The Last Spartan (Version 20)

by DinoJake

After a long deserved rest, the Master Chief awakens in a whole new galaxy.

3. Chapter 2

It's that time of year again….

….

"Dropping in three….two…one…."

Saren clenched his mandibles as the 'mako,' as the Humans called it, landed harshly. ODSTs and ODAVs, the notion of dropping armed forces directly into the battlefield from low orbit, was just one of many testaments to Human insanity, he felt. Still, here he was on Therum's surface, apparently no worse for wear. "Status." he ordered.

"Everything looks good." Nyreen reported from the co-pilot seat. "We're ready to roll, Saren."

"Well, say what you want, but the Humans make sturdy vehicles, at least." Saren commented before gripping the wheel and smashing the floor pedal, sending the mako surging down the path.

"Spirits, Saren!" Nyreen blurted out. "Do you really have to drive like a freaking Krogan?!" Saren merely cackled evilly in response. "Not funny." she added as she regained her composure.

With Palaven having fallen to the might of the UNSC, things had gotten desperate for the Council Races. Well, 'fallen' might not have been the right word. Even after the Humans declared their conquest of the Turian homeworld officially complete, the Turian resistance are still fighting them tooth and talon. There are even huge swaths of territory on Palaven that are still heavily contested between the UNSC and the resistance. In any case, the Hierarchy military was dealt a heavy blow. By now, it was clear that the Humans could not be defeated through brute force alone.

Thankfully, the Salarian STG made a massive discovery not long after the Fall of Palaven; the UNSC was working on a new type of stealth frigate that looked promising. Seizing an opportunity, Spectre Saren Arterius was sent with a small team deep into Human territory to steal the frigate. The plan went off without a hitch, and Saren named the new ship Noravia in honor of a pivotal battle from Turian history. Along with the frigate, Saren and his team acquired several pieces of intelligence.

First was the fact that the Master Chief was in command of a ship the Humans found; the Sovereign. Originally a Prothean artifact, the UNSC decked it out and made it service-ready, and it's currently being toted as the Last Spartan's flagship. Second, the Master Chief was sent to track down something known as 'the Conduit,' a suspected Prothean super weapon located somewhere in the Attican Traverse. The Citadel Council has made it a priority that Saren finds the Conduit before the Chief does.

The final piece of intelligence they found, however, was very interesting indeed. A Prothean Beacon.

It was destroyed, unfortunately. But not before it gave Saren visions of synthetic life forms, 'Reapers,' slaughtering organics, presumably the Protheans. The Council didn't believe him though. They weren't concerned with dreams; the nightmares they had to face in the real world were a much greater threat. Still, Saren couldn't shake the feeling that his visions were somehow significant in all this.

So it was that, as acting captain of the Noravius, Saren set out into the Attican Traverse in search of both the Conduit and the Master Chief. Coming along with him were a few companions. Nyreen Kandros was a biotic whose cabal was wiped out in the Fall of Palaven and has harbored a healthy hatred of Humans since. She and Saren worked well together; unsurprising as Turian biotics are trained to work well together, as they are often deployed in small, covert groups. That said, command was concerned that, as a consequence of losing her entire cabal to the Humans, she might be too emotionally invested in the fight and may be suffering from impaired judgement as a result. Thankfully, Saren would be the one giving the orders on this op.

Next was Tarquin Victus. Yes, Tarquin Victus, as in the son of none other than former general and current primarch, Adrienn Victus. Given the weight of Saren's mission, Primarch Victus wanted someone he could absolutely trust on a personal level to accompany the Spectre. Needless to say, it earned the poor boy more than a few dirty looks from the ship's crew; nepotism is severely frowned upon in Turian society. Saren himself would be lying if he said he completely trusted the Primarch's judgement on this one. Still, Tarquin was a good soldier and competent marksman from what he's seen of him thus far, so there's no immediate reason to get rid of Tarquin. Spirits willing, he'll earn the right to fight alongside the legendary Spectre soon enough.

