**Six POV**

Strange birds call out to one another like the gulls of Earth as they flew in their flocks along the coastline. Their graceful shapes darted among the dark spray slicked rocks under the brilliant sunlight as foamy water rushed up the pebbled beach. The sky was tinted blue with rolling white clouds spaced out across the heavens; the scene would have been almost lovely if it wasn't for the attacking aliens.

Six watched as the human base on the shoreline of Farkas Lake took a beating as low flying spacecraft assaulted the unprepared fortress. It had been designed to hold off an attack by human insurgents, not alien invaders. Plasma rounds, mortars and torpedoes slam into the stronghold as the human defenders rushed to either hold off the Covenant forces or to purge the base of any "classified" material.

Six was starting to regret coming up with the crazy idea that the team was now following, but it was too late to change his mind. The plan was already in motion. The Saber squadron was already assembled within the facility and now all they needed was for their fourth member to join them.

Jorge was sat next to Six, as the Falcon got closer to their objective, the large Spartan leaned closer to Six.

"Are you sure?"

Six turned to Jorge and nodded. He had chosen Jorge to be his co-pilot for three main reasons. One, he knew how to properly use a computer, something Emile had somehow bypassed during training. Two, they were going to hijack a vessel, so he needed someone who was good in close-quarter fighting. Three, he was reliable, not that no one else is reliable in Noble team, but secretly Jorge was the closest thing Six had to a best friend and he needed some reassurance during this mission.

Six couldn't retain his snort, he already has a friend up in space, the question was how would the rest of the team, no, how would the rest of humanity react to her.

Before he boarded the helicopters Carter pulled Six to the side and sternly told him to not tell anyone else of Shress's existence. Until they know for sure her alliance with the UNSC is stone solid, they decided not to inform the admirals of Earth until the operation was complete. If everything Shress said was true and if she empties the ship of most combatants, then Carter will start to consider trusting her.

Six glanced upward as if he could see the ship, The Long Night of Solace as Shress had called it. She said she would be riding on the corvette they were going to take over, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't be in the line of fire. Holland told them they will be given a frigate to help soften the resistance. She was a Zealot, but that made her an even bigger target. She might get hit in the crossfire, or worse, a boarding party member may gun her down before he could tell them to stand down.

At this, he glanced at Jorge. His home is under attack and though he doesn't say it, he shows it through his body language that he found this enraging and he would be willing to kill every Covenant on sight. Six hoped he could stop him before they come upon Shress. He had tried to convince Carter to let him tell Jorge about Shress but Carter refused, only if it was 'absolutely necessary' could Six tell Jorge about his otherworldly friend.

"We are touch down in three, two, one,"

As the pilot counted down, the Falcon swept in low to the ground, allowing the Spartans to jump off and fan out as the helicopter quickly took off again. Six, Jorge, Kat and Carter checks their sectors before falling back into formation.

Once it was deemed safe, Carter got on his comms.

"Jun, status."

"Emile and I are on station, want us to come down? Emile is getting twitchy up here."

"Negative. Provide air support but do not engage, you're our only ride out of here."

"Confirm Commander, will stay on station, over," Jun says before ending transmission.

Jorge lumbered forward and nodded to the distant base.

"Bit of a walk to the launch facility."

"Any closer would be too hot."

"Copy that Commander," Kat says.

"Alright, let's move it Noble,"

Carter ordered, as he gestured for Jorge to take the lead. He and Kat sprinted forward. Six was about to follow but was stopped when Carter puts a hand on his shoulder and whispered.

"I hope your "Informant," he stressed, "is reliable, I'm risking my team by following this plan."

Six merely nodded back.

"Its ok Carter, I'll watch his back."

Carter continued to stare at him before he asked.

"And this Shress?"

Six hesitated.

"Well she trusts me, so I suppose she'll watch out for Jorge as well, but if things go as planned she should be off the ship along with most of the crew."

Carter didn't nod or shake his head, he just stepped back. The only thing he said with was.

"I hope your right Six,"

Before he turned and sprinted after Noble Team. Six silently sighed under his breath, before he took off after his CO.

"Me too."

They ran alongside the coastline, their heavy alloy exteriors caused them to sink into the wet sand, but other than that nothing got in their way. As they approached the Spartans soon saw that the defenders of the base were on the wrong side of a losing fight. Dark plumes of smoke rose to the skies, no doubt along with the death toll. The base was already full of holes and judging by the crisscrossing bolts of energy that shot out of them, it seems ground troops were engaging in close-quarters combat.

They were less than a hundred yards away when they heard a strange squeal fill the air. Noble Team looked up just in time to see the first pod drop. It landed directly in front of them. Before the main hatch pops open, allowing an Elite Ranger to jump out. They divided and sought cover behind the boulders that stretched out across the beach before the alien began firing.

The plasma bolts ate away at the rocks that provided the team with protection while additional pods crashed inland. Four more Elites were on the beach, this time they were regular soldiers, and one pod brought along five Grunts.

