Disclaimer: I do not own, nor did I create the game/science fiction book
series, Halo. However, many characters and objects in the story may be from
or derived from Halo, which was created by Bungie Studios. All characters
in this story are fictitious, and all familiar names not related to the
Halo series are purely coincidental. Though this story is based on Halo, it
by no means shares the exact characters, story, or technology. I have taken
many opportunities to add in characters, create new weaponry, and have
added in a completely new scenario. (I know how you all love useless,
redundant disclaimers.)
"We must never forget our past, no matter how it haunts us, for our past
shapes our future"
Prologue: Innocence lost:
1415 hours, February 3, 2525 (Military Standard Time)/Orbital defense
system above Human colony Harvest.
"No objects monitored by scan. Area clear, perimeter secure." toned in the dull voice of the computer.
Ensign Rick Hallows moaned. "Of course there's nothing there," he yelled back at the computer, "there's never anything out there. Damn it!" He slammed his fists on his sensor consol. He hated this post.
Hallows had dreaded this assignment from the day it was assigned, and rightly so. He was on watch of Harvest's perimeter, a punishment for insubordination. On his duty ship he was removed and nearly discharged from the United Nations Space Command-- the UNSC--for overly aggressive behavior and insubordination. All he had was his status in the Navy, though even that was not much, so he was transferred rather than discharged. Of course he received the quietest station so he could not cause further disruptions.
Having nothing left to care about in his career he often left his station early, after al, Harvest, for its large size, had no problems with rebels or raiders. In his mind nothing could be lost if he left a few minutes early.
Casting his eyes about he insured no one was watching him as he got out of his chair, hid attitude calmed, "Nothing's gonna happen before my shift ends, won't even be fifty minutes now 'til it's over." He got up and walked out of the room, leaving the controls active as he turned the lights out.
Five minutes passed and his assumption seemed correct, as it always did. Then with no one left to hear the sound, the consol began to sound its monotonous alarm.
"Unidentified object approaching at sixty by forty by twenty degrees, recommend notification of defensive system," it toned in calmly, no one to hear its warning.
Within a minute the alarm blared again, this time the voice sounded serious, "warning: unidentified object accelerating, approaching protected area. Notify and activate defense platforms immediately." A moment passed, and the alarm blared louder, filling the isolated room. "Immediate action necessary, energy discharge detected, object nearing." The consol was not connected to anything other than sensors; only a Human could take action, now the only Human at watch had left.
"Sir," ensign Fellington called to his superior, "I've lost contact with the orbital platform, the last thing received by the local sensors was an energy surge. Its arrays may have over-heated. Readying last video feed from station. "
The Harvest Ground Defense, or the HGD, was in panic. They had just lost contact with the orbital array last line of orbital defense of the colony. Since no ships with defensive capabilities remained in the area, Harvest was nearly defenseless. Only the HGD stood to defend the planet.
A hush filled the dim grey room as the wide screen on the front wall lit up, showing the last feed from the defense platform.
The screen showed simple black with occasional interruptions of white, and Solitary the brown moon of Harvest, and also only satellite in the planetary system. A point of light winked into existence near the moon, then the space around it began to twist, then the distorted space went purple. Odd lights filled the screen, and then the space began to reform, bringing a purple object into the system.
Ensign Fellington gasped. "It looks like a slipspace transition, but... that's not possible. Nothing could perform such an accurate jump out of sub- space."
Admiral Allen turned to Fellington, "none of our ships, ensign. What we're looking at is may be of superior technology, if not a simple error in the sensor relays. Let's hope the latter holds true."
As the object came closer its shape became clear; it was a long, sleek, roughly round purple object, with glowing blue lines flaring at either side. It began to turn towards the camera's view, and then the lines across its sides grew in intensity, slowly turning white. It became certain the object was indeed a vessel of greater technology, as a massive pulsing ball of white flame streaked toward the camera. The screen went black shortly after, as the ball grew close.
"Damn, if that thing's hostile," the admiral whispered to himself, "then without the platform, we're the only ones who can save this planet." He spoke again, this time to the group around him, "all right people, we've got a hostile in the system, and we're all that's left to save three million lives. Get to your stations; we're going to blow that thing out of the sky if we have to empty our arsenal to do it."
