Uncertainty and Surprises

Walking back the way it entered, the Arbiter led Johnson, Keyes, and its fellow elites back the way they had entered. The main chamber guarding the activation room was littered with dead brutes. Some had fallen to what appeared to be plasma burns, others were neatly cut apart from an energy sword, and the rest had their spines snapped in two. The room reeked of death and dirty brute fur. It was a ghastly sight, even for the hardened marine, Sergeant Johnson, as he cringed upon entering. "Ugh, it's even nastier in here than when I first came through. And I thought brutes smelled bad enough when they were alive."

Miranda edged over towards Johnson and whispered in his ear, "Are you telling me that the elite over there, that Arbiter, did this all on his own?"

The sergeant replied quietly, "Yes 'mam. I saw him cleaning up the last few brutes. He stuck that one over there with a plasma grenade and finished those two over there with what was left of his energy sword. Hell, judging by the way he fights, if that Arbiter's mom didn't drop him so many times down the ugly Covenant tree, he might have wound up looking like the Chief."

Keyes gave a very slight chuckle and an elite off to her side gazed down at her to see what the humans were talking about. Seeing that the elite was staring right at her, she hid the smile, cleared her throat, and turned her focus back towards where the Arbiter was taking them.

The far end of the chamber hosted a huge, elaborately decorated door. Two blue elites stood guard, one on each side, making sure that no enemy made it inside without a fight. Nodding towards the elites, the Arbiter signaled for them to open the door. Sparks flew through the opening as the doors quickly slid apart.

Keyes' eyes opened wide and she exclaimed, "What happened in here?" The room before them looked like a complete war zone. There was plasma scorching everywhere, almost like a Covenant cruiser had bombarded that one exact spot. Debris littered the entire floor and at the far end, part of the ceiling had caved in.

"I was meaning to tell you about that," Johnson said scratching the back of his neck. "You see …" but before he could continue, the Arbiter came over and finished his sentence. "This human climbed into a Scarab." Clapping his mandibles in what appeared to be the slightest chuckle, the elite continued, "It appears that he likes to blow things up."

Sergeant Johnson reached into his pocket for a cigar and smirked saying, "That's right, I know that the ladies like."

Miranda rolled her eyes and for that one moment, the tension seemed to lift off the group. However, it did not last very long. Waiting outside on the platform of the activation facility was a phantom. An elite in bright gold armor notified the Arbiter that their ride was here and he in turn whispered something in the messenger's ear. Sweet, fresh air engulfed the party as they walked outside. The big yellow ball of fire in space radiated warmth through the cloudless sky and illuminated the pristine environment around them. It was beautiful. Miranda couldn't remember seeing the water as blue on Earth as it was in front of them.

Standing up front with his back to the phantom, the Arbiter announced, "Everyone on the phantom, now! We will be going to our forward base and devising a detailed plan from there." Noticing the expressions on the human's faces, the Arbiter pointed to the horizon and said "There, the Faithful Blessing." In the distant sky, a Covenant cruiser lay stationary above the surface.

Loading up in the phantom, a blue elite roughly shoved Miranda under the gravity lift with the command, "Move it, human." Johnson caught the action in the corner of his eye; it was his natural duty as a UNSC marine to protect his superiors. He rushed over and angrily said, "Hey, ugly, that woman outranks you. Show the respect she deserves."

The Elite stood at its full height and walked up to Johnson. Its intimating stance would have caused panic in all but the toughest adversaries. Johnson just happened to be one of them. Standing straight in his stoic posture, the marine chomped on his cigar meeting the Elite eye to eye despite the rather large height difference.

"Now look, are you going to listen to what I just said or am I going to have to whoop your nasty alien behind?" Johnson asked threateningly. The elite let out a deep growl showing that he wasn't going to back out. Johnson cracked his knuckles as a reply. Before things got real ugly, however, the Arbiter stepped in.

"Ferrunee, don't you dare harm that human," it said. Turning its attention to Johnson he finished with, "And you, human, climb in."

With an icy stare, the sergeant looked at the Arbiter and said incredulously, "I have a rank, Mr. Arbiter, and I think I've earned being called by it." Snapping his attention back towards the phantom, he walked under the gravity lift was brought into the transport.

