Chapter 1

'Allies anyone?'

Delta Halo

Ninth Age of Reclamation

As his plasma sword entered Tartarus's chest, the Arbiter felt satisfaction and revenge flood through his veins. The brute truly had paid for his treachery against the Sangheili. As cheers erupted from his fellow Elites, the Arbiter took a moment to reflect on the situation. 'This would be the 1st of many Sangheili victories' he thought. The Jiralhanae would surely pay for the blood they have spilt. The brute fell to the ground, blood spewed forth from the wound and life left his eyes. For Tartarus, the great journey was over.

Ten minutes later as the Arbiter looked around his phantom, he mused at the fact that the 2 humans travelled with him. These people once were his sworn enemies. But after seeing the courage and honour these humans fought with, he silently vowed never to bring harm to one again. The Arbiter had noticed the similarities between the humans and his Sangheili's. They fought with honour, courage and loyalty, they were willing to die for a cause, and they were ruthless. The Arbiter watched as the humans whispered to each other. They were obviously puzzled by the change of events as well as the fact that they were currently on board a covenant dropship full of Elites.

'So, you mind telling us where were goin?' asked the male human.

'Patience human,' replied the Arbiter calmly. 'We are going to the Elite headquarters.'

'And where might that be?'

'Aboard the Merciful Shadow.'

The merciful shadow was a covenant flagship, one of the few survivors from the battle above high charity against the traitorous Brutes. As the prophets declared the war, fighting had broken out inside the ships. The elites had captured a bit less then half of the ships but survived as the Prophets fleet entered slipspace to attack earth. The Sangheili fleet had then mopped up the survivors and elected a flagship, the Merciful Shadow, to control the actions of the fleet.

As the arbiter looked out the viewports of the Phantom, he could see the flagship slowly growing closer, soon covering the entire viewport. They passed the security checks and proceeded to dock. The Arbiter departed first to loud cheers from the Sangheili and Unggoy crowded into the large docking bay. Even a few Lekgolo pairs had come to see their new leader return, standing at the back of the crowd yet clearly able to see the Arbiter over the mass of troops. The cheering stopped as quickly as it had begun as Sergeant Johnson and Captain Miranda Keyes emerged from the dropship. An awkward silence filled the large docking bay from corner to corner as hundreds of pairs of eyes suspiciously watched the pair trail the Arbiter. The moment the trio had left the bay, chatter broke out among the Unggoy, curious as to why the enemy was on board their own flagship. The chatter slowly died down as the Sangheili ordered the Unggoy back to work and the docking bay slowly returned to its normal procedure.

The Arbiter strolled down the passageways of his new flagship, the two humans behind him almost jogging to keep up with his long strides. As he passed a large window he slowed and peered out of it, making sure everything was going to plan. This window looked out into a large bay where a smaller ship was parked, a hundred or so engineers working on the gaping holes and plasma scorches that freckled its hull. The Arbiter returned to his full stride until he reached the main corridor. It was large, about 5 metres high, 10 metres from wall to wall and rounded like all covenant ships. He stopped and gestured the humans to come closer, pointing out the door at the end of the corridor that led to the Bridge. He gestured to a smaller door on the right wall of the corridor.

'This room will be your quarters,' the Arbiter said. 'I hope they will be suitable for your err, stature.'

The rooms had been created for Sangheili, these humans were almost a metre shorter.

'Thankyou Arbiter,' saluted Captain Keyes.

The Arbiter hesitantly returned the crude hand gesture and they went their separate ways, the humans entering their quarters and the Arbiter heading towards the Bridge.

As he entered the bridge, the crew bowed to one knee. Taken aback by the show of support, the arbiter ordered the command to resume duties before he made his way to the intercom station and ordered Captain Nekomaree to the bridge. Once the leader of all Elite Special Forces and Spec Ops, Nekomaree had been elected by the Arbiter as his new general. Now he and the arbiter had to discuss where to go from here, the turn of events had been most sudden and the Arbiter still couldn't quite believe his own situation. He had gone from being the most hated figure in the covenant, a heretic to being the leader of their new covenant. As Nekomaree entered the bridge, he spotted the Arbiter and hurried to meet him.

'Greetings Arbiter,' said the Captain, extending a hand for the Arbiter.

