I came to realize I never actually finished the first chapter, I am so embarrassed... here's the finished version. Enjoy
Will delete old chap soon

Interludes Act I Pt 1
Zeik's Story: Graduation

Fifth Solar Cycle, 327 Cycles: 9th Age of Reclamation [2528]
Ministry of Special Sciences, Tower District, Covenant Holy City of High Charity
Major Zeik 'Carunmee

The young Major walked out to the stage with his fellow graduates. He looked out to the crowd and recognized many faces from his clan, the entire Keep must have traveled to High Charity to see this. Zeik looked down at his armor, making sure that he was presentable one last time. He had graduated from the High Charity War College a solar cycle ago, and so he was the only Sangheili in crimson armor among a sea of green.

This day however, he was to graduate from the program run by the Ministry of Special Sciences. It was usually an all female division of the grand Covenant Military, but his intelligence aptitude scores had opened this alternate avenue to advance. While he would be receiving a commendation from the Ministry, he highly doubted that his deployment orders would reflect their will. He was a warrior first, after all.

The Prophet of Tolerance continued to speak about the duties the new scientists would be doing. "And now, we welcome these Sangheili into our great Covenant Military. To provide new technology and discover more gifts from the Gods. I ask that each graduate step up as I call their name, and receive their deployment orders and rank."

The Prophet began to call out the females that stood around him one by one. He waited patiently for his own name to be called.

The others had all been called and he stood alone to the Prophet's left. "Lastly, we have Major Zeik 'Carunmee, step forward and recief your deployment information." The Prophet turned back to the audience. "Major 'Carunmee is already a Warrior of the Covenant, and thus will receive a strip of green along the trim of his armor."

Zeik smiled and stepped forth, he bowed to the prophet as he received the folded piece of parchment. Paper was rarely used in this age, usually in favor of thin holo-pads or disposable data-modules for data-pads. "Thank you, Excellency." Zeik said. He turned to walk off the stage and joined his fellow graduates behind the curtain.

Everyone was abuzz with their assigned duty stations and orders. Many of his class were being spread across the fleets. They had a need for scientists to examine the technology and the new enemy the Covenant was fighting, the Humans. Zeik was not entirely sure why the Covenant was interested in destroying such a technologically inferior species, but it had been ordered by the Hierarchs and to question them would be heresy.

He looked down at the piece of paper. "Where would I be stationed for the next four solar cycles..." he asked himself. Zeik pulled apart the seal and looked down at the sheet.

Major Zeik 'Carunmee.
Report to Dock Seven-C. In the Sangheili District. Board ADP-Class Escort vessel Kiva's Promiseby hour 162. Duty Station to be explained upon arrival.

Zeik looked up from the paper. "To be explained on site...?" He said to himself "What kind of position could I be assigned to that they could not place its name on the deployment card..."

The ceremony must have ended, as the doors to the back stage area opened. They would now be allowed to mingle with their families and friends. He did not know how his family would react to such an unknown stationing. Zeik lowered his head and followed the flow. The lights were dimmed and a group of Unggoy had rolled out a food buffet for the guests.

His clan was grouped around one of the other tables. The Caru Keep was not a state leader, it was just a small collection of families just north of Sanghelios' equator. Technically the Keep resided in no state, just the unclaimed land that dotted the badlands. He walked over and joined them around the table.

"Congratulations Major," the clan's Elder said.

Zeik again bowed his head in respect. "Thank you, Elder."

"Tell us where you are to be stationed!" One of his uncles asked with excitement. His request was then mirrored by many others.

Zeik looked down at the paper in his hand. "I ..do not know..." he unfolded the sheet and showed it to the others.

"An unnamed post?" One asked.

"A secret post, this is a first for the Caru clan." Another said. "This is a great honor indeed."

The Elder placed his hands on Zeik's shoulders. "Major 'Carunmee. I can see that this station has made you uneasy. Rest assured that being chosen for a secretive post is a high honor to your clan. The Gods must have something vastly important planned for you." He chuckled. "After this event, Iversn, Grek and I will be at the tavern near the inn we are staying at. Would you like to join us?"

"I would be honored, sir." Zeik had never been invited out with the Elders. Though, when he left the keep he had been quite young.

"Good, go see your mother. She has something for you."The Elder said.

"Yes, Elder Sir," Zeik said. His mother was standing over to the side of the hall, talking to another female from another clan. He made his way over, snaking passed other graduates with their families. He waited polietly for her to finish his conversation before stepping closer.

Her guest nodded and walked away, allowing her to address her son. "Good evening Major." She said. "I cannot believe how well the Gods have blessed you."

"Indeed mother, " he smiled. This was the moment all Sangheili face, the years of training and practice for the honor of serving in the Covenant. It was their basic way of life.

"Well, since you have finished your training and accomplished yourself as a Major, we have decided that you are ready to receive a piece of our clan's history." She held out a small necklace with a piece of gold alloy hanging at the other end of a small chain. "This is a fragment of the armor that once belonged to the great Caru Kaidon fifty generations ago. Every warrior of our clan keeps a piece with them."

