Charum Hakkor

Akhem walked solemnly to the teleporter pad leading to the refugee ship as he slowly receded into the crevices of his mind. "This can't be it, the Forerunners can't have conquered all of Humanity, there must be another way out of this!" Angrily thought Akhem as he passed by a window and peered out. Forerunner Warrior Servants pour out from their dropships as they raced to secure the Human capital world of Charum Hakkor.

Human soldiers valiantly fought the invaders for fifty years on top of the 1,000 years of hardships they had faced earlier. First came the shaping sickness that ravaged the Human population and they were forced to resettle on Forerunner worlds. The Forerunners then responded with utmost cruelty at what they saw was Humanity's boisterous ambition.

When researchers found the cure to the shaping sickness even that was bittersweet as it was not a vaccine. Instead, the cure was a DNA bomb that destroyed FSC(Flood Super Cells)which came in contact with the "bomber." Humanity had to sacrifice a third of her population to save the galaxy and ironically the Forerunners as well.

In time, the shaping sickness died out and never came back but the Forerunners were as aggressive in their pursuit for Humanity defeat as ever. With only two-thirds of Humanity's original population, the Forerunners clubbed the Human Empire in submission in a horror-filled war of attrition.

Akhem took one more sad look at his apartment and the corpse of his friend, Amasis, who had committed suicide earlier rather than be captured by Forerunners and turned into a lab rat.

Akhem then stepped on the teleporter and he was whisked to the hangar of the First Rate Tuned Platform, Kemet, named after Humanity's great motherland on Erde Tyrene.

The Hangar was abuzz with activity as Human soldiers tended to their wounded comrades and civilians alike.

An officer spotted him and approached him from a distance. Akhem then observed the man's combat skin. It was worn, dirty, and covered with the scars of battle and Akhem laughed to himself, "The Forerunners never came close to the lethality of our infantry."

The man's helmet, one which had vertical inlays of glowing red light, receded from his familiar face and into the rest of his combat skin. He smiled and then spoke in a raspy tone that commanded authority, "Nephew, I have some good news, the Brass wants you reinstated into the military with your past rank, Lieutenant, your..." Akhem Uncle then paused as he searched for words and continued, "Enthusiasm at killing Forerunners has changed their mind."

Akhem then responded cynically, "Or is it because we're on the verge of collapse." His Uncle gave him a stern look to which Akhem then stared his Uncle in the eye intensely before continuing, "But I will take this second chance seriously Uncle Khonsu, we WILL survive!"

His uncle nods at him in agreement and orders him to suit up in the armory before leaving to oversee his men.

The reinstated officer, Akhem then makes his way to the Armory as soldiers rush by him making final preparations before takeoff. Their glowing helmets making them look like terrifying specters in the dimly lit corridors of the cloaked ship. "The Forerunners don't call us Savages for nothing." Laughed Akhem.

As he steps into the Armory, his senses are met with the smell of metal, oil, and the stench of plasma. As Akhem looked around him, he saw various Armigers repairing combat skins and several more reprogramming damaged servitors(AI). He walks up to one of the Armigers and says, "I need a combat skin, class 12, preferably one specialized for EVA combat."

The Armiger then replies in a deep metallic voice, "It's your lucky day, there is only class 12 left and it's best in class for EVA," The Human manufactured automaton then points a battered suit to his left and continues, "Star Seeker Variant of the tried and tested Generation 4 Gladius Combat Skin."

Akhem then makes his way to the war-worn piece of equipment and remarks, "This hunk of junk looks like it would fall apart mid-flight."

The Armiger's metallic face almost looks offended as if his permanently scowling Human face can change expressions. He then replies while gesturing out the door, "Look, there is a line building up, if you don't want it, I'll give it to someone else."