Tarquin and Nyreen were the only Turian members of Saren's squad. This was a multi-species war after all, so Saren simply couldn't look to his own race for help. Alien fighters came forward as well, looking to sign up for the Spectre's cause. Knowing that he would need all the help he could get, Saren welcomed them on board.

First, there was Lieutenant Ollo Tolan, a Salarian from STG and the team's tech expert. The Lieutenant came strongly recommended by none other than the famed Captain Kirrahe, a war hero who famously held a line against UNSC marines on a Salarian colony a few months ago. Tolan worked directly under the war hero, but unlike the comparably amicable Kirrahe, Tolan was cold and calculating and not very personable. Even more problematic, the Salarian made it clear early on that he doesn't exactly hold Spectres in high regard and resented being under Saren's command. Thankfully, he was a professional which meant that he would follow orders, like them or not.

The same could sadly not be said of Bray Ny'shahk, a former mercenary and liaison from the Batarian Resistance Movement. When the Humans invaded Khar'Shahn, it didn't take long for the Citadel to be overwhelmed by Batarian refugees seeking asylum from their new Human masters. Formed and led by Ka'Hairal Balak, the Batarian Resistance Movement's goal is to wage war on Humanity via guerrilla warfare, the end goal being the complete liberation of all Batarian space. Bray used to be a merc in the Terminus until he heard news of Khar'Shan's fall and decided that he should sign up for the cause. He was a good soldier but a bit cocky at times, not to mention he made it clear to Saren pretty early on that he was only on the Noravius on Balak's orders; he personally thought that it was a crap detail.

By far the oddest member of the team was Niftu Cal, also a tech expert and a Volus. Yes, you read that right. A Volus. With the Human-Council War having grown so desperate, the Council has turned to giving guns to pretty much anybody capable of using them, leading to the active involvement of species that were once rarely seen on the battlefield. Niftu Cal was a tech expert with mildly powerful biotics as well, but still, even with the biotics Saren had his doubts. His rumored history of drug use did little to ease the Spectre's concern.

Finally, by far the most high-profile member of Saren's team was possibly also the most powerful and influential. Before the war, she was an accomplished theologian on Thessia. But with the UNSC on the march, Matriarch Benezia has taken it upon herself to rally her followers. Benezia herself had agreed to join Saren's team, believing that Saren will ultimately be the hero the galaxy needed. Saren himself wasn't so sure of that; he was just trying to get the job done, really. Still, with a rather dysfunctional squad under his command, it was good to know that someone believed in him, and an Asari matriarch no less.

Tarquin fidgeted in his seat as the mako made its way through the volcanic environment of Therum. He turned towards Benezia. "You sure Liara's here?" he asked.

"Wherever there are Prothean ruins, she would have been there." Benezia said. "She was always drawn to the past. She found the Protheans absolutely alluring." The matriarch smiled. "I imagine if Protheans were alive today, she'd take one as her bondmate."

Benezia paused, her smile fading. She turned to Saren. "Liara and I have not spoken in many years." she told him. "I don't know how she'll greet me."

"Well, it'll either be us or the Humans." Saren said. Their mission on Therum was to find and secure Dr. Liara T'soni, an archaeologist with a specialty in Protheans and incidentally Benezia's daughter. Benezia had all but insisted that they find Liara, and not just because of the obvious; years before the war, she was derided by the archaeological community for her 'cycles' theory. Even Benezia herself doubted it back in those days. But in light of Saren's vision, Benezia had a feeling that perhaps her daughter was right all along. Perhaps she could provide some insight into Saren's vision as well as possibly even the location of the Conduit.

"What makes you so sure the Humans would even be here?" Tarquin asked.

"Call it a hunch." Saren said. "Seems like everywhere I go these days, there are Humans looking to kill me."

"Wel…..we're on a useless planet in the middle of the Traverse." Tarquin pointed out. "I doubt we'll see any Humans out here."

