Author's Note: Ok, scratch my Author's Note for Chapter 3: I WILL show a Xenomorph in High Charity; Master and Chief inspired me to write it so. So, without further ado, here is CHAPTER IV (dum dum dum!)

Chapter IV:

Searching and Pondering

The Arbiter dismounted the Phantom and activated his Energy Sword; knowing full well what this weapon could to the Flood, he sprinted towards High Charity's large doors. Recognising the platform he was on as the same platform where Tartarus had branded him with the Mark of Shame, the worst punishment a warrior could receive.

"You've drawn quite a crowd" Tartarus mocked as the Arbiter, then known as Ingau' Fosolnee, leader of the grand Covenant Armada.

"If they came to hear me beg, they will be disappointed" the Arbiter replied tersely, knowing full well what was about to happen; he had seen this ceremony many times before.

"Are you sure?" Tartarus asked mockingly as the torture rings activated. A burning pain shot through the Arbiter's arms, and into his body; he opened his mandibles and screamed.

After his once-pristine gold armor had been reduced to a smouldering pile of ash, Tartarus brought out the seal that contained the Mark of Shame. He heated the tip, and when he was satisfied that it was hot enough to leave a mark, he applied it to the Arbiter's chest.

It was not so much the pain than the humiliation that the Arbiter screamed from. He reared back and let out a long, pained roar.

The Arbiter twitched his lower mandibles at the memory; no time for old memories now. According to data picked up from the Phantom, the Construct's data chip was inside the council chambers, not too far from this platform. All the Arbiter had to do was fight through the Flood and retrieve this disk. Simple enough.

Until the Arbiter charged through the doors and rounded the corner. Hordes and hordes of Flood Combat forms rushed forward to attack the Arbiter; the Arbiter stopped for only a moment, in awe of all of the Flood here, and charged into the fray. Priming a Plasma Grenade from his belt, he quickly stuck the device to a combat form in the rear of the group. The grenade exploded, taking down about a sixth of the entire group. More and more Combat forms joined the fray, sacrificing themselves for more of their brethren to join the melee.

The Arbiter was dismayed as his Energy Sword suddenly went limp in his arms; it was out of energy. Clipping the weapon back onto his belt, the Arbiter drew hid backup weapon; a human Shotgun. He had aquired it from a Jiralhanae stronghold on Delta Halo; he had found it surprisingly effective against Sanghelli combat forms.

And it proved itself very effective. Using two human "frag" grenades also found in the stronghold, the Arbiter eventually stood victorious, covered in Flood goop, in the midst of many dead Combat forms. Inserting a new energy crystal into his Energy sword and reloading his human shotgun, the Arbiter rushed into the Council Chambers, and was dismayed at what he saw.

He recognized the creature that now resided in the main Council Chamber; it was a massive Flood brain form. It had taken the body of the Prophet of Regret, the Oracle of this Halo, and the human Demon hostage; it had used both the Arbiter and the Demon to prevent Tartarus from activating the ring. The Arbiter had no idea where the creature had sent the Demon; he had sent the Arbiter to stop Tartarus.

And a small holopanel glowed; a blue human construct glowed.

"Silence fills the empty grave, now that they are gone. But questions linger on, unanswered. Now I will talk, and you will answer" it said, drawing it's tentacles closer to the construct. It raised a semitransparent hand and said;

"Ok. Shoot".

The Arbiter couldn't help but become intruiged at this new turn of events. Just as the creature began to speak, alarms began to blare throughout High Charity.

"Fools! The Holy Warriors shall smite your very exsitance! Heretics! Die!" came the voice of the AI of High Charity; Noblilty and Truth, as it was known by the Sanghelli.

The Arbiter was puzzled; the Holy Warriors were nothing more but myth and speculation. They didn't exist; they had disappeared with the Forerunners. Or had they? Maybe the Prophets had found them units ago, and had hidden them from the normal Covenant Soldiers.

