This has been…WAY too long coming. But it's finally here. A vast majority of the characters appear courtesy of their owners, who can be found on the Reconstruction Franchise profile. As well, a timeline of the events and other fics can be found there. The link to that page is on my profile.

Chapter 1

The operation was kept on a strict need to know basis. The operation went as high as Supreme Commander Rtas Vadum, which meant it was about as high as it could be for the Sangheili. Iza didn't actually know who else knew about the operation. At the end of the day, he was little more than a grunt, after all. Nothing but cannon fodder, meant to take a bullet so a Sangheili would be spared. Still, he had an odd sort of feeling in his gut. Some tingle on the back of his neck. Something that told him he shouldn't be here. Working here. Fighting on this planet. Even more than he usually felt. He never wanted to fight, but this time felt different. He just wanted to leave.

But he couldn't. Fleeing from the battle would earn a swift death from the ever watchful Sangheili. Besides, he wasn't actually going to be on the front lines. He was serving as the operation's sniper, mostly because the Sangheili didn't view sniping as an honorable course of action. For that reason, not only did any of them want to serve as sniper, they wanted to leave a Kig-Yar with the position that would taint their honor.

He was supposed to kill Jiralhanae and San 'Shyuum, as those were the enemies. He had killed a Jiralhanae on occasion (something he was actually rather proud of), but he had never killed a San 'Shyuum. He had never even seen San 'Shyuum too close save that giggly female a while back. Apparently, now everyone was believing that the San 'Shyuum were all snakes in the grass. That they had sent so many to slaughter and slaughtered so many humans. So many of his brothers had been killed on a San 'Shyuum's whim.

Honestly, Iza didn't much care. Honestly, he had nothing personal against the Jiralhanae or the San 'Shyuum. Honestly, he was just here doing what the Sangheili paid him for.

The easiest thing to do would be to just glass the damn planet and be done with it. Why Sangheili insisted on killing a few Brutes on the ground before just glassing the planet anyway just made no sense to Iza. Lives were lost, every time. Brutes, he had learned, were far from mindless rabid dogs that the Sangheili had always said they were before the Schism. They were cunning, and clever, and being backed into a corner seemed to make them even more vicious (if that were possible).

The planet had been dubbed "Ash" by the humans, and Iza found it easier to refer to it as such rather than its Covenant designation (RDARD-4356235624). Volcanic wasn't the right name for the terrain. Maybe hellish was a bit more proper. It was considered uninhabitable, because there was such polluted atmosphere. The air was forever shrouded with thick cinders that would burn out a human's lungs in a day or so. The Sangheili were all wearing face masks meant for survival in zero-space. Iza settled for a re-breather of human make. The point was: the planet really wasn't doing anyone any good. They could glass it, and it wouldn't even change the atmosphere all that much.

But the Sangheili wanted to lock blades, and Iza didn't want to argue, so cradling his rifle he leaned back in his seat. The Phantom made no noise as it sped over the ground. It was some stealth model, Iza didn't know the specifics, but god willing, the Jiralhanae and San 'Shyuum wouldn't hear them coming. They could swoop and crush the little birds with one big stone.

His squad…well, the squad he was a part of, was of mixed species. Sangheili mostly, of course, since they wanted to kill more than anyone. A couple Grunts, cannon fodder even more than he was, even after the treaty and amnesty they were no more than cannon fodder. No Mgalekgolo, but Mgalekgolo rarely left their planet now a days. They were represented in any talks mostly because people were afraid of them. Humans said they wanted extensive assimilation so there were humans here. They said they wanted to help fight. The real reason that they sought to have a multitude of species was to get the aliens used to having humans around. All and all, they were still the weakest in the grand scheme of things. But if they made however many friends, that would help in the long run.

Were it so easy…

XXX

In total, there were seven San 'Shyuum. This was the largest collection of them since the Schism. For this meeting, this last hope to stave off their death for another generation, they had come out of hiding, which none were comfortable with. The planet was chosen for its obscurity. The place of the meeting was an area that had once been a human base. By setting up near countless air purifiers in the base, the small area's air was relatively breathable.

