Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine. Klasz Hakamamee (the name) belongs to Mr. Xiran and the character itself belongs to Bungie and Microsoft. Yes, he let me use the character, so don't flame me.
Warning: If you copy/plagiarize any part of my story, you will be prosecuted to the maximum legal extent. If I can't really do anything to you legally, I'll just flame you and/or report you, unless it was honestly a coincidence. Enjoy! Note: Recently my dreams came true and the HGN (Halo Graphic novel) was released a long with Half Jaws story and true name, Rtas' Vadumee. Sadly, this makes my story make less sense P. I decided to change my story up a little and had Klasz become Rtas. Of course, this doesn't mean that Rtas wont take on the alias Klasz ) Just read to find out. Special thanks to those who gave me their suggestions.
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Rtas' Vadumee: Rise of a Recruit
Prologue
Delusions and Grandeur
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"That cruiser is controlled by Brutes. I'll remain here; make sure no reinforcements get in behind you. Then, I'm going to take the cruiser back." He then snapped off the COM channel to the Arbiter and added in a whisper. "Good luck."
The SpecOps Leader watched as the Arbiter nodded in approval and ran into the building which would lead him to one of the Covenant's most powerful land based weapons, a Scarab.
The SpecOps Commander gathered up grenades and supplies from the Brutes he had killed only minutes before and proceeded in his plan to capture the enemy Cruiser, the Delusions and Grandeur.
He had to somehow acquire a Phantom and a crew to take over the Cruiser. He didn't have much in the way of manpower, but he did have one of his most loyal Sangheili warriors under his command with him, Donar Igaree. Igaree was a sniper with almost any weapon and can hit a rampaging Ghost with a plasma rifle from a hundred metres away. Igaree's aim was uncanny and frightened his superior a bit, but he dared not let that show. In addition to Igaree's sniper skills, he was also excellent with vehicles. The SpecOps warrior was one of the most proficient pilots he knew. Whether Igaree was piloting a Ghost or a Seraph, his skills usually reigned supreme.
The Commander decided to use Igaree's skills to his advantage. "Igaree, get the Spectre ready, we have a ship to take," said the Commander, his mandibles twitching upwards in a grin.
"Yes, leader!" Igaree said, immediately trying to start up the Spectre's engine. Bright blue coolant leaked out the bottom of the Spectre. He turned off the engine immediately and sought the backup supplies that are kept in a compartment under the gun turret.
The Commander clicked his mandibles and walked past his fellow warrior. He saw two Brute controlled Phantoms parked up ahead on the nearby cliff, gathering troops and preparing to lift off.
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In less than ten minutes, Igaree had plugged the coolant leak and the Spectre was ready to go. As soon as he finished the repairs, he leaped into the plasma turret on the back of the Spectre and announced, "Leader, the Spectre is prepped and ready."
The SpecOps Commander nodded and without another word, climbed into the driver seat. Thanks to the propulsion boosters installed on the back of the Spectres, the Commander reached the two Phantoms very quickly.
His plan was to manage to kill the crew of one of the parked Phantoms, and use the Phantom to reach his destination, the Delusions and Grandeur. A relatively simple plan, considering how difficult it would be to eliminate the enemy crew.
It had only been a few minutes until the two Sangheili had reached a cliff a little bit off from the Control Room of Delta Halo. This was also where the two Phantoms were parked. The Commander had decided to climb up to the Control Room tower, and stealthily assassinate the enemy Brutes with the help of Igaree. Unfortunately, this plan would not work.
The enemy Phantoms had already lifted off by the time they got there and was slowly heading towards a small cliff-bridge. Upon closer inspection by the Commander with his binoculars, he could see the Arbiter as well as a couple of Lekgolo and a SpecOps Sangheili warrior.
The Arbiter emerged from the building and onto the bridge, only to be greeted by one of the Phantoms and a horde of Jackals. The Commander saw it from far away and decided to take matters into his own hands.
The Sangheili raced off via his Spectre towards the enemy Phantom, dodging rocks and wreckage from the dead enemy Brute vehicles from earlier.