It was then that objects suddenly slammed into the road before the mako from above. At first glance, they appeared to be comets striking the ground. But Saren had fought enough Humans to know better; these were ODST drop pods. "You just had to say something, didn't you Daddy's Boy?" Bray deadpanned from the passenger compartment.

"Everyone hold on." Saren said as he slammed the gas. "This could get bumpy!"

"You mean it wasn't already?" Nyreen sardonically asked.

"Ignoring that." Saren said as he pulled a power slide, turning a pair of ODSTs into roadkill.

The mako continued its way through the winding canyon paths, ODSTs continuing to harass them the whole way. Still, Saren abided by a simple philosophy behind the wheel; don't stop for anything. The ODSTs may be legendary killers, but they can't kill what they can't catch. Once they lost the Humans, the mako eventually came to a stop in front of a thin gap in the wall ahead of them. "You sure that's the way, Nyreen?" Saren asked.

"Says so on the map right here." Nyreen said. "The ruins are definitely that way."

"Alright then, looks like we're strutting it the rest of the way." Saren announced to his squad. "Everyone pile out."

Piled out they did as each member of the team was just barely able to squeeze through the gap. After navigating it one by one, they resumed following the path up a hill. Their weapons out, they proceeded slowly. Not a sound was heard except the wind and the bubbling of nearby lava. The team then knelt behind a series of boulders in the middle of the trail. Saren popped his head up to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing no hostiles, he signaled to Benezia to move up. The Asari nodded and proceeded.

This was the first time Saren saw Benezia outside of that regal black dress she was almost always wearing. Now, she was wearing a comparatively slimmer outfit; a regal looking combat hard suit not unlike what the Justicars wear. It looked good on her.

It was then that Saren heard something. His head snapped up towards the sound. At the top of the cliff above him was nothing, but he heard another sound like rocks shuffling. "The way ahead is clear." Benezia reported over TEAMCOM.

"Don't be so sure." Saren replied. "I don't think we're alone here. Proceed forward and stay alert."

The squad continued ascending the hill, through narrow crevices and up a ramp of rock that didn't look entirely natural. Saren's senses were on high alert. He knew he heard something on top of the cliffs. Between that and the confirmed presence of Humans on the planet, Saren was almost sure that they were walking right into an ambush. "Ollo. Are you sure we're going the right way?" Saren asked.

"The HUD map says to go this way, we're going this way." Ollo stated.

"You trust technology too much." Nyreen said as she also looked around, about as paranoid as Saren was.

"You don't trust it enough." Ollo replied. He held up his hand as they reached the top of the natural ramp. "For instance, thanks to technology, I now know that there are neutral targets about."

"What?" Saren said as he snapped his head towards Ollo.

"Several white dots on the HUD." Ollo stated. Saren checked his own HUD and, sure enough, several white dots immediately to their left.

"Weapons free!" Saren shouted as he whipped out his assault rifle, his squad whipping out their own weapons. They pointed them at the top of the cliff that Saren was pointing his own rifle at. "Come on out, whoever you are!" Saren cried out. He knew they weren't Humans; otherwise they would've shown up as red on their motion trackers. Still, that didn't mean they were friendly.

That's when the first one showed up, followed by a dozen more of its kin. They were tall and lanky in frame, yet muscular. Saren knew what he was looking at, yet he couldn't believe it. He thought they were extinct, wiped out by the Humans a century ago; the first victims of their evil.

It was then that several more appeared around the team; seemingly out of thin air. They literally shimmered from nothingness into a wide circle around them, wearing black armor and keeping their hands on the hilts of their swords. "Did your HUD detect them?" Nyreen asked.

"Shut up." Ollo hissed in reply.

"I am N'tho of the House of 'Sraom!" One of them bellowed from the top of the cliff. "And you are now trespassing in the domain of the Sangheili!"

…..

Once the squad was arrested, they were 'escorted' into a nearby cave and into a winding set of tunnels. The further down they went, the more signs they saw of settlement, of lights and carved rock. Niftu was straining against his cuffs, his hands glowing blue. Bray tilted his head to the right as he observed this. "You're not a 'biotic god,' Niftu. Just give it up." he said.