Uiniu glared sadly at his consol. He had been called to man the plasma turrets, a safe position, but also a position to end countless lives. He had never wanted such a thing; as a Grunt he did not share the other Covenant ranks' lust for pain.
Grunts were the smallest of the Covenant military races, standing just more than a meter and a half and they were considered to be the least intelligent of the races. Therefore the Grunts were always deemed utterly inferior, expendable. The Grunts came from a frozen world with an atmosphere mainly of methane gas. Since the Covenant still did need the Grunt's to live to server the Covenant, all Grunts were equipped with a suit and breather to give them a comfortable and livable atmosphere.
He, as the rest of his species and many others, was conquered and brought into the Covenant, a collection of alien races, all captured and controlled by the Prophets, an intellectual race preoccupied with power and the technology of the "Forerunners", an long dead alien race which once spanned across the galaxy. The Prophets saw them selves as the instruments of the Gods, infallible and near immortal. They saw them selves as deities, but to Uiniu the Prophets seemed to be arrogant, tyrannical, hypocritical, and even genocidal.
The prophets had ordered the destruction of this race-- these 'Humans' -- simply for colonizing-- 'stealing' in the Prophet's eyes --planets with Forerunner technology. For simply wanting a place to live, simple ignorance of these Forerunners somehow gave the Prophets adequate reason to wish for the extinction for the Humans, even though the prophets had been stealing Forerunner technology for decades.
"Target destroyed," Uiniu stated, struggling to cover the remorse in his voice, "Excellency. I request my next target." He choked on the words, his voice quivering.
The tall creature behind him turned and stared at him. It was an Elite. Elites were powerful, intelligent reptilian creatures, standing nearly a meter taller than a grunt. Their scaly skin was often protected by a thick armor with a full body energy shield projector.
Though their appearance was often fearsome they held high rank in the Covenant by their intelligence and the favor of the Prophets. The prophets held them in high regard, as the Elites had freely conformed to the Prophets religion and saw them as a holy race, exactly what the Prophets wanted from every race. In turn the Elites became the main muscle behind the Covenant.
The Elite called to him, "The ground forces will be moving in soon, I want you to join them in the assault. Head to the Gravity lift immediately, I want you on the ground in the first drop zone. "
Uiniu dreaded working on the ground--he couldn't stand the Hell of a battle field--but he wouldn't dare questioning the order, the Elite was the Ship Master, and could have Uiniu killed on a whim.
Uiniu glanced around the deep slivery-purple room, glancing about, looking for any Grunts he recognized. He wandered headlong into a group of Grunts as his eyes fixed onto a form he recognized.
Harah's eyes locked with his and sadness covered her face once she recognized his face. She knew how much he hated to fight, and it was obvious he was here to be sent down to the planet. She stood silently as she looked at him with a forlorn expression.
Elite began ordering the Grunts to move to the pad as she began recalling her days in training with him. She and the others hastily walked onto the pad and braced themselves for the unsettling feeling of the gravity lift.
The floor beneath then opened up and a large purple beam enveloped them. The purple beam of the gravity lift altered the forces of gravity, allowing a group of soldiers to be moved to and from the ground safely from great vertical distances.
Uiniu closed his eyes as he felt his body slowly descend towards the planet. He always hated the gravity lift, it was the purple demon that ripped him from the safety of the ship and dropped him into the chaos of his ground training. Now the demon was taking him into something much more dangerous, dropping him onto a battlefield on a doomed planet.
The second his feet felt solid matter he opened his eyes and quickly shuffled tough the crowd, desperately hurrying to leave the area of the lift. He looked back as the last group of troops ambled into the beam. He silently watched as the half dozen Elites gently glided down to the ground.
Suddenly the beam and the passengers seemed to stutter, then the graceful purple faded away, leaving the Elites to fight the forces of gravity themselves. They stood no chance. They plunged to the ground, screaming horribly. Tears formed in Uiniu's eyes as he looked down, horror filled him as he witnessed his greatest fear. He had never liked the Elites- - in fact he had always hated them—but this was too horrible to wish upon anyone.