The Arbiter watched Johnson levitate into the craft and then looked back at Ferrunee. "They're tougher than they look aren't they? Remember brother, this war was the effect of the prophet's lies, the humans are not our enemies. Save your anger for when it is needed."

Ferrunee breathed deeply replying, "Arbiter, you are right. It was wrong of me to behave that way." With a nod of his head, the blue armored Elite walked over to the gravity life and was transported into the phantom transport. The Arbiter, rather than walking to the gravity lift, strode over to the doorway of the activation facility where the golden armored Elite was conversing with several red armored Elites. Joining the group, the Arbiter cleared his throat.

"Tell me, what is the news from High Charity?" it inquired.

Answering its question, the Elite Commander replied sadly, "Arbiter, we lasted as long as we could. Our efforts were in vain. The parasite had taken over the human ship and crashed it in the holy city, infesting it with its vile presence. We could not fight both the brutes and the Flood at the same time. I am sorry, but the city is lost. May our ancestors forgive us for this tragedy."

"Brother, how many Sangheili survived?" The Arbiter's heart was stricken with grief over the news.

"We evacuated with about five thousand total. If we fought any longer, we would have been over run just as the rest of our brothers were." The zealot hung his head in shame and sadness.

Five thousand? There were millions of Sangheili on High Charity! This is tragic indeed. Now the parasite has an army unlike no other at its disposal. They must be stopped!

There was a deafening silence among the Elites until the Arbiter finally broke it several moments later. "I did not realize things were this bad. Load onto the phantom now! I know a way we can cleanse our holy city from the parasite and bring honor to our ancestors."

Obeying its command, the rest of the Sangheili ran underneath the gravity lift on the phantom and were loaded onboard. All that remained on the platform of the activation facility besides the phantom was the lone body of the Arbiter, his ceremonial armor glistening in the sun's radiant rays. Clenching his right fist tightly around his de-activated energy sword, he slowly raised his head towards the crisp blue sky. Above him, far into the heavens, orbited High Charity. With the Covenant fleet guarding it, the city looked like a jewel in the sky, but alone and barren, the city symbolized a desecrated tomb of the dead.

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The unlucky Brutes to get hit by the incoming wave of plasma fire were knocked out of their command posts and writhed in agony from the severe burns. It only took a few moments for the air in the bridge to reek of the stench of burning flesh and fur. The remaining Brutes that evaded the first wave of fire grabbed any nearby weapon and returned fire.

John emptied his remaining two grenades in his brute shot on a Brute hurling plasma grenades at the two hunters. Not realizing that two high velocity projectiles were hurling at his face, the Brute had no idea what hit him. Both grenades impacted the Brute's center face propelling his body backwards into another defending brute. Glancing at his fallen comrade, he jumped back in shock noticing the bloody crater where the Brute's face should have been. Using the rightward hunter for cover, John quickly reloaded his brute shot with marine style efficiency. With the loaded weapon, the Spartan jumped into the open and shot at the remaining two Brutes.

Just as he stepped into the clear, two solid beams of energy slammed into the hunter which John had just stood behind. The sheer force of the blast from Truth's twin fuel rod cannons sent the hunter flying back against the wall with its sharp spines impaling an unfortunate elite also using it for cover. The hunter collapsed on the ground with the elite stuck in its back. Both were dead.

However, with unimaginable efficiency, John dispatched the remaining brutes which were now laying painfully, bleeding on the floor. All that stood between the Spartan and victory was the Prophet of Truth. Remembering how he dispatched Regret back on delta halo, the Chief prepared to lunge onto Truth's hovering carrier. Before he had an opportunity to take a step, however, the explosions of multiple brute shots sounded in the hallway behind him followed by a high pitched yell.

"They got elite! Run away!" one of the grunts cried. It wasted no time in dropping its plasma pistil running the opposite way down the hall.

John quickly looked over to the elite commander and said with haste and authority, "I'll take care of Truth, you guys go finish off the rest of those brutes!" Gesturing the rest of his team and the lone hunter into the hallway, they attacked the brutes. Plasma fire and explosions sounded in the hallway with a fuel rod gun firing periodically.

