April 7th, 2553
1640 hours
Outside of Sanghelios' Orbit
"Counter maneuver!" The shipmaster yelled out to his crew as the Shadow of Intent turned to weaken the blow the asteroid would make upon the hull. The shield would have been there to make the asteroid completely useless, but as they came out of slip space the shield generator was shaken into oblivion by a barrage of asteroids that struck the outer area of the ship, leaving them vulnerable.
"Where are we?" The shipmaster's mandibles flared out showing his inherent anger for whoever made the horrible calculations for the jump.
"Sir," one of the elite pilots spoke up. "We made the jump to Sanghelios; the navi-computer says we are home."
"Do you remember asteroids circling our home world?" It was a rhetorical question that was meant to make the pilot feel idiotic, but when the shipmaster took in the sight of the computer, he too saw that their position was near Sanghelios.
"What's going on?" The Arbiter stood at the sliding door that leads into the bridge, on which he now stood. "Are we under attack?"
"No," The shipmaster spoke quietly, thinking of the possibilities. "Pilot, open visuals, I want to see Suban, or Qikost. That will assure me that we are home."
"Aye, sir!" The pilot began tapping quickly onto a keypad that sat before him, and after a few seconds a hologram screen appeared at the front of the bridge, bringing up a visual of what laid before the ship.
"What am I seeing, shipmaster?" The Arbiter spoke again, this time standing as close to the screen as possible.
"That's…our home, Arbiter."
What the Arbiter and the rest of the crew saw did not look like the home they had left so many years ago. Instead, it looked like the Earth had, as they Elite's glassed half of Africa to stop the flood infestation from spreading and destroying the world they held so dear. Except this wasn't just one landmass that was scarred by the high-intensity lasers of Covenant cruisers, it was the entire planet, or a good ninety percent of it.
The marks that stretched across the planet were not as delicately drawn as those the Elites had left on Reach. There seemed to be no pattern present, it was just like someone had taken a whip to the Planet's back, and just kept whipping until it fell to the ground, unmoving.
The Arbiter couldn't believe that was Sanghelios, it looked nothing like the memories he had of it when he was a child, or even when he was an adult, training to become a warrior. There weren't even two moons, there was just the one, Qikost, setting untouched by the lasers.
That's when the real terror started to set in, when he realized that the asteroids they had been dodging weren't asteroids at all, but, in fact, they were debris from the destruction of their beloved moon, Suban. Whoever had whipped their planet into submission had also destroyed one of the moons, most likely as a warning, or maybe just to show that they could.
The only thing that brought some salvation to the Arbiters eyes was the sight of the many destroyed ships floating carelessly amongst the debris of the moon. He saw many a fallen comrade, which showed him that the Elites had fought, they had not succeeded, but they had fought.
Not only did he see his own people, he saw brutes, and a lot of them. Their hairy, ape-like bodies, hung lifelessly in the wreckage of their own ships, showing that the Elites had killed a great deal of them, most likely holding them off for longer than the Brutes had expected. That brought a slight stab a joy to the Arbiter, but it was quickly silenced by the big picture.
Sanghelios was in ruins, and apparently so was the Elite Armada. The Arbiter felt like he would die. After spending so many years away from home, fighting in a false transcendence, fighting against humans who are now his ally, being in a civil war with the Brutes, helping stop the flood on several different counts, and fighting with the "demon" who became his greatest ally of all, he always dreamed of home, and now home was a ruin; just a scar on the Elite's history.
The Arbiter let out a roar before turning to the shipmaster. "The Brutes will pay for this with their blood."
" Arbiter…" The shipmaster began to speak, but was cut off by the rage the Arbiter emitted.
"The Brutes!" He began, gaining the attention of the entire crew. "The Brutes destroyed our homeland, and they shall pay! They shall pay with their blood, all of it!"
The crew looked at him with stunned faces, unknowing of what to think or say.
"Do you not seek retribution?" The Arbiter looked from face to face, not wanting a direct answer. "I want the Brutes destroyed. Their suffering shall match the hardships that our people have gone through. And not just with the destruction of our home, but with the entirety of this war. We were dragged around by the falsely led Prophets, and shunned by them for their unworthy replacements, and now they do this to us!"
The Arbiter's head dropped, looking at the steel floor of the Shadow of Intent, almost too enraged to continue. Thankfully the shipmaster stepped forward to take his place.
"I am with the Arbiter. This civil war is not over, even though we all wish it were. We must finish what has been started, and it shall be finished with the Brutes in eternal suffering, not us!" The Elites of the ship began to feel the strength that the Arbiter and shipmaster, had apparently been garnering.
"Together we can retaliate. We have the most skilled and willful soldiers upon this ship, and I trust my life, and the life of our entire race, in their hands." The Arbiter was speaking again, standing tall next to the shipmaster. "We will make them pay!"
With those words, the entire ship became filled with the Elite's roars for vengeance. Their hope was restored almost as quickly as it had been diminished.
"Arbiter," The shipmaster spoke up after the roars had subsided. "We will stay here, rally what troops we have left and send out signals for the rest that are spread amongst the galaxy. You must return to Earth, and seek assistance from our new allies. They have not forgiven us, but surely they can see the similarities between our situations. I hate to seek aid from such people, but, right now, we need it."
With that the Arbiter exited the bridge and walked the halls of the Shadow of Intent, headed straight for a docking bay. He passed many soldiers who stopped their progress just to show respect for him, and what he stood for. It made the Arbiter feel as if they could accomplish this, they could, and would destroy the Brutes at all costs. But what costs are there for a race that has already lost everything?
The Arbiter found a ship, entered it, and set course for Earth.