The sound of the impact filled Uiniu's ears, and he choked on his own breath as he tried to let out a sob. He turned away and opened his eyes.
Despite the horrible feelings Uiniu was now filled with, not one of the other Covenant soldiers seemed to express any kind of reaction to the accident. The thought passed his mind that he was the only Covenant soldier with any emotions left aside from hate. The thought soon passed as the group was ordered to move. He was left uncomforted as he walked to the group's camp site.
"Let's go Marines, get your asses in gear. We've got green-blooded sons- of-bitches from space raining from the skies. Don't forget to give 'em a nice, warm welcome." Sergeant Franklin prepared his troops abnormally calmly, as if the six alien cruisers in orbit were just another training exercise.
The massive purple "eggs" add been hovering over the planet for an hour, it seemed that whatever they intended to do they were going to take their time with it. Thinking the ships would land on the surface soon the Marines had set up make-shift mine fields beneath them.
The mines had to be destroyed by remote, they couldn't just sit back and wait for the ships to be obliterated, they had to be out on the field to give the go by sight. They hoped it wouldn't have to come to close combat, but incase it was to be they brought in a legion of Harvest finest Marines, ten Matrix multi-missile turrets, and six Scorpion heavy tanks to provide a fine fireworks display to greet their guests.
It was Hell on the battlefield. It had been an hour since the drop, then half the squad suddenly burst into flames-- some Human trap, no doubt-- and now half a dozen green beasts and countless Humans began pouring over the hill, sending a hail of explosives towards them. The once calm and green plain was now littered with fire and scorched earth.
Uiniu had always been told that the humans were primitive, that their weapons were mere projectiles, no match for the plasma weapons from the Forerunners. No one ever told him anything about their explosives. From explosive shells tearing holes though the Covenant advance their numbers had fallen from eight thousand strong to little more than three thousand.
Plasma and projectiles streaked across the plain, burning into Uiniu's eyes and ringing in his ears. The number of humans on the battle field had finally started to dwindle, but not without taking many Covenant down with them.
Uiniu was frozen stiff, he watched silently as he saw Elites over take the last of the Human tanks, then as a single grenade landed amongst them and sent them flying. Without the tanks the Humans were finally outgunned, but that didn't stop them from fighting so forcefully. He had never seen such a tremendous act of courage. The Covenant fought for fear and obedience, but for these Humans, it seemed a will to live was all they needed to keep fighting, even when totally outmatched. A tear formed in Uiniu's eye as he wondered what the Covenant could possibly hope to achieve from slaughtering them. In one battle they had shown more noble a sprit than any of the Covenant had ever in all Uiniu's life.
He had to get away; he couldn't stand to watch any more death.
Parupar found the cave, so he got to hide in the deepest spot. Uiniu looked around the small, brown opening in the ground; tiny stalactites loomed overhead, tiny white crystals littered the floor and sprouted from the walls. The cave wasn't all that deep, but it would hold the six grunts adequately. Parupar, Uiniu, Harah, Lurul, Juluj, and Larhlar had all ran from the battle and decided to hide until it was over. IT would have been so easy too, if an Elite hadn't spotted them.
"Is she gone yet," Lurul whispered, "I'm tired of sitting around, waiting." Her voice rose, "Let's take her down!" She cringed, startled, forgetting the tone of her voice.
She poked her head out the opening to check for the Elite. Uiniu slowly followed, just close enough to feel the heat as a flash of blue plasma struck her face. Hate rushed over Uiniu as he saw her fall. He ripped a plasma grenade off his belt as he hopped from his cover. His eyes narrowed as he spotted a red armored Elite in front of him, plasma rifle still faintly glowing blue. His teeth clenched as he tossed the grenade at the Elite, quickly drawing his plasma pistol as the Elite raised his weapon. Time seemed to flow slowly then, the three second fuse on the grenade seemed to linger forever, just long enough to allow Uiniu to lob a burning blast of plasma at the Elite, just long enough to allow the Elite to return the favor.
