I like to start with profusely apologizing with this late update. Another year of school has started for me which has demanded almost all of my attention. Furthermore, my inspiration and mood to write has been at an all-time zero. However, realizing I was being selfish and I still have a couple more already written chapters left, I decided to get back to work. And I'll try my best to get back into writing and attempt to keep up an update schedule.

And with that, I'm sure you're all excited for that chapters will be slightly longer from now on. More stuff is going on and I don't want to split it up. Also this chapter is more mature, so the queasy have been warned.


Lorak 'Valu lumbered through the wide halls of the Song of Retribution, multiple emotions welling in his chest at he remembered the current events he had gone through. Everything was quiet and going well when suddenly the Arbiter's fleet attacked, scattering their already small fleet. Naturally the Covenant group counterattacked, able to destroy some ships themselves, even an assault carrier. However the Arbiter was stronger, forcing multiple ships to flee and others to be destroyed. Jul 'Mdama eventually gave to order to retreat and rendezvous at the "location" before leaving himself.

'Valu was concerned over the fate of his many brothers, but in the end he assured himself. The Arbiter and those who followed him were weak. They were faithless and disloyal to the gods; blasphemers and sinners who must be destroyed. And the humans they dishonorably succumbed to would be next.

For the Covenant has returned, and they grow stronger every day. Their faith would forever be unwavering as they vowed to finish what their gods had started. And with Jul 'Mdama at their head, they will soon become invincible. Especially now that they have found the Stronghold of the Gods. 'Mdama had vowed it would be here that they would find what they need to exterminate the humans once and for all. Just the very though filled Lorak with excitement and anticipation.

'Valu's patriotic train of thought was broken when heard a noise behind him. He instinctively whirled around, reaching for his weapon. He faltered when he saw nothing there; just an empty hallway. At first he was confused, until he happened to look down to see a white square. The Sangheili warrior tilted his head in confusion and curiosity before bending down and gingerly taking it in his claws. He was further confused when he found the square was super-thin, thinner than a sheet of metal. Observing it, he turned it to find black scribbles written on its side. He recognized it as Sangheili. Very rough Sangheili.

Narrowing his eyes, he was able to make out, "Knock, knock, motherfu—"

Lorak couldn't finish as suddenly a powerful force engulfed him, completely drowning his senses. He was able to let out a startled roar, unknowing that it was immediately drowned in the noise. The impact was strong enough to send him into the opposite wall, silencing him.

Now occupying the corridor was a large smoke cloud resulted from the explosion, obscuring the entrance of a particular group of visitors. As the dust began to settle, a heavy metallic boot slammed onto the ground. Following the boot was a full-body armor of a light gray color, giving the owner a robot-like appearance. Especially with the mouth-less helmet with a razor-thin visor. But those who knew the giant knew well it was a human—and that human was a tall female with shiny red hair tied in a pony-tail and piercing black eyes.

Commander Sarah Palmer cautiously entered the corridor and scanned the area, clutching her duel pistols in her hands. When she determined the coast was clear, she called out, "Alright, let's move out."

Immediately a squadron of marines crawled out of the shadows behind her, all in full combat gear. As one, the group of human infiltrators moved away and jogged down the hallway. Seeing no immediate hostiles, Palmer took the time to contact Captain Lasky through the com-system in her helmet.

"Infiltration a success," she reported. "Moving now to next checkpoint."

"Alright, keep us posted," Lasky replied. The captain glanced up from the holopanel to the bridge's window as Palmer continued the conversation.

"How's it going out there?"

"Fair enough."

From his post Lasky observed fighter-jets from both sides racing by. Broadswords and longswords clashed against banshees and seraphs in a zero-G dog fight, lighting up the dark space in flashes of plasma and bullets. Infinity itself assisted in the action, staying on the edge of the battlefield with minor turrets on, targeting unlucky hostiles or anyone who got too close. Lasky spied the Song of Retribution doing the same, but the enemy flagship turned slowly to reposition itself to face off against the human flagship. He made a note to keep an eye on it and time an attack right. Captain Lasky glanced to his right to see the Eternal Night further away, its own fighters picking off any stragglers and patiently waiting to offer more assistance. Lasky had ordered the human fighters to tag the allied Elites as friendly, but avoid any confusion or incidents the aliens were hovering to the side.

