**Six POV**

The sound of blaring alarms and the flashing of lights tore Six from sleep. He rolled out of his cot, grabbed his magnum hidden under his pillow and scans the room for threats. The room was empty. Emile's cot opposite of Six's was unoccupied, leaving him as the only person in the sleeping quarters. He just lowered the side arm when the door slid open and he was alert again, pointing the weapon at the door.

Standing in its frame was Carter, fully armored and had his DMR in hand. He didn't seem faze by Six's weapon pointing in his direction, instead he simply said, "Stand down Spartan." Which Six followed instantly.

Once the weapon was down, Carter starting briefing. "ONI's research center on the Babd Catha Ice Shelf is under heavy Covenant attack. the Marines are about to be overrun and Noble Team is being deployed to provide support. Any questions?" Carter asked.

"Sir, when do we leave?" Six asked.

"Now." Was the reply, "get suited up Spartan." Carter finished before stepping out of Six's room. Six quickly threw off his short cuts and put on pants and a shirt and exits his room. He walks down the corridor before making it to the Engineering room. Inside was a massive inventory of machinery and tools, but Six's eyes quickly locked on the machine in the far corner, the "Canner."

It was a machine that stood seven foot tall, had an open space in the center like a bubble and had nine mechanical fingers poking from its base that formed into an iron claw. Each mechanical pillar had smaller hands, drills and screwdrivers. This was the only known machine that was able to combat dress a Spartan, true the Spartans are able to remove and don their own armor but the process takes a good fifteen minutes. With the Canner it only takes three minutes.

As if it was anticipating his arrival, the metal arms were already holding Six's battle armor. Six couldn't help but smile as he stepped forward and the machine came to life, all set to get the Spartan combat ready for the coming war.

**Shress La' Vdamee POV **

The humans put up a valiant fight, but five against a Zealot was still an unfair fight. They shot at her with weapons that flung projectiles like the weapons of her ancestors. Shress dashed forward and jump in front of them. The projectiles that the human weapons shot bounced off her shields as she raised both her sword and plasma rifle. She decapitated the two warriors in front of her before firing her rifle that burn into the human's fleshy skin. After mowing the remaining hostiles down she saw one of the humans was still alive and was thrashing around in pain as plasma ate away his skin. Feeling merciful, the zealot offered the only pain reliever she could provide; she shot one last time to end the soldier's suffering.

Once she was sure the alien was dead, she looked around the area to confirm there were no more threats. She was on a balcony overlooking the courtyard of the human military base. Below a battle waged as Covenant troopers assaulted human defenders. From her vantage point Shress could see the humans were losing, they were slowly losing ground as the Covenant pushed them further and further back. This would be a swift victory of battle, but the true success of the mission relies on her, and after what happen a week ago she was determines to accomplish it.

She look behind her in disdain, following her were four Sanghili Rangers, despite being the best of their class they still lacked the skills of a zealot. It took all of Shress's patience to keep herself from running from the officers and adventure off on her own. She felt she had to baby the Sanghilis, especially now. A team of zealots could have easily run through the building, get the needed information and would be out before the humans realized what happen. Yet here she had to walk while the Rangers carefully check their corners and move cautiously.

She missed Nodam terribly and even Kluan, with them she knew they could get their objective done in less than a minute. She was the only Zealot now in all of Holy Retribution except for Ruan, her high commander who was too much of an important figure to risk in combat. So in fighting terms she was the only active Zealot on this world.

"Zealot!" One of the Rangers pointed to the sky and Shress followed his gaze. Coming from over the glacier were two of the humans strange flying machines. Shress snorted, the vehicles were small, she doubt whoever was riding them would be too much trouble. She turned away just as the first of the airborne vehicles landed on the ground before the same Ranger shouted. "Its demons!"

Shress froze and closed her eyes as she silently prayed. 'Oh please gods, please, don't let it be him.' Slowly she opened her eyes and looked down in the court yard. She cursed when she saw him, the demon called Michael. He was fighting with the other blue demon and was already making progress in destroying the Covenant attack party.

Self-consciously she looked to the mangled human bodies on the floor and felt a stab in her honor. She knew that there was no way she could've kept her vow of not killing a human, but she still promised and at the moment the broken word was stinging her heart.

Her distress must have alerted one of the lieutenants who asked. "What is the matter zealot?"

Desperately she grasped for any excuse she could think of before saying. "You are slow, don't deny it, you must put aside what you have been taught if we are to leave before the demons catch up to us, understood?"

The Sanghili spread their mandibles, clearly insulted but they said nothing. To argue with a high rank such as a zealot was seen as childish.

Starting at a crisp run, Shress and her comrades sprinted back into the building and started descending deeper into the human base on the small human stairwell. Every so often the stair case would end, but there would be a bridge connecting one side of the building to the other. The bridge crossings were murderous; the few remaining humans on the ground would point their weapons upwards and try to shoot the Sanghili's down. Shress wasn't concerned by this, her advance shielding technology protected her from the enemy's projectiles, but the Rangers behind her had a weaker shielding generator, and every so often a human would get lucky enough to penetrate their shields. When they were two floors from the bottom, one of the human's weapons broke through the Ranger, Yudam, shields and injured his arm. Not wanting to be seen disgraced before a Zealot however, he did not say anything and kept his composure.