The Prophet of Dignity stood at the head of the cluster. He was the senior San 'Shyuum, but that wasn't saying much, as they were all rather young in terms of how long San 'Shyuum lived for. He still had a Gravity Throne though, something that none of the other San 'Shyuum were in possession of.

The Prophetess of Wrath sighed, looking to him, then up to Exilius, who stood behind her. She was the only one who had brought a bodyguard, probably the only one who still had a furry titan to protect her. She smiled at the thought of that, and decided she would much rather have a chieftain than a Gravity Throne, or a small army of Unggoy still beaten and trained to stay at the heel, or a group of Kig-Yar mercenaries. Her attention waned. For a bit, she studied the human architecture. It was rather interesting actually. All of it was rather dull, and lacked any luster. In contrasts to the regal purple, and the soft curves and smooth edges of Covenant technology, humans seemed to just love gray.

"My fellow San 'Shyuum," Dignity said softly. "I have called you all here for one simple reason…we are…we are close to extinction. We've not the numbers, nor the warriors, nor the strength to keep as we are. Our protectors have fallen, or abandoned us." For just a moment, he cast a gaze to Exilius, who stood there not moving. "The Sangheili, and humans, stand poised to finish us off and wipe us from the galaxy. We…we haven't the numbers the Jiralhanae have. We haven't the strength. For so long, we relied on others to aid us and protect us. But now they have left us, and we are alone.

"I've no doubt the noble Jiralhanae would welcome us onto Doisac, or within their colonies, but that does not solve the dilemma we are faced with. For now, the war is endless. The Sangheili and the humans glass a colony of ours or the Jiralhanae. We and the Jiralhanae glass one of theirs in retaliation. On and on and on and on. This was cannot end well. We haven't the strength to continue, and neither do the Sangheili, and the humans never had."

His throne floated a moment, and he left the conference table, and circled the table gently. He moved on the side opposite Wrath, perhaps noting the bodyguard who would not have allowed him to draw too close to her. He moved on. A moment later, the glass window at the closest wall shattered. There was a painful yelp, and a moment later Dignity slumped in his throne, and even in the dim lights, the glow of his blood was noticeable as it splashed onto the table and several of the San 'Shyuum.

Before Wrath could scream, there was a thick, tree trunk of an arm around her chest, yanking her back. Exilius backed away from the table, holding her close, his arms thick walls that would keep her safe.

"Move!" he roared, slipping out through the door. The San 'Shyuum stumbled as best they could, only surviving because the sniper didn't bother taking additional shots. It was a common tactic, one that Exilius had learned the humans had taken to during the war. Rather than bothering to kill every soldier individually, they simply killed the leader, which left the others in disarray. But if Sangheili were involved, which they most certainly were, then the attack was far from over.

Exilius didn't have much interest in the other San 'Shyuum, and in their panic they mostly went their separate ways. He might need his hands, so he set Wrath down, then brushed her behind him. He took his Spiker off his belt and approached the nearest corner. Sniffing the air, he couldn't smell any humans or Sangheili, but wouldn't put it past them to hide their scent somehow.

"Exi," Wrath whimpered. "What are we going to do?"

Exilius snorted, taking his hammer off his back. "Get back to the vehicle, then back to the ship. Stay close." With a snort, he hefted his hammer and started running. Wrath watched him roar and charge, until, reaching the wall, he swung his hammer. The impact sent a wide vibration through the stone, and a moment later it cracked and whined, then shattered into a filthy cloud of dust. "Come," Exilius said lowly. Wrath stumbled off. And, much to his surprise, several San 'Shyuum followed after, mostly because they had no one else to follow.

XXX

"I thought you quit," Private First Class Alvin Johnstone said to Lieutenant Azula Broeland, as the latter sparked her lighter, trying to ignite the cigarette in her mouth. Azula gave a muffled growl, before closing the lighter and putting it in the breast pocket of her suit. She did continue chewing on her cigarette however, in a nervous sort of way.

"Scared?" Alvin continued.

"I don't get scared," Azula said. "Fear is an illogical response to an outside stimuli. Fear doesn't do you any good, ever. What's worse, it makes you panic, which makes you stupid." She pulled her shotgun up to her chest, cradling it. "Now…cautious. Yes, I am cautious. Very…very cautious."

