[Alert!]
[Contact has been lost with Shield World 0459-Etran Harborage]
[Attempts to re-contact 295 Harken Watch have failed.]
[Escalating matter to Forerunner command.]
000 Tragic Solitude was alerted by this message and greatly disturbed. It had been many millennia since the Etran Harborage had reported.
Though its surface had been cleaned after the firing of the Halos, the cleansing must not have been complete for the Shield World to remain silent for so long. This requires the help of sentients; Tragic Solitude is unable to leave the Ark.
Pulling from data-banks to find millennia-old protocols, Tragic Solitude begins the process of awakening the few remaining residents of the Ark. Though many Forerunners remained in small communities, they do not fully remember their past heights, unlike a certain few.
Once that begins, Tragic Solitude goes to personally witness the reactivation of the Shadow Fleet. Despite its long history of burning Flood and reseeding planets, the fleet was much smaller than what its reputation would suggest.
The Shadow Fleet was slowly coming back online as Tragic Solitude awoke the descendants of the original crew. Going along the way of what the fleet's commander wished, Tragic Solitude began with the smaller ships.
The Infinity-Class Frigates were truly strange vessels.
From stern to prow, the four vessels were each 5,694.2 Meters long. Not too big, and not too small. Though not the strongest frigate ever made by the Ecumene, it was by far the most balanced.
It, of course, had an armament of 100 light mass fusillade cannons, as well as six converging beam cannons. That was standard, and only that. For some odd reason, the fleet's commander stressed again and again that each ship had a massive magnetic accelerator cannon running along the spine of the ship.
Despite not normally using such a primitive weapon, the Builder did as the commander ordered. It, of course, meant the ships had to be made around the cannon, but the commander was more than pleased with the results.
The records also show how useful they were in destroying Flood hives without destroying entire planets.
Alongside these 'MAC Cannons,' as the Commander called them, were well over a thousand different types of missile launch bays. Why the Commander wished to use such archaic weapons was beyond Tragic Solitude, but they worked well enough.
For point defense, the ships had nearly three thousand different weapon platforms. From Ecumene beam weapons to more archaic weapons, such as smaller mass drives placed all over the ship.
Why the Commander wished to blend the various technologies was beyond Tragic Solitude, but it awoke the four vessels regardless. Each ship would then awaken its ancilla before the Princeps arrived to check one final time.
The only saving grace for these ships was the names. Infinity, Hopeful, Star Chaser, Creative. Except for the last one, the Commander likely named that one.
As the frigates slowly cycled through the process of coming online, Tragic Solitude checked to be sure the Navarchs and Princeps were returning to real space with no problem. Though Ecumene technology was impressive, it was not often that sentients spent so many millennia away from reality. It was unnatural.
There was nothing to worry about, however. Lifeworkers were already present and checking the crew to establish that no long-term effects had surfaced. If the Shadow Fleet was about to enter combat, the last thing they needed was a faulty Navarch or Princeps.
Satisfied that the crew was getting proper attention, Tragic Solitude floated towards the flagship of the fleet, the Vengeful. There was no doubt in Tragic Solitude's circuits; the Commander had named his ship that way for a reason.
The ship itself was a brutal, ugly thing when compared to the ships Builder normally created. Even then, it had been formed from a design seed, and heavily modified after that. Even from a distance, Tragic Solitude could see the massive MAC Cannon on the ship, almost as large as an Infinity-Class Frigate.
For armaments, the Vengeful was armed like a Sojourner-Class Dreadnought, at least before the Commander added things. A small portion of what was added includes nearly a thousand smaller mass drivers and another two thousand assorted point defense weapons.
Three thousand different missile arrays scattered around the ship. Dozens of assemblers within the ship to make anything it needed on the move, nearly triple the amount of its Warrior-Servant complement, and to top it all off? A horrid paint scheme.
"Of all the colors, why this bright, burning gold!" Tragic Solitude couldn't help but mutter aloud as it began the process of awakening this monstrosity. Despite its grumblings, the Vengeful had more than proved its power both before and after The Cleansing.
It had done everything from indexing to combat to relief work when Lifeworkers found themselves run ragged and without supplies. That wasn't often, but the Vengeful was usually capable of helping when needed.
This wasn't what made the Vengeful special, however. No, what made the Vengeful special was not the crew, nor the weapons, nor its Mantle-accursed paint. It was its Ancilla and its Commander.
The Vengeful contained enough space for two Contender-Class Ancilla; one slot was already filled by a third of the now-reformed Mendicant Bias. Its other parts had disappeared with time. The other slot was left vacant; the Commander always said it was not yet time.
Despite the many worries that came to mind with giving even a fraction of Mendicant Bias control over ships, the Ancilla had proven to be more than helpful as it helped tear through Flood Burns.
Both the IsoDidact and the Commander had set much of the galaxy aflame before the reseeding work began; Mendicant Bias had apparently given the best ways to destroy the Flood, and it had worked exceedingly well.
As for the owner of the Vengeful and its fleet? The Commander was little to look at, actually. With most Forerunners towering nearly a full meter taller than him, one would think the Commander was nothing more than a weak lesser species. You'd be dead wrong to think so.
Commander Shadow, as he was called by the fourth generation of Shadow Fleet crew, was much stronger than he would appear physically. Ancient records from before the Cleansing report the Commander soaring through the vacuum itself.
Though not the most groundbreaking feat in Forerunner history, it was noted that the Commander was capable of doing this without armor, long before the fleet had even been constructed.
From then on, the records conflict. Some say the Commander was capable of going from Maethrillian, the old capital, to Erde Tyrene, which was nearly on the other side of the galaxy, through the void without aid.
Having met the Commander even before becoming a Monitor, Tragic Solitude knew this to be a fact. That still did not make the feat any less impressive. Most Forerunner armor let the wearer survive in the vacuum unaided for nearly a year.
Commander Shadow had flown through space for nearly a month with no armor, no oxygen, and no food. Despite this, the records are very clear. Commander Shadow never engaged the Flood with his physical being.
This was stressed again and again in the naval academy since not many still knew the horrors of the Flood War. Tragic Solitude remembered, however, and never changed that part of the curriculum.
No matter how the teachers and others whined, Tragic Solitude made sure every single Forerunner living on this installation understood the threat the Flood posed, and why all must be wiped out. Down to the last atom.
Tragic Solitude was roused from its musing when the Navarchs of the Vengeful passed by it. The ship's current Princeps briefly nodded to the Monitor before moving on, as Tragic Solitude floated towards the last part of its journey today.
Despite his many accomplishments, many did not like it when they discovered that Commander Shadow, leader of the last Forerunner fleet, was not a Forerunner. Many had tried to murder him out of a misguided sense of arrogance; both they and their teachers suffered for this.
Tragic Solitude always made sure to keep their names well known, for Commander Shadow would personally kill anyone who disturbed his rest. Ask how Tragic Solitude knew?
Once Tragic Solitude had passed the various checkpoints manned by the Commander's attendants, it began the long process of awakening him. It was longer than it took for the others of the fleet, but was really only a few hours.
As the Cryptum slowly opened, the Commander stepped out into real space for the first time in millennia and looked very annoyed.