They reached the last staircase where they were confronted by a barricade, a jumble of human furniture and scrap metal. Here the alien soldiers poke their guns out of gaps in the make shift wall and shot at them, forcing the Sanghilis back to gain cover. Despite how primitive their defenses were Shress was impressed by their quick thinking that was actually good enough to force the Sanghilis to retreat. Shress was still trying to figure a way past the block in their path when her comms came alive and one of the Kig-Yar sergeants she left on the roof was yelling at her.

"Zealot!" it squawked, "The demons! They are here!" Before it could finish talking, it was cut off from the sound of a human gun firing. Then out in the open space, a Kig-Yar and some Unggoys fell from the upper level, the sound of alien gun fire originating from above where the Sanghilis just cleared the level. Below her, Shress could hear the human defenders cheering.

In panic, one of the Rangers shouted. "We're surrounded!"

Shress snarled at him. "Quiet! We are going to complete this mission, understand?"

One of the Rangers asked. "Are we going to fight the demons, Zealot?"

Shress thoughts returned to the promise of sparing the honorable demon and his friends. She can't ensure she'll avoid killing humans, but the least she could do was to avoid killing the demons.

"No." she replied. "It'll take too much time and we have to hurry and gather the data before the humans call for help."

Another Ranger spoke. "But if we kill the demons, we could win ourselves great glory-"

Shress caught him off. "We'll achieve greater glory if we gather the needed data, then we shall be hailed as hero's."

Shress saw the Rangers grins and was relieved that her negotiation skills won out again. There was another burst of gun fire from above and more bodies fell from the balconies. Realizing time was not on their side, Shress ordered, "Yudam, use your destroyer on the barricade and keep running, blow through every barrier in our way, we have to sprint through this building if we're going to survive."

She turned to the other Rangers, "We must keep Yudam safe from harm, Kova, watch his right, Dinjit, watch his left flank while I cover his rear, understood?" The Rangers nodded their understanding as they readied their weapons. Both Kova and Dinjit readied their plasma rifles while Yudam readies his Fuel Rod Destroyer, a weapon made from the same makers of the Mgalekgolo's weapon system. Shress clips her rifle to her side while she unshoulder her Carbine, the weapon was weak, but against the human's armor it could melt right through and deliver instant death.

Satisfy that they are ready, Shress shouted, "Yudam now!"

Yudam jumped from around the corner, and brought up the heavy weapon. Shress heard the human's cries of warning, but it was too late as Yudam unleashed three glowing balls of fire. Once the first two bolts hit the barrier, the barricade exploded. The final bolt hit the floor between the humans and the defenders were blown of their feet. No sooner did the final bolt exploded, Shress commanded, "now," and the three warriors sprinted into the smoke filled room.

There were a dozen alien soldiers at the bottom, all stun by the sudden explosion. The Sanghili's let lose a barrage of plasma as they sprinted across the room to a door opposite of the stairs. The humans fell as the plasma ate through their defenses; hot liquid flames licked their bodies until the black god of death took their souls. It wasn't until they were halfway to the door did the humans consolidate and attack. Their weapons fired metal at the Sanghili attack force that fired back in a desperate attempt to force the aliens into cover. They were approaching a large metal door when Yudam hefted his fuel rod gun and fired one shot. At the exact moment the green ball of energy escape the gun, Yudam howled in pain as his shield generator failed and a projectile caught him in the leg, causing him to fall.

Shress twisted around and grabbed him. She was going to lift him up when another human projectile hit the back of her comrade's head and disappeared within his skull, causing Yudam to go limp in her arms.

Shress was stun as she stared at her fallen brother who died in her hands. He was gone, just like her Zealot brothers, taken by the humans.

Shress looked up and scan the room for Yudam's killer. It was as if the room had paused as she scanned the faces and weapons of the aliens, trying to see who it was that fired the fatal shot. Her eyes settled on it, the demon. Just like Michael, it was a blue colored demon and it had its weapons pointed at Shress. The demon fired and Shress jerked her head to the right, she heard the projected piece of metal hit the wall and repelled off of it, the ringing of metal was loud in her hearing.

Shress was going to fire back when Dinjit grabbed her arm and hissed though his helmet, "Zealot, now is the time, we must go, now!" Hearing the logic in his voice, Shress let out an angry roar in the demons direction before she stooped, and flung Yudam's body over her shoulder. The Sanghili team ran into the open hallway Yudam open for them, Shress lead the way while Dinjit and Kova provided covering fire as they fled deeper into the human complex.

**Six POV**

"I thought you were a trained marksman lieutenant!" Kat shouted over the roar of the warthog.

Six pushed down on the twin buttons again and the tri-barreled M41 Light Anti-Air Gun let loose a thunderous five hundred rounds. As the gun fired Six yelled back, "A marksman is trained to shoot a rifle, not a freaking machine gun!"

They drove in huge circles outside of the anti-air gun post that was crawling with Covenant. Most of them were sprawled out in front of the building, leaving only two Grunts on the ground floor and an Elite Ranger on the roof top. The aliens hid behind cover and every so often look up and shoot, the Grunts shot out of the window while the Elite fired from behind the rooftop barrier.

The massive anti-air gun outside of the building was in a dormant state to the disappointment of the flyboys. In the air Hornets, Falcons and Pelicans engaged in a crazed dogfight with Covenant Banshees, Spirits and Phantoms. The Corvette overhead wasn't helping; it kept sending in fresh fighters, both airborne and ground, it wouldn't be long before the UNCS gets swarm by the increasing enemy forces.