Suddenly Roland sounded and off the bow of the Eternal Night appeared several flashes of light. Lasky narrowed his eyes to recognize several dark-purple cruisers, destroyer-class. 'Mdama's reinforcements. Right on cue, more explosions of plasma erupted by the Elites' quiet side of the battlefield. The captain tempted to contact the assault cruiser on its status, but thought better of it, knowing the Elites could hold out on their own. Suddenly another transmission interrupted his train of thought.

"Captain Lasky, requesting to deploy Strident-class frigates," a male voice requested over the radio.

The commander knew immediately who it was, and what he was talking about. He leaned on the holopanel, expression stern as he focused on the battle and the decisions he was expected to make. He didn't hesitate.

"Lieutenant, the word is given," he replied.

"Heavy frigates are a go."

As the words were spoken, half-a-dozen Strident-class heavy frigates were released from their mechanical latches and fell from Infinity's underbelly. The moment they entered the vacuum of space they immediately righted themselves and entered the fray. All their turrets fired a hailstorm of bullets that mowed down enemy fighters and assaulted nearby cruisers, which had been released by the Song of Retribution.

Captain Lasky glanced at the flagship, which as almost the size of Infinity and much more ominous. They had used the battle as a diversion to allow infiltration teams to enter the ship, and so far everything was going perfectly. But he knew nothing ever goes as planned, but for now there was nothing he could do but pray.

"It's all up to you, Sarah," the man murmured to his friend.

Commander Palmer ran at the head of the group, constantly scanning for ambushes or possible threats. She paced herself to stay by her comrades, even though she knew she could easily sprint twice as fast without a sweat. But so far their search gave them something that made her gut wrench: nothing.

Not even a single damned Covie.

"Where the hell is everyone?" she demanded. "Someone should've heard the explosion."

"Must be preoccupied with the battle outside," a marine guessed.

"Covies are never preoccupied. Stay on your toes, people."

She got a small chorus of affirmatives as they continued on. Finally their uneventful journey led them to a door with a glowing panel in the center. Palmer slowed her pace to stalk and lifted a hand for her subordinates to do the same. They immediately did so and tightened their grip on their weapons. The armored commander moved a couple paces ahead at agonizing rate until finally the door's sensors registered her and opened. The blue panel spun before the door spilt into thirds and disappeared in the walls.

Commander Palmer peered through the threshold to see a wide open space of a hanger. And it was just as barren as the hallways. But the commander's stomach was twisting painfully and giving her bad vibes. Even though, she signaled for the group to move forward.

They found themselves in the cold air of the empty hanger, fully alert and eyes peeled. A couple of the marines had the smart idea to look up with the barrel of their guns, scanning an open second floor above them. No one saw a trace of movement.

Palmer was about to give the order to move on until suddenly the open door slid shut with a ring. The woman immediately noticed the panel was now a bright red, which only meant one thing.

"Did that door just—" The marine never finished his sentence as he was suddenly interrupted by an almighty roar.

The group immediately snapped their heads up to see now a ring of aliens on the rim of the second floor, ranging from Grunts all the way up to Elites with even a Zealot hovering. They all looked down at their prey with bloodlust and glee, desperately clutching weapons of their own.

"Oh, shit—" Sarah cussed, only to be immediately drowned by roars of aliens and the firing of weapons, plasma literally raining down on them.

The human warriors leaped to the nearest cover, only for Palmer to notice with horror that it was minimal. She ducked behind a large container, but plasma still spilled over its edges, threatening to touch her. She spied the marines had huddled up behind another container near her, but noticed in just the first second of battle two had already fallen.

In hopes of redemption, Palmer tried to glance around the container, only to be greeted by green plasma to the head. She cussed again and returned to her former position. If it wasn't for her helmet she would be dead. A cry next to her announced a marine had gotten hit or was dead.

Quickly realizing they were outnumbered and outmatched, Palmer opened all the coms channels in her helmet, not caring if the Covenant heard or not. Clutching her weapon, she yelled, "This Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer! We have been ambushed and are under heavy fire!" Her report was cut off another bolt of plasma made it past her barrier and grazed her armor. She winced and screamed, "We need some help over here!"


On the other side of the Song of Retribution, Virl 'Sadum glanced up at Commander Palmer's call within the com-system of his helmet. He growled, a team of Elites following his example.

"It seems our allies need some assistance," the commander observed. He glanced at his brothers. "Let's go."

The lesser Sangheili nodded and grunted in acknowledgement and moved as one down the dark hallway. They were much more attentive than their human counterparts, able to hear every hiss and crack of electricity within the walls. However their side of the ship was just as empty. But knowing it wasn't quite the case and hearing Palmer's warning, they moved with caution until they came to a lone door.

