The Covenant Civil War: Part Two
Three Phantoms roared through space, away from the planet they had
just besieged. On board one of them was the Arbiter, proud of himself
and the Brutes he had slain. An Elite nearby opened the battery
compartment of his plasma rifle and fiddled with the battery to
increase the rate of fire. Three Grunts were playing a game invented
by Covenant soldiers who needed something to do between battles. The
Spec.Ops Commander leaned against the wall, surveying his
soldiers."Leader, we are approaching the Rivalry. "The
pilot's voice barked over the communications system. The Rivalry was
enormous. It dwarfed even the cruisers a Prophet would use. It was
one of a mere three heavy starships known as Dreadnaughts. These were
the most heavily armed and biggest ships ever to be seen in the
Covenant. They were bigger than any Brute or human ship. Two other
Dreadnaughts flanked it, the 'Angel of Death' and the
'Judgment'. The Rivalry was the biggest of them.
The Phantoms landed inside the behemoth's docking bay, and the
soldiers lept out of it. They hung their weapons on nearby
weapon racks and headed to the bridge. Soon enough, they were on the
bridge of the ship. The Arbiter was impressed by the vast view of
space...meteorites hurtled past, planets light-years away could be
seen, or so it seemed. "Prepare to enter slip space." The
Spec.Ops Commander said into his COM link.
"Judgment
is ready." A rough voice said over the COM link.
"Angel
of Death ready for slip space." Another voice
exclaimed.
"Engage!" The Commander yelled.
Soon, an aura
of blue light appeared in front of them, and they were blasting
through slip space.
The Brute Naval
Commander, Zauk, sat in his chair.He looked out the main viewing
window,ready for anything.He was not surprised to see a blue circle
of light appear.
"Ready your weap-" The Brute Naval Ops
Commander suddenly stopped.
He had seen the sheer bulk of these 3
ships.
"By the Forerunners..." He muttered, clenching
his fists.
"Incoming transmission" The Communications
Officer said.
Three separate faces appeared on the viewscreen. One
was a Spec.Ops Elite's the other's was the Spec.Ops Commander, the
last was an Elite Field Commander.
"Hello, Brute scum.
Surrender and things will be easy...we don't want to fight..."
The Field Commander sneered.
"FIRE ON THOSE SHIPS!" Zauk
screamed.
A stream of blue plasma headed straight for the Angel
of Death, but it was stopped short by energy shields. The Angel
responded with a volley of plasma torpedoes, and the Rivalry opened
fire with the heavy plasma cannons. Blue beams of plasma shot forth
from the Rivalry and struck the hull of a Brute ship. The beam tore
straight through the Brute ship and emerged out the other side. The
Brute ship almost instantly exploded. The plasma torpedoes struck
Zauk's ship, battering it but not destroying it. The lights on board
flickered and then went out.
"Restore the power core. Focus
all fire on the Rivalry!" Zauk screeched, slamming his fist on
the armrest of his chair.
The Rivalry was struck by a plasma
blast, and its energy shields dropped low.
"Set the plasma
cannon batteries to full power. Transfer energy from the shields."
The Spec.Ops Commander ordered.
The Rivalry shot out another beam
of blue plasma, destroying another Brute ship.
"Charge the
cannon this time. We're going to pierce that Brute ship's shield
and hull at once." The Commander said, beginning to sweat. He
heard the plasma cannons charging, but would they charge in
time?
Yes.
Another beam of blue plasma shot into space,
slamming into the nose of Zauk's ship.
The beam ripped through the
armor plating and tore apart the bridge. But it did not stop there.
It continued to travel down the middle until it reached the core
generator, destroying the ship.
However, there were still nine
more Brute ships.
"Return the weapon power to normal and give
power back to the shielding." The Commander said to his bridge
officers.
"All strike teams, report the boarding pods. I
repeat all strike teams to boarding pods." The communications
officer said over the intercoms.
The Arbiter lept inside a pod,
followed by fifteen Elites, four Grunts and two Hunters. The pods on
board the Rivalry were big and spacious. The Arbiter walked over to
the activation keypad, and punched in several numbers.
"Pod
system accessed. Please select a command." A mechanical voice
said.
"On my command, launch your pods!" The Commander's
voice echoed throughout the interior of the pod, his voice broadcast
by the communications.
"Initiate boarding sequence!" The
Commander said.
The Arbiter pressed the 'Launch' button on the
keypad, and was sent flying backwards into a wall. The pod broke
loose from its holding bay and streaked towards a Brute ship.
The
Arbiter clutched his carbine, and there was another jolt .Then, they
were shoved forwards by a mini-grav lift. The Grunts tried to stay in
the pod, but were swept off their feet. The pod spat them out into a
small docking bay, where there were starfighters, dropships and
Brutes, Jackals and Drones.
The Arbiter fired at a Brute and
caught him in the shoulder, and the Brute responded by opening fire
with his Brute Plasma Rifle. The Arbiter rolled to avoid the bolts of
plasma, then fired off two more shots at the Brute. It fell backwards
this time, dead.
A Grunt, screaming a war cry, charged the Brutes.
It was hit by a plasma grenade. Instead of cowering in fear, it ran p
to a Brute captain and hugged its leg. The Captain yelled out in
terror, and the grenade exploded. Plasma bolts were flying
everywhere, and the Arbiter was hit in the leg. He dropped to the
ground and fired at his would-be assailant, sending a searing bolt of
energy into a Brute's chest. A thin beam of purple energy whizzed
past his head and struck the ground, burning a hole into the floor.
Yet another purple beam cut the air, this time hitting him in the
chest. He fell over backwards, feigning death. When the sniper aimed
for another target, the Arbiter shot at him with his carbine. The
Jackal fell from its perch, and hit the ground with a sickening thud.
The Arbiter turned and fired at another Brute, who dodged the shot,
fired his Brute Shot at the Arbiter. The Arbiter's shields saved him,
and he squeezed off a few more shots at the Brute. The Brute's head
was torn off its neck as one of the shots struck it in the forehead.
The Arbiter crouched down behind the body of a fallen Elite, using it
as cover. Plasma bolts and brute grenades soared over his head and
struck the body in front of him. He snapped off two quick carbine
shots, striking a Brute in the leg and waist. He managed to fire one
more shot at the Brute before another Brute let loose a volley of
plasma bolts from his Brute plasma rifle. An Elite came to aid the
Arbiter, delivering a withering hail of plasma blasts from his dual
plasma rifles, suppressing the enemy. The Arbiter took the
opportunity and fired at a Drone, and it fell from air and onto a
Brute. He fired at the shocked Brute, and sent him reeling over
backwards, dead. The last few enemies fled from the hangar to get
reinforcements. Most of the Grunts had fallen, four Elites were dead
and so was a Hunter.
"We cannot stand another wave of
enemies. They'll be back; with more men and bigger guns...we have
to get out of here." The Elite who had helped the Arbiter said.
"Quick, let us board one of the Phantoms and be off." And with
that, the strike team boarded one of the Phantoms and blasted out of
the hangar