The ground victories Noble Team won won't matter unless they take out the Corvette. The anti-air gun won't help much, but it'll buy the flyboys some respite, giving the ground forces some time to rally enough forces to take out the enemy ship.

While the rest of Noble Team was defending Sword Base, Six and Kat were running ground ops. They just switch back on the comms array, now here they are trying to reactivate the main air gun where the Covies set up shop.

The first wave were easy to eliminate, now the remaining Grunts and Elite knew better and now are trying to stay out of an open fight. That wasn't going to keep them safe.

"Sergeant, are you ready?" Six called over the roar of battle.

Sergeant Gunther was scared for his life, but he nodded at Six. It was just sheer luck that the sergeant found himself working with the Spartans; it was his Warthog that was volunteered for the mission, and what Six found admirable about the man was that he volunteered as well. When they needed a spare gunner, he didn't want anyone from his team to be involved with the usual Spartan suicide mission so he stepped up to the position. Six liked officers like that, men who are willing to take the bullet rather than one of his guys, like the warriors of old, Six thought.

The sergeant raises his weapon, a 40 mm grenade launcher, and gave the nod that he was ready. Kat accelerated the engine and they sped forward, making it look like they were going to speed by the building again. The Covenant started firing when Kat pulled the emergency brake and they came to a screeching stop while the Covenant bullets hits the space where they would have been if they had kept moving.

While the Covenant tried to adjust their aim, Gunther raises himself higher and fired the grenade. The round shot through the air and landed inside the building, which was when the Marine Sergeant activated the remote detonation. The Grunts inside gave a surprise squeal when they were consumed in a fire storm, when the flames died down there were only silence. With the Grunts out of action, Six swung the machine gun upward and started shooting again. The Elite barely made it to cover when a mountain of lead hit the side of the building.

"Kat, Gunther, get in there and kill that thing, I'll keep it pinned down," Six ordered.

The Spartan and Marine dismounted and ran into the building while Six provided covering fire. They made it into the building when Kat suddenly shouted, "Six, behind you!"

Six looked over his shoulder and cursed. A Covenant Spirit was fast approaching on his flank, with its plasma cannon aimed at him. Six jumped from the gun to the driver seat and took it out of park. The vehicle was their only means of transport and it provided them the only heavy support they can get at the moment, to lose that was to lose an important key to victory.

Six only made it a few meters when he felt the back of the truck lift when a blast hit him from behind. When the truck landed on solid ground again, it was struck dead center in the bed area where a massive power ball of destruction unleashed its deadly energy. The warthog was lifted up again, but this time the kinetic energy forced the machine apart. It was Six's armor system that saved his life, the armor took up most of the blast, but its power still lifted him in the air and threw away from the burning war truck.

Six hit the ground hard, bounced, fell, bounced again before skidding to a halt. He was stun for only a moment before he jumped to his feet and look back at the outpost. The Covenant drop ship dropped off two squads of Grunts and Elites, now surrounding Noble Strike team position.

Seeing the new threat, Six rushed forward to aid his team. As he closed in the Covenant troops open fire but Six's shielding system kept him alive. Reaching the building, Six jumped, summersaulted in the air and landed on the first landing of the outpost's outside staircase. He ran upwards and came to the rooftop. There were blood everywhere, but mostly purple blood, the Elite Ranger's body was slumped against a box of ammunition, the mask hiding its face.

Kat, who switched her usual custom made magnum pistol for a battle rifle, was firing at the invading forces. Six spotted a DMR crate close to her and grabbed a brand new rifle, still wrapped in plastic. He ripped the paper off, slapped in a magazine and checked the scope. He slide next to Kat and started firing head shots, delivering instant death to Grunts and annoyance to the shielded Elites.

"Where's Gunter?" Six asked as he reloaded.

"Dead." Kat replied. "One of the Grunts were still alive and mauled him, but he buried his knife into its throat before he died."

Six could only nod as he spent another magazine, they'll have to mourn their losses later, if they die now, it would be a dishonor to his memory. As he reloaded, Six noticed three Phantoms inbound towards their location.

"Kat please tell me the gun is online," Six almost begged as he loaded his last mag.

"It'll take a few minutes for it to become operational," she replied.

The Phantoms closed in, "Kat?" Six asked.

"Just one more minute," she said as she fired a barrage at another Elite Ranger.

The plasma cannons on all three Phantoms swirled to life and started shooting. Six and Kat dropped to their bellies as large plasma rounds past by overhead and explosions racked the entire building.

"We don't have a minute!" Six shouted over the thrall.

"Well shut up and shoot something!" She screamed back when the barrage suddenly seized.

The sizzling of energizing plasma seized, now replace with thunderous gunshots that puts Jorge's machine gun to shame. Six peeked out and saw the anti-air gun was now active and was letting lose 90 caliber shells in a fast sequence at the Phantoms. The alien ships didn't stand a chance as they were torn to pieces. One ship busted into a massive firecracker of molten blue while the other Phantoms backed away from the fight. The Spartans looked over the side and saw that every enemy combatant was down, probably taken out from the debris of the fallen Phantom.

No sooner did the Spartan duo let out a sigh of relief did their radios crackled to life. Carter's voice was online as he ordered, "Kat, Six, get here quick, more Covenant landed on the roof and we have a Zealot team running somewhere in the base."