With a grunt, Akhem disengages from his civilian combat skin and steps his left foot into the Star Seeker as it slowly wraps around his body like a boa constrictor while it syncs with his neural implant. When the helmet engages over his head, a blue woman tinged woman adorned in ceremonial accessories of an ancient queen greeted him with a bored tone, "Another one? I am Esi, a smart servitor manufactured by Charum Assembler Vats, we will work together to safeguard Humanity's future."

Akhem then replied with a determined voice, "Hey, watch it, Humanity WILL have a second chance" At which he balls his right hand into a fist and remembers his duty to Humanity.

With that said, Akhem walks out of the room in his battle-scarred combat skin with a disillusioned servitor inside.

Esi appears on this hud and remarks with a curt smile, "Oh boy, Lieutenant Akhem, dishonorably discharged from the Imperial Marines for insubordination and reinstated for (Redacted) genetic model."

Akhem then looks at his servitor with a puzzled look asked, "What about my genetic defect?" The servitor is silent and Akhem presses on, "So they reinstated me because I HAVE a genetic defect in my brain, what logi-"

Suddenly, klaxon horns blare all around the ship and the shipboard AI announces, "Forerunner Warrior Servants have breached the cloaking perimeter, performing emergency in-atmosphere slipspace jump!"

The Tuned Platform lurches forward as her slipspace engines coax a hole in spacetime aft of the ship and then with full repulsor thrust from her engines, she slips through the portal and into the void of slipspace.

Esi then informs Lieutenant Akhem that he is to immediately report to Commander Ludim for an assignment. When Akhem reaches the commander's location, he spots three other individuals already there.

One of which turns around and remarks, "If it isn't the rookie."

Another one presumably female then states, "Lieutenant Akhem, dishonorably discharged for not following orders to evacuate and instead save his men, resulting in the loss of half a fireteam that went to save your ass."

Commander Ludim turns to Akhem and says, "Welcome to the Sigma Team, Lieutenant Akhem and heavy weapons expert." The commander then looks intently at the Lieutenant before walking up to Akhem and narrowing his eyes and saying, "I don't tolerate insubordination here and what I say goes."

With that said, the commander then takes on a less serious look and shakes Akhem's hand, and says, "But I do understand your motives, Lieutenant, as does Sigma team." To which the rest of Sigma team nods their respective heads in agreement and the commander continues, "We have orders to protect the colonization efforts of a new planet free from Forerunner control and from there we will rebuild our civilization."

Akhem smiles and replies, "It is not the end, Commander." Then he salutes Commander Ludim and Sigma team, then smiles, and says, "I am honored to be a part of Sigma team."

The Commander then turns to his team and orders, "Sigma team is to suit up in Class 23 Armored Frames and provide escort duty for the Kemet."

The Class 23 Armored Frame is a relatively new vehicle from Charum Assembler Vats, at 19 meters long and 9 meters high, it is just a bit smaller than a Forerunner War Sphinx but none the less deadly. Armed with three torsion drivers, two converging anti-matter beams, and overclocked hardlight repeaters, it is more than a match for two War Sphinxes. The overclocked hardlight repeaters are a favorite of Imperial Airmen and Marines alike, their rounds contain plasma encased in hardlight which devastates Forerunner armor and infantry. And also is one of the most feared weapons in the Human Empire's arsenal.

The two females, Lieutenant Commander Nena and Warrant Officer Nitofris introduce themselves to Akhem followed by the male who is called Warrant Officer Massui.

"Welcome to the family, Akhem," Said Nena as she patted Akhem on the back with a little bit of force.

Akhem, having anticipated the harder than a usual pat on the back braces and is unaffected and then replies with a cool tone, "I am glad to have been selected, Lieutenant Commander."

As Sigma team passes through a bulkhead hood and nears their designated hangar, a bright flickering light illuminates Akhem's body and war-worn combat skin to which Massui remarks with, "Jeez, they really gave you the dregs from the bottom of the barrel."

Nitofris laughs and adds, "His combat skin looks like a hand me down of a hand of down," She then pauses and a sad look appears on her face before she continues, "Given the state of our species and Government, I suppose you would be lucky to even have top of the line gear, regardless of how it looks."