A burst of super-hot matter and the red beast disappeared. Uiniu turned, he noticed the battlefield seemed unnaturally calm.
He was struck silent by the sight. Thousands of bodies lay before him, not one moving. Flaming husks of tanks, plasma scored bodies and decimated Covenant ranks. The once green, peaceful plain was scorched, filled with fire and bodies.
Is this the price of their war, Uiniu pondered, just because of some Damn artifacts, this was justified? Just for artifacts they justify genocide?
Uiniu screamed a soul shattering scream, tears flooded his vision. The others walked up to him, eyes wide with fear. He turned to face them, and they fell deathly silent. They walked back over to the gravity life.
The battle was over, and Uiniu felt worse than he ever had, even without killing a single Human he felt as if he had just witnessed the death their entire species.
They stood in the cargo bay for an hour before Uiniu was called to the control room. He slowly walked back, letting sadness slowly give way to hate. By the time he walked into the immense, faintly lit Control Room he was ready to lunge for the Ship Master.
Uiniu managed to hold control as the Elite turned to him, "it is the decree of the Prophets that this world is to be destroyed. You are the gunner aboard this vessel, so you must fulfill this order. Man your station."
The Prophets, Uiniu realized, it was them all along. Those... bastards! Uiniu's eye's and mind welled with rage.
He turned away and walked to his post. It wasn't the Elites fault for this slaughter, it was the Prophets. He couldn't do anything to them now, he would have to wait if he was to bring them justice. He only hoped he had a chance to fight back against them before the Humans had fallen. He suspected he would need their help as well.
Uiniu activated the firing sequence and did his best to stay stoic.
White, burning balls of plasma arched from the turrets on the ship, streaking towards the planet. The balls struck and vaporized the ground beneath them, and then the ground slowly condensed. After hundreds of plasma balls hit the planet the whole surface, every last plant, and every animal boiled away and reformed slowly, forming a single glowing sheet of molten glass across the planet. Uiniu watched the horrid sight, knowing no living creature could have survived.
Harvest was dead.
Uiniu's eyes were ablaze as he walked into the cargo bay. Standing in a circle were Parupar, Harah, Larlar, Juluj, and one Grunt Uiniu didn't recognize. They turned to Uiniu.
Uiniu's hate bubbled over, "they'll pay. I'll bring them justice if I have to kill them all myself." They knew who he was referring to.
"We must never forget our past, no matter how it haunts us, for our past
shapes our future"
Prologue: Innocence lost:
1415 hours, February 3, 2525 (Military Standard Time)/Orbital defense
system above Human colony Harvest.
"No objects monitored by scan. Area clear, perimeter secure." toned in the dull voice of the computer.
Ensign Rick Hallows moaned. "Of course there's nothing there," he yelled back at the computer, "there's never anything out there. Damn it!" He slammed his fists on his sensor consol. He hated this post.
Hallows had dreaded this assignment from the day it was assigned, and rightly so. He was on watch of Harvest's perimeter, a punishment for insubordination. On his duty ship he was removed and nearly discharged from the United Nations Space Command-- the UNSC--for overly aggressive behavior and insubordination. All he had was his status in the Navy, though even that was not much, so he was transferred rather than discharged. Of course he received the quietest station so he could not cause further disruptions.
Having nothing left to care about in his career he often left his station early, after al, Harvest, for its large size, had no problems with rebels or raiders. In his mind nothing could be lost if he left a few minutes early.
Casting his eyes about he insured no one was watching him as he got out of his chair, hid attitude calmed, "Nothing's gonna happen before my shift ends, won't even be fifty minutes now 'til it's over." He got up and walked out of the room, leaving the controls active as he turned the lights out.
Five minutes passed and his assumption seemed correct, as it always did. Then with no one left to hear the sound, the consol began to sound its monotonous alarm.
"Unidentified object approaching at sixty by forty by twenty degrees, recommend notification of defensive system," it toned in calmly, no one to hear its warning.
Within a minute the alarm blared again, this time the voice sounded serious, "warning: unidentified object accelerating, approaching protected area. Notify and activate defense platforms immediately." A moment passed, and the alarm blared louder, filling the isolated room. "Immediate action necessary, energy discharge detected, object nearing." The consol was not connected to anything other than sensors; only a Human could take action, now the only Human at watch had left.
