Foreign Skies

by BirdLore

For citizens of Earth and her colonies in 2552, there was one thing that was agreed upon universally; the Covenant was ruthless and evil. For Cal Bardeen, a young marine stranded alone under a sky not his own, this fact was all too true. But when his life is both simultaneously spared and saved by a badly wounded Covenant officer, he makes a decision that changes his life forever.

1. Chapter 1: Duality

Written by: BirdLore
Editor: John Touch

Cover art is my own.
I make no claim to own Halo or any names related to it, HALO is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Original characters that appear within are not associated with the brand image of Microsoft Corporation, 343 Industries, or Bungie Inc. Additionally, all persons depicted are fictional, and any resemblance to real-world individuals is coincidental and unintended.

Rated Fiction M for non-explicit suggestive themes, violence, blood/gore, and coarse language.

---

OCTOBER 15, 2552.
UNSC MARINE CORPS; PRIVATE FIRST CLASS, CAL BARDEEN.
REPUBLIC OF KENYA, EAST AFRICAN PROTECTORATE, EARTH.

Cal sat with his back against a shrubland tree, trying to shield himself from the intense African heat with the meager shade it provided. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and took a swig from his canteen, feeling with dread how little water was left from when he started. When Cal enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps, the pale-skinned farmer boy from the cold world of New Carthage never imagined he would be sent to Earth, Kenya of all places. Now he was stranded alone in the middle of the savannah desert on a training exercise, with some of the most rudimentary navigational devices he'd ever had to use. The purpose of the exercise was to 'practice navigational skills and squad synergy in the event of an electronic warfare attack,' or at least that's what their division's Sergeant Major had said, for Cal, it just seemed like another excuse by the military leadership to keep their troops as miserable as possible. Producing a compass and map from his kit, Cal studied the crude coordinate numbers he had scrawled along the side and compared them to the destination. Satisfied that he had his direction lined up, he slung his standard-issue assault rifle over his shoulder and began the trek towards where supposedly he would find his squad leader, Corporal Brannon.

After a long trek through the sweltering heat, Cal finally spotted a well-hidden military shelter. He made his way to the tarp door and moved inside to find Corporal Brannon hunched over a map on a makeshift table, and Private First Class Amara lounging on a camping chair. The dark-skinned young woman got up with a grin upon seeing him, and spoke teasingly with a native Kenyan accent, "Ay, you made it Cal! The weather's fine out today, no?"

Brannon gave Amara a sideways glance at the teasing comment, and spoke with a Scottish accent, "Lass, if we were on the mountains of New Carthage you'd be chattering your teeth off, and young Cal over there would be fit as a fly." He smiled at Cal, handing him a full canteen, "Glad you made it lad, take a breather for now."

Cal took the canteen with a grateful nod before dumping his gear on the ground, taking a seat next to it.

Shortly after he arrived, Lance Corporal Cassie and Private Andre, the new recruit, arrived in much the same condition Cal was. Cassie, despite appearing exhausted, gave the Corporal a stiff salute, speaking in a mild Southern American accent. "Reporting for duty, sir!"

She gave Andre, who was standing next to her completely out of breath, a harsh stare. She nudged him hard, speaking with a reprimanding voice. "That's not proper form, Private!"

Andre jolted up anxiously, sweat dripping from his brow. He threw a stiff salute, speaking quickly. "Yes sir, sorry sir! Reporting in."

Brannon let out an uproarious laugh, which the whole camp, except for Andre, joined in on. He appeared completely befuddled by the situation around him until Brannon fixed him with a warm smile and spoke in a reassuring voice. "Ah laddie, she's just fuckin with you! When we're in the field you can just call me Bran, or Corp, whichever ye prefer. This here squad is a family, we leave the stiff form on the parade grounds."

Andre seemed a little nervous but relieved, nonetheless. "Thank you, sir. I mean Bran. I'll do my best."

Cassie gave Andre's shoulder a light shove, grinning at him devilishly. "Don't worry Andre, Amara's blabbering is the worst thing that can happen to you here. Once she starts talking, she never stops!"

Amara let out a sarcastic laugh, narrowing her eyes at Cassie and retorting back to her. "Ha! You say that like I even can. You run your mouth so much I can't fit a single word in."

Cal chuckled at his squad's antics as they continued, occasionally butting in when he had an opportunity to do so. They were a good lot, and he could tell that Andre was warming up well to them. His squad was his family away from family, and he was truly grateful for them.

After a brief period of rest, the squad packed up camp and started the trek to extraction. The group shared stories and jokes through the grueling march, keeping their spirits up in the miserable conditions.

Cal could feel every grain of sand in his boots and in between the armor plates of his M52B body armor as he continued what felt like an endless march, his squad leader close in front. Behind him, he could hear Cassie and Amara still making quips at each other in between breaths, this time with Andre gaining enough courage to join in despite the heat.

In the distance Cal could see the silhouette of massive skyscrapers in the distance, Mombasa probably, being such an important location on Earth was physically quite hard to miss. He silently thought about how jealous he was of the citizens there, working in nice, air-conditioned buildings while he was walking out here, 'protecting Earth and her colonies.' Yeah right, more like justifying UNSC spending.

After what felt like an hour of walking, a grey radio tower came into view. A rustic chain link fence with scratched and faded signs loosely hanging off designated it as a UNSC installation, which told Cal that their long walk was over.

Walking up to the gate, Brannon used his radio to announce their presence. A lone soldier came out to greet them. From his demeanor, this was the most interesting thing to happen in God knows how long he'd been out there.

The man unlocked the gate, opening it with a loud metal creak, and nodded to them as they enter. Speaking in a voice that barely disguised his boredom. "You made it on good time Corporal, sir. The Pelican is waiting for you on the landing pad."

Brannon nodded in return, and the squad headed past the main gate. Just inside was probably the smallest military installation Cal had ever seen; the radio tower he had seen previously was connected to a building the size of a camper van, which had a few large machines connected externally. Just outside of it was a lone landing pad, faded and covered in sand, which blew over just about everything.

On the landing pad was the shiniest thing in the whole compound, a Pelican sitting in wait, loading door wide open.

Upon walking up the door, Cal saw the pilot of the craft, a young pilot clearly fresh out of flight school, swing his head out from the cockpit to peer at them. He looked over the exhausted squad, giving them a mischievous smile. "Command really got it out for you huh, what'd you do to get an assignment like this?"

Brannon gave the young man a stern glare. "How about you fly us home before you find out, pilot?

The young man gave a two-fingered salute and ducked back into his cabin. "Aye aye cap'n."

The flight back to base was short and uneventful, and by the time he got back, Cal couldn't figure out which he wanted more, shower or sleep. Deciding that he'd rather not ruin his bunk for a week, he decided to get all the sand and sweat off his body first.

Pulling off his body armor, he felt immediate relief from the weight that left his body. With every piece of gear he took off after that, he could feel sand sloshing and falling from every crack in his BDUs. Finally, feeling sorry for whoever was on washing duty that day, Cal tossed his soiled uniform into the laundry bin and climbed into the shower.

After finally cleaning what seemed like the entire desert's worth of sand from his body, he emerged from the shower and dried off. Then, throwing on a clean set of nightwear, he collapsed on his bunk and almost immediately passed out. Letting the world around him fade into nothing at the final relief of rest.

---

OCTOBER 15, 2552.
COVENANT; SKIRMISHER CHAMPION, SEN REEA.
COVENANT CAS-CLASS ASSAULT CARRIER, SOLEMN PENANCE.

Sen leaned against a large storage crate as she gazed around the massive hangar, watching groups of unggoy menial workers scamper around. Taking a draw of foul-tasting nutrient paste out of a Covenant ration canister, she noticed a group of sangheili warriors glaring at her as they walked past silently. Sen was thankful for that fact, as she knew that sangheili had no care for her kind, but some respected her long service enough to not vocally insult her in passing, or worse. However, jiralhanae had little care either way. She shuddered at the thought of them. With Covenant leadership seeming intent on shrinking the sangheili's political dominance, while simultaneously replacing them with the brutish jiralhanae, it seemed that life would only get harder. In her time in the Covenant, Sen Reea had learned a few things; watch over your shoulder, trust few, and keep the few you do trust close. For her, the one she trusted was her younger brother, Raq Reea. For Sen and Raq joining the Covenant wasn't about any kind of spiritual mission or financial gain, it was about pure survival. As the only two survivors of their clan, they had few places to go.

As Sen continued to loiter out of the way, she finally spotted Raq come into view on the opposite end of the hanger, his orange Murmillo armor standing out against the backdrop of purples and greys. Despite their attempts to remain as inconspicuous as possible, the pair stuck out like a sore thumb on the massive ship, being that they were the only two remaining t'vaoans in service to the Solemn Penance since most of their kind had resigned in favor of easier pickings back home. They had taken to meetings in visible areas to avoid suspicion, as many of the other Covenant races held low respect for their kind, seeing them as traitors and cowards.

As Raq reached Sen, he took up a casual position next to her, quickly flicking his head to scan the area, making sure that nobody was eavesdropping. After he was sure nobody would overhear, he leaned toward Sen and spoke quietly. "Hey Sen, you alright?"

Sen shrugged and replied with a sullen grunt. "The usual. What's the news?"

Raq's head drooped slightly, putting a more serious tone into his voice. "Not good. The trial of ex-Supreme Commander Thel' Vadamee is in a few days, and we both know what that means."

Sen let out a deep sigh. "They're going to crucify him, and Truth will make him his scapegoat to further reduce sangheili power."

Raq gave a silent nod, absent-mindedly tapping his foot, claws clicking on the hard floor. From the outside, Raq appeared calm, but Sen could tell that underneath the surface he was terrified, and she was too. The political state of the Covenant was heading towards disaster, and the current Prophets seemed intent on hastening that fact. The Covenant had never been the safest place, but it had provided them with a means of survival. Now, it seemed like remaining any longer would spell certain death. Sen whispered urgently to Raq. "Raq, we can't stay here any longer. The Covenant is falling apart, and with the jiralhanae in power, we will lose what little security we have. There has to be a way out."

