"There is no higher honor in these times than to be under the command of the Arbiter himself. Do you understand that?" the Elite in the golden armor asked.
"Of course," said the other Elite, sporting white armor. "If not for him, we would not be here discussing this matter. I consider it a privilege, and something that would bring honor to my father. When does he wish for me to depart?"
"After I dismiss you. There have been rumors that he's short of a few men, and after hearing his message, it's safe to say he confirmed them."
"Will anyone be coming with me?"
"No. Only you. You will depart from here to his fortress. It will take two days journey on foot. We do not want this to be a large scale operation, it is not necessary. Anything else?"
"Tell my father about this," he smirked.
The door opened as the transferred Elite walked out of the command room. Every step he took was with a sense of pride and a high spirit. After all, he had every reason to boast about this. The Arbiter wanted him under his wing? How could he not be grateful and take it to heart?
It wasn't just any Elite he had chosen for this assignment. No, he picked the Elite with the name of Sesa Sarkam.
Sesa had been fighting in the war for two years, roughly late to the party, but he had only recently met the required age to join the war. When he entered the ranks of the Covenant, he made sure there was no reason for him to be kicked out.
He had been one of the Elites that stormed the planet of Reach, burning down cities and shooting any filthy human he could see. One of them might have even been a Spartan, now that he could reflect on it. It was just another enemy to him at the time.
But his career did not come to a screeching halt when the Great Schism forced him to work alongside humans. It took time before he was up to speed, but he eventually realized the tactics of the Brutes and became the leader of his unit, with all but one of his men surviving to see the end of the war.
His armor changed while he was climbing the ranks, and his white armor showed that he was one of the best of the best. He was still young for a soldier and had room to improve, maybe he could one day be second in command to the Arbiter himself...
But that day hadn't arrived yet. He had a job to do.
The fortress was typical of the Covenant buildings up until the Schism: Sleek, cool, and filled to the brim with the latest technology. The walls were dark blue and there were plenty of communication stations, with one or two Elites at each one. Most of them were lower in rank than Sesa, one fact he loved being reminded whenever they would stop and salute him.
There were a few hundred brothers and a dozen or so sisters in the facility, and he saw one with every turn he took around the place. It wasn't so densely populated that one could barely breathe, but it had enough men that there was always something to do.
He went through several floors, elevators, and salutes from his peers before he finally found himself at the armory. All the latest weaponry were here, painted in green rather than the purple color of the Covenant. Variants of the Mark of Shame replaced the Covenant logo, something to remind them where their new loyalties laid.
To Sesa, this was like being a kid in a candy shop. Everything was present for him to try, and he wasn't sure where to begin. He came to the rack where the plasma launcher rested and lifted it up with his hands, slinging it over his shoulder to get a feel for it.
Talk about power. Even Hunters could barely handle a direct shot or a hit to the head from this. But it was too bulky, and he was going to be carrying whatever he brought to a two day walk. This was going to require lighter armor to make it bearable.
Next came the energy sword. It was shut off and the handle was all that remained. He removed it from its own rack, and flicked it on. How long had it been since he got to see the blade of one of these? Far too long, and it felt just as powerful as he remembered when he buried it deep within the chest of a Brute Chieftain.
This was coming with him. One down, another to go.
But he stopped when he could hear another Elite coming in with him. The visitor leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, clad in red armor.
"I heard the news," he stated without emotion.
"Zuka. I was not aware you were assigned to this fortress," he said.
"I was transferred here yesterday. But it's been too long since we've last met, brother."
"Indeed. It's been hard to believe it's been a year since we were killing Brutes on Earth."
They came forward and hugged one another, just as motivated from a deep friendship as much as it was out of respect. Zuka pulled away and examined Sesa's armor.
"You remind me of Rtas Vadum in that armor," he commented.
"I would have thought you would have been promoted a long time ago. You haven't changed one bit."
"It doesn't matter now. You must feel grand now that you're part of the Arbiter's elite guard."
Sesa returned to the job of choosing his toys, pulling out the plasma rifle. "You have more insight than your superiors give you credit for."
"Picking your weapons, I see. The forest is not that treacherous, unless you consider a little bunny to be the worst thing you've seen all day."