"I'm telling you, I biotically lifted a whole air car once!" the Volus insisted.

"Sure you did." Bray deadpanned.

"Close your jaws!" one of the Sangheili demanded. "Or I shall bind them shut!"

Eventually, they came into a whole network of catacombs that were very clearly inhabited by hundreds of Sangheili. They passed through huge crowds gathered in an underground bazaar. "Fascinating." Benezia whispered to Saren. "They must have been living here in secret for years."

Saren looked around the tunnels, noting the presence of metal in the rock. "These aren't just caves they're living in either." he whispered back to her. "I think these are the Prothean ruins we've been looking for. Look. The ruins have been so long that the rock formed around it."

"So it has." Benezia observed.

Eventually, the SpecOps Sangheili took them to what Saren could only describe as some kind of throne room. Sitting upon the throne was a Sangheili wearing a bronze armor that was unmistakeable to anyone remotely familiar with this species. "Kneel!" the one named N'tho barked. With that, the other elites knocked the whole team over onto their bellies. "Your holiness, we found these trespassers in our territory. They must be the ones the Humans are looking for." N'tho told him.

The Arbiter rose from his throne. "Give me one good reason not to kill you all…." he growled at them.

"Oh…..I don't know….." Saren said as he finally able to stand back up. "Enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"What enemy do we share?" the Arbiter asked.

"The Humans." Saren explained. "I don't know if you've noticed, but my species, all of our species really, have been locked in a perilous war with the Humans."

The Arbiter huffed. "Then you are doomed." the Arbiter grimly stated. "Not since the Flood has the galaxy seen a species as vile as the Humans. Always expanding, consuming, leaving naught in their wake but desolation. To fight them is to fight death itself. We tried to oppose them once, but they wound up gutting us."

"How?" Benezia asked. "How did they push your species to the brink of extinction?"

"Through sabotage, the cowards." the Arbiter snarled. "They funded particular factions in the Great Schism to keep us fighting amongst ourselves. They poisoned our crops, starving us. After years of this, it took little effort on their part to crush what was left of our empire. Now, we are forced to hide to survive. Not just here, but across the Attican Traverse and Terminus Systems."

"I don't believe this." Saren said with a disapproving shake of his head. "This is the Sangheili, the legendary race of brave warriors? You're hiding in holes like field vermin. This is what you've been reduced to?"

"This is what the Humans have reduced us to!" The Arbiter fumed. "And considering their goal was to wipe us out entirely, I would say that we are fortunate! The UNSC has only grown stronger since then. What would you have me do?"

"Fight." Saren said. "That's what the rest of the galaxy is doing. The Turians, the Asari, the Salarians, every day more people are rising up against the Humans and declaring 'No more!' No more enslavement, no more genocide, we have had enough! So….what are you going to do?"

The Arbiter had no answer. "Milord!" a Sangheili in blue armor shouted as he ran up to the Arbiter and knelt. "The Humans! They've found our gates and are preparing to destroy it!"

"They've found us…." N'tho said. He turned to Saren and his team. "For you have brought them here!"

"We were looking for my daughter!" Benezia shouted back at them. "Liara T'soni!"

"Mother?"

It was then that Benezia looked down a hallway, the same one that the Sangheili scout entered from. "Liara?" Benezia asked, stunned. "Thank the Goddess that you are safe." she said after a moment of pause.

It was then that a booming sound was heard and reverberated throughout the catacombs. "We will not be safe for long." the Arbiter said. He turned to Liara. "Help the women and children into the ship. The warriors will buy you time by repelling the attack as best we can."

"Of course, Arbiter." Liara said with a nod. She turned to Benezia. "We'll talk later." With that, the younger Asari took off.

"I have a proposal that I would like to make, Arbiter." Saren said. "We are warriors ourselves. If you release us, we will fight by your side."

"You're the ones who started this mess in the first place!" N'tho protested.

