A Phantom flew through the air, descending upon the area where several Covenant troops stood at attention. They were mainly Elites, but three or four Brutes stood there as well. All were armed with plasma rifles or spikers, depending on the species. At the head of the entire group stood a Brute Chieftain, arms folded across his chest, a Gravity Hammer on his back. He watched as the Phantom deployed ten Elite Honor Guards and a Prophet before flying off.
All the troops kneeled as the Prophet of Regret floated past, followed by his loyal Honor Guards. Before them was a giant Forerunner structure, blocky in appearance, stairs leading to the entrance. It stood atop a large cliff overlooking a forested area. Regret's carrier was visible in orbit, awaiting Regret's signal to send a dropship to pick him up. Right now, however, he was busy with another matter.
"You may rise, Chieftain Velukus," Regret ordered.
Velukus rose, but did not make any sort of eye contact with the Hierarch. He believed that in doing so, he thought he would be the Prophet's equal, and the Hierarchs viewed no one as their equal save each other.
"What have you discovered about this relic?" Regret asked.
"It is one of the oldest we've found," Velukus answered. "I believe it was built early in their war against the Flood. It has several map rooms, none of which, unfortunately, lead to the holy rings."
"Perhaps you did not look hard enough," Regret said.
"He have scoured every chamber we had access to, but we cannot access the upper levels. The security system has driven us off."
"That is why I have brought this human," Regret said, moving aside. Velukus saw that three of the Guards carried a human with them, who was battered and injured. The human was a male, with dark blue eyes, a hard jaw, and strong muscles. He also had, however, a black eye, scratch wounds, and his jaw oozed blood, marking that he had recently been beaten.
"As you are well aware, only the humans can have access to any of the Forerunner technology, evident from the incident at the Shield World and what they call Harvest," Regret said.
"Yes," Varukus stated. "What shall we do with him when he has fulfilled his purpose? My troops have not eaten fresh meat in weeks."
"If all goes well, he shall serve as your next meal," Regret said. "Now, let us take him to the upper levels, shall we?"
Varukus nodded and motioned to his troops, who fell in line behind the Honor Guards. The Guards and troops went in first, dragging their prisoner, while Varukus and Regret took up the rear. Varukus guided the Prophet through the levels and toward the secured area.
When they arrived, the Honor Guards instantly fell back as twin beams of energy swept through the area. Two odd-looking turrets were near a sealed doorway, glaring at them. A small blue panel was placed nearby, doubtless to deactivate the system.
"And this is as far as we can go," Varukus said. "One of my Brutes once attempted to deactivate the system, and managed to survive long enough to touch the panel and discover that nothing happened."
"That is why I've brought the human," Regret said, and the three Elites carrying the human tossed him in front of the panel. The turrets turned to him but did nothing as the human rose, scowled at the Covenant, and touch the panel, shutting down the turrets and unlocking the door.
"There," a Brute said, "the system's off. Let's get him!"
"No!" Varukus snarled, grabbing the Brute by the neck as the latter had lunged at the prisoner. "What if there are other security systems beyond this area and you kill the human? You shall doom us all to a horrible death for your hunger!"
The Brute growled but said nothing as the three Elites grabbed and dragged their prisoner through the door. The rest of the group followed, this time with the Prophet in the middle. The doorway led them to a long hallway that offered a window with a view of the forest. The carrier was no longer visible, but nobody cared. What they did care about was that more turrets were placed at the other end of the hall.
For the next hour, the human was forced to deactivate the security systems as the Covenant climbed through the structure. Eventually, they arrived at the very top, where they passed through the last door and into a large chamber.
The chamber was about thirty feet wide and fifty feet high. A window stretched around the chamber, offering a view of the forest. A strange table rested in the center, with a holographic panel in front. Varukus stepped toward it, Gravity Hammer in both hands, and examined it, checking for any sort of weapon that might harm the Prophet. Finding none, he motioned for everyone to step forward and encircle the chamber. The Prophet and the Elites dragging the human stepped forward.
"What is this?" Varkus asked, although he expected no answer.
"It is one of the Forerunner's data storage units," Regret answered.
"They used tables?" the human snarled. "Not very advanced, were they?" The human was rewarded with a strong punch in the gut from one of the Elites.
"You shall not speak of the Forerunners with such impudence!" the Elite snapped.
"Calm down, 'Kalamee," Regret said calmly. "He shall soon be dead anyway."
"Yes, Hierarch," the Elite said, bowing his head.
"Touch the panel, human," Varukus growled. "The sooner you do, the sooner myself and my Brutes can have a nice dinner."
"And what if I don't?" the human challenged.
Regret growled. "Then we will force you to," he answered, nodding to Varukus. The Chieftain grabbed the human's arm and dragged him over to the panel, forcing his hand onto it. The table flared to life, and holographic images danced in the air.
"Amazing," Varukus murmured.
"This is glorious!" Regret said, throwing up his arms. "Simply marvelous! This has everything we need to know!"
"Hang on," Varukus said. "One of the images says 'Death World.' What does that mean?"
"I do not know, nor care to find out," Regret answered. "I am only here to record information."
The Prophet had one of the Elites approach the data table and place in a device that would copy all of the information in the table and be used for easy access. Once it was complete, the Prophet turned and left, pausing only to say, "Kill the human."
An Elite stabbed the human through the chest with his energy sword, then tossed the corpse over to the Brutes, who would later feast upon it in the evening.
The Prophet of Regret was about to transmit the information to High Charity, but he learned that one of the holy rings was destroyed due to the incompetence of one Thel 'Vadamee, and that Regret was to attack and destroy Earth. During the attack, Regret learned from his data that beneath the city of New Mombasa was an artifact that would lead them to someplace called "the Ark." It was thanks to the data center on the planet of Harmony that Installation 05 was discovered, the Battle of the Ark occurred, and the Chief would disappear.
The location of the other rings was a closely kept secret by the Elites after they captured Regret's carrier and removed all the information from Brute and other Elite servers through hacking and computer viruses. Nobody should know such knowledge, and they either forced everyone or killed the ones who knew about the location of the rings.
Everyone thought peace would stream through the galaxy. What they didn't count on, however, was Cortana going rampant and the Chief crashing on the "Death World."