Nena then says haughtily, "The Brass and the Commander saw something in you, Lieutenant Akhem, but we were not privy to that information." Another flickering light illuminates Nena's face this time before she continues, "You would have to prove yourself to us, Akhem, before we can trust a dishonorably discharged officer who was reinstated because the Empire is down on its last legs."

With this said, Akhem feels extreme indignance and he replies stoically but with a menacing tone, "I understand your point of view Lieutenant Commander Nena and it is completely logical but." Akhem then stops as he faces Nena and continues, "I stayed to save my men, I never asked for help, and those that died saving me? They didn't have to, I was prepared to die with my team."

Nena then cooly replies, "Well, the Lord of Admirals never makes a bad call, but we will see for ourselves on the battlefield."

Akhem backs off in shock as he didn't know that the Lord of Admirals himself was responsible for getting him reinstated.

Akhem then drifts to the back of the group and ruminates about his past and the present. He can hear Sigma team conversing in front of him and the sound of a busy hangar further north. A few steps later, his eyes are met with a spacious hangar illuminated in blue light and was protected from the vacuum of space by an energy field.

Sigma team along with their new rookie, Akhem makes their way to the Class 23 Armored Frames. The fighting machines all look battered and old as if they had seen an eternity of conflict.

An engineer walks up to Akhem and impatiently asks, "You need something, soldier?"

Akhem still looking at the Armored Frames pockmarked with dents from hardlight impacts but still menacing and destructive took a moment to get back to reality before responding, "Yes, I need an Armored Frame, Sigma team is to perform escort duties for the Kemet."

The engineer in his grease-covered combat skin stinking of plasma then nods and pulls out a diagnostic tool and says, "Been expecting you Sigma team, take the one on the right." He then points to a rather battered-looking Armored frame with its hardlight projectors flickering on and off as Armigers attempted to fix the machine.

With a sigh, Akhem walks over to the Armored Frame but before he could board it, the engineer stops him and says, "Hold your horses, soldier, this baby is going to take at least 2 more minutes of work before shes combat-ready." The engineer then asks gruffly, "What loadout do you want?"

Various scenarios raced through Akhem's mind as he picked his loadout and eventually he picked the standard loadout to which the engineer replies, "Ah yes, Standard loadout, good choice." After looking at his diagnostic tool, the engineer then hastily states before walking off, "Alright, repairs are done, you can hop in."

Akhem syncs his class 12 Star Seeker to that of the Armored Frame and feels the usual sensation of ants crawling all over his body as his mind and the Armor Frame's main computer are linked in unison.

"What is so special about me?" Akhem thought to himself curiously as he cycled through the suit's startup sequence.

Wolf Faced Planet - Refugee Fleet

Akhem watched as Lieutenant Commander Nena, second in command of Sigma team slowly orbit the Kemet as the Kemet and 39 other ships sat in geostationary orbit over the wolf-faced planet.

"How's the suit, Akhem?" Telepathically asked Nena as she orbited the First Rate Tuned Platform.

Akhem, having piloted previous iterations of Armored Frames before felt quite at home with the familiar neural controls but also felt awed by the huge increase in weaponry and speed. The suit felt graceful and powerful unlike the clunkier Armored Frames of the past.

Akhem then replied with, "Feels like it should, a second skin." He then pauses before saying, "Sigma team has an impressive track record, and your brilliant maneuver in destroying the Forerunner flank at the first siege of Faun Hakkor is something."

To which Nena laughs and then says, "We ain't called Didact's Bane for nothing." Nena then adds, "Heres something only Sigma team knows, and now that you're one of us, I'm going to tell you..."

Warrant Officer Massui telepathically cracks a smile as he already knows what comes next.

Having piqued Akhem curiosity, he then replies with, "And what's that?"

Nena telepathically shoots an intense look Akhem and says, "I am personally responsible for killing 2 of the Didact's sons."