"Igaree, prepare to fire upon the Phantom. Try not to do too much damage; we'll be needing it for later." He glossed over the fact that Spectres can't do much against Phantoms even if he wanted it to.
"Yes Leader!" replied Igaree, as he raised the plasma turret and carefully took aim.
Igaree's superior knew that his subordinate would hit his mark and would, hopefully, distract the enemy Phantom long enough for the Arbiter to get further through the structure, and at the same time, lure the Phantom to him.
Just as soon as the Commander had drove within range of the Phantom, Igaree opened fire. The light plasma rounds pelted the Phantom but couldn't harm the Phantom.
Soon, the Phantom left the Arbiter and zoomed towards the Commander's position. "Excellent." he mumbled with a click of his remaining two mandibles.
The Phantom fired its plasma bursts, barely missing the Spectre as its driver weaved through the rocks and wreckage. The Phantom continued to gain on the two Sangheili, steadily closing the gap between the two vehicles.
This had all been part of the SpecOps Commander's plan. He had been telling Igaree exactly what to do as he raced in zigzagging paths in order to avoid the Phantom.
"Igaree! Fire now!" the Commander yelled, slowing down and turning slightly to the left to give Igaree an angle.
Igaree did indeed open fire, aiming for the external cameras and vital spots in the Brutes Phantom, but it was difficult. The Brute pilot had realized what the Sangheili was trying to do and shifted the Phantom so that its more heavily fortified portions would take the hits, therefore doing no real damage to the ship.
"Blast!" Igaree said in anger, continuing to try and shoot the enemy down.
Then, a lucky shot penetrated the thin armour surrounding one of the external cameras and disabled it. The Phantom wavered to the side as a result.
As the Phantom landed to avoid further injury, the Commander quickly took advantage of the Brutes' confusion. He sped to where the Phantom landed in time to see it unload a total mass of eight Brutes. Things were about to get rough.
The Brutes unloaded shots from their Brute Shots and Brute Plasma rifles, but the SpecOps Commander was able to easily dodge them all. Igaree held fire on them with his turret, managing to hose two of them down. The Brutes were mad now, and pounded their fists on the ground in anger, continuing to fire off grenades from their launchers, pausing only to reload.
As the Commander was making a turn around, a lucky Brute managed to fire a shot, which tipped over the Spectre. The Sangheili quickly rolled to their feet and crouched, avoiding more grenades from the Brutes.
"Commander, what now?" Igaree said, rolling behind a nearby bolder just in time to escape a fatal shot. The grenade detonated behind him and reduced a rock the size of his head to pebbles "We are cornered."
The Commander decided now was the time to fight, the way Sangheili had fought for generations.
"Have no fear warrior, prepare yourself for close range combat" the Commander said, activating his Energy sword.
"Just follow my lead," the SpecOps Leader said, and rushed into the midst of battle. The Brutes weren't expecting a frontal assault, giving the Commander the two second pause he needed to deliver the killing stroke to the closest Brute's throat. The Brute fell over, writhing in pain as his dark purple blood spilled into the ground.
"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Brutes all yelled simultaneously in rage.
As they did, Igaree activated his camouflage and snuck up behind the Brutes, activating his energy sword at the last second and killed two Brutes with one stroke. Now, with five of the original eight Brutes dead, two of the Brutes dropped their weapons and rushed at the Sangheili, not slowing whatsoever.
They came quickly, and one nearly bashed into the Commander but the adrenaline rushing through his veins allowed him to dodge the blow. The attack was so close to succeeding that the Commander could still smell the putrid breath of the Brute that just passed him lingering in the air. The Commander delivered a strike to the other Brute, who simply shrugged it off as if it were a paper cut and continued until it slammed into the Commanders shield, depleting them instantly.
The Commander gripped his sides in pain and held back a howl as he was hit again by the Brute, this time knocking him off his feet and into a large rock. His back armour wailed as it bent inwards. He groaned in pain, slowly falling into unconsciousness but he fought the urge to sleep and never awake, kicking the Brute in the face with all his might. A hoof print was imprinted into the Brutes face, knocking him back for a moment, giving the Commander time to roll away.
