Covenant vessel Seeker of Truth
Fleet of Particular Justice preparing to depart Covenant Holy City High Charity
June 27, 2552
A silent council had much to offer. From a swift condemning to a heretic to infinite praises of fortune and glory, it was nearly impossible to tell what the members' verdict became at the meeting hall. Dark lighting provided much of a sinister backdrop as the Covenant High Council considered Supreme Commander Thel Vadamee's proposal. The two sides of the long table inside had seated both members of the founding races of the Covenant. San Shyuum, or the prophets were responsible for the political state of their union of races. Prophets also had the roles of being preachers, scientists as well as developing new technologies. The words of a Prophet are enough to halt a charging Brute in its tracks.
At the second half of the large purple table with their attention focused more on the commander than their party at the other side, stood the mighty sangheili. With an average of eight and a half feet in height, the elites served as the muscle and backbone of the Covenant military. Thousands of years ago, the two races were interlocked into a bloody conflict before ensuring their survival by creating a union which evolved into the modern day Covenant Empire.
Vadamee glanced at the members of the high council seated in a semi circle at the table. He recognized several key members on both races. With a low humming sound from the gravity chairs, the three High Prophets were in the center with their distinct headdresses. He had interacted with all three prophets before on previous glorious missions against the humans. Truth, being the de facto leader of the Hierarchs had a holographic sheet in his hand and his brows furrowed as he scrolled through Thel's pre mission report. On the sangheili side, he recognized Field Master Corunlee and Councilor Soha Rolamee, who was accompanying one of his ships.
"The task seems like quite the challenge Supreme Commander." Truth began, looking to both sides for his support. "You say in here that this is a major human stronghold?"
"One of the largest." Vadamee responded, holding his head up high.
"Your fleet will be taking heavy losses, especially when you haven't had enough time to send in scouting teams." Field Master Corunlee noted. "If there's something of importance to the humans, then they'll have their more powerful weapons guarding it. No doubt big groups of demons."
"Tracking probes have located two human worlds. One was a fortress world called Reach, where I will be sending in Long Night of Solace and a handful of corvettes. Rho Barutamee will have overall command of the group." Barutamee was the shipmaster of the Long Night, which was an excellent complement to Vadamee's fleet. The supercarrier would probably devastate the entire human world on its own. Accompanying the group was a research intelligence squad of Zealots led by Field Marshal Serykee. Both Barutamee and Serykee were passionately dedicated to the Journey and both bloodthirsty on their fields of battle. Vadamee had no doubt that Serykee would want to personally lead a massive overwhelming Covenant assault on the most fortified base that the humans had erected.
"You even plan to bring the Kig-Yar's cousins into this war?" Mercy inquired as he shared a skeptical glance with Truth.
"I think that the Skirmishers will serve well as recon units and shock soldiers."
Skirmishers were a more avian subspecies of Kig-Yar or jackals. They had more muscles in their legs than normal jackals, allowing them to be much stronger and faster. Vadamee hoped that the fairly new introduction of Skirmishers would be able to exhaust human forces enough for the main Covenant force to crush their fortress world. They had not been introduced to combat with humans yet, so their newer tactics would be a challenge. He would be even more impressed if they were capable of slaying demons. However for him to think of that, he still needed some trained soldiers. Thinking back to the kig-yar's indoctrination into the Covenant, originally, they were freelancers paid by the Covenant to do various dirty work. Since they've been with them for so long, a great number of them were accepted by the Covenant religion and became frontline soldiers. The jackals would become their scouts, recon troops and marksmen.
Truth sighed, rubbing his forehead. With a nod from both Hierarchs he regarded Vadamee with bulbous brown eyes. The gold armored elite felt on the spot of a judgment chamber from all three gazes of the highest ranking members of their Covenant.
"Our verdict agrees that you may introduce the kig-yar subspecies as a frontline soldier. You have only one week to prepare them for combat."
Vadamee's eyes widened, even his best instructors would not be able to train the troops that fast.
"Hierarch, I must protest the time. Our soldiers, even kig-yar are not able to be trained as well in just a week."
"Supreme Commander," Mercy's voice sharpened like a knife, "We are on a very tight schedule. The humans have our fleets spread thin. We are lucky that the blockade protecting High Charity has not been sent out to combat them. We don't even know what other places the humans have under their control. They could have double the fleet and colonies for all we know! As far, as I'm concerned, we've only scratched the surface of the sculpture."
Thel made to speak, but Truth saw his anticipation, holding up a hand to stop him and giving a polite nod as if to say wait his turn.
"The two worlds our intelligence has found reveal that they call the major stronghold of theirs Reach." Corunlee pressed a button on the table, bringing out a large hologram. The planet called Reach was green and brown with white wispy clouds and blue oceans dominating. Giant craterlike bays stretched for thousands of miles across. The Field Master looked around to make sure he had everyone's attention.
"Reach is home to a significant human population and a major port for their fleet. Unknown to our adversaries, we have actually known its location for some time, but thanks to a spy beacon attached to one of their ships, it confirms our theories of it being a human stronghold. Depending on Vadamee's strategy, if he manages to succeed, they will be severely weakened, most likely unable to recover from this loss. No doubt, there are significant human populations on the ground."
"Yes. But is he aware of the strategies?" Some San Shyuum asked from their side of the table.
"I am fully aware that this has a potential to be a complete defeat. To minimize a chance of it becoming such, I will be having the Fleet of Valiant Prudence, led by Long Night of Solace to begin its invasion while scouting out the defenders and their most fortified positions. The intelligence gathering will be led by Serykee and his squad of Zealots to specific locations where we can probe the weakest human fortifications."
"It sounds like you have thought of this very thoroughly Supreme Commander." The tone in Truth's voice meant that he was simply eager to finish the meeting. Long political discussions with military personnel could often be unpleasant, combined with the smoking that some of the lesser Prophets powerful stench filling the cavernous room. Vadamee felt his throat go dry as the sticky foul smelling substance seemed to permeate his breathing through both his mouth and nose. "Very well, the kig-yar subspecies have been allowed to take part of this Reach crusade and because of schedule demands; we need your fleets to be underway within a week." His eyes went into a glare again, "This is nonnegotiable. May the gods protect you as you destroy the filthy humans."
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