"All the better that we join the fight, then." Saren pointed out. "Help undo the damage we've done."

The Arbiter paused in thought. He then turned to one of the guards. "Release them." he ordered.

….

Colonel Phillips watched with disdain as the smoke cleared. The stone gate still standing, the soot and Quarian corpses littered in front of the gate being the only evidence that a bomb went off at all. He rolled his eyes. "Fuckin' suits." he muttered as he took out his cigar and put it out on the backpack of the Unggoy that was polishing his boots.

While combing the surface of Therum for Liara T'soni and Saren's gang of troublemakers, the 46th UNSC Marine Battalion found a truly monstrous cavern in the side of a mountain. The ceiling was a hundred feet high and the corridors were just as long across. On a hunch, Philips ordered the force of a thousand marines strong further into the cave and found something he had only read about in fantasy stories; a pair of double doors made from stone. Betting that there was something valuable behind it, possibly even the entrance to the Prothean ruins they were looking for, he ordered that the doors be opened. It was a task that turned out to be easier said than done.

Phillips idly kicked the boot-shiner Unggoy in the head, knocking him to the ground in the process; his usual signal that he was satisfied. The Unggoy yipped something and ran off on all fours. One of his majors walked up to him. "I'll get another batch of suits working on another bomb sir." he said.

"Have more Human engineers supervise them this time." Phillips ordered. "As entertaining as it is to watch suits get blown the fuck up by their own stupidity, it starts losing its charm the second time."

"Yes sir." the major said. "Although their leader, Korrin 'Ya-something, says that the explosive material we're giving them is too unstable."

"He says that like it's my problem." Phillips replied. "If he complains again, shoot him in the head and promote his number two."

"Illisa, sir?" the major asked.

"Yeah. She's got a nice ass." the colonel said with a chuckle. "Wouldn't mind seein' more of her bending over to check a warthog's engine."

"If you say so, sir." the major said. He gave a salute and then walked away. Phillips grunted as he whipped out a new cigar, stuck it in his mouth, and lit it.

It was around that moment that a two-foot-long iron spike impaled Phillips right through his head.

….

"Told you I could hit him from this range." Bray said as he loaded another spike into his kishok harpoon gun.

"Big deal." Tarquin replied over TEAMCOM. Bray's sniper perch was a hole in the rock wall high above the Human marines. Tarquin was presumably perched in a similar spot, but Bray couldn't quite see it from where he was. "He was just standing around like an idiot. Easy headshot for anybody. Moving targets are the real challenge. Observe."

By now, the death of the lieutenant colonel had sent the entire marine detachment into a panic, blind fire in several directions in an attempt to find the source of the round. "See that big tough one down there heading for a tank?"

Bray aimed down the sights of his gun and saw the Human Tarquin was describing; a big burly one with his muscles arms exposed. He was running over towards one of the scorpions for some reason. "Yeah?" Bray asked. No sooner did the question leave his mouth than the marine's head popped like a ripe melon.

"Your move." Tarquin stated.

"Yeah, yeah." Bray said as he selected another high-priority target. One marine was yelling at the others, trying to restore order amidst the panic. Bray pulled the trigger, sending the spike right through the Human's heart.

"One, that was practically a stationary target and two, that wasn't even a headshot." Tarquin stated.

"You snipers are all the same. Headshot, headshot, headshot." Bray said. "There are other parts of the body, you know. Watch." The Batarian shot another Human officer in the leg. "See?"

"Oh, he's not even dead." Tarquin groaned. "At least kill them on the first shot. So unprofessional."

"Hey, he was gonna be a combatant, but now he can't, because he's got an 18-inch metal spike sticking out of his kneecap. It's not always about kills, just knocking them out of the fight is good enough." Bray explained.

"….So you gave him a spike to the knee?" Tarquin asked.

"Yeah. So?" Bray asked in turn.

"….Have you ever played a vid game called Myskrim?"

"No."