Now that he was free from the attack, he lunged in anger. Not angry at the fact that he almost died, but the fact that he almost died to this vermin. The plasma sword he had in his hand broke the Brute's spine with a sickening crack as he sunk it into the Brute's back. The Brute yelled in a gargled voice, and finally died.
He saw that Igaree was having problems of his own, as he was hurled around by a Brute like a rag doll. The Commander rushed to his brother in arm's side, but was almost hit by a grenade fired from a Brute Shot.
The one Brute who had not raged was a Captain, and continued to fire his Brute shot with precise accuracy. The Commander rolled to the side, dodging another shot, he could see now that Igaree had lost his shield, and was being pounded. He had to save him, and quickly.
The Commander knew to save his grenades for what lay ahead aboard the Cruiser, but he needed to use one right now. Pulling one of the seven plasma grenades from his belt, he took careful aim at the Brute Captain. Plasma grenades were well known for their 'stickiness', since they stuck to most things that were alive, as opposed to inanimate objects.
With all his strength he threw his grenade at the enemy Captain. The grenade sailed through the air, in almost slow motion, showing the Brute his eminent death, as it landed on his face.
In pure hatred and anger, the Brute fired his remaining shot, directly at Igaree. As the Brute Captain exploded into tiny pieces, the Commander rushed towards Igaree, and cried at the top of his lungs. "No!" cried the Commander as Igaree fell. His howls of anguish echoed throughout the surrounding canyons as if the earth itself was sharing the Commanders pain.
The Commander rushed towards were his comrade fell, brutally cutting down the Brute that got in his way. Igaree barely breathed and his breaths were already fading away. "No, hang on!" the Commander said, holding Igaree upright. Igaree had been in the Commander's squad since he had become a SpecOps Leader, which is why it was hard for him to lose his fellow soldier. This is why the Commander had raised in the ranks, why he had survived, it was because he cared for his soldiers, and elected a strong bond with each of them.
Tears flowed down the Commander's face as his warrior was sent to the Great Journey prematurely.
No, the Great Journey was a sham. It's only Prophet propaganda to trick us into following them, and when the Arbiter found out the truth, the Prophets abandoned us. After all these years of service, they toss us away as if we're nothing. They'll regret that dearly.
The Commander saw the other Phantom as it whizzed past him towards were the Arbiter still was, finishing off several Drones. He decided he didn't have too much spare time, and dropped Igaree into a ditch and piled some dirt over his body. Then he marked the grave with the traditional symbol of respect that was marked upon important members of the Sangheili race. The unauthorized use of this symbol meant death, but the Prophets made that law and they were on a mission to kill the entire Sangheili race, so who cares?
After this was done, he rushed towards the still landed Phantom, and got into it by activating a fake Brute signal, bringing him up into the ship. He then activated his camouflage as he stealthily cut the pilots throat. He then proceeded to find some sort of way to fix this ship. To his luck he found a Huragok, which was primarily used by the Covenant to fix ships and other electronic devices.
He used it to fix up the cannon systems, and more importantly, the camera system, which Igaree had managed to damage. Without it, it would be impossible to see where he was going. Soon it was fixed so that it would operate, but was still a bit fuzzy.
He knew he didn't have much time, so he left the Engineer to fix the other systems and went to pilot the Phantom.
Soon he was in the air and heading towards the remaining Phantom. As soon as he was within range, he opened fire with all three plasma turrets, showering the enemy Phantom with plasma. With this sudden attack, the other Phantom drew back and charged up its own turrets.
Soon a dogfight transpired in the air over the control room. The Commander had the advantage of surprise before, but now he was taking damage to his already weakened Phantom, and his camera screen kept flickering and becoming fuzzy, and the Commander was afraid that it would eventually fail on him. He couldn't let that happen.
The Commander swerved from the incoming plasma fire, and returned a bit of his own. He had managed to take down two of the three enemy turrets, at the cost of his Phantom nearly falling apart on him. Without a crew to help him, he was running low on options.