Raq shook his head, frustration clear in his voice. "I don't know Sen, we've tried. Ever since we lost our family, our clan, we've had nowhere to go. This was a last resort in the first place, and since then I don't think the universe has gotten any kinder."

Sen placed her hand on Raq's shoulder reassuringly and spoke softly. "I feel the same way Raq, but we need to try. Let's do some looking, there's got to be something, anything. There's still kig-yar pirate vessels around the outskirts of Covenant territory, maybe we can find someone who can take us on."

Raq reached up and softly rubbed Sen's hand, giving a defeated sigh. "Maybe, I'll do some sleuthing. Maybe I can find some information that will point us in the right direction."

Sen gave his shoulder a comforting pat. "We'll figure something out, we always do. For now, we should get back to our posts before we're missed, I'll do some thinking until we can meet again."

Raq gave Sen a small nod, quietly muttering "We always do." In response before turning around and heading back into the busy hanger.

---

Shortly after Raq had left, Sen started in the direction opposite to him. Her gut was telling her that something was coming, something terrible. She had to find a way to escape and soon. If not for her sake, her brother's. He was all she had left, and whatever the cost, she would make sure he was safe.

Soon, Sen came upon the place she was trying to find. It was a large industrial storage facility, occupied mostly by unggoy. She strode past them, a few giving her odd or even fearful glances, not used to seeing her kind around those areas.

Sen looked around until she noticed the unggoy she had been looking for, his large, scratched methane tank bobbing side to side as he pushed a cart loaded with some kind of canister. Sen casually strode over to him, whispering loudly. "Dakdak, behind you."

Dakdak almost jumped out of his shell in fright, calming down when he realized who it was. He smiled with his eyes as best he could around his mask, speaking in a happy tone. "It's you! Lady Sen! I'm so happy to see you. Someone who's actually nice to Dakdak, who won't yell at me for no reason!"

Sen chuckled, patting Dakdak on the shoulder. "It's nice to see you too. I need some help, and I was hoping you overheard something that could be of use to me."

Dakdak stood up as straight as he could, seeming to almost fall over from the weight of the tank on his back. He gave an exaggerated salute to Sen, beaming with pride. "Anything for you, my good friend Sen!"

Sen leaned closer and spoke quietly, so others wouldn't hear. "I need news regarding kig-yar pirates, have you heard anything around the command crew about that when you were on communications duty recently?"

Dakdak seemed to think hard for a moment before his eyes suddenly bulged with excitement. "Yes, I did! One of the big scary-looking sangheili with shiny armor up above was saying something about some heretic kig-yar ships somewhere, I remember! He said Fifty-One Pegasi. Does that help?" Dakdak looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

Sen nodded, replying with sincerity "Yes Dakdak, very helpful. Thank you."

Dakdak practically beamed with pride at that. "Yay! Dakdak glad to be able to help friend Sen. Other unggoy avoid Sen because they say her kind is MEAN. But Dakdak knows better, Sen is so nice to Dakdak, you haven't even kicked me before!"

Sen patted Dakdak on the shoulder, nodding to him with thanks. "Thank you for everything you've helped me with Dakdak, you telling me these things will help me greatly, and I'm sure those Human words you told me before will too. But you probably won't see me again, I'll be going away for a long time."

Dakdak looked devastated, on the verge of tears. "You- You're really going away? Where?"

Sen shook her head. "I can't say, but everything will be alright Dakdak. I'll be going somewhere where I'll be happy, so think that of me, and stay strong."

Dakdak let out a sniff and said with a hint of faith. "I'll think of friend Sen being on happy methane world with Dakdak, methane world is Dakdak's happy place!"

Sen patted Dakdak on the shoulder, smiling with her eyes. "I appreciate that Dakdak, farewell."

Dakdak gave Sen another swift salute, trying to whisper, but speaking quite loudly. "And I haven't forgotten! No talking about anything, Dakdak promised!"

Sen tipped her head and made her way away from the crowded unggoy area. She had a hard time with Dakdak as she did with all unggoy. But she could never bring herself to be cruel to him like others so easily were. She was thankful for him because despite appearing to be an idiot, Dakdak was quite good at remembering sensitive information that his superiors speak without consideration of his presence. She felt herself smile inside, no matter the abrasiveness of them, unggoy were fiercely loyal. She and Raq had a chance now thanks to that loyalty, and now they just needed a plan to contact the pirates and solidify a plan to get off this ship. This opportunity she couldn't spoil, she wouldn't.

---

Cal jolted awake to the sound of the base alarm blaring. It had been five days since his training exercise, but he still felt soreness in his legs from all the walking. He pulled himself up with a grunt, grabbing a clean set of BDUs and pulling them on. Looking up at the clock, he saw that it read about 1450, around 2:30 PM. His battalion had been on late rotation, so they were meant to be resting now. He was feeling a bit irritated, they had a drill just a day after his exercise, and ruined his well-deserved rest after it. And now there was another, this soon?

Too soon, he realized.

Immediately, he felt a moment of fear. What if this was what everyone had been waiting for so long? Had the Covenant found Earth? The idea sent a chill down his spine.

He didn't have to wait long to have his worst fears confirmed. Immediately after over the base loudspeaker, a military officer's voice boomed out. "Covenant ships have engaged the Orbital Defense Platforms! I repeat, the Covenant is attacking Earth! All UNSC combat personnel report to rally points immediately! This is not a drill."

With this one message, the scene in the barracks went from one of grumpy rumblings and slow movements to an immediate hive of activity. Every marine in Cal's barracks, him included, rapidly threw on their gear as they rushed to get to the rally in time. The building was filled with one sentence, spoken with horror, confusion, and even excitement from those with something to prove: "The Covenant is on Earth!"

Quickly throwing on his armor, he rushed outside into the base proper to find a weapon and his squad. His heart was pounding in his chest, this was a moment that he had been anticipating for years, but all that foreshadowing did little to prepare him for this moment.

Running outside, an officer shoved an assault rifle into his hands as well as a few mags of ammo and three grenades. The man immediately shouted at Cal in a commanding voice. "There's no time for standing around soldier! GET TO RALLY! That's an order!"

Through the officer's drill-sergeant demeanor, Cal could see his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, and his eyes looked bloodshot. He turned away and started yelling at another group of soldiers, sending them to get weapons for themselves and extras for others. Cal set off to find his squad, clipping the mags and grenades to his body armor's securing points. Around him, he could see other ranking officers just as crazed as the last one rushing around and barking orders. It was clear that it wasn't just the soldiers who were panicking, everyone was.

Rounding a group of unkempt marines rushing for a Pelican, Cal finally spotted his squad at their rally point. Most of the members looked like they had just arrived, still adjusting their armor straps as they accounted for their gear.

Brannon sat idly to the side smoking a cigar. On seeing Cal approach, he gave the group a wicked smile. "Lovely day to die, ay lads?"

Andre gave a nervous laugh, awkwardly fidgeting with a magazine on his rig. "You don't really mean that, do you, Corp? Like you said before, we'll do fine."

Brannon took a long draw of his smoke, before breathing it all out. He gave Andre a hard stare, his voice cold and hard. "Then maybe, but now? I'll tell you something lad, do you remember Harvest? Because I was there. They didn't stand a chance then, and no human world since has either."

He plucked the cigar from his lips, tossing it on the ground and putting it out with his boot. "We'll fight like hell alright; I'll die fighting before I give up. But unless the Covvies start fighting each other? Not even the Chief would have a chance against them."

A grim silence followed this statement; the whole squad had a feeling of dread looming over their heads. Not even Cassie and Amara had something witty to say, as their Pelican finished fueling, and Brannon beckoned them inside.

The Pelican took off from the base with a shaking rumble, setting off towards its destination in a hurry. Cal realized that in all the confusion they hadn't even been told what their objective was. He turned towards Brannon, asking with curious confusion. "Bran, where are we even going? What's even happening out there?"

Brannon leaned back with a grimace, speaking in a defeated voice. "Covvie ships broke through our defenses in orbit just a few minutes ago, and a big one is now loitering over New Mombasa. I cannae say much other than that, but we're supposed to drop into the city and link up with another squad there. That's all they told me."

Andre piped up again, speaking with shock. "So they're just throwing us in there with no idea what we're up against?"

Brannon laughed, leaning forward towards Andre. "Oh, but we do know what we're up against Lad, only the most ruthless devils in this galaxy. So remember when you get down there, shoot first. Because if you don't, they will." Brannon gazed at the faces of everyone present, "watch each other's backs, and remember that we're doing this to give civilians time to evacuate. Every plasma shot fired at us is a shot not fired at the defenseless."

At those words, everyone gripped their weapons a little tighter.

---

The Pelican came to a sudden stop, the rear door opening.

The pilot shouted at them from the cockpit. "Go now! Covvie air support is coming down en masse, and I'd really like to not get shot down today."

Brannon waved his squad to disembark, and Cal lept from the doors into the blinding bright afternoon light of the city.

Cal had never actually seen Mombasa before the attack, but what he saw outside made his heart sink.

A massive pile-up of cars lay in front of him, abandoned, as their occupants opted to flee on foot. A small group of NMPD officers waved a few terrified civvies through a large blast door, before stepping inside and closing it. As the door closed, Cal could see the officers look in his direction and give a salute before the blast doors obscured them.

As his squad joined him on the ground, Brannon readied his gun forward and gestured down the road, through the cars. He looked back at his squad and yelled over the noise of the Pelican taking back off. "Command says that we're to meet a demolitionist squad up ahead, and we'll accompany them to a few spots they need to blow up. Hope to slow the Covvies down a bit."