"Ah." Tarquin replied. "I should explain that joke to you once we're back on the ship."

It was at that point that even more marines started dropping dead, this time from the SpecOps elites that slipped into their midst unnoticed, thanks to the hidden doors in the walls and their active camouflage. One Human was impaled by an energy sword, causing his comrades to fire blindly at the spot where the shimmering silhouette was, ignorant to the fact that their target was no longer there.

"Child's play." one of the SpecOps elites said over the COM. "These Humans have no idea how to properly fight us."

"That is your advantage." Saren's voice replied. "Humans are a short-lived species. The last Humans to fight Sangheili in person are either elderly or dead by now. These Humans have never personally fought anything like your kind before."

"Perhaps you were right, Spectre." the elite replied. "Perhaps we do have a chance in this war. But I have yet to see you in this fight."

"Give me a second. My legs aren't as long as yours, so I was having difficulty keeping up." Saren replied with a light chuckle.

With that, the rest of Saren's team emerged from the hidden passages in the walls to join the Sangheili in their ambush, something a squad of marines were quick to notice. "It's Saren!" one of them. "Get him!"

Saren's hand glowed blue as he fired a biotic shockwave that knocked the marines over like bowling pins. He turned and saw that another marine had flanked him and was now pointing his rifle right at his face. Saren looked up and pointed behind the marine. "By the Spirits! What's that?!"

The marine looked to where Saren was pointing. Meanwhile, Saren whipped out his pistol and put a round right into the back of the foolish Human's head. "I don't know who's dumber. You for falling for that, or me for thinking that would work." he commented.

Meanwhile, Nyreen was providing cover for a squad of elites in the form of a biotic bubble. Well, a squad of elites and Ollo. "Fascinating." the Salarian commented as he fired a fireball at a marine from his omni-tool, roasting the Human alive. "I always thought that plasma rounds from a plasma-based weapon would short out shields and other electronics. But because they're kinetic bolts of matter, they're bouncing off the enemy shields about as easily as normal rounds. It makes me ponder the paths that both Human and Sangheili have taken over the last century or so."

"Can you shut up please?" Nyreen asked, clearly irritated. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"I'm just commenting on the oddities of the technological forces at play here." Ollo went on. "In fact, I wouldn't even call them oddities. I'd even go so far as to call them inconsistencies. Contradictions, even. Minor ones mind you, but still clear for all to see if one looks closely enough. Next thing you'll know, the Sangheili have a thirty-kilometer long ship that will inexplicably run on eezo."

"You always do this, Ollo!" Nyreen shouted. "You gotta nitpick every little thing! Do you have any idea how many headaches I've had over the last few months because of you?!"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't NEED to nitpick if the designers of this technology did their homework on the proper mechanics behind these fundamental concepts!" Ollo shouted back.

Meanwhile, Bray had made his way down from his perch to join in the brawl. He warmed up his omni-tool and saw a marine charging towards him. With a smirk, he fired his ballistic blades at the Human, the spikes puncturing his armor and impaling him, one of the spikes catching him in the throat. As the spikes were merely disposable silicon-carbide weapons flash-forged by Bray's omni-tool's min-fabricator, suspended in a mass effect field to maintain a solid shape, the spikes soon faded from existence, leaving the marine to bleed to death while Bray whipped out assault rifle to fight more Humans.

However, his killing spree looked to be cut short when a trio of Humans in a very special armor appeared before him, landing right in front of him from above via their t-packs. Bray raised his weapon but the Human directly in front of him knocked it out his hands and dealt a heel-kick to his chest, knocking him to the ground. Bray was able to get a good look at them; the helmets were a dead giveaway. ODSTs.

"Any last words, four-eyes?" the one in the middle said as he pointed his SMG right at Bray's head, along with his two cohorts. It was then that a biotic orb flew out of nowhere and smacked the ODST right in the head. Bray heard a snapping sound which was probably his neck, judging from the way the body crumbled like a puppet whose strings just got cut. His two minions also died by receiving high-flying biotic orbs right to the faces and they too collapsed. Bray was quick to recover and get back on his feet. He turned towards his savior.

