DOWN! DOWN EVIL LAWYERS DOWN!
Neither of us own Halo.
Co-Author/BETA Pyro-Wolf16....Because I suck.
The sky burned, As Tarnakien Skycruisers fought Covenant destroyers. Burned out Seraph fighters littered the streets with civilians fleeing from the sudden battle, not knowing that it was the same everywhere on the planet. No one knew what had happened or why the covenant had attacked.
Tarnak had previously always remained neutral due to the fact that its people were not especially adapted for war having, seen peace for the last three hundred years, and while it had the technology it was no match for Covenant armies. Lorrnl didn't know or care why the covenant were attacking all that mattered was reaching his home and keeping his family safe but as he reached the crest of the hill he stopped. It was gone. Where his house had once stood there was only a crater.
No it wasn't possible. They had escaped. His wife had taken his daughter to safety as soon as they heard the first explosions. As much as he held on to his last hope it seemed hollow. Where could they go? Even if they hadn't died in the explosion thousands of dead that lay in the streets testified to the fact that they could still be dead Lorrnl continued to walk towards his home. Snow and ash covered the rubble, all that was left of a beautiful village. He was switched between thermal and normal vision but found nothing, the dead Tarnakiens long having cooled. Lorrnl felt an incomparable grieve and a murderous anger by what he had found. Lorrnl turned away from the gruesome scene when he heard the sound of a ship and spotting a team of Banshees dived for cover where his light blue scales and clothes allowing him to easily blend in with the white snow. He hid behind a burned out house as the second Banshee team flew by but the slower moving sweep team apparently saw the movement because the next thing Lorrnl knew there was a great explosion and then nothing.
Lorrnl woke slowly and realised that the building he had taken refuge behind had been targeted by the Banshees. He was covered in a thin layer of snow but he did not feel it, Tarnakien scales had evolved to handle the eternal cold thousands of years ago. He stood up and winced as the burns on his back protested the sudden movement. Both the moons had now risen giving the snow an eerie ethereal glow. Turning on the thermal vision he saw three cyan coloured bodies and one patch of blinding white to his left. Approaching cautiously Lorrnl saw the bodies of two Brutes with burns somehow 'cut' into their body with an Elite laying only meters away, energy sword still active in his hand(1). "They must have died recently…they're still warm. Why would they fight each other? If these three are here there maybe others nearby." he said out loud seeking an end to the ominous silence. Deciding that he should take a weapon just in case Lorrnl picked up the energy sword, making sure to deactivate it in case it blinded his thermal.
Lorrnl decided to head towards the village in order to look for any fellow survivors. A few minutes later he could see the village or what remained of the village. Two Phantoms hovered just outside the boundaries of the ruins that had once been called a village. He sensed someone behind him but before he could turn around or activate the energy sword cold scaly hands grabbed his neck…the last thing he could remember was a gruff voice saying " Mar, I Found one."
Lorrnl returned to consciousness, for the second time that day, with a splitting headache. He was in a strange ship and the bars on the door gave it the appearance of a jail cell…in fact it probably was. He couldn't see them but he heard the pilots mutterings from his cell.
"I still don't know why we had to come to this pitiful planet."
"Yeah, well we're soldiers we don't ask why we just do…And anyway the Prophets are acting strangely. Why not tell us they were going to attack this planet? They said the humans want it but I cant see why?"
"I don't know why no Elites were sent I mean the brutes are idiots."
"It's a good thing for us they are so useless or we wouldn't have found this one. It's a shame about Karloc'ee but no one can know we were here especially not those idiot brutes."
Llornl knew he had to kill the pilots. It was his only chance of escape. He reached for his pockets were he found his sword, good, they hadn't searched him(2). His makeshift cell was primitive made up of two bars hastily welded to the floor reaching to the roof. The bars were no match for the energy sword and it sliced through them almost silently, with only a slight hiss from the melting metal. As the pieces fell to the floor he caught it in his other hand to stop the inevitable clang from it hitting the floor.
Once Llornl was free he crept quietly but quickly, sword raised, toward the cockpit. He could still hear the Elites chatter coming from the cockpit. He decided to rush them. Just as Llornl held his breath before he entered. The door opened and an impressive look red Elite stepped out. The last thing that Elite know was the burning of a sword and the scream and thud of a body hitting the floor as Llornl jumped over him and took down his friend. He felt no sympathy, they had killed his family, they had killed his people and they deserved the same mercy they showed others. None. Llornl sit down in the cockpit and quickly tries to turn home. But with only the bare minimum experience in driving ships and definitely none as large as this he hit wrong button de-cloaking of the phantom and re-appearing right in front of the UNSC griffin claw. A red light lit up next to the control panel. Accompanied with a beep and the word SHIP TARGETED EVADE EAVDE
There was only one thing to do to at a time like this…"Shit."
(1) - The patch of bright light, its an energy sword of course its going to be hot.
(2) - Two elites find someone stumbling in the snow covered in burns they never expected him to put up a fight or have a weapon.