As his words ended, Six felt his gut tighten. If it was Shress, the Zealot who he let go just a few weeks ago in the base, then he would be responsible for whatever damage she and her team does.

Oblivious to Six's troubled state, Kat got back on her feet and said, "Let's move it Lieutenant." As she ran back downstairs. Six followed close by her heels as they ran down together. When they ran through the main building, Six saw Gunther's body next to a Grunt. The Grunts were midgets compared to Spartans but they were almost as tall as an average human. Six was glad to see a knife buried hilt deep in the alien's neck as they ran pass.

"Did you get his dog tags?" he asked Kat.

"Yeah." she said as they sprinted towards sword base, but they came to a halt when they saw a Pelican coming in. "I guess we got air support again." Kat finished.

The Pelican didn't stop, instead they dropped off a new warthog with another Marine gunner and a Gauss cannon attached.

Six nodded at the vehicle and said, "I think that'll do."

**Shress La' Vdamee POV **

Shress paced the room in an un-female like manor. Her nerves were on fire as she tried to think through the developing situation.

The room they occupied was small with unfamiliar equipment within; the only person who was inside was an elderly female who did not realize death was upon her until it was too late. Yudam was dead, that was for sure, despite the Snaghili's attempts to save their brother it was already too late, all that they could do for him was lay his body by the door while they finished their business. Kova was working long and hard on a terminal as he abstract the human intelligence and slowly translate it into the Sanghili's ruins. Dinjit meanwhile pulled security, standing by the door entrance and every so often peeked out the door to ensure they were alone.

Feeling useless in this situation, Shress started pacing out of agitation ad impatience as they slowly ran out of time. Reinforcements may have arrived but they were deep within the building on their own, surrounded by humans and possibly demons. The thought made Shress kicked a nearby human terminal. Dinjit look at her and hiss his disapproval. Shress responded by growling a challenge at the Ranger, but he instead look away, probably the wisest of choices.

Agitated Shress turned to Kova and demanded, "How much longer?"

Kova, a veteran warrior and technician responded, "Almost done Zealot, just a few more human codes and we'll have all the data."

Shress nodded and went back to pacing, earning her Dinjit's critical eye once more, but this time she didn't care. Shress was burning with a hatred that began ever since failing her first mission on the human planet, it became worse as she remembered her humiliating loss at the hand of the demon Michael, then there were the idiotic promise of her not harming a human which was at the moment stabbing at her pride, and now Yudam's death was the all she could take. Promise or no promise, she'll kill a demon if it was the last thing she does.

Suddenly Kova let out a roar that startles the remaining team members. Shress turns, raising her sword while Dinjit brought out his rile, but there were no targets. Kova was standing straight, and had a dumbfounded look on his face as he translated the human language.

Shress asked. "Kova, what is it?"

Kova's eyes were still locked on the terminal when he replied, "Zealot, it is here, the artifact so large, so holy."

"Here?" Shress asked, "What do you mean?"

Kova turned to her and said, "The Navigator, it is here, beneath this very building!"

Shress drop her sword, dumbfounded. The Navigator? Here? The most holy of all artifacts, the one that can guide them farther along the Great Journey, is here?

The excitement soon began to build. Kova started to shift from side to side, and Dinjit even knelt and started praying. This was a joyous time, with the Navigator, they could locate any Forerunner Relic they wished, and it could lead them to weapons that could be used against the humans. Either way, the future of the war now rest with the artifact, or whoever controls it.

Dinjit snarled angrily as he stood, "We should kill every human here and claim what is rightfully the gods, we are their instruments, the humans are destroying this holy relic just by being in its presence, we must kill them all now."

Lost in the moment, Kova nodded as well as he readies his weapon.

Sensing a massacre, Shress step forward and said, "No, we must get this information back to the shipmaster."

The young Dinjit snarled the word, "Heresy! How dare you-"

He didn't finish for Shress let out a roar that made both male Sanghilis flinch.

"How dare I!?" Shress shouted, "How dare you! I am a Zealot, one of the sole chosen to be the very weapon of the Prophets, and through them the gods! Do not mistake my choices for heresy Sanghili, I sacrificed more, devoted more, and killed more than you have ever achieved! If you question my orders along heresy again, you are questioning the Prophets themselves, would you wish to be disgrace for eternity? You and all who'll follow? Because I can make that follow if you don not guard your thoughts Dinjit, do you understand?"

Thunderstruck, the nervous warrior nodded his understanding while Kova watched with eyes still wide with shock.

Satisfied that they are listening, Shress talked in a softer, more reasonable tone, "Believe me brothers, I too share your joy, but now is not the time to attack. We only won a small victory through surprise, but now the humans know of our presence, it won't be long before their army is upon on us, they'll crush us unless we get back to Holy Retribution and inform the Prophets, only then will we have enough forces to destroy the humans once and for all."

Dinjit and Kova nodded, still stinging from Shress's verbal threats, no longer feeling the frantic urge to kill every human they see.

Shress took a deep breath and said. "Get ready to move out, we don't have much time before the humans discover us, Kova, ensured you copied everything, Dinjit, carry Yudam, use his Fuel Rod Gun. With the demons here we need every fire power we can get."