There was Niftu Cal, his hands still glowing with a biotic aura. "Told you I'm a biotic god." he said.

….

"Sir! We're getting our asses kicked!" a random marine reported to Lieutenant Colonel Jackson. "These are elites! Just like the ones they fought in the Great War!"

"Impossible!" Jackson proclaimed. "The elites are extinct!"

"Well clearly we missed a few!" the marine exasperatingly shouted. "Not only that, but Saren and his team are here too! They're all here! The four-eyes, the other raptors, the gecko, the fucking Volus of all things, and even that Asari Matriarch!"

"Okay, calm down son." Jackson said in an attempt to calm the panicking marine. "This Asari. Are you sure she's a matriarch?"

"Well one, her tits are bigger than her own head, and two, her biotics are more powerful than anything we've faced from an Asari before!" the marine went on.

"How powerful are we talking?" Jackson asked. It was at that precise moment that three scorpion tanks biotically flew through the air over their heads and crashed at the far end of the cavern, one of them landing on top of a fireteam. "Okay, you've made your point. Come on. Let's go get the hunters."

The two of them jogged over to a pair of large crates with holes in each one. "Okay, I'll get this one you get the other one." he said as he grabbed a cattle prod and tossed another one to the subordinate marine. "Get 'em nice and pissed, open the door, and then stay out of their way."

The marine nodded as he jammed the prod through the hole, shocking the occupant. What the marine heard next was a roar that was more felt than heard. Jackson did the same to his own crate, but with a far more practiced hand. "Come on you lousy can of worms!" Jackson yelled as he continued shocking the creature inside the crate. "Wake the fuck up you useless fish bait!"

After a minute or two of prolonged shocking and shouting insults, the crates were absolutely jumping, their occupants eager to kill. "Okay marine, get behind the crates!" Jackson yelled as he ducked behind the crates himself. He pulled out a remote control and jammed a button. After a series of popping bolts and screws went flying, the lids of the crates fell, freeing the occupants.

The Mgalekgolo of the UNSC were ten times more savage than they ever were in the Covenant, thanks mostly to selective breeding and handling techniques to encourage maximum aggression. The frames that bound the eel colonies together were UNSC dark green, and were quadrupedal in shape. Their 'skulls' were wolf-shaped helmets with jagged iron spikes for teeth, a functional jaw, and their signature fuel rod cannon inside the mouths. They howled like the animals they resembled and charged at the Sangheili.

"Hunters are active! Repeat! Hunters are active!" Jackson yelled over the COM. "If you don't wanna get chewed up, STAY OUTTA THEIR WAY!"

The warning did not come quick enough for a few unfortunate marines who were unlucky enough to be the first thing one of the hunters saw. It grabbed a hold of the Human and used it like a chew toy. Another Human shot the creature in the head, the rounds bouncing off the skull. It growled at him. "Not us you idiot!" the marine yelled. He pointed to the Sangheili. "Eat the tall ones!"

The Mgalekgolo obliged by lunging at the nearest elite and tearing it to shreds, its bond brother doing the same. "Heads up guys, you've got hunters!" Tarquin reported over TEAMCOM.

"I will take care of them." Benezia replied. She ran over to meet the hunters head-on. A platoon of ODSTs tried to intercept her, but a singularity thrown at them stopped their efforts in short order. It didn't take long for the hunters to spot her and scramble over one another to get at her. Benezia then used her biotics to lift the hunters up mid-charge, crush them in mid-air with warps, and allowed them to plop down on the ground in gooey orange puddles.

"Bullshit!" cried one of the marines who witnessed the event as he stood up in indignation. "She should not be kicking our collective asses that hard!" He was then shot in the head, courtesy of Tarquin's aim.

"This is Liara T'soni." the young Asari's voice said over the COM. "Everyone is on board the escape ship."