"Sir," ensign Fellington called to his superior, "I've lost contact with the orbital platform, the last thing received by the local sensors was an energy surge. Its arrays may have over-heated. Readying last video feed from station. "
The Harvest Ground Defense, or the HGD, was in panic. They had just lost contact with the orbital array last line of orbital defense of the colony. Since no ships with defensive capabilities remained in the area, Harvest was nearly defenseless. Only the HGD stood to defend the planet.
A hush filled the dim grey room as the wide screen on the front wall lit up, showing the last feed from the defense platform.
The screen showed simple black with occasional interruptions of white, and Solitary the brown moon of Harvest, and also only satellite in the planetary system. A point of light winked into existence near the moon, then the space around it began to twist, then the distorted space went purple. Odd lights filled the screen, and then the space began to reform, bringing a purple object into the system.
Ensign Fellington gasped. "It looks like a slipspace transition, but... that's not possible. Nothing could perform such an accurate jump out of sub- space."
Admiral Allen turned to Fellington, "none of our ships, ensign. What we're looking at is may be of superior technology, if not a simple error in the sensor relays. Let's hope the latter holds true."
As the object came closer its shape became clear; it was a long, sleek, roughly round purple object, with glowing blue lines flaring at either side. It began to turn towards the camera's view, and then the lines across its sides grew in intensity, slowly turning white. It became certain the object was indeed a vessel of greater technology, as a massive pulsing ball of white flame streaked toward the camera. The screen went black shortly after, as the ball grew close.
"Damn, if that thing's hostile," the admiral whispered to himself, "then without the platform, we're the only ones who can save this planet." He spoke again, this time to the group around him, "all right people, we've got a hostile in the system, and we're all that's left to save three million lives. Get to your stations; we're going to blow that thing out of the sky if we have to empty our arsenal to do it."
Uiniu glared sadly at his consol. He had been called to man the plasma turrets, a safe position, but also a position to end countless lives. He had never wanted such a thing; as a Grunt he did not share the other Covenant ranks' lust for pain.
Grunts were the smallest of the Covenant military races, standing just more than a meter and a half and they were considered to be the least intelligent of the races. Therefore the Grunts were always deemed utterly inferior, expendable. The Grunts came from a frozen world with an atmosphere mainly of methane gas. Since the Covenant still did need the Grunt's to live to server the Covenant, all Grunts were equipped with a suit and breather to give them a comfortable and livable atmosphere.
He, as the rest of his species and many others, was conquered and brought into the Covenant, a collection of alien races, all captured and controlled by the Prophets, an intellectual race preoccupied with power and the technology of the "Forerunners", an long dead alien race which once spanned across the galaxy. The Prophets saw them selves as the instruments of the Gods, infallible and near immortal. They saw them selves as deities, but to Uiniu the Prophets seemed to be arrogant, tyrannical, hypocritical, and even genocidal.
The prophets had ordered the destruction of this race-- these 'Humans' -- simply for colonizing-- 'stealing' in the Prophet's eyes --planets with Forerunner technology. For simply wanting a place to live, simple ignorance of these Forerunners somehow gave the Prophets adequate reason to wish for the extinction for the Humans, even though the prophets had been stealing Forerunner technology for decades.
"Target destroyed," Uiniu stated, struggling to cover the remorse in his voice, "Excellency. I request my next target." He choked on the words, his voice quivering.
The tall creature behind him turned and stared at him. It was an Elite. Elites were powerful, intelligent reptilian creatures, standing nearly a meter taller than a grunt. Their scaly skin was often protected by a thick armor with a full body energy shield projector.
Though their appearance was often fearsome they held high rank in the Covenant by their intelligence and the favor of the Prophets. The prophets held them in high regard, as the Elites had freely conformed to the Prophets religion and saw them as a holy race, exactly what the Prophets wanted from every race. In turn the Elites became the main muscle behind the Covenant.