Each of the squad members gave a thumbs up, and they began their first and final trip into hell on Earth.

The squad cleared streets and alleyways, strategically staying close, but far enough away from each other to not be easy targets. Aside from distant sirens and explosions, their end of the city seemed quiet, almost too quiet.

Cal looked up over a building to see a massive white Covenant ship drift by in the distance, firing a massive laser into the city. The sight chilled Cal to the bone, but he shook it off quickly. He couldn't let himself get distracted, not now.

He looked over at Brannon, who was talking on his radio. Brannon raised his hand to the rest of the squad to halt them before turning around, pointing at his radio. "Demo lads are just a few streets away; they're just finishing up packing their gear into some Razorbacks. Maybe we won't need to walk all day, eh?"

The statement got a short-lived chuckle out of some of the squad before the reality of the situation immediately crushed it. They moved up the streets towards where the demolitionist squad was, hoping that maybe this mission would go smoothly.

Brannon fingered the buttons on his radio again, stopping suddenly and furrowing his brow. The rest of the squad, immediately sensing something was wrong, stopped too.

Brannon turned around, looking everyone in the eye before speaking with a grim tone. "They've stopped responding, somethings wrong." He turned around and gestured forward again, speaking in a commanding voice. "Everyone, group up and stay together. Approach the objective with caution and don't reveal yourself unless you make visual contact with our lads."

Cal was breathing heavily; a pit was forming in his stomach. He could feel it in his gut that something was about to happen, something terrible.

Cal's squad made it to the first sightline of the square where they were meant to link up with the other squad. Taking up cover around some small metropolitan road walls, they peered at the sight in front of them.

Two Razorbacks were idling in the middle of the road, engines droning away. Some UNSC crates were stacked next to them half unpacked, but not a trace of any soldiers.

Amara peered at the scene in front of them with shock, whispering in a quiet voice. "I don't see any plasma burns or nothing that looks like a fight. How'd they just vanish?"

Cassie lifted her foot with a shocked hiss, exclaiming in a loud whisper. "There's blood under my boot, human blood!"

Cal looked down to see the puddle of red blood they had missed upon approach; it was running into a low part of the road from a shallow puddle that seemed to have no source on the other side of the wall.

Brannon let out a shocked swear, raising his gun quickly. "Ah should have known, they're using stealth! Run! Get back!"

Just then, shimmering forms appeared in front of them shockingly close. Cal immediately recognized them from their split-lipped faces and sleek armor, Elites.

Andre screamed and raised his gun, letting out a panicked gasp before opening fire. "What the hell! Shoot them! Shoot them!"

Suddenly, a bolt of plasma struck him in the chest, immediately causing him to fall over letting out a dreadful scream, smoke rising from his body.

Amara slid over to her fallen squadmate, crouching behind cover as she connected a cable to his armored vest, standing up and firing at the Elites as she dragged his body away from danger. Cal and the others laid down suppressive fire to cover her as she got behind cover with his limp body.

Brannon gasped in the air as he looked across at Amara, yelling over the gunfire that both sides were firing at each other. "What's the status?"

Amara yelled back, clearly in shock. "Andre's dead! He's fucking dead!"

Brannon yelled back. "Leave him! Get over here!"

Amara fired over her cover before ducking down and running out, suddenly, a bright ball landed directly on the road, in between Amara and the rest of her squad.

Brannon screamed at her from his cover. "Grenade! Get back!"

Amara skid to a stop and tried to run back, but was immediately struck with weapon fire to the head and collapsed.

Cal could only watch as he felt time slow down around him, his muscles locked up. His squad was dying around him, everything was falling apart.

He peaked over his cover to see Cassie alongside Brannon, she stood up with a war cry, fury in her voice as she blindly fired into the general area the enemy was. Brannon grabbed her arm, trying to pull her back down into cover.

He desperately yelled at her. "Cass get down! That's an order lass!"

Cal could only watch in horror as he saw another alien grenade stick to Cassie's breastplate, as she desperately grabbed at it only for her hand to get stuck to it too.

Brannon dove onto the ground, covering his head with his hands as the grenade exploded. Cal heard Brannon let out a cry of agony as he felt sickly warm fluid rain on him.

The ringing in his ears was unbearable, the world was a blur. He looked down at himself, only to see bright red blood and gore covering his arms and chest. He started hyperventilating, collapsing on the ground, and sobbing as he sucked air in and out of his lungs.

Suddenly he felt a hand grab his arm, and he was jerked back to reality. He saw Brannon, covered in blood and crawling on his arms, legs ruined by the blast.

Brannon grabbed Cal's face, staring into his face with gritted teeth and bloodshot eyes.

It was then he uttered the last words Cal would ever hear from him alive, through clenched teeth and mind numbed by adrenaline. "Run, Cal."

Brannon then let out a blood-curdling roar, whipping around toward the invisible enemy. He screamed again, one last time. "RUN!"

Cal snapped out of his trance. Scrambling on hands and knees, he ran away from the horror.

Looking back one last time, he saw Brannon pulling a pair of grenades from his vest and lobbing them away before he too finally went down. The explosions went off a second later, and Cal could hear nothing more.

Mind completely numb to stimulation, ears ringing, Cal ran. Not looking back once.

---

Sen awoke with a start from her nest to the sound of the slipspace alarm blaring out an imminent jump alert. It had been five days since she had been able to meet with Raq privately, and this sudden slipspace jump was a bad sign of what was to come. Normally, all crew are given an advanced warning before any kind of jump or ship deployment, but this was different. She rushed to get her gear on over her techsuit, assuming the worst possible scenario, and moved with haste into the halls of the carrier.
Outside it was chaos. Assembly calls were being broadcast for every combat personnel member on board, and every person she saw, including the usually stoic and collected sangheili, were rushing to get to their posts. Over the ship's broadcast, the Prophet of Regret began to personally give a speech. "Attention all ships and crew of the Fleet of Sacred Consecration. Today is a joyous day, as the Gods have granted us the key to the Sacred Journey. Today the Covenant's final march begins, as we set forth to Erde-Tyrene! Serve with distinction on this day, and let nothing stand in our way. By my hand, I shall burn a path into the divine beyond!"

Just then, Sen got a blip on her comms with instructions for muster. She swore under her breath, this was bad, but she had no choice but to follow orders. Sen had never believed in the religion of the Covenant, or the Great Journey. Rather, she recognized the Prophets for what they are, greedy and corrupt, ready to sacrifice people like her for their own gain. Whatever game Regret was playing, whatever dangers lie on this 'Erde-Tyrene,' he was about to throw everything he had at it for his greedy self-interest.
With slight hesitation, she set off toward her muster point. Silently hoping that her brother would be there too.

Sen moved down a corridor towards her designated Phantom loading bay, moving past unggoy who were hurriedly hauling crates of munitions to their intended destinations. As she finally reached her designated loading point, she breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed Raq among the squad. She eyed the other members there: a pair of filthy looking ruuhtians, which seemed to be eyeing her up and whispering some unsavory things her way; A group of five unggoy infantry, babbling incoherently amongst themselves; and finally three massive jiralhanae standing menacingly slightly away from the others, a Minor, a Major, and a hulking Chieftain.

Sen wondered where the sangheili in her squad were, but that was soon answered when an Elite Ultra strode commandingly over to the squad. His gaze drifted across them, causing one of the Brutes to roughly slap one of the unggoy who was still messing with a fellow Grunt's armor.

The Ultra began speaking with authority, as his eyes continued to drift to each member. "The Elites have been given a holy task, one that must be followed with upmost care. For this deployment, leadership of this squad will be temporarily entrusted to the Brute Chieftain Theramus." The Ultra's eyes fixed on the Chieftain with a harsh glare. "Your orders are to secure a landing zone against any threat, and operate independently until command is relieved from you. I expect you to be able to complete this task amicably, Brute."

The Chieftain let out a loud snort, hefting his massive gravity hammer over his shoulder, and replying in a deep mocking voice. "I know how to command troops, sangheili. I should ask the same of you, seeing the state of your "great" sangheili leaders."
The Ultra let out an angry growl. "That's quite enough Theramus. You have your orders, now follow them." With a stomp, the Ultra departed.

The jiralhanae Major let out an angry grunt, glaring at the sangheili as he left. "Cowardly sangheili!" He declared with fury, "How I would love to smash their skulls to a pulp!"
The Chieftain, Theramus, appearing to share his lackey's sentiment, responded in a much more leveled tone. "I too feel anger at the incompetence of the sangheili, but have patience. Remember that our time will come, and Tartarus will insure it."

The Major responded with a terrifying smile at these words, giving a satisfied grunt and returning to his position. Sen tried her best to appear inconspicuous, taking a spot beside Raq and giving him a light tap on the arm.

Shortly after taking her place, a general alert sounded through the loading bay. Sen switched on her comms, listening to the chatter throughout the ship. There were reports across the board of heavy Human resistance around the target world, far more than expected. The Fleet of Sacred Consecration was moving in to engage.
Sounds rang out from throughout the hanger as attack craft rapidly departed the assault carrier. The unggoy in her squad were visibly shaken, some of them starting to cry in terror from the shakes and booms. The jiralhanae reacted with rage, shoving the unggoy and yelling at them to stay calm. The ruuhtians looked anxious, glancing at each other, and fidgeting with their feet nervously. Sen kept listening to comms, trying to absorb as much information as possible. The Covenant was taking a beating, but the Humans more so. It seemed things were going well until Sen heard something that made her blood run cold. "…the Demon is here." The words were uttered between the ragged breaths of a dying sangheili, one of the ones sent to board a Human station. Sen felt frozen, she had heard stories of this Demon, how it could take on ten sangheili at once and win. How its strength was greater than any Human could possibly achieve. She stared into space, her mind racing. What exactly was this Erde-Tyrene, and why was the Demon here? Why did Regret rush to come here so quickly?

