The Threat of Destruction
It has been 100 years since the Prophets have been slain by the John 117, more commonly known as Master Chief, and Thel 'Vadamee or the Arbiter as he was called.
Humanity and the Sangheili or the elites as most people called them, forged a bond of trust and peace after the events that almost destroyed the universe. Many people were lost, but in the few short years they had become a powerful unity. The Grunt warriors fled to distant worlds and never became a problem. The Jackal mercenaries left to other worlds because the Covenant was dissolved and their services were not needed. Hunters found that without a leader they couldn't become a warrior, and they disappeared from the worlds, their fate is unknown. The Insect Aliens, the Drones died out on the worlds they were set in, the rest lived on their home planet and were never seen except in a few rare instances. The Brutes served an uneasy alliance with the humans and the elites, and are currently back on their home worlds. The Engineers that the Covenant enslaved were freed, and help the military with repairing ships and teaching them new ways to enhance it.
Life was good in this new world….
Or was it….
On a Distant Planet, in a dense jungle a rare Alien was floating on a hover chair, he was a Hierarch, the species of Alien that was the same specie as the Prophets, before they were killed by the Arbiter and his Elites. It would be rare to see one in these days, due to the fact of the Law stating, that to see one was to kill one on site, both Humanity, and the Elite Council agreed to this. This Hierarch was led through the Jungle by a Brute in old armor, it would have been silver in its first construction but through the years it rusted, and got scratched. It was a dull brown orange. On his back was a brute shot, on his side a spiker which he used to cut some vines and branches. He had a dull look in his eye, almost like he wasn't himself.
"Well it was would seem that you haven't led me astray" The Hierarch said, his voice was young, but stern.
"Yes, I would never lead you astray, not since we share the same goal" The Brute said, unlike the rasp growling voice of a normal Brute, this one had a deep but calming voice.
"I was lucky to have found you, I'm also glad that you decided to go with my plan" The Hierarch said as he followed and soon they made it to a stone temple, it was of Forerunner Design. The vegetation suggested that it was abandoned for years. A Large open space into the dark Temple was the door inside.
"Oh mighty Forerunners, forgive my intrusion on this holy place" The Hierarch prayed
"Come, I await you" The Brute said and the Hierarch went inside
"This is Spartan B17, Bren we are in ready to make our drop"
A UNSC Drop ship came onto a Planet and landed on a meadow area, outside of a settlement.
A group of marines, and Elite soldiers came out of the back, from the Front came three armored men, these were the Spartan IV solider. The one in the Security Helmet, and Shoulders, along side with EOD chest plate was Bren, on his back was a Battle Rifle, and on his Side was an Energy sword. To his left was a Man in full Recon armor. This was Spartan J16, or Jstup as he called himself. He was armed with a rocket launcher on his back, and a Battle Rifle in his hands. Finally we had Spartan J10, Jacob. In his Security Helmet, EVA Shoulders and Scout Chest plate, he stood as the leader of the trio armed with a Battle Rifle, and SMG. All three had a metallic Grey Finish with Dark Green shoulders, a reminder of the color that the man who they admired wore.
"Alright Bren, you know the job, stop the raiders, and make sure everyone is alright in the settlement, we go in, and go out" Jacob said pulling out his Battle Rifle
"You heard the man, move out, you guys cover the rear and stay here with the ship, we can handle the rest" Bren shouted directing the troops which listened to him
"Damn Bren, relax, we only have a simple mission, why do you think they only sent us one pelican of troops" Jstup said as they walked through a large stone gate, must have been made years back, as a testament of human will or something when the first settlers came to the planet.
"Stay Sharp" Jacob said looking around, the Marines were only here, only because the UNSC sent them for support, the Elites were under the same rules as well. But this trio would do things themselves
"Jstup, three clicks to the right, third window" Bren said calmly and Jstup fired a battle rifle round and a Jackal fell to the ground
"Jackals, figures, now that they left the Covenant, they decided to rob settlements" Jacob said annoyed, this was the third time they had to stop raiders in the past month
"Damn it, Spartans!" A man shouted and Bren ran to the sound and held his battle rifle to a mans face, the man had some run down military armor, and in his hand was a pistol
"Oh crap" He said
"Yeah, should have thought of that before you decided to rob settlements" Bren said as he fired a shot at the man, he made sure to aim for the heart, at least he would die quickly
"Come on out guys, you might as well die in the open, rather then have us search for you" Bren shouted and three humans and two Jackals stuck their heads out from cover
"Now then, you can surrender now, or you try and fail to kill us and you die a horrible death" Bren said calmly
"GET HIM!" One of them shouted and a human fired a rocket right at him
"Hard way it is eh" Bren said dodging the rocket
Jacob and Jstup opened fired and quickly took down the raiders and they smiled
"Lets see, this should be the it….wait, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven…..there should be more raiders" Bren said and soon an explosion was heard and they saw their ship just get blown up by Large Scorpion Tank, along with a bunch of soldiers with it.
