethan identified them both as male.

“Can we active it?” the Holy one asked, his arms raised off the chair almost as if he was praising it.

The Elite lifted his hand, in it was a bloody human arm. “Yes, we can.” His voice reverberated throughout the room.

He placed the hand on the panel and the hologram grew ten times in scale engrossing the circumference of the room. At the center was large circular construct with several extended platforms—seven by Ethan’s count. Surrounding the immense object were smaller planet like objects. He stared intently noticing intricate design reminiscent of the room he was in. they’re artificial, He thought. Most noticeable were large rings that varied in size. Each one had a surface like a planet and rotated around a single gas giant. Ethan was stunned and overwhelmed at the same time. He couldn’t comprehend everything he was seeing.

Lights fluttered around him and he was slowly coming back to reality. Desperate, he fought the urge and focused on what he was witnessing. The Holy One clenched his hands and the hologram moved and rotated to his command until it settled on a planet. This one Ethan could tell was real due to the oceans that surrounded continents. Near the ocean on one of the mid-sized continents was an immense structure buried beneath the ground. The Holy One gasped and enlarged the image until you could see every detail of the structure.

“This is it,” He said, exhausted. “This is the Portal.” The Elite looked up at the image bemused, mystified.

The half circular structure sat in the ground. Panels spread around it with hinges at the base of each one indicating that they opened outward. In the center beneath the panel was hollow—a casting for a ship. It shaped a ship the Elite was familiar with; the Dreadnaught. He opened his mandibles several times as if he were to say something but then cocked his head to the side; he didn’t know what to say. Suddenly the hologram faded and the Luminary closed. The Holy One, distraught, dropped his arms. “You received the information, yes?” he asked the Elite who was holding a purple devise. The front of it displayed several coordinates and images of planets until it stopped on one. The device made a noise and highlighted the coordinates. “Coordinates are set, sire.”

The Holy One sat there for a moment looking around sporadically and then made way for the exit.

“Destroy it, that way the humans never learn of it.” He said, slightly sounding afraid.

The Elite ordered other smaller creatures to set the charges. They were about the height of Ethan and had a hard like shell on their backs. They resembled a walking turtle. The Holy One hovered by Ethan, the craft hummed loudly. his hands were clasped together with a depraved smile. “We’re leaving, Arbiter” He said rotating around. “And bring your armada with, we have much to do.” He finished with almost a whisper. The Arbiter nodded “As you wish”. His back straightened and he made a grunt that hurried the smaller ones.

Ethan hadn’t thought of walking until now; he moved his right foot to take a step. The sensation was odd, he felt as if he was submerged under water yet he could breathe. He turned to follow the Holy One and looked back double checking to see if the others had notice him move then proceeded. At the end of the room was a huge door, light shinned through reflecting off all surfaces. He wondered where he was and what he was going to find when we reached outside. The light dimmed and objects came into view; The sky was dark. The city off in the distance wasn’t familiar due to its state but he noticed just outside of it was a UNSC base unlike anything he had ever seen. It was destroyed beyond recognition except the large lettering on the side. Four Covenant Cruisers were stationed in the sky, each one was slightly closer to the ground then the last. The closest one nearly covered the entire sky. It was enormous. The white body extended further than he could see and the bow was almost unnoticeable due to the smoke from the city. A large maroon craft descended from the sky and hovered above the Holy One.

A translucent curtain of light witha tint of purple beamed down enclosing him. A light appeared from the center of the lifted The Holy One upward. Ethan heard the stories of the Covenant technology but seeing it in person, or something of the like, was nothing less of astonishing. The crafts crescent shape was distinct and he knew he recognized it but couldn’t put at name to it. As the craft began its accent, dirt picked up and swirled around the antigravity boosters and then dropped when it left. began its accent Behind Ethan came the Arbiter and his squad. The Luminary exploded and the hill it was located under collapsed. Another craft, the exact same as the one that picked up the Holy One, arrived. The Arbiter stopped briefly, clenched his hands and smelled the air as his squad lifted into the craft. He turned and looked in Ethan’s direction. Ethan froze, confused how the Elite could smell him at all. 'll

The Arbiter’s glare was interrupted by a loud crack that stretched across the sky followed by a deep, loud hum. They both looked upward to see lights at the bottom of a Carrier. Located near the belly was a bright light. It traveled along the belly until it reached a channeling point just below the bow; it was preparing to fire. Ethan didn’t notice the Arbiter had rushed to the craft and flew away, he was caught in a trance. Particles in the air weaved together almost like a mist, circulating the opening, increasing intensity. The hum grew louder, purple and blue lights flickered like lightning as it became a dense cloud. It looked like a storm was taking place beneath the Carrier.

Brusquely, the hum was silenced as the blue beam struck the earth, shaking and cracking the crust for miles. Ethan felt the shockwaves and fell to his hands. He watched as a wave of dirt and plasma consumed everything in its path. Before it reached him, he felt pain. A sharp jab to the chest shot more pain that coursed throughout his body and his vision faded.

“Ethan wake up, honey. Stay with me.” A woman’s voice pulsated throughout Ethan’s skull. Her blurry image was backed up by another painful burst running threw his body. His head began to throb erratically, everything was becoming unbearable and then he felt like he was relaxing. Slowly, second by second he was feeling more and more relaxed and then he opened his eyes.