Chapter 8 April, 21st 2663/Roll Call (First Timer)

He hung upside down from the bulkhead, suspended in the air by an entanglement of his webs, between two massive cylinders. The opaque objects concealed his large body as he hung silently twenty foot above the floor, curled up into a ball.

The steady ship had slowed down for docking; he could feel the tiny vibrations from his enhanced Ventrex Cortex in his brain. It allowed him to notice things about his environment that others would usually dismiss. However, he did not need to have that as the ship bashed into the side of a docking ring, which was unusual, considering the extreme skills needed to pilot a Covenant Destroyer.

The ship shuddered to a halt as he began to lower himself via his personal web to observe even more of his surroundings. He may need to know where everything is when the boarding parties come on the ship to check for any stowaways, such as himself. As he lowered, he could feel that there was not much cover, a pillar here a there for structural support. He opened his eyes, the outer layer only. They slide sideways revealing a Kig-Yar stood about two foot in front of him. He tilted his upside-down head at the creature before he reoriented his body to stand on the floor.

Within seconds he had ripped his hands through the air, grabbed the bird-like beast's head, pulled either way and slashed his four-fingered limbs back into the darkness.

He left the Kig-Yar to float above the ground, tangled in the endless web, lifelessly gasping for air as its neck released the air its lungs once held so dear. The eyes of the creature coldly stared into his own, as the few last muscle fibres struggled to grip the two parts together. After a few brief moments of whistling atmosphere, its head broke free from its body and slid across the floor by its own pink blood.

Satisfied with the creature's demise, the Assassin closed his hardened eye lids again and listened intently. The ferocious heartbeats of Jiralhanae [Ji-ril-han-ay/Brutes] were approaching his position.

He had learnt a useful talent while in his slumber, an ability to shrink his size by collapsing his bone structures over themselves. His bones were made of over-lapping high-density Calcium-Cysterleen which meant that they could compact over each other to make himself smaller. This gave him a better advantage in the smaller nine foot hallways.

He shrank and melted further along in the shadows to bring himself closer to his preoccupied prey.

A pungent smell filled the cold harsh air as he closed in on his victims. The three overhauling monsters stood feasting on the remains of a small grunt squad. He admired the Jiralhanae for their brutality against disobedience, however, that would not stop him from following his orders: neutralise anything that he comes across.

He dissolved out of the shadow and with three quick jabs from his dual energy swords, they collapsed to the ground. His two swords had punctured into four of their lungs and with a final slash had ripped it from one of the beasts backs, twirled and hacked the last one's head from its brown, hairy body. The head slid across the floor with a wet squeak. The two side bodies lingered in the air for a brief few seconds, whereas the centre corpse was hurled across the ground from the powerful force.

After a few brief moments of removing the bodies from the hallway, he moved across towards the pressurised violet door. He looked behind himself as the four parted door swished apart, nothing was following him. He turned around, and came face to face with a Shangheili. Without hesitation, he grabbed the creatures duplicate face to his and twisted. The neck bone cracked. He let go of the aliens head and it flopped to the lifeless ground.

The humming of the ship became silent and deathly.

The Assassin stripped the creature of its weapons, a Plasma Rifle and a few Plasma Grenades, and began to start making his way towards the exit of the ship. As he ran down the corridor, he came across a window on his left. He stopped to peer out of the window, only to be aggressively greeted by a sandstorm covering the ship. The wind and sand mutely whistled outside of the window. He blinked through his different visual ranges. He eventually found a better vision; a series of green smears filled the scenery outside the window. He tuned in slightly to find a better focusing range and eventually beheld an amazing sight.

Hundred thousands of Grunts awaited beneath his slumbering ship, readying themselves for a battle. The small creatures would face an oncoming slaughter, being used as a living shield for the other larger species. He was going to see if he could not win that battle before it happened.

Not for the Unggoy [Un-goy/Grunts], but for his honour. For the Great Journey.

He continued his voyage across the Covenant purple interior of the ship, skulking through the shadows to one of the seven docking rings.

As he neared his closest port, he could sense one of the boarding parties. They are leaving the ship? He questioned.

He continued to run along the odd shaped hallway. Coming upon the exit he slid to a halt. The docking tubes were detaching from the port-side of the ship.

The ship was about to take off.

He paced across to the closed door and punched it out of anger.

He had failed. His father would surely have him hung by his entrails upon the side of his building as a sign of disobedience and dishonour.