It was a pitiful excuse of a fight. Noble team focused their fire on the Ranger until it dropped. Seeing their leader fall caused the Grunts to panic, forcing the Elites to break ranks in an attempt to restore order, but all they did just made themselves easier targets. Barely five minutes passed before corpses littered the seashore. With Noble once again on the move.

The Eastern entrance defences were battered to a pulp. Burning Warthogs and overturned Wraiths mark the spot of a major engagement. Bodies, both human and Covenant were cast around the area like broken toys. As Noble ran forward, Six couldn't help but notice the light crunching noise of glass as they ran towards the door. Positioned in front of the entranceway were a mountain of sandbags and other wreckage, hastily piled in a futile attempt to keep any outsider out. The Spartans easily jumped over the obstacle, with the exception of Jorge who had to first throw his gun over before he jumped. Carter got on comms once more.

"Noble to Launch Base, we are directly outside the Eastern Entrance, open up."

It wasn't long before the doors opened to reveal two weary faced Marines. Their eyes were wide and staring, armour coated in gore and their limbs refused to stop shaking. These soldiers weren't far off from shell shock.

Behind the soldiers was an equally battle endured Staff Sergeant, but her hard looks suggest she was the most level-headed of the group at the moment as she shouts to people behind her.

"Spartans coming in, watch your fire!"

Gracefully, the Spartans entered and reduced their sprint to a steady trot. The hallway they were in was evidence enough that the enemy was inside as well as outside. Panels were torn open, pipes were loose and hissed out vapour as they passed by and though there were no broken forms scattered about. The walls were splattered with multiple patches of blood, ranging from dark red to lime green and bright purple. Six couldn't help but wonder how many had soldiers died here.

They reached a pressure door that was supposed to lead to the command centre, but when they pass through to the other side, there was nothing but wreckage. The roof was partially caved in and buried most of the room, while another gaping hole revealed the open courtyard outside that was, at the moment, full of Covenant troops and Wraith tanks. The only personnel in the room were a handful of Marines who were playing at sharpshooter through the gap in the wall. One of them, a Sergeant Major, was helping a wounded man to safety; it wasn't long until after making their observation that Noble realized he's the highest-ranking soldier present. Carter walked over to the Marine.

"Where's Commander Kelvin?"

The Marine seems unfazed to be speaking with a Spartan, he just gave Carter a sad glance and jerked his head at a pile of wreckage behind him.

"He's over there."

Carter didn't miss a beat.

"Where's the launch pad?"

The Sergeant jerked his head again, this time to his left.

"Through those doors, we've mostly cleared the halls of Covenant, mostly."

Carter nodded to him.

"Once the Sabers are clear, pull your people back and withdrawal to checkpoint Gamma. Transport will be waiting for you and your team."

The Sergeant let out a heavy sigh.

"Another retreat sir?"

"This will be the last one."

The Sergeant sighed again before he turned and walked away, but he called over his shoulder as he left.

"Heard that one before."

Carter didn't comment, instead he turned to his team.

"Alright, let's move it people."

The Spartans moved down the indicated hallway, passing more and more signs of bloody warfare. On the wall Six saw a sign that indicated the launch centre wasn't too far away.

Suddenly a side door open and a human Marine was thrown through it. His scream was cut short as he hit the opposite wall with a sickening crunch before he fell limp to the floor. Following the flying Marine was an Elite regular, its blue armour slightly tinted red with human blood.

It turned at the sound of pounding feet and lets out a defiant roar. Kat was the closest to the alien, who seemed to have thought her small stature made her as a weak target. Big mistake. The Elite made to smack Kat with its oversized hand but Kat ducked and ran forward. She kicked the alien's out bent knee, causing a loud crack that made the leg twist into an unnatural position. The alien went down, as it howled in pain. Kat ended its suffering by pushing the muzzle of her Magnum under its helmet and she pulled the trigger. The alien was dead in less than a minute. Six admired her efficiency and realised once again how they could inspire such dread.

'Maybe the exaggeration that Spartans were demons weren't so farfetched.'

The Spartans ran deeper into the facility until they reached the control room. The technical marvel would have shocked just about anybody, the high tech computers, the advanced systems, and the mere futuristic appearance was breath-taking. It was however ruined by the bodies, white coated scientists and battle grimed Marines were spread out on the floor, across the consoles or slumped in their chairs.

This would have driven anyone mad, but the trained Spartans marched by the carcasses as if they weren't there. Kat got on the main computer and started to type at five hundred characters per minute. The rest of Noble locked down the room, mostly checking all the shadows and locking the door. To keep himself busy, Six began to police the bodies for any critical data or in the case of the Marines, to take their dog tags.

He paused and guiltily took a shotgun from a deceased soldier. He was trained to use any and all available equipment to his advantage, but he felt uncomfortable taking things from the dead, even if they don't need it anymore. His guilt was short-lived however as Kat completed her work.

"Got it."

The blast shields that were covering the floor to ceiling windows opened to reveal the Saber. The Saber was the first space plane and only one of its kind; smaller than a Long Sword but more effective than a Short sword as well. It sported three thruster rockets, a manoeuvrable shape, multiple missile pods and a thirty mm Gatling gun. Most spacecraft are designed for air-to-ground engagements, but after the first encounter with the Covenant, ONI had begun investing and creating ship-to-ship attack planes, a new era of space warfare.