This one was lifeless to their approach and its central panel glowed red. A minor volunteered to approach it and recalled the couple of tricks to open a locked door from his war days. However the portal refused to react and remained unmoving.

The Sangheili glanced at his superior. "It's locked."

Glacier observed the attempt with his arms folded and quite understood the obvious. He thought for a moment before looking over his shoulder and calling, "Ian."

He dragged out the syllables to make it almost sound like "eon," but the young teenager materialized from behind the group and dashed towards the door.

"On it," the boy reported.

The minor shifted to the side and Ian cautiously neared, placing a hand on the cold metal. He sighed and closed his eyes in concentration. In a mere matter of seconds, the door let out a ring as the panel spun blue. Ian grinned in accomplishment and stepped through before the portal fully opened… only to walk into two hulking structures.

Ian let out a screaming yelp as he leaped away from the bristling pair of Hunters. However he barely moved when suddenly a large hand slammed into his shoulder and forced him to the ground. With a wheeze, the boy looked up see Glacier had pushed him and with unnatural agility, the Sangheili scaled the size on the Hunter on the right and scrambled behind it.

Before the beast realized what had happened, Glacier flicked on a glowing energy sword and drove into the monster's back. The Hunter let out a throaty roar of agony and doubled over, only for its brethren to avenge it. The other Mgalekgolo swung its heavy shield at the Sangheili, slamming the rim into the commander's chest. The alien literally went flying, disappearing into the room beyond.

The other Sangheili let out bellows of rage and swarmed the massive creature, but the Hunter was already charging its cannon. Ian immediately noticed and lashed an arm out, fingers curled. The cannon glowed brighter and brighter each second with a growing roar, but Ian already felt a certain set of instincts expanded towards it. Just as he noticed green electricity around the glowing arm, the boy harshly balled his hand into a fist.

Immediately the cannon exploded, but instead of releasing green plasma onto the Elites, the entire arm obliterated in a ball of smoke, plasma, and orange goo. Blood sprayed from the flailing stump as the Mgalekgolo let out a high-pitched, deep scream of pure agony, far louder than its comrade's. A Sangheili decided to end its misery by swiping an energy sword towards its neck, beheading it instantly in another geyser of blood. Somehow the other Hunter was still alive, desperately trying to get to its feet. It was interrupted when a minor fired a plasma rifle at its head, killing it in another mess.

Just like that, it was over. The quarrel only lasted not even a minute, but now almost every individual was covered in orange substance that was the Hunters' blood. The group panted heavily to catch their breath, including Ian who shakily got to his feet. Then he remembered what had started the entire battle.

"Glacier!" he screamed as he scrambled over the giant corpses and into the room they blocked.

It was wide, filled with ramps with barriers and even a second story above. Ian noticed other doors glowing in the dimness but he ignored them as he noticed a white figure.

Glacier's back was against a barrier and his body sprawled out from his fall. A large dent was in his chest plate now, but no signs of puncture. As Ian neared the commander, the Sangheili immediately stirred; shifting his legs and opening his eyes. Ian sighed in relief as Glacier easily climbed to his feet and stood like nothing ever happened.

"Close one, huh?" Ian smiled at him.

"Yes," the Sangheili agreed before glancing at him. "Next time: wait."

Ian almost giggled in mischievousness, but suppressed it and nodded obediently. The other Sangheili joined them, but before they could continue, a crackling laughter filled the air. All heads perked up in alert before whirling around towards the source.

What they saw made their hearts drop. It was like déjà vu as a small army of Covenant crowded the second floor, this one just as hungry as their counterparts. Two Zealot commanders leered down at the invaders with hunger and disdain.

"Ambush!" Ian screamed, but it was unnecessary as the commanders let out battle cries and plasma was unleashed.

Everyone dived behind cover, which was thankfully more plentiful than Palmer's group. However, the room was perfectly circular with the second floor going all the way around, allowing their assaulters to fire at all angles. What made it worse that during the chaos, all the doors opened to allow shielded Jackals to file in and preventing easy escape.

The ambushed Sangheili were firing back at the rebels, already filling the air with death cries. But the sound of plasma was so much louder, telling Ian just how overwhelmed they were. Dread returned to his stomach. They knew they were coming. The Covenant had prepared and greeted them with the perfect ambush.

The boy spotted Glacier in the fray as the commander threw his head up and opened all four of his jaws wide and let out a roar, aimed to the one responsible.

"JUL 'MDAMA!"