'Its good to see you captain,' replied the arbiter, accepting his hand and shaking it. 'Walk with me Captain' said the Arbiter leaving the Bridge the way he had come and gesturing for the Captain to follow. He started out by pointing out the two humans quarters and sternly making the point that they were not to be harmed under any circumstance.

'Now Captain, onto more pressing matters,' the arbiter said, his tone becoming serious. 'I have elected you as my new General, you will command our fleets in battle and lead our new covenant to victory over the traitors. It is our job to see that this covenant does not fail, it cannot for the survival of all sentient life depends on us. Firstly we must concentrate on High Charity, we must either rid the city of the flood or destroy it completely. We cannot risk their escape no matter the cost. What are your views Captain?' asked the Arbiter, turning to the Sangheili next to him.

'Ah yes, High Charity,' pondered Nekomaree. 'Complete flood extermination is a near impossible feat, in my opinion I think we should search the city for any survivors then destroy it. The flood leader is there to and with any luck we may destroy him too.'

'Very well Captain, assemble a task force to lead the search for survivors, have ships ready to blow the city the moment you leave.' The arbiter turned swiftly and walked away. Slowing suddenly he turned around.

'Oh and Captain,' called the Arbiter.

'Yes Arbiter?' asked the Captain.

'If you recover the demon, do not harm him. He may be of use in this fight.'

He turned on his heel and left for the bridge.

'You mind telling me what your doing on that ship?' Admiral Hood asked the chief.

'Sir, finishing this fight,' replied Spartan 117 as he clung to the wall of the forerunner vessel he was on. 'Aboard this ship is the prophet of truth, the leader of the covenant. Focus all your attacks on the other craft, this ship must reach the ground if we are to capture the Prophet alive.'

'Understood Master Chief,' replied Admiral Hood. There was a brief pause before the Admiral spoke again.

'You're about to enter orbit chief, sit tight and hold on. Your squad will meet you groundside.'

'Understood sir' replied the Spartan.

He turned and headed for the door, his M90 in hand. He had no idea what part of the ship he was in or how to get to the bridge. The only info he had on the ship was that there was a small, unused cargo bay in this area of the ship, the room he was in. He moved to exit the room and the door automatically opened. He examined the next room and found he was in a long, dimly lit corridor. He made a quick sweep of the corridor with his M90 before heading down the corridor to the right. As he made his way down the corridor, wary of enemy patrols, he came to a large window overlooking a massive room, one of the biggest he had ever seen. It was full of brutes, jackals, drones and grunts all milling around the weapons racks that had been placed along the walls. Master Chief watched as the brutes pushed to the front, smashing grunts and jackals alike in their efforts to get the best weapons. Elsewhere, brutes were donning their head plates and honour guard armor. John left the window and moved further along the corridor. As he made his way along it he noticed it was curving to the left, circling the huge room. There were more windows looking into the room, one every 50 metres or so. The ship began to shake slightly as it entered the atmosphere and the Spartan ducked into a room on the right wall, searching for something to hold on to. The room was tiny, leading to another door. On the floor there was a picture of a barred door followed by forerunner runes. Judging from the picture, this was the ships brig.

He raised his shotgun and moved forward, triggering the door to auto-open. Whatever the brute on the other side of the door was expecting, it was not the demon. Its momentary shock was all the time John needed to raise his M90 and pull the trigger, less then a metre from the brute's head. It went down instantly, a dull thud sounding as its lifeless form hit the floor. He procured the brute's plasma rifle before moving further into the room. As he looked around he saw barred doors everywhere, 3 floors of them. Behind each door was an elite or a grunt. His scanning was cut short as he heard a roar from the other end of the chamber. A group of 5 or so brutes had entered the chamber from the far entry. They had also spotted him. He turned and ran for a pillar, grenades from brute shots flying all around him. As he made the pillar he thought of something he could do here. 5 brutes against one Spartan. Even with his inhuman abilities, he didn't stand a chance. He had to even the odds.

He ran for a ramp and dived onto it, making his way up to the second floor. As he ran, Elites and grunts awoke in their cells and made their way to the doors. As he made his way to the end of the room he spotted an elite in white armor, standing behind a cell door. He ran to the door, opened it and grabbed the shocked Elite.