The two Rangers nodded and turn to their duties. Kova purged the data stream once more while Dinjit grabbed Yudam's body and lifted it to his shoulder while picking up the Fuel Rod Gun with the other, slightly awing Shress with his unexpected strength.

Kova shut down the human terminal and nodded towards Shress that he was done. Shress unclips her plasma rifle and gestures to Dinjit to hand her his. Armed with twin plasma rifles, Shress opens the door and led her small party out the door.

They walked through the human hallway unchallenged. Plasma burns and the bodies of human soldiers littered the floor. Shress was slightly unnerved by the emptiness of the place while listening to the sounds of war beyond the walls. The alien building and the far off battle gave the three running warriors the impression that they were fighting in a different dimension, which was technically true, they were the invaders of this alien race's world, the lack of plasma powered weapons and magnetic energy was like stepping back to ancient times of the Sanghilis.

They approached a large sliding door that was locked, it replaced the smaller door that Yudam blew up earlier, and the replacement appeared and blocks the humans from pursuing the Sanghili team. As they approached all of them tensed their muscles at the sight of it. On the other side were humans and their allies the demons, no doubt waiting to kill Shress and her team once they stepped out. The Sanghilis also felt weary for it was at this exact place was where Yudam was killed; all the warriors of the Covenant were superstitious, none would want to upset the gods for repeating a disgraceful mistake, especially the battle commanders.

Shress felt her throat dry, but she stayed steady as she called the Covenant forces on the other side.

"This is Zealot Shress La' Vdamee speaking, who is in command of this battle group?"

It wasn't long before an older voice answered her call, "This is General Bogerus, Zealot have you completed your mission?"

Shress was taken off guard. A General? This mission must be important, making Shress all the more determine to get the information back to the Covenant.

Shress responded, "Yes General, we have the data and bring joyful news, but we need cover if we are to make it back."

"Understood Zealot, as soon as we open fire, you and your Rangers run back up here and enter the first transporter you see, get the information back to Holy Retribution at all costs, understand?" he asked in a dangerous voice.

"Perfectly sir" Shress said.

No sooner did she finish speaking did she hear the sound of plasma blast and the cracking of human weapons. Realizing this was their moment Shress shouted. "Dinjit! Shoot the door!"

Like Yudam before him, Dinjit shot three emerald bolts; two destroyed the door, and the last destroying the sorry souls standing behind it. The warriors ran forward and were back in the large hall they just escaped five units ago.

The organized humans were now cornered in one side of the massive wall; the demons however were fighting in the open, shooting upwards at the Covenant above them. Happy to see their reinforcements, Shress yelled. "Run!" Then turned to face the enemy. She leveled her twin weapons and started firing, slightly moving her rifles in circular motions. The molten fire sprayed over the human's defenses and the demons. The humans retreated back behind the safety of the walls, but the multi-colored inhuman fighters still held their ground.

Shress instantly felt her heart beat faster as she gazed at the three monsters before her. The humanoid demons were just like Michael, faceless beings who uses glass instead of eyes, taller than any of the other humans, and unfazed by any of her attacks. She recognized all three of them, there was the massive demon with the even larger gun, next to him was the green one who wasn't in the fight last time, but its long rifle seems to able to hit anything far away, and the last one was the blue commander, the one that made all the strange hand signals and the other demons follow them like orders.

At the sight of Shress, the demons double their firepower. Shress was push back by the sheer fire power, her shields were threatening to over load when Dinjit fired his Fuel Rod Gun into the demons ranks. The lull in gun battle was the signal that Dinjit and Kova made it to the stairs and it was Shress's turn to make a run for it. She turned on her heels and ran towards the stairs, where squadrons of Unggoys and Kig-yars and Sanghilians made their way down and covered the retreating troops.

Shress just climbed the first staircase when she heard an Unggoy squeaked, "Look! More demons! More demons!" She spared a glance backward and saw two additional demons running in, including Michael.

She felt anger boiling within her. There's the monster that made her promise impossible wishes, the one who is causing her honor grief. She turned and for a wild moment was considering running across the way to kill him, but stop when she saw the Covenant forces beginning to crumble. The appearance of additional demons caused the Unggoys to break ranks in a panic state, confuse Kig-Yars were bumping to each other while the Sanghilian leaders tried to rally their troops, only to be the first to be blown away by the human's fire. Realizing they were being overrun, Shress remembered how vital their data was, so she turns and sprinted up the stairways.

She was on the third level when she heard the screaming of the different Covenant species; the demons were right behind them.

"Faster!" she roared at Dinjit who was lagging behind due to the weight of their dead comrade and the massive weapon he carried. On the fourth floor they paused when they saw the Sanghilian General, Concussion Rifle in hand, with golden armor causing different color hues to flash on the walls. The General looked past Shress's group and snarled. Shress looked back in time to see the demons leading human forces after them, slaughtering the troopers who tried to stop them in a futile last stand.

"Go." The General growled as he stepped forward, raising his rifle. The team was torn between the order to retreat and the instinct to turn back and fight. Shress growled at the Rangers and nodded forward signaling them to follow the hallway back to the roof.

They didn't get far when they stopped. The door to the roof was gone; instead there was a large gaping hole that extended over three floors. Outside they could see their Corvette in the air, battling with the humans flying air defenses. No sooner did they stop, a Phantom approached, it flared its magnetic gravity before hovering close to the hole. The side flaps open and six Special Ops Sanghilis jumped out.