Sesa laughed at that. "It would be. Not much has happened for the last few months. But I must be ready for anything that's in that forest. It would be wise to prepare for the worst, wouldn't you say?"
Zuka said nothing, but his nod said everything on his mind. He was a little disappointed that the reunion was cut short, but he was happy to see his friend take his career to new heights.
"Take care, brother. They could always use your humor when they're bored," said Sesa.
"With pleasure, Sarkam."
Sesa put the rifle on his back and the sword's hilt on his hip, and marched out of the armory with a sense of grace. Zuka watched on with a sense of admiration, up until the doors shut behind his friend.
The Elite walked through more miles of corridors and elevators, since most of the base was underground. It was designed to fool the enemy into thinking it was only three stories tall when it had a total of ten, with seven additional floors underneath the ground.
There was one elevator he needed to go inside by then. The elevator was the only one that led outside from the "first" floor, and he came in and pressed the button to the exit.
He felt melancholy when the elevator ascended up the fortress, lights from each floor trickling its blue glow inside to reflect off the white armor. This was the beginning of a new chapter in his life, and he intended to make sure it was the best he could make it.
The elevator beeped with each climbed floor, until it came to a stop with the final buzz. The doors opened for Sesa, and the new area was a complete contrast from the clinical and hand made walls he had grown accustomed to.
They gave way to the sight of trees and dirt, with the sound of birds chirping giving the soundtrack to the serene forest. The trees were so tall and numerous that it was hard to see the sky past their branches and leaves, and the ground was almost entirely consisting of dirt, though there were patches of grass and bushes to make sure you knew this wasn't a desert in the making.
Wildlife ran rampant around the forest, from the birds to the deer. Being here made one feel as one with nature herself. There was no other departure from the fortress than this, and Sesa loved it.
He took a few steps out of the elevator, and he heard the doors close behind him. His arms stretched out into the sky and he took a deep breath of fresh air. It was refreshing to feel that in his lungs again, and he felt more alive than he had in a while. The dirt felt amazing on his hooves, even with his armor blocking some of it out of the way. He regretted how he chose not to take hikes through it whenever he had a day off, this was amazing as it was.
The forest went for miles and miles, and only stopped a few hundred meters away from the Arbiter's fortress. So this would be all he would see for most of his trek.
He took more and more steps through the area, absorbing the atmosphere as he did so. He kept gazing up to the sky above, or what little he could see through the trees. He could occasionally get a glimpse of its blue color past the branches, and the golden shade suggested that the day was in its morning hours.
His rifle rested soundly on his hands, just in case something popped up. The better prepared he was, the better he would handle any threat that came his way.
However, he did not encounter much of anything for the first three hours of the journey. It was astonishingly quiet around these woods, and the only thing that surprised Sesa was that the trees just wouldn't stop coming. Hell, save for the occasional deer running through the woods, he couldn't see any animal at all.
Fighting a bunny was beginning to sound exciting.
Nevertheless, save for the lack of excitement, it was a relaxing walk for him. The stretch of dirt on his hooves made him calm and collected, and he even put the rifle away on his back after a while. It was like the way to glory was nothing more than a cruise line, where he could get away with a lazy demeanor.
But that was a mistake that would cost him. Regardless of whenever or not he could see it, something or someone was watching him from the trees. He glared at the Elite down below his feet, and the being growled at his prey. His claws dug deep within the bark, and the branch was somehow supporting his massive weight, as he was even heavier than Sesa.
He was not the only one watching Sesa, either. Three other beasts were waiting with him in the trees. They hid among the foliage, but their behavior made it clear that they hated this role.
"Must we wait for so long?" one grumbled in a distinctively inhuman voice. "He's vulnerable and alone. He might get a shot on us, but our numbers and strength would overwhelm him easily!"
"Yes, what's the point of of this waiting?" another openly questioned. "He's a few miles away from the nearest fortress. Nobody would know what happened here!"
The leader snarled at the rebellion, and ran over and grasped the first one on the neck. The one who spoke out so willingly was now gasping for air from the sheer power of the leader's grasp.
"Do you not understand anything?" he barked. "This is one of the highest ranking Elites in the Arbiter's force. He wouldn't get one shot at us, he would have five at the least, and we would all be safer if you died from his blade. Maybe you won't have us all killed with your 'leadership' then!"