"Very well." N'tho's voice replied. "All units, fall back! We will join in the evacuation! Kill every Human you see between yourselves and your designated exits!"

…

"And then what happened?" Saren asked. Once the evacuation of the Therum ruins was completed, the squad sans Benezia met up again in the Noravius's comm room, Liara sitting in Benezia's usual seat this time. The young Asari was regaling how she discovered the Sangheili settlement.

"After I fell in the hole, the Sangheili found me." Liara went on. "They didn't trust me at first, but as I studied them and the Prothean ruins in which they dwelled, I became fascinated with their culture. So I've been helping them however I could."

It was then that the Noravius's pilot's voice came on. "Saren, we've got a transmission from the Shadow of Intent."

"Patch it through." Saren ordered. The image of the Arbiter appeared from the hologram. He gave Saren the Sangheili salute.

"You fought well today, Saren Arterius." the Arbiter began. "I have already sent word throughout Sangheili outposts throughout the galaxy; the Sangheili are to rise again and fight once more. My people owe you a great debt for shaking us from our cowardice."

"Just doing my job." Saren replied with a shrug. "I'll pass the word on to the Council to expect some delegates from your people on the Citadel. At this point, they'll welcome any ally they can get in this war."

"So I hope." the Arbiter replied. "Before I depart, there is one last thing."

It was then that the doors to the comm room opened and N'tho walked in. He saluted the Spectre. "N'tho 'Sraom, reporting for duty." he stated.

"N'tho is young, but he is talented." the Arbiter. "He shall serve you well."

Saren nodded at the Arbiter and turned to N'tho. He walked up to the Sangheili and shook his hand courteously. "Welcome aboard, N'tho."

"Glad to be aboard any ship that makes a business of killing Humans." N'tho replied with a chuckle as he returned the handshake.

"May your Gods be with you, Spectre Saren Arterius." the Arbiter said.

"And yours with you, Arbiter Jul 'Mdama." Saren replied. The Arbiter saluted and his image faded. Saren turned to Liara. "Your mother is waiting for you in the med bay on deck two. She'll tell you everything we know about the Conduit." He paused. "I imagine the two of you will have other things to talk about as well."

"Yes." Liara said, a little unsure of herself. She stood up from her seat, took a deep breath, and left the comm room, presumably to see a mother she hasn't talked to in many years.

"She gonna be okay?" Bray asked.

"Family business." Saren said. "Better to let them talk it out themselves."

…..

In the depths of the Sovereign, the Master Chief observed footage of Saren fighting UNSC marines on Therum. The Spartan shook his head in disapproval. He couldn't believe it; the finest military force in Human history, made into a mockery by a ragtag bunch of aliens. Even more disturbing was the revelation that the Sangheili somehow survived their extinction and were thirsty for vengeance.

But by far the most interesting aspect of the vid was Saren himself. At first, Chief felt that he easily outclassed the Spectre. Now though? Maybe Saren was stronger than the Spartan originally gave him credit for. "Cortana." the Spartan said.

The AI's avatar appeared on the arm of Chief's command chair. "Yeah John?" the AI asked.

"Bring me every scrap of data you can find across the extranet about Spectre Agent Saren Arterius." Chief said. He paused. "And have one of the grunts bring me another aspirin."

"Another headache?" Cortana asked.

"Yeah." Chief said as he looked around his room. "Whoever built this ship has no sense of interior design, I'll tell ya. Feels like the walls and the ceilings are pressing in on me sometimes."

"It could be that the Protheans didn't actually build this ship." Cortana asked. "So the claustrophobia may have been a deliberate design choice by a species who's actually more comfortable in small, tight spaces. Possibly an insectoid race or - "

"Just get me the data and the aspirin." Chief said.

"Will do." Cortana said as her image faded.

…..

Will these new allies help Saren? Or will the Might of Mankind prevail and plunge the galaxy into darkness? Find out next year on the next exciting episode of THE LAST SPARTAN! VERSION TWENTY!

Alright, enough shenanigans. Next TLS update will be to real fanfic.