The jiralhanae, who had also heard the news about the Demon over the proselytization network, seemed riled at the news. The Chieftain let out a roar. "The Demon is here?! The Brutes shall take its head!"
The other jiralhanae let out a battle roar in agreement, while the ruuhtians gave the pair of t'vaoans a spooked look, as if now trying to seek some kind of silent unity.
Raq didn't say anything, but he took Sen's hand in a light squeeze, which Sen gave back. Suddenly, an alarm blared across the battlenet. The Day of Jubilation, Solemn Penance's sister ship, had experienced an internal detonation and was declared lost. Suddenly over the net, more calls of casualties were being declared. Suddenly, Regret's commanding voice boomed over the Net. "Do not let these paltry losses dissuade us from our holy mission! The Great Journey requires sacrifice, and the Gods see that in you! All forces, push to the surface!"
Sen felt her feathers tingle at this, with a looming dread she knew that it was too late. Whatever this planet was, they were going to die here.
Theramus suddenly slammed his chest plate, spitting at the squad in a commanding roar. "All of you, onto the Phantom! You heard the holy one. We depart now!"
The jiralhanae Major kicked one of the unggoy towards the open door of the craft, and Sen followed suit, feeling a sense of impending doom.

---

Cal ran as he had never run before, stumbling over curbs in his mad dash to separate himself from the horrors behind him. Ducking into a small convenience store, he collapsed behind the checkout counter, greedily sucking in air as his chest heaved from exertion. He raised his arms and stared at them, finally noticing the blood and bits of skin and bone that covered his arms and chest, feeling the sickly warmth touching his skin through his fatigues. His whole body started trembling uncontrollably, his arms shaking under their own weight as his vision blurred.

No no no no oh my god they're dead, they're all dead. This can't be happening; this can't be ha-

Suddenly he doubled over, vomiting on the floor as the adrenaline and stress became too much for him to bear. He gasped in air, suddenly coming to his senses as he heard the sound of another Phantom landing terrifyingly close to his building. The adrenaline kicked back in, as one word boomed in his mind: MOVE.

Cal bolted to the back of the store, ignoring the sickening feeling of his squadmate's blood on him, using shelves to shield himself from the front windows as his feet crunched over bags of chips that were hastily knocked over by the store's previous occupants. He crashed through a door marked 'employees only,' and found himself in a small storage room with a garage door in the rear. Quickly making his way past pallets of goods, he pressed the button linked to the loading bay door, cringing at the grating squeal it made upon sliding open. Raising his assault rifle towards the now open door he approached from the right, leveling his gun around the corner, he saw nothing but an empty alleyway. Quickly swinging his gun around the right corner, he was met by a similarly vacant lane. Moving quickly, he took off down the left side of the alley, trying to get as far away from the threat as possible.

Cal couldn't tell how long he was running, it felt like hours but had probably been less than one. He wandered aimlessly, ducking in and out of buildings and tunnels, changing direction if he heard something that sounded Covenant. He was completely lost, the streets that snaked through the once vibrant city of New Mombasa now seeming like a labyrinth of death.

Cal staggered into a building, a luxury hotel. Just a few hours ago it must have been bustling with people, but now it was deathly silent. Cal staggered into the open waiting room, making sure he had multiple routes of exit, before collapsing on one of the large sofas. The blood that covered his body had long started to dry and flake, with the bits that got under his armor remaining a disgusting coagulated ooze as it mixed with his sweat.

Cal clumsily reached up and switched his communicator on, setting it for a wide transmission. Sucking in a breath of air, he began a desperate plea to the open air. "This is Private First Class Cal Bardeen 31173, under the command of Corporal Brannon. My squad is dead-" He choked on his words as if he had to force himself to speak. "I need immediate assistance, any UNSC forces out there please designate a rallying point. I repeat I am in danger and cut off, please designate a rallying point!"

Cal flicked the audio on wide on his comms, only to be met with a barrage of shrieks. He could vaguely make out voices in the mess of sound, but barely any words. If anyone heard his message, they wouldn't even know it.

Cal pulled off his helmet in defeat, unceremoniously dumping it on the sofa next to him. He was truly alone, surrounded by enemies. He moved his arm, feeling the sickening sticky feeling against his skin, and immediately felt sick again. The metallic stench was palpable, and at that moment he realized if he didn't get this gore off him, he would either go insane, or one of those hingeheads that killed his squad would smell him.

He pulled himself to his feet with exhaustion, dragging himself towards the hallway lined with rooms. Glancing down the hall he immediately saw a room that was left ajar. Limping into the room, labeled '11,' he noticed the condition of the interior. A suitcase that appeared to have had belongings hurriedly shoved inside lay open on the floor, while a trail of clothing led towards the open door, a crumpled shirt shoved in the doorframe, preventing it from closing all the way. Some children's toys in the corner were left out, seemingly in the middle of being played with when everything went wrong. Cal shook the thoughts from his head, there was no use dwelling on such things.

Cal made his way over to the bathroom, peeking inside, and was relieved to see that it was empty. He unclipped his pack and dumped it on the ground. He then began unbuckling his body armor, the plates sticking to his body with a nauseating squelching sound as they came away from his fatigues. He bit down on his tongue, tasting bile in his mouth, as he stripped the rest of his soiled gear off and placed it in the shower.

Turning the shower knob, he was relieved to see that the water in the hotel was still running. He switched the showerhead on and sat under the water. Sitting in a fetal position with the warm water streaming over him, he could only stare at the reddened water that flowed off his body as guilt flooded his mind. That blood had once been his team, his friends. Now all that was left of them was flowing down a drain, and he ran.

None of them deserved it, none of the people in this city deserved it. How could living creatures be so cruel? So evil? He joined the marines because he wanted to protect his own planet from evil, but now the evil was so very real, so tangible. And it came in the form of those brutish hulking beasts that so effortlessly destroyed whole planets.

His thoughts were broken by the realization that the redness in the water had lessened greatly, so he grabbed a bottle of soap that was left behind and began scrubbing himself and his gear as well as he could. He had managed to get himself and his gear relatively clean before the bottle ran out, so he shut off the water and started wringing out his saturated fatigues.

Donning his still-wet equipment was uncomfortable, but a vast improvement from earlier. He looked down at his pack, which was still crumpled over on the ground. He realized that it would be a good idea to assess what he had, not knowing how long it would be before he could find backup. "Or before the Covenant find me" the thought filled him with dread. Opening his pack, he began separating what he had to work with.

First, is the Individual First Aid Kit. It was equipped with standard stuff you'd expect to deal with combat wounds, as well as a small set of field surgery equipment granted as part of his long deployment training. He then checked his food rations: there were five individual meal packets, plenty for him alone to survive for a couple of days if he ate sparingly. The rest of his gear was a length of rope, a standard survival knife, flashlight, entrenching tool, and his sleeping mat, which was strapped to the bottom of his pack.

With his kit accounted for, Cal packed back up and headed for the waiting room again. Clearing it carefully to make sure there were no uninvited guests, he walked towards the middle of the room, eyeing the giant Covenant ship floating over the city. It was far away from him, but its looming presence felt closer than ever.

Feeling a bit more energized after washing up, Cal decided to try his radio again. He put his helmet back on and reached to turn on the transmitter when he suddenly noticed that the big Covenant ship outside had started noticeably moving. He froze in place, staring at the massive vessel as it slowly started cruising forward. He then saw something happening near the front; In confusion, Cal stared at the rapidly expanding circle that seemed to be growing to envelop the ship. Then suddenly he saw a shockwave ripple from it, passing over the city directly toward him.

Cal had no idea what had just happened to the ship, but he knew that a shockwave that big was bad news, especially in a building with so much glass. Cal dove behind the couch face down, covering the back of his neck with his gloved hands. Suddenly the entire building buckled and shook, glass panes exploding at the front as they flexed under the strain. Cal heard the radio in his helmet make a loud shriek, as shards of glass showered on top of him like raindrops. An instant later it was all over, a deathly stillness had fallen over the city.

Cal carefully lifted his head, shaking glass off his back and making sure he wasn't cut. When he looked out the window, he saw that the Covenant ship was gone without a trace. The space elevator it had been lingering by was visibly flexing under the force of the blast, but incredibly still standing. Cal pressed the buttons of his helmet radio again only to find no response other than an idle buzz of disconnected speakers, he then realized in disbelief that whatever that Covenant ship did had caused an EMP that fried his internal radio to a useless crisp.

Fighting panic at the loss of his communicator, Cal knew that he had to get moving immediately. Grabbing his rifle, he made his way down a hallway through a rear building exit and found himself on another abandoned city street. Hearing a strange jingle, he looked across the street to see an Optican first aid station, and a pair of MediGel canisters visible at the terminal. Approaching the terminal carefully, he grabbed the cans from the dispenser and placed them in his pack. As he dropped them inside, the speakers crackled to life again, a cheerful robotic voice announcing loudly; "thank you for using Optican!" Cal shrugged, not quite biofoam, but it would help in a pinch.

Moving down the street, Cal started to notice signs of battle that instantly put him on edge. Civilian vehicles lay in pieces throughout the area, and a UNSC warthog, along with the remains of fortifications, lay in ruin across the middle of the road. Cal carefully peaked around some cover, spying the bodies of dead Covenant and UNSC scattered around the area, but no movement. He carefully made his way around the wrecks, trying to make for an alleyway that seemed to lead further around. He made it to the entrance of the alley without incident, noticing that an explosion had demolished a part of one of the buildings, leaving a pile of rubble in his path. He made his way up the loose pile carefully when suddenly a piece of debris crumbled under him, causing him to suddenly jerk to the side. At that moment, a shower of sparks flew off his helmet, along with a deep thrumming shriek as a massive laser beam cut through the air directly where his head was a moment ago. He threw himself over the debris pile, hearing the hiss of rapidly cooling metal over the right side of his head as he rolled unceremoniously onto the ground, immediately crawling into cover behind the pile. He stayed low to the ground and bolted out of the alley, wincing in pain, and breathing heavily from the impact while throwing terrified glances over his shoulder, hoping that whatever just shot at him wouldn't be able to see him exit.