He let go of the neck, and the partner gasped for air and almost lost his balance on the branch.
"We must attack when he's more vulnerable than this. That might be when he's sleeping, it might be when he's hunting for food, but this is not the moment. We wait for now, time is on our side."
Once the one put back in his place had recovered, they jumped and swung from branch to bark, keeping up with the pace that Sesa had established.
But the Elite never had the slightest idea that he was being watched. The time would come where he would eternally regret not suspecting a thing, but his mind was at ease even at that point. He continued to go through the forest at a brisk walk, and he was starting to think about hunting for his lunch.
There were no creatures in sight for miles, disappointingly. It was getting pointless to keep searching around these parts, and he assumed that this area did not have much to feature for wildlife. Perhaps he should have brought something with him when he grew hungry, but he wanted to travel as lightly as possible.
The time came where he wanted to stop and take a breather from all that walking, and he soon encountered a section of the woods that had fewer trees than the rest, allowing one to finally see the ceiling above their heads.
A bunch of bushes dotted across the wide open plain, but the biggest feature of the area was a stream that cut across the forest like a knife. It was deep within the ground, and its floor consisted of smooth, round rocks.
The water was only deep enough to reach to an Elite's shoulders, but it could submerge a human if he took a dip inside.
He realized how thirsty and sore the walk had made him, and he decided to spend half an hour to rest by the stream. Still feeling the false sense that he was alone and safe, he put the rifle and the handle to the energy sword down by the edge of the river bend.
Meanwhile, the creatures steadily came down from the trees, in a way that would not make any noise whatsoever. They crouched their bodies and sneaked over to the bushes, where the leaves would cover any trace of their fur.
The youngest of the group eyed Sesa's movements second by second, and had to contain himself when he saw the Elite bend down on his knees to lap water in his mandibles.
"What about now?" he brought up. "He is unarmed and off guard. There would be no way for him to stop us now!"
"Be quiet," the leader whispered. "The moment is almost at hand. I know what he's going to do next, and you must trust me when I say there's a bigger opportunity waiting for us."
The other two beasts looked at each other in confusion. They did not have any clue what he meant by that, but given that disobeying his orders usually meant a snapped neck, they did what they were told.
Sesa splashed more and more water into his mouth. He was so thirsty that it was a relief to drink up, but he needed more. So he kept drinking for a few minutes, until his body had had enough.
Then he felt the need to take a swim, if even for a few moments. He looked all over the forest around him, making sure he was alone before he acted. If there was a deer he could eat, the swim could wait a few minutes. But he saw nothing of note, so he came off his knees and stood on his hooves again.
He put his right foot in the water and shivered from the touch. It was cold, but it wasn't something he would find. So he jumped inside without hesitating, splashing water everywhere. The grass behind him suddenly found itself soaked from the sheer amount of water it received.
By the Arbiter, this was exactly what his body desired. His points of tension were forced to be relieved at the cold temperature of the stream. Sesa's head came back above the surface, and he couldn't have felt any better.
The creatures in the bushes grew all the more rowdy from seeing that, and they turned to the leader with bloodlust in their eyes. The leader rose to his feet, and lifted up his hand as a signal.
"Now you have my blessing to capture him. Bring the dog to me alive."
The others roared in relief, and charged out of their cover at full steam to the Elite.
Before Sesa could fully submerge himself again, he was shocked when he saw three creatures come out of nowhere and sprinted to him. He immediately perceived them to be three Brutes, and his warrior instincts kicked in.
How could he have left himself unarmed? It did not matter if he could arm himself, his energy sword was still there for him to use. He swam as fast as he could through the stream, aiming for the sword's handle.
The Brutes all carried a plasma rifle in their right hands, but they seemed to be looking for a fistfight rather than a gunfight. Their free hands extended their claws for Sesa, and they looked ready to tear him in half.
But Sesa managed to get out of the stream in time, and went to grab his handle. But the next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain in his head when one of the apes punched him right on the top of his face. He staggered from the shot, and the other Brute swatted the sword out of his hand with his claws. The handle flew to the water, hidden from view underneath the current.