At this revelation, Akhem's wides opened in shock but kept a stoic face and replied cooly, "Lets make that al-"

He is interrupted as slipspace portals open up 500,000kms out from the Refugee ships. Suddenly a large imposing Forerunner Fortress class vessel emerges from one of the tears in space along with many more Sojourner Class Prime Dragoons.

"The Forerunners have found us, protect the ships!" Ordered Akhem.

Nena then gave him an annoyed look as Akhem then realized he wasn't in charge of his own fireteam anymore. Nena then says, "While Commander Ludim is meeting with the Captain, I will lead Sigma team and I want everyone to target the Prime Dragoons."

With that said, Sigma team pours all of their power into their repulsor packs and anti-gravity jets as they burn towards the nearest Prime Dragoon, a hulking 28km long sword-shaped vessel whose CIWS systems instantly activate the moment they closed the range.

Hardlight and anti-matter beams dance all around Sigma team like vibrant lights from within a thunderstorm. Akhem deftly evades every single hit and manages to get within 10 meters of the Prime Dragoon. He then closes the final 10 meters and latches onto the ship just below its shields.

Luckily for Akhem, he had managed to land on the ancilla's mainframe room. While the Prime Dragoon maneuvers in and out of slipspace, Akhem hangs on like a leach on a bear. He then cut open the Prime Cruiser's thick armor to get at the meaty prize within. The Warrior Servants within wearing class 13 combat skins rated for EVA combat pepper him with fire even as the vacuum of space sucked out the room's oxygen but alas, it was small arms versus an Armored Frame.

With a couple of well-placed bursts from his hard light repeater, Akhenaten quickly dispatched the Forerunner infantry.

Akhem then set his eyes on the main objective, the ancilla mainframe of which is a relatively large sphere, levitating in the middle of the room.

With two bursts from his hardlight repeaters, Akhem eviscerates and then explodes the spherical ball, and the entire enemy ship stops and ceases all battle maneuvers after which her shields start to deplete!

Akhem then shoots his anti-matter beams wildly into the hole that he has made and the entire ship implodes within! Akhem barely detaches in time before the ship is engulfed in blue plasma fire.

"Good one, Lt." Remarked Warrant officer Massui as Akhem looks for another target.

Warrant Officer Nitofris then remarks, "Looks like this ain't his first rodeo, he's going for their weak spots."

Akhem smirks underneath his Armored Frame and spots his next quarry, a War Sphinx.

The War Sphinx pilot takes notice of him and engages in evasive maneuvers as the two dance of battle to the death.

The enemy pilot manages to land a glancing blow with a torsion driver and anti-matter beam combo on Akhem's shields which drained them of 70% power but not before Akhem has already projected an intercept course for the War Sphinx.

"ETA to Warsphinx 3 seconds." Esi signaled with her voice full of excitement.

Akhem collides with the War Sphinx and rips its head and thus cockpit off with his torsion drivers as War Sphinxes were not meant to engage in hand to hand combat while Armored Frames were and also were shaped like a Human. War Sphinxes on the other hand are more oblong and do not have the proportions of an organic. Thus making them useless in melee combat.

Suddenly, his head rang with urgency, "All fighters, fall back to the Kemet." Came the telepathic order from Captain Soris of the Kemet.

To Akhem's horror, the Fortress class was laying waste to the refugee fleet. He immediately engages his mixed propulsion system and burns towards the Forerunner fortress.

As the Imperial fleet focused all of their firepower on the Forerunner fortress, the shields of the monstrosity begin to flicker.

"Now's my chance," Thought Akhem as he daringly braved countless sprays of CIWS hardlight and anti-matter beams. Akhem was in the zone,

a coveted battle mode that warrior monks of Erde-Tyrene past spent decades trying to achieve. But for Akhem, it was as easy as breathing.