Upon exiting the alley, Cal realized that if the Covenant just shot at him, they were most certainly going to go looking for him. He had to hide and fast. Cal took off through a couple of buildings, eventually ending up in some kind of office complex that gave him a good vantage point. He took cover on an elevated walkway and readied his assault rifle.

---

The interior of the Phantom was dark and isolating, like all Covenant architecture. With the side doors shut, Sen's perception was restricted to the interior of the small craft as it flew over the hostile world, the hum of the twin impulse drive reverberating throughout the craft. Sen checked the needler strapped to her hip as well as her ammo reserves, ensuring that they were full. The ship shook from an impact as Human defenses hammered the encroaching Covenant army, Sen imagined that more than one Phantom got shot down in the descent, and clenched her beak at the idea that hers could soon be among them. Eventually, the jiralhanae Chieftain barked at the squad to prepare to disembark, before pressing a control panel and opening the bay doors.

Outside the Phantom was chaos, sirens wailed below them, and Human weapon fire impacted the craft's exterior. Sen quickly leaped from the Phantom and landed on the ground in a roll, immediately spotting Human combatants, she darted into cover. Peeking out with her weapon at the ready, she fired a stream of crystalline projectiles at one of the Human defenders, hitting him in the arm before he could duck away. She heard the Human scream as the dart exploded, shredding his flesh around where it hit. Another Human immediately grabbed the injured one and started running while dragging him away. Seeing that they were retreating, Sen fired a few shots in their direction, while the rest of her squad took little time to dispatch any others that remained, mercilessly gunning down any Human they saw. Sen glanced back at her squad, thankful to see that Raq hadn't been hit in the battle.

The Brutes paced around the area, shooting wounded Humans that hadn't been immediately killed and barking loudly at each other. Once they were satisfied that all was clear, the Chieftain yelled at the Phantom pilot, causing the craft to drop two large Covenant supply crates on the ground. The Phantom then lifted back into the air and took off away from their position, leaving Sen's squad to fend for themselves.

While the unggoy in the squad started unpacking defensive barricades from the supply crates under jiralhanae supervision, Sen motioned for the other kig-yar in the squad to begin sweeping the perimeter.

Sen wandered around the area where the Humans were shooting at her. Stopping in front of some kind of building, she inspected one of the Human bodies. It wasn't dressed like the usual military she fought in the past, this one was dressed in black, and had much less armor on than the others. It only had a pistol and some kind of orange face covering, which did little to protect it from the brute spike that was now embedded in its skull. Sen also noticed lettering on the Human's torso, but could not read it.

At that moment, Sen heard a noise inside the building next to her. She immediately whipped her needler towards the noise and swept into the building. Inside, many odd barriers lined the room, they had shelves that were full of objects. Sen crept around the obstacles, clearing each one until she came to the end. Behind the last barrier was a lone Human dressed in colorful cloths, it was smaller than the dead ones outside, and was huddled in terror behind the shelves.

Sen leveled her weapon down the hall; lowering it upon seeing that the Human was unarmed. She glanced to the other side of the room where a door was visible, and then down to the Human, who seemed to be trying to sit as still as possible. Sen grabbed the Human by the arm and pulled them to their feet. She then shoved them towards the door, rasping out one single word in the Human language. "Go."

Without a word the shocked Human took off through the door, not looking back. Sen felt proud of herself for that one, and she supposed that the odd Human words that Dakdak taught her did come in handy. While she cared little for Humans, she felt a twinge of satisfaction at her minor rebellion in letting one go. The Covenant might own her contract, but they did not own her.

Upon exiting the building, Sen moved to regroup with her team. The jiralhanae had ordered the unggoy to fortify an adjacent plaza, which served as a well-defendable area. As she moved into the plaza, she saw Raq standing nearby. Moving over to him, Sen tapped his shoulder. "Hey, you holding up ok?" She asked softly.

Raq nodded, adjusting his needle rifle. "As well as I can be, hope we don't need to stay on this rock any longer than we need to."

Raq's gaze drifted into the distance, Sen followed and found herself staring at the Solemn Penance, the massive assault carrier that was in the process of glassing a part of the Human city in the distance. Despite being on the ground, she felt just as blind as she was on that ship. They had no further orders than to hold position, and it seemed as though command had little desire to give any further. She wouldn't be surprised if they would be simply forgotten and left behind at this point.

Suddenly, Theramus stomped over towards the pair of t'vaoans, roughly shoving a focus rifle into Sen's hands and gesturing broadly to the tall buildings around them. He yelled in an angry commanding tone, flecks of saliva spraying out of the Chieftain's mouth. "Useless kig-yar! Standing around doing nothing. Get up there, and get looking for Humans!"

Sen begrudgingly shouldered the rifle, hissing out a quick begrudging affirmative before turning to Raq. Sen gestured over to one side of the plaza, murmuring to Raq "Get up on that side and look out for anything, I'll take the other side."

Raq nodded in acknowledgment, before taking off to the opposite side and leaping up the Human buildings to a vantage point. Sen glanced at the ruuhtians, who were idly kicking around some Human garbage. She cawed loudly at them, pointing towards one of the unguarded entrances of the plaza. Visibly unhappy about being ordered around by her, but knowing better than to disobey, the two ruuhtians meandered over to the area and started standing guard.

Sen then made her way up her building gracefully, coiling her muscular legs and hurling herself into the air with a calculated sureness. Sen may not enjoy the marksman role as much as close quarters, but the verticality was exhilarating. The asteroid she grew up on, T'vao, had much higher gravity than most civilized worlds, meaning that her strength was much greater than virtually any species her size.

A pleasant rippling wind swept through her feathers as she lept towards a small balcony on the top floor of the building, she landed perfectly on a railing surrounding it and stared directly through a pane of glass before her. Behind it was an empty room, seeming to be some kind of Human living space. She climbed off the railing and investigated the glass. Quickly finding a handle, she pulled to find that the glass cleanly slid open, creating a doorway to the inside. Drawing her needler, she carefully cleared a path to the left, seeing it go nowhere of note, she made for a different door. Opening that one, she found herself in a hallway with rows of identical doors on each side. Moving straight across the hall, she opened the next door and found herself in an almost identical living space, with a balcony facing away from the plaza. Clearing that room, she holstered her needler and pulled out her focus rifle. Sen then cautiously moved towards the balcony and gazed out towards a scene of carnage on the street.

Aiming into the scope of her rifle for a better look, Sen saw the smoldering remains of a Human military vehicle, as well as several Human bodies dressed in the same recognizable green color as the smoking truck. She could also see at least one dead Elite and a few Grunts. The Humans down there sure put up a fight.

It seemed as though all was calm, so she decided to overwatch the area for a bit. As a bit of time went on, she began thinking about the situation here. The Humans seemed far more dug in on this world than any other she had been to, and the size of the fleet that Regret had brought was tiny in comparison. She knew that whatever planet this was, it was very important to the Humans, and despite the Prophets doing their best to degrade the Humans, Sen knew from experience that they could be just as if not more dangerous than many of the races in the Covenant despite their lesser technology and physical might.

As she was sitting in thought, a buzz over the comms got her attention. There was a lot of background noise over the net, but she heard something about troops around Solemn Penance withdrawing to the carrier quickly. Before she could even pinpoint what was going on, she turned her attention to the ship itself. She looked up at the spot where it had been motionlessly stationed alongside some kind of massive Human structure but was shocked to see that it was moving. Suddenly a recognizable slip space distortion was visible near the front, and suddenly it warped away.

Sen gasped as she saw a massive shockwave blast out across the area. She couldn't believe it, a slipspace jump in atmosphere! She yelled over her comms to her squad quickly "slipspace shockwave! Take cover!" She hurled herself inside the Human building and curled up in a defensive position, anticipating the force of the blast.

The entire building suddenly shuttered, the very foundations creaked and moaned under stress as windows exploded from the vibration. In an instant, the shockwave passed, and the building slowly swayed to a standstill. The Chieftain leading her squad barked over the comms, "Squad report! Status. Unggoy! Get back here, cowards who flee are to be killed! Understand?"

Sen sat up, speaking up over her comms as she dusted off some debris off her. "Unharmed, resuming duty." The other kig-yar responded similarly, Raq included. Feeling that the building's stability was uncompromised, Sen made her way back over to the now shattered window to find that other than some dust and garbage that was now drifting through the air, and some new debris on the ground from already battle-damaged buildings, the area was unchanged.

Glancing over towards where the Solemn Penance once stood, all that remained was the Human structure, which now appeared greatly damaged and swaying from the blast. Sen fought to keep panic down as the reality of the situation came over her, they were truly forgotten, alone. Regret abandoned them, and the Humans would most certainly come and kill them all. She reached up and covered the eyepieces of her Champion helmet eyes with her hands. They were so close, but it did not matter anymore. The last of the Reea clan were inescapably doomed to die, just like the rest of them.

As she dragged her hands off of her face and opened her eyes, she suddenly saw non-friendly marked movement behind the scene of battle in front of her. She focused the scope and saw a Human dressed in green body armor climbing a pile of rubble blocking an alleyway, in that moment survival instinct kicked in. The Human ahead was clearly military and moving away from their occupied area, she had no idea if it had seen their position, and if it could bring its friends back to kill them. Cut off from command and alone on this forsaken world, they had no backup. That Human could not get away, it was a risk that she could not take.