He still had his rifle to use, though. But the Brute that drew the first blow followed it up with a strong kick to the chest, and Sesa fell hard onto his back. He saw his rifle being pointed right at him by the other ape.
They had captured Sesa Sarkam, and they knew it. He had no choice but to lay down, with four guns pointed at him now. His only other option was to punch his way out of there, but even he knew he would lose in that scenario.
He had a chance to finally see the state they were in. They did not have the armor that the Prophets had given them after the Schism, but they were not without clothes either. They had straps for other guns to be holstered inside, and they wore something that looked like boxers around their crotch areas. But their chest and legs were completely exposed. Good points for a sword attack, if he had a sword...
One Brute prepared to stomp his head in, raising a foot and bringing it over him. But the creature stopped when he saw another Brute come out of his hiding spot, a Gravity Hammer resting on his right shoulder.
"I thought I told you to capture him alive."
The offender growled in disappointment, and stomped the ground near Sesa's head. The Elite's skin rumbled from the force of the impact.
He looked up at the commander and estimated that this was the Chieftain of the pack. This one had a few more straps on his chest, and he carried his hammer with a sense of pride that only men like Sesa could match.
There was no telling what the nature of this attack was. They were on the Elites' home planet after all. If they were trying to get revenge for the death of the Prophet of Truth, there were better methods to pick than capturing one Elite out of the blue.
The chieftain said nothing, only studying his prisoner from far away. Eventually, he came up with the rest of the pack and suddenly seemed just as ready to kill Sesa as the other Brute.
"Bring him to his feet, but hold him in place so he does not escape," he commanded.
Two of his brothers grabbed Sesa's arms and tried to lift him up, but he brushed them away and got on his own feet. His gaze met the chieftain's, but the Brutes still held him in place by his arms.
"Did the defeat of the Prophets not sting enough?" Sesa snapped. "Is that why you have come here for seconds?"
The chieftain laughed. "I've heard a lot about you, Sarkam. And the stories about your arrogance are true, you are showing that. But enough about your reputation. Have you figured out why we have come here and captured you as we have?"
Sesa opened his mandibles to say something, but no words came out. Everything the Chieftain said served to confuse him further about his motivations. He answered with silence, the only thing that made sense.
"As I assumed. You of all dogs should know of the war, and how we ultimately lost."
He turned his gaze to the clouds above and his expression darkened. The other Brute not holding Sesa in place stood next to the Chieftain, cracking his knuckles in preparation.
"You wouldn't have won if the Arbiter's interests aligned with the Demon's. Or if that Flood that claimed High Charity hadn't wished for the Sacred Rings to be deactivated. And yet, your brothers took it as they were better and stronger than the Brutes once and for all. A false ideal, but it was one that lasted for years before our war. After all, your ancestors wrote songs of their dominance over my ancestors. You should know this, your brothers have sung them to this day."
Now Sesa had no clue where this was going. Their species had hatred for each other for years. What was so important about that now? That they finally got to prove it in a way?
"Arrogance is something I can tolerate. But after we lost the war, my own brothers began to believe it. I have seen it in their eyes, the feeling that they are inferior and therefore conquerable."
Out of nowhere, he became enraged at the thought. His left hand clutched tight into a fist, and he rose it up to Sesa's chest level.
"And do you know why that gets under my skin, you filthy overgrown lizard?"
He slammed his fist right into Sesa's stomach. Sesa clutched at his chest and stumbled, but his captors kept him standing right up.
But the Chieftain punched him in the stomach again. Blood came out of Sesa's mouth and stained the grass below in blue.
Sesa tried his best to suppress his expression of the pain. It might have hurt, but he had been through worse and made it. He was going to make it through this one.
"THAT IS WHY!" the ape shouted. "They believe they are inferior to the likes of you, when you demonstrated through your weakness how wrong that belief is. If you did not have that armor on you, I could crush your bones and ripple your flesh with my bare hands. You know this, and try to explain it away with your 'honor' and 'brains'. That will get you nowhere anymore."
The Elite looked back up at the Chieftain and remained expressionless. He had wanted to spit at the furball's face, but he was smart enough to know he would be rewarded with another punch.
"So what are you saying?" he finally asked.