Recalling everything he could about the Holy Warriors, the Arbiter concentrated, hidden in his dark corner;

The Arbiter, a young Sanghelli at the time, sat at his holo-seat. An older Sanghelli councelor stood in front of him, lecturing his fellow Sanghelli on the writings of the Forerunners.

"And on this, we have evidence of what we know as the 'Holy Warriors'. They were supposedly unstoppable; even more powerful than the mighty Lekgolo" he said, with a snort of distain.

"Their offspring were contained in the Holy birth givers, for no better word now, and if you were worthy, they would pick you to give birth to their offspring. The divinity of these offspring, however, was so great that the parent perished giving birth. Once fully matured, the Holy Warriors were pure black, to show their divinity. Their mere glares alone were enough to make the strongest enemies of our lords quake in fear. They contained the spiteful essence of the gods, which would destroy anything that was able to harm them" the Elite Councilor began, before the tone sounded for break.

At the time, the Arbiter had dismissed the lecture as mere religious fanaticism. Now, however, he was not so convinced. A loud hissing noise emanated from deep within High Charity. The Arbiter had had enough; he activated his Active Camouflage and rushed forwards, snatching up the data chip from the pedestal it rested on.

The Flood creature had obviously realized what had happened, and growled in anger. It flung it's tentacles at the Arbiter, who had now recently de-cloaked, but howled in agony when the Arbiter severed them.

Quickly sprinting away, the Arbiter was halfway outside to the platform when something large and black dropped out of the shadows and landed in front of him.

It was about the size of the Arbiter, with a huge, almost insectoid head. A long tail that ended in a spear tip projected out of the creature's back. It was entirely jet-black, and glinted in the semidarkness of High Charity.

The thing's jaws opened to reveal a massive set of teeth that dripped slime all over the floor; it hissed at the Arbiter, who glared back at it.

By the gods! One of the Holy Warriors!

The Arbiter could tell, that just like the Flood, this creature was ruthless and uncontrollable; it would kill anything besides it's brethren that stood in it's way. Glancing at the killer claws, long tail, and pointy teeth, the Arbiter knew it was suicide to dance with this thing at close range. He unsheathed the human shotgun and fired round after round at the creature. The Holy Warrior exploded; green blood and limbs flew everywhere as it exploded.

And to the Arbiter's dismay, some of the holy essence of the fallen warrior splashed onto his armor! It burned a hole through his shields and began to eat away at his armor!

Molecular acid…like the kind we used in our prototype weapons…

The Arbiter cursed in his native Sanghelli tounge and pulled off the small chunk of his armor. It disintegrated in his arms; giving the sizzling pool of acid a wide berth, the Arbiter sprinted outside to the platform, scanning the skies for the Phantom…

And found it missing. The Arbiter paused; shocked, he looked again; surely, the Phantom had just camouflaged itself or was hiding below the platform; he hadn't taken that long, had he?

A loud screech distracted the Arbiter. Turning, he was horrified as legions of Holy Warriors tumbled out of High Charity's doors; even more climbed up the side of the platform and down the walls, scaling it like human flies.

The Arbiter felt his arms go slack. There was no way he could defeat this many warriors; he was wounded and missing a piece of his armor just from fighting one creature! The shotgun had three shells left, and the Plasma Sword was absolutely no use in close; the acid from the warriors would surely kill him then!

Retreating and throwing his last two grenades into the slowly advancing column of hissing, obsidian black forms of the warriors, the Arbiter drew his Energy Sword. If he was going to die, he would die with honor!

"Don't be stupid; you need to live, Arbiter!" came a voice from inside of his armor. It was the human construct; somehow, it was communicating with his helmet's tranciever unit.

"The Phantom is gone. We will both perish here. And if I am to perish now, I will do it with honor and distinction, like the Arbiters of the past have done!" the Arbiter growled, crouching into a battle stance. Honor demanded it.

"Don't be an idiot! I can activate this gravity lift you're standing on; we can escape to the lower levels and you can find and pilot a Seraph fighter to the Pious Inquisitioner, correct, Arbiter?" the construct asked. And before the Arbiter could respond, the hole in the floor opened up beneath him, and the Arbiter was sucked down into the lift.