The Special Ops were seen as a disgrace in Sanghilian culture. To hide from the enemy and attack from behind was seen as a disgraceful action. However the Prophets insisted that the group was necessary in the fight against the heretic humans. The Special Ops mostly consisted of Sanghilian criminals who committed disgraceful acts on Sanghelios, they were rude, untrustworthy, but were brutal fighters, exactly what was needed to combat demons.

One of the Special Operators step forward, his face was hidden by the strange curved mask. He growled. "Are you the Zealot?"

Dinjit stepped forward, "Of course she's a-"

Shress interrupted with a hiss. "Not now Dinjit." She said in an undertone. She returned her attention to the Operator. "Yes, I'm the Zealot; we have critical data that needs to be delivered to Holy Retribution."

The Operator grunted and gesture for them to enter the Phantom. They started moving towards it when it came under fire. Something or someone was shooting at their aircraft from above, possibly with a heavy weapon considering the amount of explosions being emitted. Shress look up and snarled, there, on the top floor, was another demon, firing a large weapon at the Phantom.

Shress roared, "Concentrate your fire!" as she raised her twin blasters and started firing. The other Sanghilis followed suit, Plasma and Needler shards zeroed in on the demon location, forcing it to seek shelter.

Once the demon was no longer in sight, the Phantom got closer to the building once more, with its flaps open. Kova jumped in first, then Dinjit toss Kova Yudam's body before he too jumped on board. Shress was about to go next when the demon return and stated firing on the Phantom again. She turned and fired back with her rifle before yelling into her comms. "Pilot! Leave, get the data back to Holy Retribution now!"

"But Zealot, what about you?" Dinjit asked after hearing her orders to the pilot.

"I'll be fine Dinjit." she took a breath and said in a low and dangerous tone. "I'm going to kill a demon even if it's the last thing I do."

The Phantom broke away from the building and hovered off towards the far off mountain range. Satisfied that her team was away, Shress turns to the Special Operators, but before she said anything, the screaming of dying Covenants grew thick in the air. The demons were closing in.

The Operator that spoke to Shress then gave the command. "Active camouflage, now!"

Instantly all the warriors, including Shress, shimmered before disappearing, awaiting the demons. Shress readied both her blasters and her sword; ready to cleave the poor fool who dare came their way.

They didn't have to wait long before a lone figure ran onto the upper floor with a heavy weapon in hand and a human rifle strung on its back, it was the demon; Michael.

Shress felt a consuming guilt weigh down on her, but she shook it off and growled, resolved to kill the monster before her.

Before she could shoot however, the lead Operator step forward and let loose a plasma shot. It was as if the demon was expecting it, at the unexpected appearance of plasma, he jumped to the side and fired two streaking suns towards the ambushers location. Shress and a few other Operators leaped away in time, but the leader of the group was blown to smithereens, along with two other Sanghilians.

Michael was reloading when the next attack came. An Operator ran forward with only his fists; determine to beat the demon to death. He was still invisible, but Michael somehow senses his attack and met him head on. He swung the massive gun around like it was a club and bashed the Operator against the wall. Meanwhile a second foe got behind the demon and raised his rifle and let out a burst of plasma. Michael duck low to the floor, allowing the burst of plasma to sail over him and hit the semi-stun Operator on the wall, draining his shield and killing him. Michael flips the massive gun around and fired from the hip, the glowing projectile hit the attacker and his form disappeared, leaving nothing but ash.

Shress and the last Operator hesitated as they thought their final assault through. The demon scans the area for any more threats before turning his attention to the sky. He started firing his massive gun into the air, knocking banshees out of the sky. While he was distracted, the Operator moved forward, with Shress at his rear. They split up and circled their prey, the demon seem to be too busy shooting down the purple aircraft he didn't seem to notice the two Sanghilis getting ready to kill him. They both stop when they were five feet away from the demon, the Operator in front of the demon while Shress was behind him.

Shress saw the Operator readies his rifle; remembering what happen to the previous challenger who attack with the rifle, Shress put away her guns and instead readies to use her sword. She was so close there was no way she could miss her target and the demon still did not realize he was surrounded.

She breathed steadily, getting ready to attack. Should the Operator miss, it'll be up to her to finish off the alien. But even if he does hit the demon, she will sink her blade into the demon anyway and ensure that he'll have the painful death she promised him long ago.

Patiently the two Sanghilians waited for the perfect moment to strike. That moment came when Michael lowered his gun to reload it, leaving him vulnerable. The Operator moved forward and fired in a vertical motion to ensure he doesn't miss. There was no way the demon could escape death now (to Shress's disappointment.)

Suddenly the demon flipped the gun vertically and held it in front of him. Some of the plasma bolts struck the make shift shield while others pass its sides hitting the demon, but not badly enough to get through his shields. Michael threw the gun at the invisible attacker, out of reflex the Operator swat it away, causing his shield to shimmer, revealing his form. Before Shress could do anything Michael flip the rifle off his back with one hand and fired his weapon using every projectile in the gun until it was empty, leaving the Operator dead at his feet.

Shress moved forward to cut off the demons head, but then he used his other hand and brought out a smaller gun he holstered to his hip, a gun she didn't see until now. She tried to halt her charge and get out of the way, but Michael shot her in the head before she could. The piece of flying metal struck her shield, and obliterated her camouflage. The demon kicked her in the chest, making her double over like before, draining her shields. Now she had no protection, death was upon her for a gun could kill her faster than her sword could slice the demon.