"Don't see why you want to be scared or cautious. Not like the 'Leets are going to let us fight at all, or even get close enough to squeeze a trigger. They want all the glory for themselves. I mean, you ever wonder why we're here?"

Azula rolled her eyes. "Here? As in…on a Pelican headed to aid our noble Elite allies? Yeah, I have. I wonder why we still bother to get involved with the Elites and their petty feud with the Brutes. Alright, we're in a treaty, but still, what is the point?" She sighed. This was all humans ever got to do nowadays. The Elites had decided that their new human allies were more important than the Grunts that they wantonly sent to their death, yet not important enough to aid much in the war effort. The real fighting. But honestly, that was fine with Azula. She really didn't have an interest in killing and murder, not that she ever had, but now especially. Hopefully, by the time they touched down, the battle would be over.

On this dropship, there were five humans, as well as one Sangheili meant to serve as field commander. Integration. All that stuff. Of all the Sangheili it could be, Azula had really lucked out.

Stealth operative Priya Kanla was really not that bad for an Elite. She wasn't as pompous and arrogant as others of her kind. She wasn't as brutal and reckless and downright cruel as others. At the very least, she was as tolerable as an alien could be. She was sitting at the farthest seat, holding her sword in her lap. Not a sword like other Elites had swords: those sort of glowy blue things. Priya carried what Azula always thought looked like a human made katana, or at least something more likely for a Brute to be carrying. Brutes always loved big knives.

"They're going to get us killed, you're a fool if you think otherwise."

Azula turned to Alvin. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. We spend thirty years in the war, right? We suffer a hell of a lot, but the Sangheili suffer, and they are probably still sore about that. More and more, they are taking units out of reconstruction and putting them in this war effort. Now why would they do that? Integration? No. They are throwing more humans into the gears of war as some sort of vengeance, like we haven't fucking suffered enough. Hence, we are going to die."

"Ever the optimist, huh?"

"When you're as old as I, you will get to know this stuff."

"Alvin, I'm two years older than you are."

"That's not the point."

Azula was tempted to smack Alvin across the jaw. It wouldn't have shut him up, but it would have made her feel a lot better, since deep down, she suspected he was right…

The ship rocked suddenly. Azula quickly grabbed hold of the seat, as well as her shotgun. Alvin, who had been standing, was not so lucky, and was thrown towards the front of the ship. Azula cringed as she watched Operative Kanla reach out, and gave a deep sigh of relief as Priya merely set the human down in the seat beside her. "Pilot?" Priya barked over the radio.

"Sorry ma'am. Got…got multiple automated Tangos. Jesus, I thought resistance was supposed to be light? Where the hell did all these turrets come from? And where the hell is the first wave?"

Priya hissed, and shook her head. "Soldiers," she said, standing, and bracing herself on the railing that ran over the roof of the ship. "Our intelligence was mistaken…"

"…Yeah, that's a surprise," Alvin whispered.

"We have encountered heavy automated defenses, most likely human in nature. But we've no reason to believe there are any more San 'Shyuum than we once thought. It is in their nature to rely on machines than their own merit."

"Uh…ma'am, got a rise on fire team Mike on the radio. They're attempting to breach the outer wall and are waiting for us."

"Set us down pilot, near our comrades."

"Yes ma'am."

Azula sighed, lifting her shotgun and standing up, and shifting her breathing mask over her face. Alvin scurried forward, away from the Elite, and pulled his own mask down. "That one, she'll be the death of us," Alvin said, referring to Priya.

Azula believed this was called a "file" by the Covenant: about five "lesser creatures" with one Elite as the commander. Once they moved a few yards forward and rendezvoused with fire team Mike, they numbered in about ten or eleven. Mike was composed solely of humans, which was probably a huge relief to Alvin and his conspiracy theories. Despite that, Priya seemed to maintain command, as she ordered the team to enter the complex. "First thing is first, the base's automated defenses have been activated, and as this is a human base I take it is human defenses. We must remove the defenses from play so that the fleets can fly in freely."

"Wort wort wort," Alvin muttered under his breath.