"What I need to do is for them to see what I have just saw," the Brute explained. "They need to know that Brutes are the dominant race over the Elites, not the opposite. They need an example, a symbol you might say. And I came here to find the man to become that symbol. And you are that man."
Sesa scoffed at the idea. "Good luck with that."
"Oh, you're the one who is going to need luck in the future. But for now, your armor is getting in the way of my objective."
Sesa's mind raced in fear. The last time he knew of any Elite being stripped of his armor was the Arbiter, when he was branded with the Mark of Shame in High Charity. And that was the result of a death sentence. This could only mean bad things for him.
His suspensions were confirmed when the Brutes holding him looked at the Chieftain with longing.
"Yes, it's time. Hold him down and strip him of his armor. Do not leave any piece left, he cannot have an opportunity to fight back during his stay at our base."
Sesa tried to struggle with the Brutes when they tried to force him to the ground. But his efforts were rewarded with a flurry of punches in the chest and stomach. His ability to fight back was physically gone, and he could not resist their advances any longer.
They lowered him onto his back on the forest floor. Two pairs of hands went for the pieces of armor on his legs first.
The armor was strapped on tight, but it wasn't long until he could feel his skin being free from the armor bits. He heard as the pieces of armor clanged onto the floor, and he looked down to see his legs were being stripped first. It wasn't long until the only thing that was on there was the jumpsuit.
He wanted to fight back so badly, but they had taken the wind out of him.
They proceeded to the armor on his arms. More and more skin was exposed with every piece that came off, and soon all that remained were the bits of armor on his head and the chest plate.
There was an increasing sense of shame enveloping his mind when his head was similarly stripped of its protection. It had been years since he had last been seen naked by anyone, and he treasured the armor he was losing. It was a sign of ranking, of the honor he had earned in battle. And he lost it all because of a little racial hatred.
The only things that remained were the chest plate and the jump suit. But a third Brute came in and held him in place while the other two tugged at the chest piece.
"Why does it have to be so heavy?" one complained. "Not even his mandible pieces were this difficult to tear off!"
"Do not talk until I tell you to stop your job," the Chieftain replied. "I've waited long enough for this moment, do not disappoint me any further."
"But Mataeus, most Brutes put heat on the armor first!"
"It does not matter," the Chieftain, apparently named Mataeus, said. "You've gotten this far and it's cool out here. You keep going."
They forced themselves to keep pulling, until a crack came out of his armor. It wasn't long until the chest plate came completely off. Sesa felt hard to the ground, still clutching at his chest.
Now the only protection he might have had was gone. His chances of resistance vanished before his eyes.
All that remained was the jumpsuit. One of them pointed out a tear at the chest area, and they used that as the basis to pull away at the suit. More of his bare skin was exposed, and he felt a relieving sensation when his skin was allowed to feel the cool air of the atmosphere, the first time in months. It contrasted with the emotions he was feeling, of anger and shame.
They removed the last of the jumpsuit, leaving Sesa naked. He wanted to cover up and hide his body from the other men that were watching, but he could not. The shame had completely covered him over now, and the armor he had prided himself of was gone.
"Finally, we get to see how weak you really are," Mataeus roared with delight. "Your natural state...I had forgotten how Elites looked without their armor. My first thoughts that you were all overgrown lizards stays firm. Now you're ready for the journey."
The Brute reached for a strap on his backside, and he came back with a vaccine. It was full of green liquids, something Sesa did not know about. The other Brutes held him in place even tighter than before, though he did not find a reason to flee.
Mataeus approached him with the poison and aimed the needle for Sesa's arm.
"What journey?"
"Not the Great Journey, that option has sunk," Mataeus smirked. "You'll know what kind of journey it is when this wears off."
He pierced the arm with the needle and pushed down on the vaccine. The liquid entered Sesa's system and started its work.
It gave him a strong sense of pain at first, but the next effect was the feeling that darkness was taking over his body. His limbs fell asleep on him, and his head felt dizzy from the effects.
"Get our exit ready," he could hear Mataeus say. "He'll be out cold soon."
Sesa could barely see him past the black blobs clouding his vision. It wasn't long until they were all he could see, and his body forced him to sleep.
The Chieftain laughed underneath his breath when his poison took full hold of the Elite.
You poor devil. When you see what awaits you, you'll wish you had stayed asleep.