Placing the scope's dot on the back of the Human's head, Sen pulled the trigger. But at the moment of firing, she saw the Human suddenly slip off the dot as it tripped on some debris. A shower of sparks flying off the helmet indicating a hit, but the Human immediately reacted, throwing itself down the pile behind cover. She screeched a curse out loud as heat and smoke hissed from the vents of her rifle, she had lost the target.

Just then, her communicator lit up with the loud yelling of the jiralhanae Chieftain Theramus. "kig-yar! What is going on up there? What are you shooting at?!"

Sen felt furious, at herself mostly. Everything had been going wrong, and now she knew that she had to make up a lie to tell her belligerent squad leader. If she admitted to allowing a Human warrior to escape, she would be strung up for sure.

She activated her comms, speaking in a measured voice. "Dead Humans on this end, Elites. Checking to make sure all are really dead."

The Chieftain was not amused, giving an angry snort in response. "Idiot kig-yar! Stop wasting ammo and start following orders!"

He then abruptly shut off the link, Sen was relieved that that was the end of it. She gazed towards the alleyway where the Human disappeared, desperately hoping that she wouldn't regret leaving that loose end untied.

Shortly after this incident, the Covenant battlenet lit up with a new broadcast, with the unmistakable voice of the Prophet of Truth. and what Sen heard shook her to the core. "This is the High Prophet of Truth, speaking to the true loyal warriors of the Covenant on 'Erde-Tyrene.' The noble Prophet of Regret has from this point forward been relieved of command of this operation, and I am taking over command. I bring news most shocking, unheard of in the Covenant's nearly 2000-year reign. The Elites have betrayed us."

Truth takes a moment of silence, as if trying to show that he was truly shocked by the words he was saying. "The sangheili members of the Covenant High Council were so enraged by the jiralhanae gaining positions of power that they decided to take matters into their own hands, and now across the Covenant, they move to undermine our Great Journey in any way they can! To all faithful warriors, the Gods will recognize your valor this day, crush the heretic Elites and prove yourself worthy!"

Sen nearly dropped her rifle upon hearing this, she didn't know how things could get worse. The jiralhanae and sangheili would tear each other apart, and the species caste under them such as herself would be directly in the middle. She had to get herself and Raq out of there now, find somewhere to hide and survive on this world. Just, anywhere but here.

Sen darted out of the room back towards the plaza, and upon exiting realized with dread that it was too late. The jiralhanae in her squad had gathered outside and a small group of sangheili warriors was approaching them, right into a trap. The unggoy and two ruuhtians were standing alongside them, seeming eager to be with the ones who would be most likely to win the fight.

She immediately noticed the sangheili Ultra leading the group, it was the same one who angered Theramus in the loading area on the Solemn Penance earlier. The Ultra was speaking in a confused angry voice towards the group of jiralhanae. "Theramus what's going on? Our communications have been disconnected from the battlenet, why have the Prophets done this?!"

Theramus slams the hilt of his hammer on the ground hard as the Ultra gets closer to him, the jiralhanae grins terrifyingly, discolored fangs visible. "I think you know well what's going on traitor sangheili, Tartarus has willed the time of the Brutes! And it is so!"

The sangheili balked in confusion and anger as the jiralhanae let out a berserk battle roar, lunging at them. The Ultra goes down first, taking a gravity hammer blow square to the chest. Then an Elite next to him gets hit by a spray of metal spikes, causing him to roar in pain. The scene in front of Sen became an absolute blur as the whole plaza erupted in chaos, The unggoy and ruuhtians quickly became overconfident and found themselves easy prey for the sangheili warriors, but the charging jiralhanae were a force of nature. The sangheili were easily overwhelmed, only able to bring down the Minor in the chaos before the last sangheili's throat was crushed by the hulking Brutes. The Chieftain and Major were clearly injured, but very much alive, and still very angry. Sen lept down from the building and started frantically looking for her brother in the carnage.

Suddenly the jiralhanae Major, blood still dripping from open wounds across his body, stumbled in front of Sen with a spiker raised at her. His eyes were glowing crimson red and foamy drool dripped from his mouth, clearly beyond any kind of reason. The Brute yelled at Sen in a voice filled with rage, "You! Kig-yar, betrayed us!"

Sen tried to take a step away from the angry Brute, only for searing pain to erupt in her left shoulder and leg as large metal spikes penetrated her techsuit, embedding into her flesh. Her leg buckled, and she cried out, desperately trying to grab her needler from her side. The Major cruelly kicked her, sending her needler flying and causing hot purple blood to drip on the pavement.

The jiralhanae raised his spiker towards her head, preparing to finish her off. Sen suddenly heard a familiar voice shouting her name, through the pain, she turned her head and saw Raq standing on a platform a bit away, needle rifle leveled on the Brute's head. In a fit of rage, Raq screamed "SEN! NO!" Firing a needle, it impacted the Major's skull and pierced it. Moments later, the jiralhanae's head exploded in a shower of gore, as its body tumbled onto the ground.

Sen, suddenly enveloped with adrenaline, turned to look at Raq. He was staring at her in horror, realizing the state of her injuries. Hearing an enraged roar, Raq's vision snaps to the Brute Chieftain who had now noticed Raq. He screamed at Sen as loud as he could "RUN SEN! GET OUT OF HERE!" before raising his needle rifle and futilely firing shots into Theramus' shields. He tried to dodge backward as the Chieftain swung his hammer, raising his wrist-mounted shields instinctively, but it was far too late, the gravity hammer slammed into Raq's midsection with a boom, sending his body flying into a concrete wall behind him with a sickening crunch.

Sen felt as though she had been torn in half, she let out a croaking wail at the sight of her brother's corpse. The Brute was too busy giving a berserk victory roar to even notice her.

Sen stumbled to her feet; her vision blurred with grief. She limped over a dead unggoy and grabbed his plasma pistol before stumbling out of the plaza, dripping purple blood as she went. Tears streamed down her face under her Champion helmet as she blindly walked, there was nothing left.

The only family she had cut down in front of her, all plans of escape from this hell wasted.

She wished she was dead.

Sen walked for a while, stumbling past wreckage and dead bodies, blind to her surroundings. finally collapsing from pain and exhaustion inside a Human structure, she squeezed the plasma pistol in her hand tighter than she'd squeezed anything before, letting out a wracking sob. It would be so easy to overcharge the plasma pistol and turn it on herself, painless even. The only one she ever cared about was dead, she was alone on this world. She was alone in this universe.

A final burst of will came over her, she wouldn't take herself out. She'd let the Brute bastard find her, she'd overcharge the plasma pistol and hit the murdering scum as hard as she could. She would avenge her brother before she died.

---

Cal had heard the sound of battle come from somewhere, but he couldn't make out any UNSC weapons being fired. Too afraid to investigate, he decided to remain in cover until things had calmed down. When he had a window of quiet, he would make a move to get away from this area.

Scanning the open area in front of his vantage point, he made sure it was clear before he sat back down. He felt like that sniper could be anywhere, watching him, but he shook off that feeling. He had been there for a while, if anyone was watching him, he'd have known by now.

To calm himself down, Cal decided to bust out one of his MREs to have a bite to eat. Shit food, but food nonetheless, and eating would ease some of the stress. Taking off his helmet for the first time since being shot, he stared in disbelief at the melted trail that streaked straight over the right side of it. He rubbed it with his finger, feeling the depth. Any further left and the shot would have gone straight through his right hemisphere.

Cal felt a pit in his stomach as he realized just how close to death he truly was, and how easily that could have turned out differently if he had not tripped. Cal shook the thoughts off, there wasn't any use thinking about it while his life was still at risk. Instead, he turned his attention to his meal kits, he did not care which, so he just grabbed one.

He pulled the heating kit from the MRE: It was a plastic bag with a chemical packet inside that reacted with water. Upon having water poured into the bag, the packet would heat the water to boiling. He then took the main course out of the MRE, not bothering to read what it was, and placed it inside the heating pack before pouring some water inside. He pulled out a pack of dry salty crackers and started munching on them while he waited for his meal to cook.

Suddenly, upon hearing a loud thud somewhere nearby, he jolted to attention, realizing that his guard had been down. In a panic, Cal abandoned his MRE and ran further into the building, hoping to hide far enough away that he could see it but not be detected. But luck was not on Cal's side.

He heard whatever was moving come closer, and a loud grunting noise. Cal peeked carefully to try to spy whatever was making that noise, only to see a massive ape-like alien hunched over the abandoned MRE on the ground. It was wearing ornate armor and holding some kind of massive hammer in its hands. Blood visibly dripped onto the ground from a wound on its side, but it didn't seem to even notice it. Cal watched in horror as it lifted the bag to its nose and sniffed it, drool dripping from its mouth as it turns towards the position Cal is hiding in.

The beast suddenly shouts in English "Human!" And slams its hammer into the adjacent wall, crumbling it instantly with a loud boom. Cal takes off running, hearing a thunderous stomp and roar from behind him. He looks back to see the massive ape in hot pursuit, the creature easily over twice the size of him and gaining fast.

Cal swore and ran into another building, zigzagging through hallways to throw it off as he wrestles a grenade off of his rig. He hears it bash a wall behind him, and he pulls the pin on a grenade and blindly throws it behind him, rewarded with a roar as shrapnel from the blast hit the creature. He copied this maneuver twice before he ran out of grenades, still dodging through buildings as he wrestled his assault rifle off of his sling. Turning around he could see the beast behind him, a shimmering outline visible around it as its energy shield weakened. Cal fired his assault rifle towards it blindly, peppering the alien with 7.62 rounds as he exhaustedly ran towards another building. He can't keep this up, he feels like he's about to collapse.

Running headlong through the open doorway, he noticed at the last second a green glow and humming sound emanating around the corner of the door and skidded to a stop inside. He turned his head and recoiled in absolute confusion and shock at the sight in front of him. Staring him down was some kind of bird-looking alien, wearing gold-yellow Covenant armor, and pointing a glowing plasma weapon right at him. He stared at it in dumbfounded shock, and it seemed to almost cringe away from him like it was looking at a ghost.

