Halo: Warrior Oathkeepers
Prologue:
Covenant Holy City, High Charity
Sanctum of the Hierarchs
Ninth Age of Reclamation
"There was only one ship," Ship Master Thel 'Vadam said to the Prophets of Truth, Mercy and a holographic projection of Regret.
"One?" asked Truth curious of the Ship Master's report… and the humans who he thought were serving the Ship Master.
"Yes," answered Thel, "they called it the Pillar of Autumn."
"Why was it not destroyed with the rest of their fleet?" demanded Mercy.
"It fled, as we set fire to their planet," answered Thel. "But I perused with all the ships under my command."
"When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by it's majesty?" asked Regret.
"Blinded?" asked Thel confused by Regret's question.
"Paralyzed, dumbstruck," answered Regret.
"No," Thel answered quickly.
"Yet the humans were able to evade your ships, land on the Sacred Ring," said Regret as he continued to throw accusations at Thel, "and desecrate it with their filthy footsteps."
"Noble Hierarchs," protested Thel, "surly you must understand that once the parasites attacked…" Thel was cut off by the commotion of the Council.
"There will be order in this Council," ordered Mercy as the voices of Council died down again when Truth made his presence known.
"You were right to focus your attention to Flood," began Truth, "but the Demon, this Master Chief…"
"By the time I learned the Demon's intent," said Thel, "there was nothing I could."
The Council again erupted into commotion by Thel's last statement. The Sangheli members of the Council whispered among themselves and the Brute chieftain, Tartarus snickered to himself.
"Now we must deal with the issue of those humans you took under your wing," Mercy said he looked to the Brute chieftain who then signaled the door to be opened and ordered that some of the humans be brought before the Council chamber. Three Brutes entered the chamber along with six humans who looked like they had been through the wringer a few times. When the humans saw Thel, the lead human in front stopped his men as they saw Thel and stood at attention.
"Ship Master on deck," called out Major Jessie Estevez as he and the other men saluted Thel the way other Sangheli showed them how.
Thel returned the salute and said, "At your stance."
"Sir," said the men as they returned to their stance and were shoved up in front to face the three prophets.
Truth and Mercy were surprised that humans, filthy vermin that had to be wiped out as foretold by the gods would be willing to submit a Covenant Ship Master despite the fact that they were enemies for years.
"What are you called, humans?" asked Truth.
"Major Jessie Estevez, unit commander of the 275th Assault Battalion," answered Jessie. "But a lot of the other UNSC soldiers call us Oathkeepers."
"Oathkeepers?" asked Mercy puzzled by Major Estevez.
"Most us soldiers are descended from an ancient group of humans called Akkadians," answered Jessie. "Akkadians were known to have a law saying that when an Akkadian made an oath, they were bound to keep it; and each of us swore an oath to Ship Master Thel 'Vadam that we would serve under his command until he no longer needs us."
"Why?" asked Regret as he looked at Thel with contempt for allowing humans to live.
"He saved our lives as we fled from the Flood on Halo," answered Gunnery Sergeant Jackson DePaul. "At first he rounded us up and thought about killing us but when Halo was about be destroyed he had us board what dropships were left and told us to follow him. On board his ship, he told us that he thought he and his Elite… I mean Sangheili were gonna kill us but the Major spoke first and then he said that we owed him our lives for saving us from the Flood."
"And this when you all swore your oath to Ship Master 'Vadamee," finished Truth.
"Yes sir," said DePaul.
"You will address the Prophets as either Noble Hierarch or Honorable Prophet!" snarled Tartarus as he moved to strike Gunnery Sergeant DePaul. Truth raised his claw to the Brute and he stopped before he could hit the Gunny on his face.
"Please take heed when you address myself, Mercy or Regret," Truth said to the human soldiers. "Do you understand?"
"Yes Noble Hierarchs," answered the Oathkeepers in unison.
"Brother Prophet of Truth make an example of this bungler," urged the Prophet of Regret, "the Council demands it. And do something about these worthless vermin; they do not belong here or for that matter belong alongside us in the Great Journey."
Truth held a claw up in silence returning the focus of this inquiry back to Thel.
"You are one of our most cherished instruments," began Truth, "long have you lead your fleets with pride; but your inability safeguard Halo was a colossal failure."
"Ney, it was heresy!" shouted one member of the Council as the Council erupted into agreement with that Council member.
"I will continue my campaign against the humans," said Thel hoping to appease the Council.
The prophets looked at the humans and Jessie returned the Prophets gaze and said, "Fighting against other humans is nothing new to us, Noble Hierarchs."
"Oh?" asked Regret as he cocked his head back in curiosity.
"Yes, Noble Hierarchs, humans have fought each other for thousands of years since the dawn of our existence," explained Jessie.
"For how long has the human race existed?" asked Regret.
Major Estevez thought about Regret's question and thought carefully as he went into his brain trying to remember those anthropology classes from high school.
"I think about one hundred thousand years ago," answered Jessie. "Damn it, I wish I paid more attention to Senora Garcia during her lectures in anthropology class, especially when she taught about evolution."
Again, Regret cocked his holographic head in confusion; he was confused by what Jessie was saying about anthropology class, evolution and this Senora Garcia. Before Regret could ask Jessie to explain what he was talking about, Truth finished the inquiry by motioning Tartarus to escort Thel to his punishment. The Brute Chieftain took pleasure and in his native language ordered his subordinates to escort Thel, "the incompetent one" to site where he would be punished in front of all the Covenant. Two Brutes reached to hold Thel's arms but Thel turned on his own and the Prophet of Truth spoke to Thel.
"Soon the Great Journey will begin and your heresy will weigh your feet and you shall be left behind," Truth said to Thel as he walked away from the Council chamber.
Major Estevez and his men began walking away from the chamber when the Sangheili Honor Guards stopped them.
"We gotta follow Ship Master 'Vadam," protested Gunnery Sergeant DePaul. "He is our leader."
"Yes but we have orders for our own inquiry into your weapons," replied Honor Guard Akio Ukanto. "Even though we know your weapons are inferior to our weapons, Ship Master Vadamee said you weapons were in some sort superior to our weapons and we'd like to know how your weapons are superior to ours."
"Um… okay," said Major Estevez. "I don't know how our weapons are superior to yours but yeah we'll be happy to answer anything you guys want." Akio nodded and lead Major Estevez, Gunnery Sergeant DePaul and Lieutenant Nobou Ashitaka to a compartment were human weapons held for research.
"Now then we shall begin this inquiry," said Akio as he removed his helmet and saluted the head of the inquiry, Field Master Rtas 'Vadumee. Rtas returned the salute and looked at the humans as he gestured for them to take a seat.
Rtas cleared his throat and said, "We shall begin the inquiry into the claims made by Ship Master Thel 'Vadamee about the superiority of human weapons over Covenant weapons when it comes to facing the Flood."