In that instant, the enemy Phantom blasted off the Commander's last turret, and pelted him with more fire. "Curse these vile beasts!" The Commander said aloud, dodging as many of the enemy's plasma shots as he could. If this kept up, he wouldn't have a ship to get to the Cruiser, or a life for that matter.
"I can't let this happen! All of the warriors who sacrificed their lives will now be in vain!"
These thoughts and more raced through the SpecOps Leader's mind as he continued to fight off the other Phantom. And then he got an idea.
The Commander cut the power to his engines and as predicted, his Phantom started dropping towards the water below. He had only gone fifty feet when the opposing Phantom followed him, firing with its single turret. With his increasing velocity, all of the shots missed their marks. He was also getting closer and closer to the large body of water surrounding the control room.
He was ahead of the enemy Phantom by about forty feet, but it was slowly gaining on him as the enemy powered up their boosters to maximum. He was close to the water now, and crashing into it would be death, he had to plan his maneuver quickly, or lose everything. At the last possible second, the SpecOps Leader keyed the engines and converted all the power to his thrusters. He manuvered the Phantom so that it was pointing nose up and it skimmed the water top as it pulled out of its dive just in time. The enemy Phantom wasn't so lucky. They had not anticipated the move and simply could not pull up fast enough. The enemy Phantom careened into the water, exploding as it hit the bottom.
"Filthy beasts. May your souls burn forever in hell," the Commander spat as he put his ship on autopilot, putting in the coordinates to the Delusions and Grandeur, after which he went and felt relief as he saw the Engineer still okay, and fixing the broken areas of the ship. He decided to bandage up his wounds before he bled to death, and ate a nutrition bar, which should keep him energized for the rest of the day. With this, he went to throw out the dead Brute bodies, and help in cleaning up the ship. He hoped the Arbiter could stop Tartarus before he activated the Ring, or else everything he and his warriors had done would be in vain.
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It had only been thirty five minutes since the Commander had destroyed the other Phantom, and now he was close to the Delusions and Grandeur. He knew he had to find more Sangheili and Unggoy if he wished to take over the ship. He double-checked for any type of distress call, but there was nothing. He had his ship identified as a friendly for all Sangheili ships, but also made it appear that he was a Brute controlled Phantom, as to remain secret to the enemy.
Soon though, he found something on the COM radio. It was a call for help from the Sangheili, it said "Brothers, the Prophets, Brutes, Jackals, and Drones have betrayed us; we are fighting on the second Sacred Ring, but have been cornered by the Brutes. Require immediate assistance from any Sangheili forces, over."
The Commander quickly tracked the signal, and found that it was close by. It was near the Control room, and was filled with Sangheili Councillors and SpecOps warriors.
It was perfect, the Commander realized, driving his Phantom towards the beach were he received the signal. With warriors like that, he had a good chance of taking the Covenant Cruiser. Soon he was there, and he saw the wreckage of Phantoms, Wraiths, Ghosts and Spectres. He also saw the bodies, Sangheili and Brute alike
The Beach of Delta Halo had become a sandy grave yard. Blood soaked into the sand, and the water looked on a shade of mixed purple and blue. Fortunately, there was no enemy Phantoms on radar, so the SpecOps Leader didn't have to have a tussle like before. He didn't think his Phantom could take it, even with it being fixed up by the Engineer.
He put out a signal to all Sangheili, which went to them via their helmets, telling them he who he was, and to come out. For a long while, it was completely quiet, too quiet, and then a red Unggoy popped out of a nearby cave. It signalled that it was okay to come out, and four Sangheili Councillors, three SpecOps Sangheili, one Field Master, one Hunter, and six orange Grunts came out of various hiding places.
The Commander recognized the gold Field Master by the name of Nala'mee, a great master of war, and one who also believed in making a strong bond with his warriors. He knew the Councillors right away; after all, he was good friends with all of them. The Grunts and Hunter looked about the same as the others of their race, not to mean disrespect to them.