The Elite called to him, "The ground forces will be moving in soon, I want you to join them in the assault. Head to the Gravity lift immediately, I want you on the ground in the first drop zone. "
Uiniu dreaded working on the ground--he couldn't stand the Hell of a battle field--but he wouldn't dare questioning the order, the Elite was the Ship Master, and could have Uiniu killed on a whim.
Uiniu glanced around the deep slivery-purple room, glancing about, looking for any Grunts he recognized. He wandered headlong into a group of Grunts as his eyes fixed onto a form he recognized.
Harah's eyes locked with his and sadness covered her face once she recognized his face. She knew how much he hated to fight, and it was obvious he was here to be sent down to the planet. She stood silently as she looked at him with a forlorn expression.
Elite began ordering the Grunts to move to the pad as she began recalling her days in training with him. She and the others hastily walked onto the pad and braced themselves for the unsettling feeling of the gravity lift.
The floor beneath then opened up and a large purple beam enveloped them. The purple beam of the gravity lift altered the forces of gravity, allowing a group of soldiers to be moved to and from the ground safely from great vertical distances.
Uiniu closed his eyes as he felt his body slowly descend towards the planet. He always hated the gravity lift, it was the purple demon that ripped him from the safety of the ship and dropped him into the chaos of his ground training. Now the demon was taking him into something much more dangerous, dropping him onto a battlefield on a doomed planet.
The second his feet felt solid matter he opened his eyes and quickly shuffled tough the crowd, desperately hurrying to leave the area of the lift. He looked back as the last group of troops ambled into the beam. He silently watched as the half dozen Elites gently glided down to the ground.
Suddenly the beam and the passengers seemed to stutter, then the graceful purple faded away, leaving the Elites to fight the forces of gravity themselves. They stood no chance. They plunged to the ground, screaming horribly. Tears formed in Uiniu's eyes as he looked down, horror filled him as he witnessed his greatest fear. He had never liked the Elites- - in fact he had always hated them—but this was too horrible to wish upon anyone.
The sound of the impact filled Uiniu's ears, and he choked on his own breath as he tried to let out a sob. He turned away and opened his eyes.
Despite the horrible feelings Uiniu was now filled with, not one of the other Covenant soldiers seemed to express any kind of reaction to the accident. The thought passed his mind that he was the only Covenant soldier with any emotions left aside from hate. The thought soon passed as the group was ordered to move. He was left uncomforted as he walked to the group's camp site.
"Let's go Marines, get your asses in gear. We've got green-blooded sons- of-bitches from space raining from the skies. Don't forget to give 'em a nice, warm welcome." Sergeant Franklin prepared his troops abnormally calmly, as if the six alien cruisers in orbit were just another training exercise.
The massive purple "eggs" add been hovering over the planet for an hour, it seemed that whatever they intended to do they were going to take their time with it. Thinking the ships would land on the surface soon the Marines had set up make-shift mine fields beneath them.
The mines had to be destroyed by remote, they couldn't just sit back and wait for the ships to be obliterated, they had to be out on the field to give the go by sight. They hoped it wouldn't have to come to close combat, but incase it was to be they brought in a legion of Harvest finest Marines, ten Matrix multi-missile turrets, and six Scorpion heavy tanks to provide a fine fireworks display to greet their guests.
It was Hell on the battlefield. It had been an hour since the drop, then half the squad suddenly burst into flames-- some Human trap, no doubt-- and now half a dozen green beasts and countless Humans began pouring over the hill, sending a hail of explosives towards them. The once calm and green plain was now littered with fire and scorched earth.
Uiniu had always been told that the humans were primitive, that their weapons were mere projectiles, no match for the plasma weapons from the Forerunners. No one ever told him anything about their explosives. From explosive shells tearing holes though the Covenant advance their numbers had fallen from eight thousand strong to little more than three thousand.
Plasma and projectiles streaked across the plain, burning into Uiniu's eyes and ringing in his ears. The number of humans on the battle field had finally started to dwindle, but not without taking many Covenant down with them.