'Think you can help me?' asked the Spartan. The elite looked him up and down, sizing him up before replying.

'Very well demon, I will kill you at a later date.'

'Don't count on it,' said John as he threw the brutes plasma rifle into the Elites hands. 'Follow me.'

The two warriors ran, avoiding carbine and brute shot fire and made their way to the 3rd floor.

'Go help your friends.' said the Spartan, signalling to the cells lining the wall.

The Elite nodded and began his way along the wall, ignoring a grunts cry for freedom. He made his way to the far end of the platform and began inspecting each cell, ignoring wounded soldiers and grunts. He freed two Elites who immediately began making their way around the 3rd floor, freeing others. Soon enough, Master Chief was in the company of 9 elites and a hunter, most of which were unarmed. He threw one of the elites his M6D magnum before setting off back down the ramp towards the bottom floor. The brutes had positioned themselves around the bottom floor, killing prisoners and taking cover in their cells. The bottom floor was the only way in and out of the brig; the Chief and his new squad had a problem.

Anko Pedaloree looked on at the chief curiously. Why was he on this ship? Why had he trusted Anko or any of the other Sangheili for that matter? This warrior, this 'Demon' was the most feared human in the galaxy, why did he not just kill them all? Anko could tell the demon was edgy; he had allied himself with his former enemies and did not know the extent of their loyalty. It was almost as if he was expecting plasma bolts to come hurtling at the back of his head at any second. But Anko knew the Sangheili would not harm him, there was no need now the prophets had betrayed them. There would be no 'great journey' to take part in by killing the demon. There would be no glory. As Anko snapped back to his senses he noticed the Demon had already begun the descent to the bottom floor where the elites waited. The Sangheili followed him, using the platform he was on as cover. There were 2 ramps leading to the bottom floor and Anko and the only other armed Sangheili took the far one. They watched as the Demon made his way to the ramp opposite them, walked around the ramp and laid himself flat on the platform. He made a few brief hand signals to the elite who was with him and the elite nodded before shouting a battle cry and throwing one of the human's explosive grenades down the ramp towards the Jiralhanae. It exploded, showering the brutes with shrapnel as they took cover. They roared in frustration but did not budge from their positions. They were disciplined for Jiralhanae. The demon signalled to the elite and he pulled the pin on another explosive, throwing it down the ramp again. It exploded right next to a Jiralhanae, riddling him with shrapnel. The brutes cursed at the death of their squad mate and charged towards the ramp, their anger overcoming their discipline. As they reached the bottom of the ramp, the demon pulled 2 plasma grenades from his belt and armed them before sliding forward, hanging upside down from the platform and stuck the explosives to 2 more of the Jiralhanae. They screamed in rage as the adhesive grenades stuck to their bodies. There was a split second of eerie silence before the grenades exploded, turning the brutes to soup. The remaining 2 scurried back towards a cell and hid behind their previous barricades. Anko and his partner ran down the ramp they were at and emerged directly opposite the cell the Jiralhanae were hiding in. The Brutes spotted the pair of Sangheili and immediately started firing in their direction. Anko hid behind a pillar as he remembered he no longer had energy shielding, meaning 1 lucky shot from the enemy could kill him. He edged around the pillar until he could see the barricades the Brutes were behind. He watched the demon make his way down the ramp and throw his last Plasma grenade onto the barricades. The cornered Jiralhanae shouted and moved back from their hiding spot. The moment the barricades blew, Anko, his partner and the 2 Brutes opened fire. Anko burst from behind the pillar and opened fire. The two brutes aimed their fire at him as he ran across the room. A carbine round hit him in the shoulder and he screamed with pain, firing his plasma rifle inaccurately at the Brutes. He saw a bolt of plasma hit one in the arm, making it drop its gun before the other shot another carbine round into Anko's chest and he fell to the ground. He felt his life; along with his blood leave his body and felt his vision start to fade. The gunfire had stopped and he attempted to lift his head only to find it was too heavy.

'Avenge….me…….demon.' said the elite as the life faded from his body. John closed the dead elites eyes and stepped back as the other elites crowded around, uttering prayers for their fallen comrade.

The Spartan then scavenged the Brutes weapons and threw them to various elites.

'Everyone with weapons follow me, everyone else, free the rest of the prisoners. I have a plan.'