Hello!

Alright, Chapter 3 up. Note that not all my updates will be this fast.

Some more info:

EY = Earth Years (standard Alliance year unit)

Pronunciation for names:

Ir'Kas = ear-kahs

R'vek = ruh-veck

R'tak = er-tack

Jyn = jyin

Zek = zeck

Byk = bick

Mek= meck

Tira = teera

And now, we return to our feature presentation...


R'vek jumped out of the Phantom as it landed, landing on the soft, spongy ground of the jungle with a loud thud. He sniffed the air, and listened deeply to the jungle. It wasn't what he heard or what he smelled that disturbed him; it was the lack of it. He couldn't hear or smell any of the jungle's creatures; all he could hear were the sounds of his troops jumping to the ground from the dropship. "It's too quiet," he muttered under his breath, absentmindedly reaching under his armor and grasping the necklace that Tira had given him on the day of their betrothal. It was three hollow circles of gold that revolved on pins, with a silver crescent in the center: a symbol of the suns and moon, of male and female, of their eternal bond. R'vek lifted the amulet on its long chain and pressed it to his forehead. R'tak walked up behind him, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You really are lucky, R'vek," he said, patting his friend on the back. "Not all of us are blessed with a mate like yours." R'vek looked at R'tak, confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his brow furrowed. R'tak sighed.

"Before the war, I had a mate and two children; a boy and a girl. They were my life. They accompanied me when I went to fight on the first Halo. When it was destroyed, I escaped." R'tak paused, looking down. "They didn't." R'vek's eyes widened; he didn't know how much the war had cost R'tak. R'tak looked him in the eyes, his gaze steely and cold. "R'vek… if there are Flood here, you damn well better be going back home. No one should experience my loss. No one." R'vek placed his hand on R'tak's shoulder, looking him in the eye not as a superior, but as a friend.

"R'tak, 6 years ago you saved my life. If there are Flood here… we're both going home." R'vek patted his friends shoulder and turned to face his troops. "Brothers!" he yelled, raising his sword into the air, reveling in the crackling energy of the blade. "Today, we go not to war on some foreign world, but to the defense of our homes, our mates, our young!" R'vek paused, and to his surprise, some of his soldiers cheered, and even the ones who had seems to hate him most for leading them seemed to be at least slightly inspired. "You know that there may be Flood here; if there is, it must not be allowed to spread. If it does, all we hold dear will be destroyed, and our planet will be consumed by the Unholy Parasite!" A chorus of cheers erupted from his troops, and R'vek reveled in it. "Today, we fight not for glory, but for our very lives! Onward!" With that, R'vek jogged into the forest, his troops in tow. His wrist com began to beep, and he hit the button on it. A small picture of the Arbiter appeared on the tiny screen, and R'vek nodded to show the Arbiter that he was listening.

"R'vek, there is a slight change of plans," said the Arbiter calmly, his voice toneless. "You are to proceed on a detour 1 km to the east to meet up with a team of Kig-Yar who will be accompanying you. They will be landing in a Phantom near a waterfall. They are to be your scouts and ranged support for the purpose of this mission." The Arbiter hung up, and R'vek rolled his eyes.

"Great, Kig-Yar are exactly what we need," he muttered sarcastically. He brought his hand up to signal a halt, and his troops stopped behind him. He turned to face them, his tattered cloak hanging limp about his armored form. "The Arbiter has informed me that there has been a change in plans; we are to rendezvous with a group of Kig-Yar at a waterfall to the east; move out!" R'vek turned back around and continued to jog, this time in an eastern direction. He scowled; Kig-Yar were nothing but a bunch of thugs and assassins: they shouldn't be serving among his honorable brothers. R'vek would not look forward to this. He had no idea how right he was.


Zek jumped down from the Phantom, landing gracefully on the rocky cliff at the waterfall. His arm had pretty much healed by now, and it no longer needed the sling. Then Jyn dropped down behind him, her sword clutched in her left claw, and behind them, the rest of the Kig-Yar troops hit the ground, as silent as leaves falling on a pillow. R'vek hooked his thumbs into the pair of needlers at his belt, and pulled them into his hands, spinning them around in a full circle as he unholstered them. He raised his left hand, allowing his gun to hang from his thumb, and motioned for the snipers in the group to take position. Without a sound, the Kig-Yar carrying beam rifles except for Jyn scattered around the clearing, climbing up trees with the agility and grace of spiders. After the snipers had taken position, R'vek motioned for the close-combat specialists to hide and take cover. The remaining Kig-Yar ran behind rocks or into small pits. Mek concealed himself in a bush, while his brother Byk hid as close to the female pilot as possible: namely, beneath the Phantom. Zek looked at the clock on his timepiece impatiently; where were those Sangheili? He chuckled under his breath, remembering how R'vek had been late to their meeting. "Are all Sangheili incapable of keeping a schedule?" he mused to himself. Suddenly, the group heard a rustling in the brush, and a single, blue-clad Sangheili emerged from the bushes. He had a tattered grey cloak wrapped around his armored body, and three holes lined the armor above his collarbone. Zek's eyes widened, and his lip twitched. "Forerunners be damned," he muttered: the Elite that stood in the brush was R'vek.