Zeik accepted the necklace and placed it around his neck. "Thank you mother, I will bring honor to our clan."

"You are welcome, my son." She smiled back. "You should let us elders get going. We must pack before our return trip in the morning... I do wish we had more time on the Holy City."

"I will, mother." He walked her over to where the rest of his clan were grouped. "Thank you all for making the journey from the homeworld to the Holy city for my graduation from the academy. I hope to see you all again when my first duty cycle is complete in four solar cycles."

With that, his family began to depart. With the exception of the three elders, he would not see any of them for a long time. Zeik walked out another doorway, and back into the Academy and Ministry of Special Sciences. The Auditorium let out in the main entrance hall, and the symbol of the Ministry shone brightly under the spotlights. He walked up the steps, past the wall where the Writ of Union and Oath of the Ministry were projected onto a plate of metal that had been donated by the Hierarchs from the Forerunner ship in the center of High Charity.

He had to gather his things from his dorm room soon, as he was scheduled to depart High Charity himself in about five hours. Other graduates were busy cleaning out their rooms as he passed. He said his goodbyes to his old friends and associates, then shut the door to his room.

There was not much to pack, he had only kept a few thing throughout his time there. A few sets of informal clothing, his few data-pads, and a couple actual print books from the older shops down in the wards. He was going to miss his time in the Academy, but it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Zeik was an enlisted warrior now, he had new places to experience and new fiends to make.

His brothers and cousins from the keep had been sent to the front lines to fight the humans. He had received correspondences from them with their stories of a determined but weak foe. Zeik was a bit disappointed that he was not to be joining them. With his things packed into an easy carry bag, he was set to join his elders down in the tavern. He sighed and left the academy, determined to make the best of wherever he was going to be.

Zeik coughed and waved back to his Elders as he left the tavern. He threw his back across his back and walked out onto the pedestrian path. All that he owned was with him, and he was leaving the place he had called home for six solar cycles in less than an hour. Above, the artificial sun dimmed as the stationed entered its night cycle. One night cycle on High Charity was equal to eleven days on Sanghelios, he never did get use to that.

He walked along the terrace alongside one of the hover barge lanes. His data-pad guided him, he did not spend that much time near the auxiliary docks. The Ministry and War College both have their own private terminals for ships, up in the Tower District. The small map indicated that he should take the next ramp down into the tunnels below.

Zeik took a right and entered the Sangheili warrens, the district of High Charity where a majority of his species lived. He keyed his way through the airlock system and was greeted by a warm blast of air. For whatever reason, whomever was in charge of the Warrens' climate control liked to keep it near that of Sanghelios' equator. Not that Zeik was bothered, being from that region, but many of his classmates were from the north, and not use to these temperatures. If Zeik had been in charge, he would keep the Warrens at a point between both regions so all could live comfortably.

He located a direct route down to dock seven; it was an older corridor, a spiral ramp cut into the rock. "This must date back to before gravity lifts saw wide use..." he muttered to himself as he descended into the ancient rock of the city.

Dock seven was a dusty cavern filled with outdated machinery and cargo crates that look older than the San 'Shyuum that had orchestrated the ceremony. Its exit bay appeared to rely on the older airlock style system instead of the energy fields which are so common today. There was only one ship in dock seven, an old ADP-Class Escort, so it had to be the Kiva's Promise. Its red hull had been painted over in a black and gold pattern, but the original tint had worn through in some places. The holographic vessel identification system flickered, it was definitely the ship he was looking for.

An older Sangheili stood beside the vessel's cargo ramp, directing a group of Unggoy dock workers. The Sangheili wore a civilian outfit, but the gold bands on his upper arms signified he was the Shipmaster. Zeik approached and went to introduce himself. "Excellency, I am-"

The Shipmaster turned and put is hand in Zeik's face. "None of that, 'Carunmee. I am no Excellency, I retired a decade ago." He said. "You are to address me as sir or 'Micamee, understood?"

Zeik nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good, now I am Kiva 'Micamee, Shipmaster of the Kiva's Promise. Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise sir, do you know where I am being stationed?"

Kiva looked around the hangar. "No, I cannot tell you, at least not out here. After you stow your baggage on the passenger deck, meet me on the bridge." Zeik nodded again and climbed aboard via the personnel ramp nearby.

The old escort ship appeared to have been retrofitted for cargo transport. Its hallways were twice the size of the standard configuration, and crates sat in piles all over the corridor. Zeik wondered why they did not just use an actual cargo vessel for this sort of role. The passenger deck was located close to the bridge, and he became aware of a smell that filled the ship. Kig-Yar. His quarters were free of the scent, but the other decks held a strong stench of the other creatures. It was not a bad smell, but not one that he preferred either.

This ship was strange, with the non-regulation paint scheme, unusual job, and Kig-Yar crew with a Sangheili Shipmaster; what had Zeik gotten himself in to.

AN: So here we go. The beginning of Interludes which is a collection of stories and background that take place in the LORC Haloverse but don't exactly fit in the main story. You'll find backstories, flashbacks and other small events to flesh out characters, locations or even small plot points!.

The chapters will be shorter, and each act will encompass a different story. I hope you enjoy!