He lowered his Phantom, after making sure there were no enemies nearby, and that this wasn't a trap. He came out and greeted the warriors, "Field Master Nala'mee, its good to see you again," the Commander said, casually walking towards them.
"It is good to see you as well Commander, but my squad and these Councillors need medical attention and transportation from the sacred Ring or at least transportation from our current position." Nala'mee said, raising his hand in a greeting.
The Commander clicked his two mandibles together and nodded in approval. Now that he had a closer look at the soldiers, he could see most of them were injured, exhausted, or both. "All right, get aboard my Phantom, I'll explain everything there" the Commander sad loudly so that he knew everyone could hear.
Soon after, all of the ex-Covenant soldiers boarded the Phantom via the gravity lift, the Commander made sure he was last, and then jumped aboard. Once inside, he identified one of the Councillors immediately as Zaksz 'Agomee, an old friend of his father, he was happy to see.
"Councillor Agomee," the Commander said, bowing his head, "I'm glad you are still in the fight".
"As I am you are, Commander Rtas' Vadumee" the wise elder said, sitting down on one of the seats aboard the Phantom.
It was rare that anyone use his last name at all, he was used to being called Commander, or Leader. Either way, he had no opposition to the Councillor.
The Commander raised his head and announced "Fellow warriors, Sangheili, Unggoy and Lekgolo alike, we are now kin, and I am here to lead us to victory against the betrayers!" The group of ex-Covenant warriors nodded in approval and listened with rapt attention.
"My mission is to take control of the Covenant Cruiser above us, the Delusions and Grandeur, while we do that, the Arbiter is on his way to kill the Chieftain of the accursed Brutes, Tartarus! You will assist me, and we shall destroy the enemy together!" The audience roared, and in the Grunts' case, squeaked in approval.
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After the SpecOps Commander's speech, the crew aboard the Phantom started repairing it bit by bit. All though it was a bit cramped in this Phantom, considering a total of sixteen ex-Covenant soldiers aboard it. The SpecOps Commander knew it might not be enough.
Now, with the camera and turrets fixed up completely, they'd be ready for combat if need be. Twenty minutes later, they had arrived in the space around the enemy Cruiser. The SpecOps Leader had to convince the Brutes aboard he was on their side, or be blown to bits by the plasma turrets it bared.
Soon the transmission from the Brutes to have the Commander's vessel identified. Fortunately, the Brutes were busy with other Sangheili ships, so the Commander was able to easily get in. Soon the Sangheili ship was inside the Delusions and Grandeur, and prepared to unleash havoc.
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The Commander estimated only one hundred and twenty Brutes aboard, thirty five Jackals, and twenty two Drones aboard the ship. Apparently, most of the crew had departed in order to stop the Arbiter from reaching the Control room. "Excellent luck for me again, I owe you one Arbiter, if we both make it", thought the Commander, as he and his warriors got their weapons together, and a large amount of grenades.
The Unggoy were outfitted with Needlers, Plasma Rifles, and Fuel Rod Cannons, whilst the Sangheili had swords, Beam Rifles, and Covenant Carbines. The Lekgolo was, of course, outfitted with his main Fuel Rod cannon, but also with some new armour. This armour was similar to before, but protected the earlier exposed areas and was a dark black sheet of steel. He hoped his crew would be enough.
The twenty five Brutes in the docking bay prepared to meet the crew of the Phantom, but instead were met with large amounts of burning hot plasma. The confusion was too great for the Brutes, as they were all burned to a crisp. The foolish ones tried to open the doors, and were successful in allowing more Covenant soldiers to come through and be burned. While some tried to flee, others managed to finally warn their superiors before they were turned to ash.
"Quickly warriors, we must get to the command center before they send more troops, we'll be useless in this thing" with that, the Commanders crew used the gravity lift to get out. They managed to easily pick off a few survivors in the docking areas without a problem, but they all new more Covenant soldiers would be there to greet them with death.
The squad of sixteen moved swiftly through the corridors and managed to get closer and closer to the middle of the ship, since that is were the control room is located. It was a good thing that the Commander knew the ship well, lest it would have been difficult to find the correct passages to the Control room.