Moments after, the pursuing Brute let out a victory roar and rushed into the doorway, pausing for a moment upon entering. At that moment, the bird-like alien seems to snap out of its surprise. It whipped its weapon directly toward the beast and fired. A blinding green mass ejected itself from the front of the weapon and zoomed into the ape, exploding on impact, and evaporating its now unshielded head and upper torso. The lifeless berserker slumped over backward from the blast, the hammer cracking the floor open as it landed. Cal whipped his head back to the bird, leveling his weapons towards it, but then it did something that caught him completely off guard.

The alien tossed the weapon on the ground, the green glow now completely gone from it, smoke hissing out from the sides. It then reached up with its right hand and pulled its helmet off. The glowing eyepieces shut off as the helmet dropped onto the floor with a clatter. The alien's head slumped back into the wall, Cal now noticing the viscous purple blood dripping from its left arm and leg onto the floor under it. Cal stared at the alien in the face, finger hovering over the trigger as he looked it right in the eyes, and he realized in a moment that it was acceptance he saw.

---

Sen sat in a puddle of her own blood, staring at her soon-to-be killer. The mark on the Human's helmet said everything, this was the loose end that she left. However, she wasn't sure if she regretted it anymore. She stared at the body of the dead jiralhanae scum who murdered her brother, and she felt peace. It was all so simple, this Human helped her avenge Raq, and now in turn they would make her own passing painless.

Sen reached up and hit the release of her helmet, HUD going dark as she tossed it onto the floor alongside the spent plasma pistol. She relaxed her body, slumping her head against the wall, feeling the hot blood running down her arm and leg, staring down the barrel of the human weapon. The only thought she had was that she hoped the Human would make it quick.

Then something happened that she could never have anticipated: The Human lowered its weapon, taking a step back. Sen's eyes snapped open wide as she watched the Human lower into a sitting position across from her, almost like a mirror. Suddenly, the searing pain of the spikes in her flesh erupted again as the adrenaline left her system, and her vision became harder to keep focused.

Sen looked at the Human one last time, darkness creeping over the edges of her vision. She croaked out one desperate word in her native tongue, one that the Human would never understand. "Why…"

---

Cal sat in shock, staring at the now unconscious alien across from him. He couldn't believe himself; he had a member of the Covenant at gunpoint, one of the very creatures that set fire to so many human worlds and killed billions, and he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. The memory of just a moment ago was burned into his mind like a scar; the creature throwing its helmet off and staring up at him, like it was ready to die.

Cal suddenly realized why he couldn't do it, how he could so easily pull the trigger before, but not now. He only ever saw the creatures of the Covenant as monsters, devils that torched countless worlds and slaughtered billions without remorse. There wasn't a scrap of humanity or reason in them, they afforded no mercy. But this one… Cal looked into the eyes of this wounded alien and for the first time in his life saw humanity in something inhuman. The alien had a fully charged weapon pointed at him and did not fire, choosing to kill something that wore its own colors rather than him. He thought of how the creature threw its helmet off and slumped its head backward, looking up at him. With a sick feeling inside he realized that at that moment it was offering him a clean shot, a quick way out. It expected no mercy from him.

Feeling that the danger had passed, Cal dragged his aching legs back under him and got up from where he sat. He wanted to get a better look at this odd alien now that it was unconscious. Slipping his bag off, he slowly approached the slumped form with his rifle in hand, making sure it was actually out cold and not pretending.

As he drew closer, he examined its chest area. Most of it was enveloped by some kind of heavily armored chest plate, but in an unarmored area under its head, he could see its chest slowly rise and fall with shallow breaths. Confident now that it was actually out cold, he shouldered his rifle and kneeled down in front of it to get a better look. Looking at its head, he noted the long crimson-red feathers that sprouted from its crest and flowed back behind its neck, almost like human hair. He leaned down to examine its slumped head, observing the strange bony ridges that covered it, how it narrowed into a bird-like beak at the front. He had never seen an alien like this, but the armor matched other Covenant he had seen.

Looking over towards where the creature had dropped its helmet, he reached down to pick it up, never having the chance to actually inspect Covenant armor this close before. It was golden yellow colored, the same as the rest of the creature's armor, and sported five strange plates that jutted up around where the feathers would be. Intense wear and scratches around the edges of the yellow-painted armor indicated that it had seen a lot of use.

Cal placed the helmet down next to the creature and now found his eyes drifting to the source of the blood that was dripping under it. He quickly noticed two vicious-looking large metal spikes embedded in the creature's body, in the soft areas around the heavy armor, one in the left arm and the other in the left leg. He built up the courage to touch the area around the wound in the leg, finding the odd-looking suit that the alien was wearing to be surprisingly thin. Under it, he could feel incredibly dense muscle, clearly well suited for running and jumping at great distances. He shivered a little inside at the thought of being kicked by those strong digitigrade legs, as they could easily break bones.

Cal looked away from the unconscious alien, and towards the burned-out Covenant weapon on the ground. He then looked over at the headless corpse of the beast that had been chasing him previously, its black and red armor obviously designating some kind of high rank. The thought came over him again that the wounded bird alien had an ambush set up, and could have easily killed him, but didn't.

He looked back down at the wounded creature, limp on the floor. Cal realized that something big must have happened to cause the Covenant to start killing each other, recalling the massive Covenant ship suddenly warping out of the city, almost like it was running away.

Cal reasoned that this alien must be some kind of traitor to the Covenant, and seeing as it killed one of their own rather than him, it seemed to hate them more than humanity. And so Cal made a decision, likely a stupid one, but a decision, nonetheless. He was alone, deep in enemy territory, low on rifle ammo, and no grenades. He needed help, and right now the only possible help he saw was knocked out on the ground in front of him. He bit down on his lip as he cursed himself for what he was about to do; but damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

He staggered over to his dropped backpack and rifled through it, searching for his IFAK, knife, and the MediGel he had grabbed earlier. Producing the kit, he returned to the alien to get a better look at its wounds. The ugly spikes were embedded deep, Cal cringed at the idea of those getting stuck in him. The undersuit seemed to have contained the wounds relatively well, but purple blood still oozed from around the spike. Drawing his attention to the leg first, Cal pulled out his knife and carefully slipped it between the spike and the thin suit. Grabbing a wad of gauze from his IFAK, he carefully started easing the spike from the flesh, pressing the gauze around it as it started to ease out. As he carefully eyed the creature, he was glad to see that it seemed to be too deep in unconsciousness to be stirred by this, so he continued his work diligently, fighting off the aching in his own body to finish the job.

As the spike slowly lifted, Cal was relieved to see that while the wound bled quite a bit, the amount coming out seemed to indicate that if this creature had arteries, the spike missed them. He shoved the gauze hard into the wound, quelling the thick purple liquid. Feeling queasy at the feeling of blood on his hands again, he fought off the memories and focused on his task. Grabbing the suturing tools from his kit, he slowly lifted the gauze from the wound, relieved to see that it seemed to have slowed.
Securing the thread into the curved needle, he examined the wound he was working with. The body suit would make it hard, but he was confident he could seal it. Grabbing the can of MediGel, he sprayed some of the substance inside the deep wound. He then poked the needle into the small opening and began suturing it shut. Then with that wound sealed, he sprayed more of the gel on top of the sutures before mimicking this procedure with the wound on the arm.

With both wounds now sealed, Cal's exhaustion hit him. Packing up his medical supplies, much of them now stained with purple blood, he collapsed back into his spot. Pulling out his canteen, he took a swig of the refreshing fluid. Leaning his head back, he found it nearly impossible to resist the urge to fall asleep, but the ache of his body was too much to bear. So just like the alien, he too slipped into unconsciousness.

---

Sen rarely dreamed, or at least she rarely remembered dreaming, but she knew that this dream was like none she had ever experienced. She found herself suspended in an inky black purgatory, unable to move or feel, as though her body no longer existed. The feeling was unsettling, but also somehow peaceful. For the first time in her life, she felt disconnected from the anchors of reality, like she wouldn't need to wake up and wonder what new hell would be created for her to survive through.

She found herself hoping that she was dead, that the Human had killed her rather than leave her alive. This was better than living in a world devoid of purpose, of home or family.

Alone, she realized. Truly hopelessly alone. The only one who cared for her died trying to save her life in vain. Grief welled up in her mind, she wanted to scream again but couldn't.

"He should have run, why didn't he run?"

But she knew deep inside that she would have done the same thing in his place.

She realized with a grim bitterness that even if the Human left her alive, and she was simply unconscious, her wounds would surely take her. She had already lost a lot of blood, so it wouldn't be long.

After sitting in purgatory for an indiscernible amount of time, Sen's perception began to change. She saw blurry light, a dizzying spin on her reality as though the world had just decided up from down, and then…

Pain. aching, searing pain. The metallic stench of blood and burned flesh.

Alive, she realized.

Sen slowly cracked open her eyes, vision still blurry and uncertain. She did not dare move an inch before she established her surroundings.

She saw the Human slumped across from her, purple blood on their hands, clearly asleep. Sen realized with a sick feeling that if the Human hadn't killed her, she must be a prisoner. And she knew the terrible things that happened to prisoners in the Covenant.

With bile rising in her throat, she tried to move her arms, expecting to be bound up. In shock, she realized that somehow, she was completely unrestrained, and immediately regretted moving. Her body cried out, beaten and bruised muscles in her arms spiked with pain. She let out a gasp and sat still, letting her protesting muscles calm down.

Her attention immediately turned to her wounds. She looked at her left arm to find that mysteriously the spike was gone. She stared in surprise at the hole in her techsuit, noting the primitive wires that were used to hold the flesh together. The wound still burned tremendously, but some kind of healing accelerant was used to rapidly heal the wound.

