Halo: The Ark of Truth
Ninth Age of Reclaimation
Covenant Assault Cruiser Righteous Truth
Tark Rammesee made his way to the control room of the Covenant cruiser Wrath of Regret. He entered to see the Sangheili at their stations. The functions of the cruiser were operating normally. He takes his seat in the gravity throne then looks around the dimly lit purple room. He was the shipmaster of this vessel. His rank was signified by his gold armor. Tark was a resilient commander, he ran a tight command. A red clad Sangheili, signifying he was a major in the Covenant, left his post and approached Tark and said, "Excellency, there seems to be word of a disturbance on High Charity. The Demon has infiltrated our defenses."
"Is there any good news coming form our Holy City?" Tark said in frustration.
Rela' Rasmotee, the major operating the communications equipment replied hurriedly, "Yes but it is two sided."
Tark glared at the young Sangheili slammed his fist on the arm of the gravity throne, growled, and said, "Tell me or you will meet the airlock personally."
Rela' said trying to control his shaking, "Well, there has been an Arbiter chosen.
"An Arbiter? Was it the incompetent who couldn't save our sacred ring?" Tark said in a voice full of disgust. He rises from his gravity throne. He takes a step toward the nervous major as he clicks his mandibles together.
"It does not say," replied Rela', who was growing more anxious not knowing if he was going to meet the airlock, "The report doesn't say. But it does say he has discovered a new Halo. And while upon the Halo getting the sacred icon Tartarus killed him."
"Rela', there is another message coming in!" Josa' Semassee, a blue armored minor said with urgency in his voice, "It is on our secured channel."
Rela' walked to his controls and pushed a few holographic buttons and retrieved the message. The message was in Sangheili it said, "The Brutes have betrayed us! It was ordered by the prophets!"
Rela' jerked his head up and not even walking to Tark yelled, "Our race has been betrayed by the Prophets and Brutes! We are being systematically exterminated! We are in a civil war!"
Tark, not knowing what to think, his race has been expelled from the Covenant betrayed by those they protected, said, "I will excuse you not calling me Excellency this time. Now lock this control room down. I want no Brute in my control room. Notify all our brothers to attack and kill anything that is not a Sangheili. Tell them in our tongue."
Tark thought to himself, "Long have I waited to kill those filthy apes. They will pay for the blood they have spilled this day."
Tark shook his head gathering his thoughts then said, "Rela', I want you to send word to our cryo chambers to awaken all the Sangheili that is in cryo sleep. All messages are to be done in Sangheili. Tell our brothers to leave the cryo rooms that are not Sangheili. Tell them to leave now! Remus I want you to track the movements of our brothers. Once they are out I want those doors locked and the hatches I had installed I want them vented. Seal the doors on the environmental chambers that are not Sangheili. Vent those also."
Remus said as he clicked his mandibles, "Yes, Excellency. That will leave approximately two hundred Brutes, sixty Jackals, and three hundred Grunts."
Tark clicked his mandibles into a smile and said, "That I know. We shall wipe them from our ship. This is a Sangheili ship."
Rola' Remotee, a major and twin brother to Rela' was monitoring the Brutes in cryo stasis. He was about to do his routine check when his com link came to life, what he thought was strange was the message was in Sangheili, "Attention all personnel, the Prophets and Brutes have betrayed us. Those who are monitoring Sangheili begin the reviving process. Those who are monitoring the other traitorous races leave your posts and lock the door. The rooms will be vented. All take up arms and defend this ship."
--
Rola' grabbed his dual plasma rifles and his sword. He looked at the carbine on the wall; he took it and put it over his shoulder. He grabbed a few batteries and some extra ammunition for the carbine. He then went out the door and locked it. Inside was a Brute who had just finished his bed check. He hit the comlink on his helmet; the Brutes had an external com to their Chieftain. The Brute looked around the room for the Sangheili and his carbine. He noticed the Sangheili was
standing outside the door, just then the air and the Brute was sucked out into the vacuum of space. Rola' said, "That was too close."
Before he could think or say anything else he was being shot at. Rola' took cover in the Sangheili environmental chamber locking the door as he entered. He waited for them to pass, Rola' activated his active camouflage and stealthy walked up behind the pair of Brutes and primed a plasma grenade and tossed it onto one of the Brutes.
After killing several more Brutes and a few Grunts, Rola' made his way to the control room. There were fifteen Brutes trying to open the control room door. Two of them had explosives. Rola' noticed three Sangheili using active camouflage. He turned on his comlink and whispered, "Are any of you carrying a beam rifle?"
One of the Spec Op warriors whispered, "Yes. But we don't have a clear shot. If you could set off a diversion we could take them out."
Rola' primed his last two plasma grenades and tossed them on two of the Brutes. In a flash of blue light four of the Brutes lay dead. The others started coming for him. The Spec Ops were good to their word. The remaining Brutes started falling like stars from the sky. Soon the battle was over and the Spec Op leader signaled the ship had been purged of all Covenant. The control room door was unlocked. The four Sangheili entered.
Tark Looked around the control room, every Sangheili was swelling with anticipation. Rela' nearly jumped out of his armor at the next message, "Excellency, the Arbiter lives. He just killed Tartarus in the control room on Halo."
Tark smirked and said, "Good now he can light the sacred ring and we will be on our Great Journey."
Rela' not wanting to tell the next part but couldn't let his shipmaster think the best is going to come out of the situation said, "No, he is not."
"Why is the Arbiter not starting the Great Journey?" Tark bellowed growing angrier by the moment, "When I see him I will rip the sacred armor from his body and throw him from an air lock."
Rela' knowing he may end up going out an air lock said, "The Arbiter said he was told by the Oracle the Great Journey is a lie. The Prophets lied to us."
Tark slowly took a seat in the gravity throne. All he head been taught was a lie. His religion was a lie. The Great Journey was a lie…
Rela' said quickly, "There's more. The Arbiter is forming an alliance with the Humans. The Arbiter said and I quote 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"
Apparently even the war that they waged on the Humans was a lie…
Rela' continued, "The Arbiter wants all available Sangheili ships to proceed to the third planet of the Sol system. The Human's home world. We are going to the Ark of Truth."