He hung his head in shame for a brief second. After he gathered his thoughts, he looked up to see a small hole in the door where he had impacted his fist upon it.

He took three steps backwards and launched his entire weight behind his jump. He propelled himself through the thin doors, and into the hurtling winds. He fell fifty feet before deciding his next move.

He adjusted his trajectory to one of the lower tubes as he extended himself to catch onto it. He continued to fall for another thirty-five feet before impacting on top of the cylindrical pipe. He broke through the top layer of the tube and landed on the inside of the duct.

He rose to his feet, searching his surroundings for anything alive, Energy Swords drawn.

Nothing.

The Assassin simply shrugged off his almighty fall and walked along the inside of the pipeline. As he did so, he observed the scratches and claw marks from various creatures: Jiralhanae, Yerituri, and Swevants.

They must have been hard to move, he thought.

The Swevants were very aggressive and testy creatures. He had seen one his way onto the ship take out three Jiralhanae and several Shangheili.

As he continued down the duct he could hear the voices from a couple of grunts, barking and yapping at each other.

The small bipedal animals were always very strange creatures, acting like small pets rather than warriors. On the other hand, it may have been their size that changed their perception of battle. They would still, however, throw their lives into the heart of combat if it would only amuse a Brute or Elite. The only way the Humans could stop them is by depleting all of their ammunition.

The Assassin propped himself against the wall to his right, partially in the shadows to conceal his body. The little animals hoped past him, unaware of their death looming so close.

He stepped out of the tube and moved up behind them and just merely slammed his fists into their sides, smashing both of them into themselves.

Methane leaked out of the freezing environmental suits into the warm dehydrated air. Satisfied with their deaths, the Assassin drifted off once again into the darkness preparing for his first true battle.

He will win. He had to win. If he did not then the Prophet would have him skinned alive and have his corpse paraded around Transsentient Gift by his bowels.

He slipped around the corner and ran along the hallway to the lift. His feet glided silently across the hexagonal tiled floor, until he reached the doors to the lift. He stuck his claws into the crack between the rocky doors and began to pull them apart. They easily slide aside from his enhanced strength.

Something was not right, unusual vibrations. He released his grasp on the sandstone doors and turned to the window behind him.

Beyond were the Unggoy and Kig-Yar, running away from the building he stood on. Just as he realised this, the ground began to plunge towards him as the building rotated towards the land. He moved forwards so that he now stood on the glass. The ground, once so distant away now raced towards him.

He jumped and bonded himself to the, what was now, the ceiling, holding on for his life.

The building crashed to a halt shattering the glass and bending the entire circular wall into an oddly straight line. The sandstone building began to slightly crumble, leaving a very strong red mist to linger in the cooler air.

The Assassin dropped from the ceiling and assessed what had happened.

The building was too strongly built to have merely collapse under its own weight or the ships it once held onto. It must have been rigged with some kind of explosive, shattering the buildings complete foundational structure. This would explain the hasty moving of the ship he had been on and the violent crash he felt when they docked.

But what had caused it?

He banished the thoughts for later reflection, and focused on the task at hand.

How to escape to his first battle? The Assassin briefly looked around the murky room to find some means of an exit. The doorway onto the lift was still open which could provide his way out of this room, but how would he get out of the building?

After some consideration, he jumped into the sideways lift compartment and slammed his fist into what would have been the floor of the cubicle smashing through onto the other side. The Assassin clambered out of the makeshift door and ran "down" the building until he reached the ground floor.

Just as he was about to pry open the lift's exit hatch, he heard large amounts of automatic gun fire for ballistic shells, which meant Humans.

He grinned with pride to know that he would make his father be filled with satisfaction with his creations brutality.

He turned around to the doorway and placed his head against the two metallic slabs and listened. He closed his eyelids again and listened to the erratic heart beats of a Human.

His first kill, he smiled.

The anticipation was devastating every cell in his body but he continued to wait until the right opportunity arose.

On the other side of the door he could hear the heart beat moving evermore closer to him... now was his time. He opened his eyelids, leaving his protective second lids closed.

The Assassin raised his fist, clenched it and released his full fury and anger in his punch as it merged the door. The door hurtled through the air before slamming around the side of the Human on the other side, only forcing it back two foot. Without hesitation he lurched at the mysteriously floating door and threw it to the ground. He was quickly stopped as the door was thrown up into the ceiling. His armour became wedged into a notch on the ceiling which held him in place as the door fell back down to the ground beside the Human. His limp body drooped down as the creature was now revealed.

