A/N Welcome to my new crossover, The Covenant Effect. This fic will start with the Citadel-Covenant war, then jump to the events of the games, with Spec-Ops Commander Shepard of the CSV Normandy fighting to stop the Reapers. I haven't figured out how the humans ended up part of The Covenant, but once I do I'll slip the history into the story. Enjoy!
The deep blue mess hall of the CCS Humble Expeditionary buzzed with activity. The babbling unggoy, the screeching kig-yar who threw food at the unggoy, and the deep bellowing jiralhanae all contributed to the commotion. I, Human Minor Brenton Taylor strained my neck to peer over the rabble, spotting the rearmost section where the highest castes, the sangheili and humans, ate politely and engaged in easy conversation; a far cry from the anarchy that gripped the rest of the room. Grabbing a tray containing a bland serving of meatloaf, a sangheili fruit called a kupiire, I turned around to make for my peers. Unfortunately, as I turned around I ran right into a jiralhanae, spilling my meatloaf all over the ape.
A lower species might have simply made a hasty retreat, knowing a human could kill them for getting in his way and face no repercussions. A human or sangheili would have enough sense to recognize it as a mistake, and harbor no resentment. Unfortunately, this was a jiralhanae. And he was very, very mad.
Jiralhanae-human relations could be described as malicious, if you were being generous. Higher in caste than the rabble but below the upper echelon the ambitious apes had their sights set on the top of the pack and the will to get there, and resented humans for their rapid ascension. Humans shared the ape's abhorrence, finding jiralhanae distasteful.
"You spilled your food on me" the jiralhanae growled, stating the obvious.
"Sorry," I responded, forcing myself to be cordial "I didn't notice you were there".
The jiralhanae growled. Clearly, he wanted to pound me flat, but knew the consequences if he did so. I meet his eyes with my own, staring at him defiantly.
"You're not worth it" he grumbled, luckily deciding not to attack. I let out a sigh of relief, replacing my meatloaf and heading for the tables. Across the section, I spotted Narhm 'Sumaiee at a large table, gesturing wildly as he told yet another story of battle. Narhm's Special Operations unit had recently been involved in a raid against a heretic base in the Perseus Arm, and from the report I had read it had been a fantastic battle. Narhm had been capturing the fascination of the crew for nearly a week with his stories of the battle's highs.
"...and then Ultra 'Telcam scored a perfect headshot with his beam rifle, while, I remind you, being thrown through the air by the explosion!" Narhm's voice, smooth and deep rang out as he enthusiastically told the story.
"Narhm still telling the headshot story?" I asked as I sat between my two close friends on the Expeditionary, Erin Jenkins and Vtre 'Mdamaee.
"Indeed" Vtre confirmed with a nod.
The ship shook and alarms blared as the Expeditionary transitioned out of slipspace. The crew in the mess paid it no mind. Appropriately for it's name, the Expeditionary was charged with exploring the uncharted frontier in the Perseus Arm, searching for Forerunner relics, and as such routinely entered and exited the mysterious realm of subspace. So when the klaxon blared telling the crew to go to battle stations, the crowd was gripped with so much shock that for perhaps the first time since the vessel's christening the mess hall was filled with deathly silence. These were warriors of The Covenant however, and shocked silence was quickly replaced with buzzing activity as the crew scrambled to take to their posts.
"Duty calls, eh?" Erin said, getting up out of her seat.
"So it does" I agreed as we walked to the hangar, leaving my untouched meal behind.
Adrien Victus hated his life. Things had started to go bad a few months ago, when the pirate gang he had led his battle group after for weeks kept slipping through his fingers. Then, deciding his battle group was unfit to continue the chase, the powers-that-be had reassigned them to guarding Taetrus. While Taetrus was certainly an important colony, it was not exactly the exciting adventure that he had had previously. And now a giant alien ship had appeared out of some kind of wacky blue portal, which would surely mean more problems for him. The alien ship was 1,782 meters long, easily dwarfing his dreadnought, and lacked a spinal mass accelerator which only meant it was likely armed with unknown weapons that he would a have no idea how to counter.
That was the last thing Adrien Victus thought before a bright beam of energy vaporized the dreadnought.
I pulled on the gloves of my blue Minor armor, the advanced fabric like material snapping seamlessly onto my bodysuit. The seal complete, a blue aura wrapped around my body as the combat harness's energy shield charged. I grabbed a collapsed plasma rifle, strapping it to my left hip. I was ready for battle.
I exited the armory (one of many on the ship) and entered the much larger hangar. I quickly found my way to where Erin, Vtre and the contingent of unggoy and kig-yar we would be leading were waiting by a drop ship.
Noro 'Ontomee, the Field Master who led all the troops aboard the Expeditionary, yelled for the warrior's attention from his perch on the hangar's observation platform. The cavernous room instantly fell silent.
"Warriors of The Covenant," he began "on this world, we have discovered a new race. Soon, the Council will decide what will be done with them, whether they shall be absorbed, exterminated, or whatever action is deemed necessary. However, before any of that, we must show them our power, and put fear into their hearts. That is our job, warriors. We will land on their planet, and crush them beneath us! And they shall know the true might of The Covenant!"
Cheers erupted throughout the hangar.
'Ontomee rode on the wave of the crowd's zeal.
"When we joined The Covenant, we swore an oath!" His voice boomed, amplified by unseen speakers.
"According to our stations! All without exception!" Thousands of voices filled the air as one.
"On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold The Covenant!"
"Even to our dying breath!"
"Those who would defy our Covenant are heretics, deserving neither pity, nor mercy!"
"We will grind them into dust!"
"And continue our march to glorious salvation!"
The sound of thousands of soldiers of all races cheering nearly split my eardrums. The Covenant was going to war, and it's target would soon know the meaning of crushing, overwhelming power.
Codex Entry: Human Combat Harness
Derived from the sangheili combat harness before it, the human combat harness is virtually identical in appearance to the sangheili version, except modified to fit a human. The armor has energy shields of the same strength as the sangheili rank equivalent, and the bodysuit includes synthetic muscles that increase the user's strength, speed and endurance.