The lift instantly sealed itself as soon as the Arbiter was clear; this still did not stop the Holy Warriors. They crawled down the sides of the platform and followed the Arbiter down; as soon as the Arbiter felt himself hit the bottom of the lift, he sprinted towards the exit.

The screeching of the Holy Warriors resounded in the Arbiter's ears as he descended down yet another gravity lift. He was nearing the Mausoleum of the Arbiter; the place where he was united with his new armor and bestowed the title of Arbiter.

It was trashed. Sanghelli, Lekgolo, Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, Unggoy, and Flood bodies littered the ground. The Arbiter shook his head at the destruction as he ran; the Holy Warriors were extremely fast, and were making up ground quickly.

As the Arbiter ran through a thick set of doors guarding the final gravity lift that lead to High Charity's docking bays, the doors sealed themselves behind him.

"That should slow them down…somewhat" the construct said. The Arbiter kept going; leaping into the gravity lift, he fired two of his last shots of his shotgun down the hole. He was rewarded by an alien screech of pain; it seemed impossible, but the Holy Warriors were STILL following him! No matter what kind of evasive maneuvers or tricks the Arbiter preformed, they still persisted. He had to hand it to them; they were resourceful!

The Arbiter stepped into the ship bay; the Phantoms were all missing, but two Seraphs were still left. One looked like it had sustained heavy battle damage; it looked like it was falling apart at the seams. The other looked just fine.

The Arbiter boarded the second Seraph and hit the ignition switch. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. Sticking his head into the engine compartment, the Arbiter was dismayed at the damage done to the internal components of this Seraph; it was destroyed beyond repair.

Hoping the second one could at least fly, the Arbiter ran inside the ramshackle Seraph and hit the ignition switch. Relieved at the fact that the engines hummed to life beneath him, the Arbiter was about to shut the access hatch when a pair of black, obsidian fingers wedged their way in. They slowly began to pry open the door, revealing a dark, obsidian head. It hissed, and to the Arbiter's horror, he could see a second set of jaws hidden behind the first!

What are these things? How could our lords have created them? Or did they even create them?

Struck by an idea, the Arbiter unsheathed his shotgun. Sticking the muzzle into the second set of jaws, he fired the last round of his shotgun. The creature's head exploded just as the Arbiter slammed the hatch shut. The acid, no matter how potent, could not breach the heavy shielding of the Seraph.

Seating himself inside the cockpit of the tiny ship, the Arbiter guided the tiny craft away from High Charity, where he saw a Phantom desperately circling outside.

"Arbiter? Is that you? We thought you had perished; the Flood drove us off with their Banshees" came the voice of the Sanghelli Pilot.

"It is no matter. I have recovered the human construct, and have important news I must share with you all. Please, let us proceed to the Pious Inquisitioner"

The Seraph and Phantom roared into the hangar bays of the small cruiser just as it was recalling all of it's patrols.

"If you had taken much longer, Arbiter, we would have left without you" came the voice of Portumee Zanagzee. The Arbiter chuckled; a low, guttural laugh. The Seraph's engine gave out just as the force field securing the hangar winked closed; Unggoy scattered and ran as the mortally wounded Seraph crashed to the ground in a heap. The Phantom was anchored to a support dock; the humans and Sanghelli inside hopped out of the gravity lift. Behind them, the four human drop ships were neatly parked in rows; the humans and Unggoy were helping to unload the weapons aboard them.

Keyes and Johnson approached the Arbiter.

"You got her. Please, give her here" Keyes said, extending her hand. The Arbiter reached into his armor pocked and extracted the tiny data chip. Keyes pocketed it.

"Nice work, Arbiter. Thank you" she said.

"Hah. I could have made it faster!" Johnson ribbed. The Arbiter's mandibles parted in what would pass for a human smile, and they approached the bridge, humans and surviving Covenant in tow. It was imperative that they were properly informed of this new threat before proceeding; who knows where the Prophets had found the Holy Warriors?

Ch 5 coming soon…as soon as I…am not so swamped…with homework! ARGH!