She stayed in her feeble position, waiting to be shot, hoping her demise will be as quick as the Operators. She waited for death, but there was nothing, a unit has passed and she was still alive.

Slowly she raised her head and look at the blue demon before her. Michael was still holding the gun, pointing it at her face, but no shots were fired. They stared at each other for what felt like units to Shress, her mind still wondering the same question over and over again. 'Is he going to kill me?'

Slowly Michael lowered his gun, once again sparing Shress's life. Astonished by the act of mercy, she peered closer at the demon in a new light, truly he must be a very honorable warrior or he could just be plain stupid.

Michael raised two fingers to the side of his head; it stayed in that position for a while before he lowered them. He looks at Shress and spoke in her language, "Miss La' Vdamee, if you want to live longer, I suggest you turn invisible again."

While Shress had her full attention on the demon, she didn't realize her shields and power was reenergized again. Before she could change her mind, she activated her camouflage once more and became invisible. She didn't move from the spot, she wanted to ask the demon questions but before she could, she heard an odd screeching sound and looked up at the same time as Michael.

Two human aircraft sped by at an extreme speed; they approached the corvette, before breaking off. To Shress they seem to have done nothing, then before her eyes, there were a flash of light as a ray from the sky streaked down and went straight through the ship. Shress watched in horrid fascination as one of the Covenant ships, her ship, crashed into the ocean and slowly began to sink. Like flies flocking to a carcass, human ships descended upon the down vessel. She turned to Michael, preparing to ask a question when she was interrupted.

The massive demon from downstairs had walked up behind them without being heard, quite unnerving seeing how large it was. It spoke in the odd human language and put a hand on Michael's shoulder. Among the Sanghilis, to touch someone was seen either as a challenge of strength, or to show a sign of love towards another. Yet Michael didn't act either way, the two demons seem to be having a conversation, Shress was wondering if Michael was telling the giant about her, but neither of them look her way. The giant put two fingers to his head like Michael a few units earlier. He tapped his head again and seems to be talking in midair for he wasn't looking at Michael. The giant turned then said something to Michael and they walked away from Shress and head back inside the building.

Before they left Michael turn his head and look at where Shress was standing. He checked to make sure the giant was not looking before he raised his hand slightly behind his back, spread his fingers and waved his hand side to side, just like the last time they saw each other.

Shress watched them depart. After a unit, she turn and look at the far off mountains, she started moving towards it but stops. She looks between the mountains and where the demons disappeared to. She sighed as she thought to herself. 'you're an idiot." Then she turns and followed the two demons back into the human complex.

**Six's POV**

"Man that Doc Halsey knows the perfect way to rain on your parade." Emile muttered darkly as the Spartans slowly ate their MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat).

Noble Team sat in the atrium while the Marines secured the perimeter, they would have loved to help but Holland thought it was best that the team rest before performing any more operations. When they started to protest, Holland reason that they have to be rested should the Covenant come back, and the way he said it convince them to stay put, like he knew they would be back.

Kat angrily chew on a power bar as she spoke. "No kidding, did you hear how she was talking to me? She was ready to court martial me for attempting to look at "classified" materials. If it was classified it would have said so!" she finished angrily curling her hand into a fist.

Six looked up from his partially finished trail mix and asked, "Kat, if something is encoded, doesn't that make the material classified?"

"Six." Kat said rather calmly. "Shut up."

That caused Emile to laugh. "Six, you just learned a valuable lesson, never be smart with Kat, especially when it concern Doctor Halsey, the ultimate control freak."

Jorge, who was oiling his gun, looks up and said. "Halsey isn't that bad."

Emile responded with. "Yeah, she's all hugs and cuddles when it concerns you big man, unlike us, she got to mess with your genes."

Jorge didn't say anything; he had no idea how to respond.

Six looked at Jorge with sympathy. It was true what Emile said, Halsey adores the Spartan II's because she, as Emile puts it, gets to mess with their genes. Halsey worked hard to ensure that her creations, the Spartans, would be the perfect soldiers to have ever lived. After the II's creation she cut the program because she was unable to find any more subjects that matches the DNA she hypnotize to make the best Spartans. This did not bode well with command, against her wishes, the UNSC created the next class of Spartans without her consent. Every time anyone so much as mention the new Spartan IIIs, Halsey instantly goes sour, she doesn't admit it, but she sees the IIIs as abominations of her Spartan project. There has always been bad blood between the IIIs and the IIs because of that rift, even with Jorge. Working with Spartan IIs was always a challenge since they thought of Halsey as a saint.

Obviously aware by the tension in the air, Carter stood and said, "I think it's a good time we turn in Noble, get some shut eye, Sword Base is offering us our own rooms, but they'll be on different floors."

"That's fine with me sir," Emile said, "But I don't think it's a good idea to leave Six on his own, he could get lost and wander off."

"Cut the chatter Emile. I've uploaded your rooms to your HUDs, Holland has declared tomorrow a free day, but I warn you to keep your weapons nearby, no telling what the Covies are planning to do next."

Feeling drain by the events of the day. Repelling invading aliens, hand to hand combat with Hunters and the awkward meeting with Shress, Six excused himself, place his helmet back on his head and walked to the fifth floor, where his room was located.

