Compassion For Heretics

December 13, 2553

City of New Oregon, Planet States

0700 Hours

"Do not cry... child..."

Those words echo off the Spartan's head as the Pelican he is riding makes it way towards the Covenant Loyalist positions outside New Oregon.

Where had these words come from?

Then he remembers. Those were the first words an Elite ever told him.

The Pelican pilot, watching the Spartan stare outside the windows, speaks over the intercom system. "ETA is 5 minutes." The Spartan looks at the pilot for one second, before fixing his gaze back outside. The pilot shrugs, then continues flying the Pelican.


The boy hides under the wreck of his father's vehicle, watching as the tall aliens and the funny-looking ones walk towards him. The boy's father, also hidden beside the boy, is saying things, but the boy is not following. His attention is on the aliens, who are now firing funny-looking weapons and throwing blazing rocks.

Then, the boy's father starts to stand up. The boy watches as his father throws rocks at the aliens, who immediately face him. They fire as the boy's father starts to run, away from the wreck, away from the boy.

"Run away, son!" the boy's father shout, before disappearing behind an endless sea of wreckage that was once tanks.

The boy rises up, and starts running towards the woods on the side of the highway. One of the tall aliens see him, and give chase with a glowing sword-like thing.

The boy runs and runs, until his legs won't continue. He collapses behind a tree, and waits for some minutes. No aliens chasing him. He is lucky.

That is what the boy thinks until he hears rustling of leaves. He turns, in time to see the tall alien appear out of nowhere. The sword-like thing in not visible.

The alien takes a step toward the boy, who starts crying. The alien takes another step. Then another. Then another. The boy looks up. The alien is towering over him, like the robots on TV.

"Do not cry, child. I will not hurt you." the alien says in English.

"But... my dad..." the boy says, crying.

"I am sorry for the hurt my kind has caused yours, child. We are merely doing the Prophet's work."

The boy doesn't stop crying. Instead, he cries harder and harder. The tears soak his clothes.

The tall alien removes something from his belt and offers it to the boy, who reluctantly takes it.

"It is an energy dagger." the tall alien says, explaining. "It will protect you someday." The alien turned away and began walking back to the highway.

The boy stood up, wiped the tears off his face, and followed him. "Wait!" he shouted. The alien faced the child. "What is it?"

"Take this." the boy handed the alien his own PS Vita 30000. The alien smiled, taking the gift. "Thank you. I will return this once we meet again." The boy nodded.

The alien started walking again. Then, he turned around again. "My name's Thel 'Vadamee. What's yours?"

"I'm Robert!" the boy shouted, smiling. The alien nodded, then turned around again and kept on walking back.


"Go, go, go!" the Pelican pilot shouts. The Spartan shakes his head, relieving himself of the flashback. He looks around the cabin. Every ODST is gone now, fighting the Covenant Loyalists on the ground. Only he and the other SPARTAN remains. They look at each other, before jumping out into the battle.

The Spartan lands on top of a Grunt, who is crushed by the weight of the MJOLNIR Mark VI. The Spartan aims his MA5B Assault Rifle at another Grunt and fires. Bullets tear the Grunt's flesh, and he collapses, blue blood spilling. A Brute Major heads into the fray, swinging his big Gravity Hammer and crushing an ODST. The Spartan reacts quickly, running to the Brute, sticking a plasma grenade, then doing a backflip off him. The Brute explodes, but not before he runs to the Spartan and hits him with the Gravity Hammer. The Spartan is sent crashing into a pile of rocks. He slowly loses consciousness as the sounds of battle die and the voices of split-jawed aliens come near him...