Sen looked back at the sleeping Human with absolute confusion, for the first time in her life being truly stumped by the situation in front of her. Throughout her existence, she had to survive many things, and learn how to read all the different races of the Covenant. As she rose through the ranks, she learned that aliens were predictable and easy to please. But for the first time, she felt unable to understand the action of another.

Staring at the Human soldier's bloodied hands, she realized that it must have mended her wounds before falling asleep, but it didn't bind her in any way. Considering the situation, Sen thought that this Human must be testing what she would do. She eyed the strange Human weapon cradled under one of its arms. Its shape was familiar enough for her to be able to use, but she would not dare try to take it, as the Human would surely wake.

As her strength sluggishly returned, Sen climbed to her feet slowly. Putting weight on her right leg, she almost stumbled over from the weakness of her body. She braced herself on the wall and limped over to where the dead body of Theramus was, giving the sleeping Human a wide berth. She glared in hatred at the headless corpse, wishing she could inflict more pain on the dead Jiralhanae for what he had done. Sen grabbed at the Brute's ornate armor, searching for anything he might have carried that could resemble a weapon or any kind of tool, but to no avail. What wasn't completely fused by the plasma blast was useless.

Sen let out a whine, feeling lost and confused. She stumbled back to the spot where she sat previously and crumpled back down. She felt so weak, so helpless. Going outside was a death sentence in this condition, she knew her only option was to see what this Human who healed her wounds intended to do.

---

As Cal slipped into unconsciousness, he felt his mind blur into a recollection of home, a time long lost. He remembered the fields like it was yesterday; the golden fields of his family's farm, the tall shale mountains jutting up over the alpine planes to the horizon. The three moons hung like marbles in the fading daylight, as he and his little brother Sam played soldier in the wide-open fields.

To them it was like a fun game, watching cartoons and movies about the brave men and women in the UNSC, fighting and beating the evil aliens on faraway worlds. About the Spartans, the real superheroes, that could crush the bad guys in an instant. The two brothers imagined themselves as Spartans or ODSTs, valiantly defeating ridiculous numbers of hideous alien creatures in an instant. Their mother never liked it when they watched such films, but their father would say that it was just kids having fun.

But Sam was never destined to meet his heroes. Cal's memories turned to that of sadness as he recalled holding his 13-year-old brother's weak hand, barely able to picture the hospital or the doctor, but he remembered hearing the news clear as day. Sam had a rare disease that not even the most revolutionary of medicines had been able to crack, and the survival rate was near zero.

Cal could only watch as his brother, who had been as close as a twin to him, only grew weaker.

He remembered the last words Sam ever told him, hooked up to more machines than he could count, face gaunt with exhaustion. Sam took his hand with the meager strength he had left, and told him with a reassuring voice "Everything will be alright, Cal."

Shortly after, Sam slipped into a coma for days before the doctors declared him dead. Losing his little brother at such a young age changed Cal, and as he began to realize the reality of the war going on, he started to feel a sense of hopelessness and depression. He felt a responsibility to protect his family on his homeworld from the Covenant. His memory became clearer as he remembered at age 23, just a few months ago, entering his UEG citizen information into a UNSC recruiting station terminal. His mother begged him not to go, saying that enlisting would be the death of him. While his father, with a tear in his eye, told him that he didn't want to lose his other son. Cal reassured them that he would be home before they knew it, and told them that he wanted to protect others from the grief he felt.

Suddenly, his dreams twist to the firestorm on Earth. Again, he saw his squad get torn apart by Elites in front of him, feeling the hot fresh blood covering his chest and arms, as he heard his Corporal order him to run before being gunned down by Elites. Again, he can only watch as the memories of the nightmare envelop his mind.

Cal tore himself away from his memories violently and found himself suddenly jerking awake. Getting his bearings, it took him a moment to remember that there was a living alien in the room with him, and it was very much awake now. He took a moment to look at it now that it was conscious, seeing that it was still sitting in the spot it was before. He could see its yellow eyes quietly peering at him, with no discernable ill intention, just seeming to be observing him.

Staring at the creature with fresh eyes, something became apparent that he failed to note previously due to how slumped the creature was. This bird-like alien was at least a head taller than him. He felt a flush of nervousness, remembering the well-trained muscle in its body. If it wanted to, this creature could easily overpower and kill him without a weapon.

With this revelation, Cal realized that whatever he did next needed to state his intentions well. The alien hadn't messed with him while he was passed out, and so far, it seemed to just be watching him. Cal realized in a moment that the alien was probably just as unable to read him as he was unable to read it.

Cal wanted to break this contested game of mental chess as peacefully as possible, so considering his options he went with the most universal offering possible, food. Reaching into his pack, he carefully produced two of his remaining MRE packs. He watched the alien's eyes carefully follow his movements as he started to open them, producing the heating packs and the main courses. It tipped its head to the side, seeming to be curious as he set up the heating kits and began warming up the entrees.

Opening a bag of dry salty crackers, Cal stuck one in his mouth and bit down before taking the second bag and sliding it with a shove towards the odd creature across from him.

Seeming to understand that Cal currently meant it no harm, the alien's eyes track the bag as it travels across the ground with curiosity, before looking back at Cal with a curious tilt. Cal motions towards the bag, reassured at the creature's understanding of his lack of aggression. The alien responds by picking up the bag and mimicking the motion Cal used to open his own with its odd three-fingered hands. It inspects one of the crackers before sticking it into its beak and biting down, pausing for a second as it seems to test its consistency, before seeming pleased and taking another to eat too.

With the passing of this moment, Cal can feel the tension in the room slowly dissipate, as the alien seems content with the offering of food.

As he waits for the meal portions of the MREs to heat up, he ponders his situation. Sitting in a room in the middle of a war-torn city peacefully with a soldier of the enemy, sharing a meal. He doubts that inconceivable scenario could be spawned even in the mind of the most crazed ONI creep, and yet here he was.

After a moment, the MREs were heated. He pulled one out and opened it, minding the steam that came out before scooping up a bite with a spoon and eating it. He then more carefully passed the other warmed kit to the alien along with a spoon, to which the alien seemed more confident in leaning closer to him to retrieve it. Awkwardly holding the spoon in its hand, it scooped up a small bite, pouring it into the base of its beak. It sat there for a moment, seeming to taste the food, before it tipped its head up in the air slightly, letting it slide into its throat.

Cal then noticed the alien's focus drifting over to his helmet on the ground, and its posture seemed to almost slump instantly. Then it did something that shocked Cal, it mumbled in English with a thick rasp, "Shot…" It then made an awkward gagging noise, like it was unused to the sounds it was making, "sorry."

Cal was dumbfounded; the alien could talk, and it just apologized to him? For something it did, or something one of its friends did, he wasn't sure. "You can talk?" Cal asked incredulously.

"Talk?" the bird alien echoed, slumping back onto the wall. It gave it's head a small shake, "No, little."

Cal sat back and thought for a moment, thoughts running through his head before he began talking gently. "Do you have a name?"

The alien's eyes squinted as if trying to think, speaking again as though it was trying to understand the word. "Name…?"

Cal realized that it probably didn't understand, so he pointed to himself "Name Cal, CAL, name." He punctuated, tracing his finger on the name tag on his uniform. He then pointed to the alien across from him and said questioningly. "Name?"

The alien seemed to remember something, and then spoke again uncertainly, "Name… Sen Re-" It stopped suddenly, seeming to choke on the words before saying again weaker "Name Sen."

The alien, Sen, averted their gaze downward and seemed to sink into themself, sitting in silence once again. Cal realized that this alien, this person, had probably gone through just as much as he had. He knew he was supposed to feel anger, fear even. They were an invader, his enemy. But when he had this one sat in front of him, they seemed confused, scared even. Even though they posed a reasonable threat, being larger and stronger than him, he did not feel in danger.

Cal wanted to curse himself for humanizing a soldier of the Covenant, but how could he not? They were both lost and alone in this unfamiliar place, and what had to have happened for them to turn traitor on Earth of all places?

Cal recalled the memory of when he first saw Sen; sitting terrified in a pool of their own blood, weapon drawn and ready to fire. It then killed the Brute instead of him and threw its helmet off and stared straight at the gun in his hands. It then had dawned on him, that they were expecting him to shoot without question, and were asking, no, begging for a quick death.

He then thought about the groove in his helmet and the first words that Sen spoke when they saw the battle damage. 'Shot… sorry.' The pieces came together in his mind in an instant, Sen had been the sniper that shot him. When they saw his helmet, they expected just as little mercy in return.

And then another thought came over his mind. If the situation was different if he had not been being chased by a Brute, and Cal had found Sen bleeding on the ground any other time. He would not have hesitated in shooting.

Cal picked up his helmet, feeling the scorched groove across its armored surface again. He felt anger boiling inside, but not at the alien across from him. He felt anger towards this 'Covenant,' this shadowy bunch that sent countless religious zealots they deceived into trying to destroy his people. The mark on his helmet was not placed there by an individual, it was placed there by a lie that led billions to their deaths.

Cal set his helmet on the ground again, resting his hand on top. He spoke softly, "Sen?" he asked, drawing the alien's attention back towards him, "It's ok."

Sen responded with a confused stare, not seeming to understand. Cal gestured towards the dead Brute on the ground, "You shoot, kill. Save me, save Cal." He traced his finger on the damage on the helmet, saying one word with finality, "forgive."

He then reached his hand out towards Sen, palm up in the air in a beckoning gesture; he prayed that the physical motion would translate. He then spoke in a friendly, quiet tone. "Peace, friend."

Sen tentatively looked at his hand, before looking back at him. They reached out after a short pause tentatively, touching Cal's hand slowly before speaking in a quiet rasp.
"F-riend, Cal."