Beneath him stood a large seven foot tall Human, covered in a black suit. Its armour was very bulky and jagged, cover in peppered burns over its discoloured white. The helmet fully covered the Human's skull, a golden orange block across the front of the sphere gazed up towards the Assassin. Around its waist was three pouches and about five grenades attached to a sash looping from its right shoulder across to its left hip.

The Assassin's thoughts were interrupted by the Human lurching forwards but flipping backwards as he did, holding onto the Assassin's feet and ripping him down from the ceiling. They fell together onto the floor in a heap. The Human stood up and grabbed the Assassin's feet again and spun him off to the wall.

The Assassin rolled onto his hands and feet and crashed into the wall, still held up by his limbs. He stood and looked up to be greeted by the Human running at him with its right hand clenched into a fist. He brought his left hand up and smacked the Human's hand to his right of him into the wall.

The Assassin's time had come to an end, he must kill the Human. His first kill.

He rotated around with the flow of his deflection, rolling his body aside of the Human and slammed his elbow into the spine of the Human. The Human crippled to the floor from the blow and briefly hesitated, allowing the Assassin to finish it. He activated his energy sword and brought it down into the Humans back.

The victorious first kill was not celebrated long as three more ran around behind him firing their weapons. The majority of the bullets simply bounced off of his shields and armour, the others made it into his exposed stomach, thighs and neck.

The Assassin activated his camouflage and flipped backwards across to the side, removing him from their vision by hiding behind a fallen pillar to his right. He quickly assessed the situation at hand and reacted accordingly.

With his camo still engaged, he jumped onto the ceiling and wandered across to hold himself above the Humans. They all stood looking around, with their guns raised, scouring the room for him.

Using his webs, he lowered himself behind one of the Humans and reached for its head. Like the Jackal, he grabbed its head and twisted either way - breaking its neck. The Humans lungs released a small amount of air in a wheeze, involuntarily revealing that it had died.

The other two rotated and fired, catching him in the back of his neck. The Assassin flipped upright, activated his sword and stabbed the Human to his left with his right hand. Following through with the blow he spun around anti-clockwise, using the impaled Human as a shield against its companion. The automatic fire ceased, but the final creature did not stop, it ran at the Assassin, handgun drawn.

The Assassin dropped his cover and began to fight in hand-to-hand combat against the final living Human. The Human gasped at the sheer true size of the enemy as the Assassin intimidated the Human by restoring to his full height.

The Assassin, hunched over from the low ceiling, shoved the Human backwards into the wall and threw him aside. He activated his second sword and stumbled across to the Human now lying in front of him. An easy target, he thought. He shrank slightly before grabbing the Human by its head and lifting it off of the ground.

The Human fired three times with its handgun before the Assassin stabbed it, the sword punctured through its unprotected stomach and through its back.

The corpse flopped lifelessly to the blood drenched ground beside the ten foot tall Assassin. The red liquids drained from the bodies moved across the orange sandstone walls-for-floor, towards a large hole where the building's foundations were once embedded to the ground. The stone and metal had been twisted and melted out of shape, the stone surrounding the blast was covered in a thick black charred smothering of Carbon. The dust from the walls and blast had fled from them as the battle had begun, cowering out of the massive gauge in the side of the building. On the other side of the fissure was a three metre deep carving into the floor.

The Assassin quietly assessed his wounds and attended them intently with a chemical released from his abdomen during extreme blood pressure and danger. The secreted product could be transported around the body via his veins and arteries to the injury, or by external use to block against incoming infections and further damages. He had sustained four bullet wounds on his thigh, five in his midsection and two in his neck. As he treated his wounds, he considered about the Humans he had just battled.

Although they were of course Human, they did not seem to be Human. Their nature and pure essence to destroy such a large facility was almost suicide, but still they had attempt and completed in doing so. They had amazing skills at hand-to-hand combat and strength beyond any other normal Human. The armour they wore was different to the normal Marines, but still had elements of it in them. The Voice had told him during his creation, of Humans that were brilliantly smart as they were powerful. Humans so powerful, they could take on a Covenant Assault Carrier with just one squad of theirs. They were "Spartans".

He dismissed the idea and continued. He mission must be completed.