"Holy cow, how did raiders get that?" Bren shouted
"I know where it's going go, to the scrap pile!" Jstup shouted firing a rocket and blasting the tank to bits
"Too easy" Jstup said but then three more raiders came out of a building armed with SMGs
"My turn" Bren said drawing his energy sword and he lunged at them dicing them to bits
"Glad that Rtas Verdem taught me how to use this" Bren said to himself as he took out two more raiders hiding in the buildings
"Spread out and take out any more, these guys took out an entire town of settlers" Bren said and Jacob and Jstup nodded as they made their way through the streets, the Marines and Elites kept a sharp eye out for any enemy. Bren had climbed to the roof of the building to scan the area with the built in scanner in his helmet.
"Bren, no sign of the enemy" Jacob said on the com link that was built right into the helmets
"I'm scanning the area but I don't see anyon-" Bren was cut off by a beam shot that almost hit his heart
"Damn, those stories about the Jackal snipers taking out an entire battalion weren't just stories" Bren thought as he fired at the target who soon fell to the ground.
"Guys we are close to the Mayor's house, according to Intel he is being held hostage" Bren said to his comrades
"Understood, we will head inside and rescue him" Jstup said and soon Jacob and him made it to the building
"Jstup" Jacob said and Jstup launched a rocket blasting a hole in the front
"I was gonna say, open the door but I suppose this works" Jacob said and Jstup chuckles a bit, they saw a man and a woman tied up and a man held them at gun point.
"Don't come any closer or I blast their fucking heads off" The man shouted
"Calm down, I want to settle this peacefully" Jacob said
"Ha, that's a joke, I know your military type, you want to bring me down" The man said, he twitched, he may have been on some kind of stim pack or something, either way his was hyped up
"Bren, gonna need you to neutralize him" Jstup said quietly on the com link and Bren zoomed in through the crack and fired at the man right in the head.
Jacob untied the man and the woman
"Oh thank you, I thought I would die" The man said
"Don't worry mayor, you are going to be alright, are their any survivors, we lost some troops in the struggle" Jacob asked
"In the basement, about 20 people, help captive" the mayor said and Jstup nodded as he went down, they heard gun shots
"Don't worry just a guard" Jstup shouted to them
"Right, also we need communication and food and water" Jacob said
"Why?" The mayor asked
"Because our ship is toast" Bren said, he walked through the blast hole and sighed
"Damn it, Intel dropped the ball on this one, we were told about raiders, nothing about them have heavy fire power" Bren said annoyed, he sat down on a couch and removed his helmet, his semi-long black hair made him stand out from the military cut, course Spartans were allowed to choose hair styles. His face was pretty rounded, he was good to the eyes, under his left eye was a slash scar.
" How many survivors?" Bren asked
Jacob removed his helmet, his face was a little straighter, he has short brown hair and his brown eyes made him look great.
"22, counting the mayor and his wife" Jacob said
Jstup walked in with his helmet in his arms, his slight 5:00 shadow and messy brown hair set him apart from Bren and Jacob but he has the eyes of experience.
"Alright they are ok, I opened the door and let them out, lucky for us a doctor is still alive" He said
"That's good, now we need to send a signal to the UNSC to send for another ship" Jacob said
"We can repair our relay by tomorrow morning" The mayor said
"Right, until then, please allow us to stay here" Jacob said
"Of course, take any house to stay in" He said and the trio left the house
Inside the Forerunner Temple
The Hierarch looked at the large plant creature, the room would have served as the main chamber of the temple, but now it looked like the inside of a monster
"Oh Gravemind, soon we shall rule the universe, the forerunners were wrong to try to stop you, and the demon was wrong to try to destroy you" He said
"Yes, and starting with this planet we shall take over" The creature said, his voice was loud and deep
"And I, the Prophet the Destruction shall be the one to release you" The Hierarch said and he touched the bulb sack of the being, which soon had part of it cover his hand. The Prophet pulled back
"I thank you for this gift, and thanks to the records of where the Covenant left, I can show you where to infect, in fact on this planet is a human city where we can breed an army, and even Unggoy have made their home with the filthy vermin" He said grimly
The Brute seemed to have awaken from its trance
"By the Forerunners, what is that?!" It shouted, it fell to the ground in fear
"Do not be afraid, for now sleep, and allows its embrace" The Prophet said and a small insect like creature crawled from the walls and latched onto its back
"No, get off of me" It shouted but it was too late, it burrowed into his skin and he changed, his body became more grotesque, his brute features could be seen but he was now a flood creature
"Yes, perfect, soon you shall be reborn Gravemind, what the demon and the Arbiter didn't know about you was your power to survive, one spore could remain dormant on a distant planet, and grow. You kept your memories, and it is time to arise" The Prophet said and Gravemind created from large egg sacs pure breed flood forms and they surrounded the Prophet
"My Army, soon you shall be released, the universe shall know your power, and you will feast on the flesh of the undeserving" He shouted giving the speech, the Flood seemed to be entranced by his words and they bowed to him
"Soon, I shall rule the Universe, as what my fallen Prophets would have wanted" He said.
AN: I hope you enjoyed that, BTW Unggoy is the grunts in the Covenant Language, thank you Halo Wiki for that tidbit of info. Hope to see you soon in the future.