As Six traveled upward, he passed Marines recovering from the battle, some were shell shocked, wounded or reorganizing their squads. They already removed the bodies of the aliens, gather their fallen and now were washing away the blood from the floors and walls.

Six was glad to find his room. It was clean, not real big, and only had a cot, the only thing Six needed at the moment.

Six closed the door and was starting to remove his armor when he paused. He felt the hot breath, smelled something not entirely of human origin and though he saw the air ripple out of the corner of his eye. Six was instantly on alert, but trying to appear as harmless as possible, he sighed and asks in alien. "Don't Sanghilians know how to knock?"

Six turns on the spot and stared at empty space before him. There was nothing for a moment, but then the air shimmered like a desert mirage and there standing before him was Shress. Or at least he hoped it was Shress, it was a Zealot, that much was obvious, but there was no way he could distinguish if it was her or not, yet something in the back of his head was telling him it was her.

The Elite was an intimidating sight, red armored, seven feet tall, and covered in red and purple blood and gore. Her weapons were hanging from a belt on her hip, but Six was still tense so he kept his hand close to his rifle that was lying on the cot.

They stared at each other, blue faceplate meeting shadowed eyes, waiting for one or the other to speak.

Finally deciding to break the tension, the Elite spoke first. "That was the second time you could have kill me, and now this is the third time you have an opportunity to kill me, why don't you?" she asked with obvious curiosity.

Six thought for a while, trying to find an answer, but couldn't. The first time they met, he was set to kill her, but when she gave him a chance to duel for his life, he felt indebted and decided not to kill her. Yet this second time there was no debt, so why couldn't he kill her? 'It's wrong' a voice said in his head. 'It just felt wrong.'

Taking a breath he just said. "Because I just don't feel comfortable killing the only Sanghilian who's willing to see humans as equals." That wasn't exactly the truth since he didn't know the answer himself, but it was the best he could think of at the moment.

The response seems to have satisfies the Elite, who simply nodded back and said, "This is obviously a sign from the gods, we are meant to meet each other, but why?"

Six had some idea what she was talking about but said, "Look lady," he stops, wondering whether if she'll see his wording as an insult so instead said, "I mean ma'am, I'm not really that much into your gods, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a sign, it could be a a " unable to find the alien word he used the human one. "Coincidence."

Shress cocked her head to the side and asked. "What's a coincidence?"

"It means it could just be an accident that we met," Six finished.

Shress shook her head, "There are no such things as accidents."

"What are you a Zen master?" Six asked.

"A what?"

"Never mind, look I'm not really convinced on destiny and all that stuff but I don't think us meeting is fate."

"So, you are saying it's an accident that we are allowing each other to live?" she asked in an innocent tone.

Tired and uncomfortable, Six stated. "Believe what you want, but for me I can't believe there's some mythical voodoo going on that's keeping us together."

"Voodoo?" she ask.

"Magic!" Six said suddenly in an exasperated and loud voice.

Shress took a step back and moved her hand closer to her belt of weapons.

Seeing the movement and hoping to defuse the situation, Six slowly raises his hands and said calmly. "Sorry, but I'm tired and rather exhausted after today. I'm not in the best of moods to speak." Remembering what he read of Sanghilian culture, he slightly bows and said. "Please Shress La' Vdamee forgive me, Michael, Noble Six, for my outburst and not treating you like a proper guest."

He saw Shress's mandibles slightly open as she recognizes the Saghilian gesture. Surprised again by Six's knowledge of her people. She return his apology by bowing and saying. "You are forgiven, Michael, Noble Six." As she rose, Six felt her eyes studying him before saying. "I agree, you are too tired to talk."

Gratefully Six nodded his head. "Yes, thank you for understanding."

"You clearly need to rest and some time to think." Shress continued.

Again Six dipped his head and said. "Yes, thank you."

"Therefore we'll meet again later." Shress bowed to Six and said. "Farewell, Michael." She said as she turns to leave.

"Farwell Shr- wait, what!" Six ran in front of her and blocked her from the door, "I'm sorry Shress, but you can't return, it won't do neither of us any good if we are seen together by humans or the Covenant."

Shress look down, stared at the floor for a moment then looked up. "Agreed, have you been into the mountains before?"

"The mountains?" Six asked making sure he heard correctly. Yes, he has been in the mountains, when he was six years old, he and his fellow trainees would hike through the high cliffs on their own during their Spartan training. Aside from that he hasn't been in the mountains for a long time, this was his first time back on Reach after graduation day.

Unaware of Six's complications, Shress said, "In the mountains, there's a knoll, on the west side of the fourth largest peek, can you meet me there? Tomorrow, at high noon?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Six finally stuttered.

Shress nodded and said. "Then I will see you then, rest well Michael."

Six stepped out of the way of the door and said. "Same to you Shress."

Six watched as she activated her camouflage and went out the door, completely invisible to the UNSC forces.

Six closed the door, now too tired to pull off his armor. He walked to his cot and crashed on it in full gear, his last thought was. 'Michael, you're an idiot.'

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sorry for the wait everyone. They just came out with pokemon Sheild and on top of that I have gotten a cold. It may be another week or two before I am able to release any more chapters.

It has also been brought to my attention that many of my readers fear that I will give up on this story. I have already started planning on continueing into the halo 4 and 5 storylines.
I will continue this story and I will finish it.

Jtf0012 out.