R'vek shoved his way through the dense foliage, pushing through the twigs and branches that got in his way. He cursed as he smashed his toe against a large root; these Kig-Yar had better be good. As he pushed his way through the last few branches, he saw two lone Kig-Yar standing on a rock in front of a Phantom. They were a male and a female, and they stood proud and tall, surprising for their race. The female clasped a crystalline sword in her left hand, while the male wielded two needlers, one in each claw. R'vek's eyes widened as he realized who they were: Zek and Jyn, the only ambidextrous Kig-Yar he had ever heard of. R'vek walked out into the clearing, his troops following close behind him. R'vek heard various whispers from behind him, ranging from "is this it?" to "what happened to the rest of them?". "Zek!" shouted R'vek angrily. "What are you and your mate doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing, R'vek!" replied Zek, catching the other Sangheili off guard: never before had they heard a Kig-Yar address a member of their noble race with such impertinence!

"I was sent by the Grand Arbiter himself to lead this mission! Now, for the last time, I demand to know what you are doing here!" R'vek's eyes narrowed, and Zek laughed.

"Oh really? Well, for your information, he contacted me to lead my force of Kig-Yar on this mission!" At this, R'vek looked puzzled, before laughing.

"What force? All I see is you and that wench Jyn!" R'vek shouted, taunting Zek. Zek's eyes snapped wide in rage, and he grinned.

"This one," he said, snapping his fingers. Immediately a dozen Kig-Yar dropped from the trees and leapt out from behind bushes and rocks, guns at the ready. R'vek's Sangheili were taken completely off guard, as their force of eight was now faced with a group of twelve armed Kig-Yar, half of which were snipers. The Sangheili were surrounded by the Kig-Yar, and slowly, they began to huddle back to back in a defensive formation. Zek jumped down from his perch, falling a full 20 feet before landing gracefully on the ground, and slowly walked towards R'vek. His eyes were wild, and his right eye twitched. The Kig-Yar before him parted to let him through, and he walked straight up to R'vek, the eight-foot tall Sangheili dwarfing his six-foot frame. "Don't you ever talk like that about Jyn," he said, in a menacing whisper. It wasn't the tone or anger in his voice that was intimidating; it was the utter lack of it. Suddenly, R'vek felt a dagger at the back of his neck.

"It's not polite," whispered Jyn. Zek put up his hand, and opened it so that his palm was exposed but his fingers were touching. The other Kig-Yar, including Jyn, vanished back into the trees and the bushes, silently shuffling away. Zek turned, and began to walk off into the brush.

"We'll cover you from the trees; the sooner this mission is over, the better," he grumbled, and vanished into the trees. From behind him, R'vek could hear Ir'kas whistle through his teeth.

"Those Kig-Yar mean business!" the youth exclaimed. R'vek rolled his eyes in annoyance, and signaled his troops to follow him into the brush.


R'vek cautiously approached the ship fragment, signaling for his men to fan out around it. In one hand, he held his sword, and in the other, a grenade. The fragment glistened in the sunlight, the light reflecting off of its bright metal panels. It was massive; he could fit his house inside twice over. R'vek made his way ahead of the ring of Sangheili towards the heavy door on the fragment, and he heard the faint sounds of each and every Kig-Yar in the trees readying their weapons. He pressed his hand on the door, and it depressed into the fragment before sliding out of the way. R'vek jumped back, and raised his arm to throw the grenade, but there was nothing there; only the skeletons of Sangheili and Humans alike. He motioned for his men to follow him, and he slowly walked into the cavernous bowels of the old ship. As he walked in, he began to get the feeling that something was wrong. The dusty bones of every Alliance race littered the interior, but not even a single tooth of a Jiralhanae was present. This was no battle; these corpses had been staged. R'tak walked up behind him, his eyes shifting every which way.

"I don't like this, R'vek. Something's wrong," he said, and R'vek nodded.

"So you can feel it too," he replied. The group of Sangheili continued into the bowels of the ship, until they reached a large battered door. R'vek signaled a halt, and pressed his hand on the door. It opened, and something swung out in front of him. R'vek jumped back, lashing out with his sword. He heard a dry crack, and saw that he had just stabbed a Sangheili skeleton. Its mandibles were frozen open in terror, and its arms were fractured. R'vek deactivated his sword, and pushed the skeleton, muttering a soft prayer as he entered the room. The sight inside was ghastly; corpses of Alliance warriors were littered about the room, their blood splattered on the walls. On further examination, R'vek saw to his horror, that these were not just soldiers. The corpses of males, females, and children alike of nearly every Alliance race littered the floor, their faces frozen in terrified expressions, many with tear streaks running down their faces. R'vek heard one of his troops wretch behind him, and R'tak walked up behind him.

"What is this?" he asked incredulously, unable to comprehend the sheer level of carnage.

"I don't know, but this was no fight; this was an execution," R'vek replied, readying his blade. The blue energy sword sprung to life with a loud crack, illuminating the room. In the light, R'vek saw another corpse. It was a female Sangheili, puncture wounds in her chest over both her hearts, her head hung limply on her neck, and her wrists were chained to two control terminals, suspending her in the air like a crucified criminal. A long gash ran down her back, and a huge spray of blood coated the wall behind her. Suddenly, R'vek realized that the blood wasn't a spray, but a message, painted in the gore of the female. The dripping letters read a terrifying message: The Great Journey is coming! Suddenly, R'vek and his troops heard skittering noises in the air vents. The vents exploded outwards, and small, insectoid forms accompanied by horrible, disfigured versions of alliance races poured out, roaring and shrieking. R'vek's men opened fire immediately, and the macabre hordes charged forwards: the Flood was upon them.


Muahahaha! The flood are upon R'vek and his troops, and Zek and Jyn don't even know of the threat! Will they survive? Or will our heroes fall prey to the Parasite?

Find out in the next thrilling installment of...

The Ring.

Until next we meet,

- Baeowulf