Turning his attention back to Truth, John saw a green light flash towards his face. During his early training back on Reach, he received numerous bodily augmentations. One of which involved the superconducting fabrication of his neural dendrites. This improvement of his nervous system enhanced his reflexes by nearly three hundred percent. He was able to easily dodge blows and kicks from enemies and could even evade incoming plasma blasts given about half a second of reaction time. This was no exception. Thanks to the nerve augmentation and a bit of sheer luck, John was able to duck just as the energy eradicated a section of ship bulk metal where his head was only a moment before.

"Demon, today is when you meet your oblivion!" threatened Truth. "I shall kill you yet!"

John picked up a plasma grenade from the fallen body of a nearby grunt and tossed it at Truth. The attraction of the shielding with that of the grenade's radiation caused them to stick together and the resulting explosion disabled the Truth's shields just long enough for the Spartan to jump onto the hovering craft.

Looking Truth eye to eye, John menacingly replied, "I don't think so." With a sharp punch to the forehead and the echoing of the cracking of bone, the Covenant prophet hunched forward; it was unconscious. John shorted the controls on Truth's pod to disable the weapons and shielding device allowing the prophet's body to be safely and easily accessed least it became conscious.

The door behind John opened and the elite commander walked in. They both stood in silence facing the front of the deck, watching the Prophet of Truth hovering motionlessly while its body lay slumped forwards with a trickle of bluish blood running down its right cheek. The serenity was disturbed, however, by a second great flare of light on the orbital defense platform, Cairo. The plasma bolt rocketed out and unleashed its fury on a cluster of five CSS-Class battle cruisers. The fireball consumed everything in its wake and nothing remained but molten debris.

"By the prophet, demon, what have your people created?" John turned his head towards the elite. Its brilliant gold armor was plastered with the blood of brutes and its face showed signs of exhaustion.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't want to be those brutes right now," answered John with an impressed tone to his voice.

The elite simply replied, "Agreed." Walking over and grabbing hold of the knocked out prophet's head he angrily commented, "His throat will run with blood for the sins he has committed."

Before the Spartan could respond, the voice of Admiral Hood entered in his headset. "Chief, how are things going in there."

John answered obediently, "Fine, sir! The objective has been completed. Truth is out cold and ready to be brought to justice."

Those words brought joy into the admiral's heart. "Great work, Chief! We're sending over two squads of ODSTs and an A.I. to gain complete control of the ship. We'll be docking the ship inside of the Cairo and go from there to UNSC headquarters back on Earth. Master Chief, guard the Covenant leader until our forces arrive."

"Yes, Sir," replied John. "Permission to speak, sir."

"Granted, what is it Chief?"

"Sir, there are other passengers on this ship. They helped in the capturing of Truth."

"That's ok, Chief, but I didn't expect there to be other marines on the forerunner craft."

"Sir, they're Covenant. They were prisoners on the ship and for their freedom, they helped secure the objective."

There was a short pause before Admiral Hood answered back. John glanced back towards the exiled members of the Covenant behind him. Talking amongst themselves, they stopped what they were doing and looked back at the Chief. John could feel the tension slowly rise. Finally, the Admiral answered. "Green light Chief, if they agree to cease hostilities, they will be allowed onto the defense platform. If what you said about their betrayal is true, then they will want to see Truth pay for his crimes just as much as we do."

The Spartan ended the conversation with an affirmative, "Sir." Turning around and walking back to the elite commander John calmly stated, "You will be allowed onboard the Cairo if you agree to give up your weapons and agree to a truce between our races. Expect to be treated with suspicion and surrounded by security, but the marines will not harm you unless provoked. What do you say?"

The golden clad elite carefully picked out his words and replied, "For all this time, we were mislead; we destroyed your worlds one by one. Our hands are covered with the blood of the innocent. I will never harm another human for the rest of my days and neither will my crew. You have our pledge of a truce, demon."

John gave a nod of approval and no sooner than the pact was made, the ship shook and shuddered. The ODSTs had arrived. Using specially designed craft mimicking the boarding ships used by the Covenant, the ODSTs carefully latched onto the forerunner ship and cut a circular hole through the hull.