Uiniu was frozen stiff, he watched silently as he saw Elites over take the last of the Human tanks, then as a single grenade landed amongst them and sent them flying. Without the tanks the Humans were finally outgunned, but that didn't stop them from fighting so forcefully. He had never seen such a tremendous act of courage. The Covenant fought for fear and obedience, but for these Humans, it seemed a will to live was all they needed to keep fighting, even when totally outmatched. A tear formed in Uiniu's eye as he wondered what the Covenant could possibly hope to achieve from slaughtering them. In one battle they had shown more noble a sprit than any of the Covenant had ever in all Uiniu's life.
He had to get away; he couldn't stand to watch any more death.
Parupar found the cave, so he got to hide in the deepest spot. Uiniu looked around the small, brown opening in the ground; tiny stalactites loomed overhead, tiny white crystals littered the floor and sprouted from the walls. The cave wasn't all that deep, but it would hold the six grunts adequately. Parupar, Uiniu, Harah, Lurul, Juluj, and Larhlar had all ran from the battle and decided to hide until it was over. IT would have been so easy too, if an Elite hadn't spotted them.
"Is she gone yet," Lurul whispered, "I'm tired of sitting around, waiting." Her voice rose, "Let's take her down!" She cringed, startled, forgetting the tone of her voice.
She poked her head out the opening to check for the Elite. Uiniu slowly followed, just close enough to feel the heat as a flash of blue plasma struck her face. Hate rushed over Uiniu as he saw her fall. He ripped a plasma grenade off his belt as he hopped from his cover. His eyes narrowed as he spotted a red armored Elite in front of him, plasma rifle still faintly glowing blue. His teeth clenched as he tossed the grenade at the Elite, quickly drawing his plasma pistol as the Elite raised his weapon. Time seemed to flow slowly then, the three second fuse on the grenade seemed to linger forever, just long enough to allow Uiniu to lob a burning blast of plasma at the Elite, just long enough to allow the Elite to return the favor.
A burst of super-hot matter and the red beast disappeared. Uiniu turned, he noticed the battlefield seemed unnaturally calm.
He was struck silent by the sight. Thousands of bodies lay before him, not one moving. Flaming husks of tanks, plasma scored bodies and decimated Covenant ranks. The once green, peaceful plain was scorched, filled with fire and bodies.
Is this the price of their war, Uiniu pondered, just because of some Damn artifacts, this was justified? Just for artifacts they justify genocide?
Uiniu screamed a soul shattering scream, tears flooded his vision. The others walked up to him, eyes wide with fear. He turned to face them, and they fell deathly silent. They walked back over to the gravity life.
The battle was over, and Uiniu felt worse than he ever had, even without killing a single Human he felt as if he had just witnessed the death their entire species.
They stood in the cargo bay for an hour before Uiniu was called to the control room. He slowly walked back, letting sadness slowly give way to hate. By the time he walked into the immense, faintly lit Control Room he was ready to lunge for the Ship Master.
Uiniu managed to hold control as the Elite turned to him, "it is the decree of the Prophets that this world is to be destroyed. You are the gunner aboard this vessel, so you must fulfill this order. Man your station."
The Prophets, Uiniu realized, it was them all along. Those... bastards! Uiniu's eye's and mind welled with rage.
He turned away and walked to his post. It wasn't the Elites fault for this slaughter, it was the Prophets. He couldn't do anything to them now, he would have to wait if he was to bring them justice. He only hoped he had a chance to fight back against them before the Humans had fallen. He suspected he would need their help as well.
Uiniu activated the firing sequence and did his best to stay stoic.
White, burning balls of plasma arched from the turrets on the ship, streaking towards the planet. The balls struck and vaporized the ground beneath them, and then the ground slowly condensed. After hundreds of plasma balls hit the planet the whole surface, every last plant, and every animal boiled away and reformed slowly, forming a single glowing sheet of molten glass across the planet. Uiniu watched the horrid sight, knowing no living creature could have survived.
Harvest was dead.
Uiniu's eyes were ablaze as he walked into the cargo bay. Standing in a circle were Parupar, Harah, Larlar, Juluj, and one Grunt Uiniu didn't recognize. They turned to Uiniu.
Uiniu's hate bubbled over, "they'll pay. I'll bring them justice if I have to kill them all myself." They knew who he was referring to.