Everything became crystal clear and the din of battle rang elsewhere in his head as Akhem calculated his next move. In his brain, super neurons fired their electrical pulse only for another cell of their kind to receive it and fire it back, but due to his "condition", Akhem's brain fired 1000 times faster than a normal human brain thus earning him a "genetic defect" which used to cause paralyzing seizures when he was younger.

The rookie Lieutenant of Sigma team weaved and rolled out of the enemy fire like he expected their next move. He then ordered, "Sigma team, its now or never, we must breach a hole in the Fortress's vacuum reactor, it's close enough to the remaining Forerunner fleet to take them out too."

Nena then replied without objection, "Sigma team, follow Lieutenant Akhem and me, we will breach the Forerunner Fortress's reactor core."

With Massui and Nitofris providing cover fire for the assaulting duo, Akhem and Nena prepared their anti-gravity gear as they closed the last 50m to the Fortress clas vessel.

With a loud clang instantly followed by the screech of his anti-matter beam cutting an opening into the vessel, Akhem continues to breach the Forerunner vessel while Nena took out any assaulting Forerunners who tried to intervene in the boarding.

After cutting through the Fortress's very thick alloy armor, the duo jumps into a dimly lit yet cavernous room.

"Captured schematics of Fortress classes show that the reactor is one room below us, expect company," Said Akhem.

With a quick countdown, the two daring soldiers of Sigma team breached the bottom room and were met with hails of gunfire and automated turrets.

Akhem landed onto the room with a loud rush of air and the clang of metal against metal. He then tossed aside a 10m tall Warrior Servant and fired off a couple of bursts from his repeater into the surrounding crowd.

The result was devastating, Forerunner parts flew everywhere before they were sucked out of the room by the vacuum of space.

"All that's left is the reactor core," Said Nena. Akhem looks gravely at Nena and says, "GO!, I will destroy this cor-"

He is interrupted by Nena who looked distraught through her normal stoic gaze and she shouted, "No, there must be a way Akhem, we just got you, we can't lose you too!"

Akhem looks at her sternly and replies, "We don't have any timed explosives, I have to do this."

Nena stares at him for a moment before stepping away but she then runs back and says, "We can try overriding the local reactor core ancilla."

Akhem looks at her stubbornly and disagrees to which Nena then regardless of the Lieutenant's reactions, orders her servitor to overpower the Forerunner AI. After what feels like an eternity as the battle raged outside, she succeeds!

"Servitor, overload the Vacuum reactor on this ship," Ordered Nena as the speakers in the room begin a 10-second count down.

The duo climbs back up to the hole they've made and by the time, they make it out of the Fortress, the blast wave hits with the intensity of a supernova.

The Fortress class vessel implodes on itself and looking back Akhem sees the blast wave engulfing the entire Human fleet but the Forerunner assault fleet has already been whittled down and destroyed.

Strangely enough, Akhem does not feel like he has died or is even dying as the energies from the wave hits him. Instead, he feels the warmth that he felt when he was younger while he played on a beach on Faun Hakkor, and dropships flew over his head. Dancing rainbow lights reflect all around the Human fleet and finally, it was over. He finally looks at the Human fleet but there is no longer a fleet, there is only the Kemet and Sigma team in her vicinity!

Akhem takes in the view around him, in place of the Wolf Faced Planet, he was now over a green and blue planet with wispy clouds that covered much of it. It was indeed beautiful but Akhem is brought out of his thoughts by what appears to be a small boxed shaped vessel approaching him and the Kemet.

It is definitely not Forerunner and it does not seem to be very technologically advanced as the scans from his suit showed that the vessel is operating with primitive fusion reactors.

Esi suddenly alerts him and says, "Lieutenant, we're being hailed by the vessel and they have also included a language codex, I am producing a translation software as I speak."

Within the second, Esi patches the message through, and to Akhem's shock, it is a primitive human dressed in cloth wearing a circular hat and he spoke, "Unidentified Vessels, this is the United Nations Space command vessel Iroquois, you have arrived at Reach, a planet under Humanity's jurisdiction, please power down weapons and prepare to engage in talks!"