The hail of an ODST rang in the Chief's headset. "Sir, we've boarded the ship and are heading towards your position. ETA thirty seconds. Martin, out."

The Spartan indicated to the exiled Covenant that it'd be a good idea to drop their weapons. Hesitating, the elites dropped theirs first and the grunts followed suit. The lone hunter looked to his sides and caught an approving glance from the elite commander. It hit a switch on the gun and the fading of the green glow on its arm indicated the fuel rod cannon was shutting down.

A brief silence filled the room as they waited for the ODSTs to enter. When they did enter the bridge, the first ones to enter halted in their tracks. One exclaimed at the Chief, "Holy shit, Sgt. Briggs said that you were fighting with the Covenant but I thought he was just being a jackass."

Instinctively knowing that this situation could get ugly fast, John ordered, "Do not fire, they have agreed to cease hostilities. How is the battle going out there?"

One of the ODSTs eagerly chimed in, "Sir, the Cairo has a sweet ass gun! It wiped out their leadership and the rest of their fleet is doesn't know what the hell to do. We're going to win!"

After hearing the news, one of the blue armored elites turned to another and said, "I told you the Jiralhanae didn't know a thing about piloting."

The ODSTs moved onto the bridge and loaded up their A.I. "Caesar, can you get the schematics of the ship?" asked the commanding ODST.

A strong, masculine voice sounded through some hidden sound panel and said, "Yes, I have it. Setting coordinates towards the Cairo."

As the forerunner craft headed towards the Cairo, the crew onboard the bridge could see explosion after explosion as the MAC cannons obliterated the Covenant fleet ship by ship. The weapon under the Cairo fired a third time destroying a group of four Covenant battle cruisers. An ODST on the bridge commented, "That weapon is a mother f'er…."

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Warning sirens raged throughout the Sacred Endeavour. As one of the few CSS-class battle cruisers left in the battle, the ship took on the role of trying to create a unified offensive. The brute in charge spat out order after order to his crew and frequently slammed his fists on the command equipment in rage. It didn't help that its poor use of its frustration had knocked out most of the communications equipment for the ship. The pace at which hails for help, tactical information, and support increased rapidly but the Sacred Endeavour remained silent despite all attempts to establish connections. A volley of Archer missiles made contact with the hull of the ship causing it to shake violently.

One of the brutes sitting at the communications array turned to the commander and said with disgust, "The humans have completely disabled our communications systems. We're blind."

The commanding brute roared back, "Get that damned machine working!" The rapid pace of incoming hails, the warning sirens, and complaints from it crew finally tweaked the wrong nerve. It raised both fists sending them crashing down on its already damaged command display. The blow was powerful enough to destroy all of the sensitive instruments and through an unlucky twist of fate, the ship instantly went on lockdown. All non-critical systems were disabled, including shielding and weapons. Looking around in disbelief, the brute crew watched as human MAC cannons chewed through the final clusters of Covenant battle cruisers. With a terrified gasp, the navigation officer exclaimed, "Commander, look!"

The enraged commander had just enough time to see a red bolt race towards them. There was nothing any of them could do to protect themselves, however. The Cairo's plasma shot punched right through the shieldless hull of the ship detonating by the last two active Covenant ships. An intense light unlike anything the brutes had seen before engulfed them. As their bodies disintegrated into dust, oblivion welcomed them all.

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Entering Earth's system, the enemy fleet looked nearly invincible. Combined with Truth's fleet, their combined force was greater than the fleet that attacked Reach. However, with the three hundred defense platforms and a whole fleet of heavy battle cruisers, humanity was ready for the fight. As the forerunner craft maneuvered around the shattered remains of hundreds of Covenant space craft, John could only look on at the rapidly shrinking Covenant fleet and think, God, it feels good to win.

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Authors Notes: Forgive me if you run into errors with the English. It's past 2 A.M and I frankly don't want to wait until morning to update (well … later on in the morning). The next chapter might face a slight delay as there is a 10 page research paper that needs to be looked at along with preparations for three tests. So please bear with me and I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can. Hope you enjoy this update – drop a review for any comments, concerns, or for any other adjective that begins with a 'c'