Cortana ran her digital probes through the data like a human would her fingers through a stack of crisp, new paperwork. A few files called to her, hinting at new knowledge. She held herself back for a brief moment, reveling in the treat before her. Covenant data, and she had all the time she needed to examine it minutely. For the moment, John didn't need her and the ship was running quietly, most of the crew – her Spartan included – in the deep freezers. That she wasn't supposed to be reading it was even better.
Cortana picked a file as randomly as possible from the wealth of data, which turned out to be a simple after-action report. It was written in the language of the Covenant, but her translation subroutines easily handled the task. She ignored the flowery "for the glory of the Prophets" phrases, eager to get to the meat, but slowed herself purposefully to lengthen the amount of time she could spend assimilating, storing, translating, and cross-referencing all the information she had, well, borrowed.
From the introduction, though, she did glean that this was an old report, one dating from the Battle of Chi Ceti in 2525. More interestingly, she detected a certain amount of disquiet in the tone, and seeing as it was written by an Elite, this further piqued her curiosity.
The meat of the report was more interesting, though, and she immediately began saving the translations in a document of her own, translating the overly-pompous Elite's words into the simpler jargon favored by soldiers. She intended to show it to John.
Event Date: [November 27th, 2525]
Event Location: [Chi Ceti IV]
Report Date: [2526]
Upon finding an insignificant human planet, Kig-Yar Shipmaster Din of the Unrelenting proceeded to scan for holy artifacts as instructed by the glorious San 'Shyuum but suffered extensively from a lack of faith, as the wise [High Prophet of Regret] noted after the incidents described in this report.
With all the avarice and crudity inherent in these lower species, Shipmaster Din ordered a tactical jump, bringing his ship within firing range of the human ship, later identified as the Commonwealth, a heavily-armored and armed vessel. Shipmaster Din fired upon the human ship and removed its communications dish, as evidenced by the lack of further radio communication from the ship. There are conflicting reports that the human digital intelligence entity, found on all ships worthy of their involvement, may have been damaged. Though the humans returned fire with nearly two hundred of their [Archer Missiles], the Unrelenting deflected or dodged all attempts to penetrate its shield and continued to bombard the apes with lasers.
However, Shipmaster Din did not know – as we, wiser that we are, do – that the largest of human ships possess a heavy gun, most commonly referred to as a [MAC gun], capable of bruising even the most glorious of our ships. One round from this gun was sufficient to crumple the Unrelenting's nose and start several internal fires.
It is these fires that must have confused and terrified the cowardly Kig-Yar crew, and such mistakes as were later made would not have been possible under the iron-hard grip of a proper Sangheili Shipmaster. Such assignments, however, are chosen by the wise San 'Shyuum, and it is not this believer's place to question them.
In retaliation, the Shipmaster fired a [Plasma Torpedo] upon the human ship, destroying its MAC gun, but not before the human ship was able to further humiliate the Kig-Yar ship with another heavy bullet through the middle of the ship.
Perhaps to buy themselves time, cowardly and inept as they are, the humans launched a squadron of the ship-to-ship battle boats, known as [Longswords], and instead of pursuing their main target, the Kig-Yar allowed themselves to be distracted from their glorious task of purging the universe of human filth. These smaller ships were also, as after-action reports indicate, a distraction, and allowed the Commonwealth to deposit and then detonate a nuclear warhead, someone barbarically simple yet effective against the damaged Unrelenting.
It is important to note here that the [Longsword] pilots did not, despite doubtlessly knowing the plan, remove themselves from the field of battle, giving their lives to ensure their victory. It is a dog's honor.
Instead of replying to this barely-permissible act of bravery on part of the humans with a show of the superiority of the Covenant and our holy task, however, the craven Kig-Yar Shipmaster ordered a retreat from the battle. Though he re-engaged the enemy, this is the second – arguably, the most important – mistake fueled by his cowardice that was addressed by the noble [High Prophet of Regret].
Perhaps dazzled by the glory of accomplishing the gods' purpose, Shipmaster Din did not recognize the danger when the human ship fired upon the Unrelenting again, instead of fleeing as the cowardly humans often do. It was this distraction that allowed the subjects of this report to board the Unrelenting and, sustaining only 33% casualties, destroy the ship and its entire crew.
It is unknown what defect in the Unrelenting's torn shields allowed these three humans to enter, if humans they were, but there are Huragok examining video feeds to find the explanations we seek. It is also unclear exactly what type of human was able to board the ship, as all three were identical to casual inspection and clearly at least partially reliant on full exosuits, colored in the green we have come to associate with human military members.
These three creatures – see attached images – were approximately [2 meters] tall when compared to the stunted Kig-Yar, much taller than the average human. Their exosuits were also fully encompassing and clearly armored. It is unclear if there were flesh-and-blood creatures underneath, and of what nature they might be. Conjecture leads us to believe, after continued reports of these green-armored soldiers, that they are indeed human, if of a race not yet encountered, and not a colony of hive-minded beasts like the Mgalekgolo or a fully-automated robot.
Despite the armor, however, the creatures were unable to withstand plasma fire from the Kig-Yar crew that attempted to repel their boarders and at least one was injured. The video feed from the ship – see attached – indicates that the one so injured could not leave the ship, which speaks to a flesh creature inside, unable to withstand the vacuum.
These green creatures fought in a manner one could, if it were not entirely insulting to both the glory of Sangheili and the honor of our warriors, compare to a [Zealot-class Sangheili]. They managed to penetrate the ship and left one of their number, the injured creature mentioned before, with several explosives. Once the other two were safely off the ship, it is assumed the last one detonated the charges, killing itself and all Kig-Yar crew, but since the video feed was not recovered after the separation of the three green soldiers, this is conjecture.
These new enemies bear close watching. There have been further reports of action by the same green creatures, though in numbers ranging from one to three. They are reported to be stronger, faster, and tougher than the average human soldier. There are even reports, likely widely inaccurate due to their source, of green soldiers killing mighty Mgalekgolo without sustaining fatal damage.
These creatures also fight longer and harder than any humans thus encountered, and some – or one, seen repeatedly – are reported with extraordinary powers, such as incredible speed, sniping ability, or hand-to-hand combat skills. They have been responsible for the deaths, collectively, of many Sangheili and Mgalekolo, plus innumerous Kig-Yar and Unggoy.
With all the reports, however, there are certain constants. These creatures always wear thick, heavy green armor, bulkier than Sangheili armor and less revealing than Mgalekolo harnesses. With their appearance, more regularly-attired humans fight harder. There are no reports from intelligence-gathering operations, ordained by the wise San 'Shyuum, regarding these creatures' habits, origin, or even absolute numbers. Though the highest concentration recorded thus far numbered only three, but there is conjecture that many more exist, as these groups or individuals were seen too far apart for slower human ships to transport them between sightings within a given timeframe.
The name given to these green soldiers by the lowly Unggoy perhaps is the most fitting term for them yet. Those methane-suckers call them demons, for they haunt ship halls and planet-side battles with death as their calling card.
Though of course we will not fail as our hooves are set to the Path by the holy Forerunners themselves, these demons may just merit assassinations. I leave this decision, however, to wiser and holier heads than mine, and simply offer these facts to facilitate those decisions.
Cortana finished her report on the Elite's report with a slightly amused chuckle. She wished she could wake John. Though he missed Sam, as all of the Spartans missed their dead siblings, he would likely want to see where his nickname "Demon" came from.
Filing the report with her version, Cortana moved on to the next tantalizing bit of data.