The Assassin anxiously waited behind a small cliff, the two red moons floated in a sea of deep blue. The red and orange sand washed over his armour plates and speckled across its dazzling invisible colours. The odd blue plasma spark emitted from his suit in protest to the sprinkled dust on his invisible armour. Millions of years of sedimentary highlighted each other, the dark upon light, on the small cliff's face created a skin of history before him. A splash of wind and filth wafted across the cliff's tip and fluttered to the floor at the Assassin's feet. On the other side of the mound was a counter-response encampment of Human Marines, preparing for tomorrows battle. The anticipation of winning and the annihilation of the ever-so-close Humans quivered in the hot, dry air.

He stood slightly hopping from one foot to the other from the eagerness to begin his first baby steps towards his path on the Great Journey.

The Assassin testily attempted to peer once again over the night covered hill to the prey that lay before him, begging to be slaughtered.

His mandibles twitched faintly as he observed the hellish creatures wondering about in their campsite, drifting about one another as they talked. A few marines stood by a slightly larger tent holding several guns and inspecting them before placing them back into their crates. Two of the Humans stood gazing up upon the stars, whispering to themselves about the speculations of the universe and all of its inners. Their helmets were tucked neatly under their arms as they rotated to the different star constellations.

His time was approaching but he did not have the self-discipline to contain it, but still he waited. Like a trap waiting to bite hold of its prey, he burned with anticipation.

The Assassin's eyes watched intently as the Humans moved about, the two who were stargazing had walked off into one of the tents and the others faced the opposite direction.

Now was his time.

He lurched forwards, over the top of the cliff. Propelling his seven foot tall, hundred-sixty-five kilogram body across fifteen meters before his large feet slammed silently onto the ground. He burst into a sprint, heading towards the largest tent.

The yellow fibres of the tent were illuminated from a self-glowing orange from within. Three distinct Human figures were concealed within, only broken by their shadows leaking out into the dark abyss of the night.

The Assassin stood with his back against the side of the radiant tent, as one of the Marines move past him looking beyond, out to the foretelling battlefield. He assumed that it would be tomorrow's bloodbath, but he was wrong.

The Assassin slowly walked up behind the Human, and unsheathed his metallic blade from his chest-plate's base. With it in hand, he moved closely up behind the Marine...

"Hey! George! Do'ya wanna play a game of Texas Hold 'Em?" Another Marine bellowed to his teammate.

"Nah, you go on, I just wanna look out ova those hills!" The close proximity Human replied.

"Yeah alrigh', just be careful, something might come out an' kill ya'!" The other man chuckled as he melted back into his tent, not knowing how right he was.

The Assassin used his left hand to cover up the Human's mouth as he slithered the blade through the throat of the Human and watched in glee as the creature bleed to death, gasping for air as its thick red blood bubbled out of its neck. He rotated from his feet up, away from the blood-red sand. He came to gaze upon a Human starring back at him in the eyes as he stood next to one of the tents.

The large bulky man called for help and the Assassins pupils widening for light as they became focused on his next target. Two men ran up beside the large Marine, a look of shock planted upon their faces.

The Assassin ran forward and jumped into a 360 clockwise spin, bringing his left-handed Energy Sword up and into the stomach of the massive Human, lifting him into the air. He ripped his sword free and spun backwards in an anti-clockwise direction, as he unsheathed his Plasma Spear. With his Energy Sword in-hand he sliced the Marine to the right of the one he had just killed. He activated his Plasma Spear on the twist and threw it into the third and impaled it into the tent behind.

He wrenched his Spear free and deactivated, as he looked about in glee at the mangled and distorted human bodies that surrounded him.

Bullets began to ping off of his armour as three more Marines ran out of a larger tent, Human Assault Rifles blazing as they charged at their enemy. He activated his camouflage and twirled into the tent behind him, knocking over the support poles that held it erect.

He rolled out from under the other side of the tent and walked around, flanking the Humans, whom were still firing at the tent. He walked across to behind the nearest Marine and gagged it, just before he twisted its head and splintered its spinal cord.

The two Marines next to him stopped firing and looked at their limp friend's head, its jaw drooping creepily low.

Still holding onto the Marines head, he used the body as a club and smashed the next Marine out of the way, launching both bodies ten feet away. His eyes met with the remaining Human and his cold dead eyes flickered with the flames from the burning tent, which caused the Human to fall over unconscious. He upholstered his Energy Sword and stabbed into the Marines chest, the armour and skin around the wound boiled and sizzled from the torturing heat. After a few seconds to make sure the Human was fully dead, he strolled off to silently slay the remaining me in the other tents to complete his mission.

He had won, and proved himself honourable to his... Father.