After the numerous assassinations, the Covenant aboard were getting very angry and that meant that the Commander had to get his squad to the Control center, now. After passing another corridor, the Commander could swear to the Gods that he could hear something around the corridor.
"Warriors, activate camouflage, Councillors, Lekgolo and Unggoy, stay back here for the moment, Nala'mee watch our backs" the Commander finished as he thumbed his blade, eager to activate it. Although Nala'mee was technically Hakamamee's superior, the SpecOps Commander knew a lot more about stealth and sneaking than Nala'mee. The Field Master gracefully heeded Hakamamee's orders and complied.
The others crouched and waited while the SpecOps warriors activated their camo and cautiously moved forward. As if to answer the Commander's feeling, there was a group of twelve Brutes, fourteen Jackals, and thirteen Drones on the ceiling, waiting. The Commander silently signalled his men to throw grenades behind the enemies, and then upon the Drones.
They all complied, and before the Covenant soldiers knew what hit them, it was too late. Blinding white explosions went through the hall way, killing all the Brutes, Jackals, and Drones. All that at the cost of only six grenades.
After that, the Commander gathered up his troops and proceeded through until they had finally entered the Control Center. It normally would have been far harder, if not for the fact that the ships crew were stretched out in order to maintain it. And now the Commander stood fifteen feet away from a total of eighteen Brutes, eight of which were Honor Guards.
"Attack!" yelled the Commander, as he unleashed his blade and his fellow soldiers did the same. The two fuel rod cannon Unggoy stood in the back, carefully aiming for the precise moment to fire. Nala'mee enjoyed the smell of battle, as he brutally punished the foolish Brutes that got in his way, slicing them down with relative ease. The Councillors fought hard as well, and the Lekgolo tore apart the Brutes, avenging his bond brother's death.
The lead Brute rolled out of the way of plasma and Needle fire, and tackled Nala'mee. Nala'mee staggered back, his shields drained. The Brute then grabbed Nala'mee by the throat and squeezed. Nala'mee tried to break free, but found it hard to escape the Brute's grasp. And then a blade of pure white energy stuck out of the Brute who was grasping Nala'mee, appearing right through his abdomen, and slicing upwards.
Nala'mee sighed in relief as he was freed from the Brutes grasp, thanks to the Commander. Nala'mee nodded in a compliment, and got back into the fight.
After a short, but bloody battle, they had seized the Control room. The Commander only suffered four casualties, but those four had meant much to him. He had lost three Unggoy warriors, and his only Lekgolo, who was hit constantly by Brute shots until it finally fell. He managed to hold back his aggression for his lost warriors, and had them placed in an area were no enemy could find their dead bodies.
After which the Commander sealed the doors to the Control room, and depleted all of the oxygen in the ship, other then the Control room. Only the Drones could survive, the rest fell and gasped for air that wasn't there, and slowly but quietly died.
The Commander finally received a transmission from the Arbiter, indicating that he killed Tartarus and was preparing to return to Earth, and that the Humans were now their allies. It came as a shock to him as to his crew, but he managed to calm down and understood exactly what was going on. He was thankful that his new squad was okay with the news as well.
After jumping into slipspace towards Earth, the Commander settled down in his bed in the Control room, and decided now was the time to rest, perhaps the last chance to rest in a long time. As he lay there, he remembered when he first joined the Covenant with his Father, and when he went by his full name, Rtas' Vadumee…
To be continued...------------------------------
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this fanfiction so far. Please review! I'll continue to write if you review! Hehehe...
P.S. I had a lot of help by Mr. Xiran, whose fanfiction, Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant, is connected to mine...as you can see, I borrowed the name "Klasz Hakamamee". Well, actually, he made me use it, but whatever. Anyway, we're thinking of somehow linking our stories and when we do, it's gonna be super sweet. Thanks again for reading! P.S I have changed Klasz Hakamamee to his true name, Rtas' Vadumee. But don't worry, Klasz will return, just read to find out.