It was the greatest of luck that ONI had constructed the first Saber prototype on Onyx, the training facility of the Spartan IIIs. Lieutenant Ambrose had realized that he had the opportunity of creating the ultimate lone wolf in front of him. Since he had all the equipment and the advanced technology he could hone a soldier into a one-man army. Six remembered the excruciating training and the brutal mental mathematics he had to perform to learn how to pilot the thing. Even now, years later, Six glared at the contraption, having remembered the intense work he had to put into the effort to fly the vehicle to his instructors' satisfaction. Meanwhile, Kat continued her diagnostics of the awaiting fighter.

"Checking circuitry, and done, the ship is prepped. all systems go."

Carter acknowledged her, then turned to Six and Jorge, his tone brisk and no-nonsense.

"Jorge and Six, get on that Saber and get going."

"What about you and Kat?" Jorge asked.

"We'll exfil on Jun and Emile's Falcon while providing support for the Marines while they fall back. Now get going."

"Come on, let's move Six,"

Jorge with sudden determination turned and started to jog to the door that led to the Saber. Six quickly slung his new shotgun onto his back and followed.

The door to the launch area grudgingly opened to reveal an Elite, but before either of the Spartans could fire, the large alien fell forward and landed in a crumpled heap in front of them, fresh bullet holes were visibly oozing bright blood on its back.

Glad not to be delayed, the Spartans continued to run forward. Along the railing that led to the Saber, ragged bloody Marines stood at full attention, giving the Spartans a salute. Which was against protocol; never salute in combat, you're just making your CO easier to locate and assassinate. Six just ignored them, they were probably caught up in the moment, a valiant last stand, two heroes about to fly off on a suicide mission. Combine this with the prospect of their world being saved, it must have been enough to get the Marines to act as if this was a big movie.

'Everyone here must be turning into a nut case.'

Finally, they reached the ship. One thing Six didn't like about the ship was the vertical insertion. A feature of the Saber was its ability to be able to be launched into space without the need of being cargo on a shuttle ship. This remarkable and evolutional idea, however, didn't suit Six nor his near ton partner. Using their upper body strength, the Spartans lifted themselves into the compact cockpit. There was barely enough room for them, the ship was designed to carry average-sized pilots wearing coveralls, not six foot Spartans in their MJOLNIR armour.

Once inside, Six placed his weapons under his seat, partially jamming them into the confined space. Jorge, however, was forced to leave his machine gun behind and he had to hope that Anchor Nine could provide him with a replacement.

Once he was buckled in, Six started to twist knobs and press buttons, feeling instinct take over. The years of repetitive practice were finally paying off. He twisted his head to look at Jorge.

"Prepare to do a system check."

"Didn't Kat already do that?"

"Yeah, but I don't trust machines, it is also basic protocol to do one last manual check before taking flight in any and all aircraft. Besides, this will get you familiarized with the equipment you are going to use."

"Alright then Six, what do I do?"

"Switch on the console, first flick all the switches on your left, twist the blue knob in the upper left-hand corner of your screen and connect the system to your HUD so it'll be easier for you to keep track of things," Six instructed.

He listened as Jorge performed the following actions and heard him mutter his vexation with the complicated systems..

"Whatever happened to the simple on-and-off switch?"

Once Six saw the console begin to glow he continued to give instructions.

"Check the manifest data and tell me our load."

"Missile pods; full. Gatling gun; full. rocket fuel. Full-on all engines, shields; is one hundred percent charge, and the radar is fully functional as well."

Six nodded in satisfaction.

"I'm going to test our engines; they won't ignite, but tell me if the images of the rockets are highlighted as I check them."

"Roger."

Taking Jorge's answer as he focused on the screen in front of him Six pressed on the buttons and pulled on the stick in front of him, trusting in Jorge's abilities.

After a few minutes of repeating the process, Jorge confirmed the checks were successful.

"All rockets are ready to go."

"Ok, all systems are check and I suppose we'll just have to test the weapons once we leave the atmosphere, ready?"

"No, but let's do it."

Six tapped in more commands into the dashboard in front of him and uploaded the controls to his HUD as he spoke into his radio.

"This is Saber 2-4 reporting in, over."

A rushed voice responded to him, the local accent bleeding through every syllable.

"About time 2-4. All Sabers prepare to launch, in T minus twenty seconds."

Six started flipping switches and taking off the safeties to the booster rockets that were strapped to the side of their ship. After he flipped the last button, alarms began to flare and the connections that had been attached to the ship began to slowly move away. Energy levels within the Saber's rockets begin to build as well as the countdown continued. The Saber leader counted down over the radio.

"Launch in T minus five, four, three two, one, launch."

The entire world seemed to shake as the booster rockets sparked to life and began blowing out thick white smoke. It felt like the ship was going to shake itself apart, but instead of crumbling to the ground, the ship began to ascend into the sky. Throughout the facility, three more Sabers were taking to the air as well, all billowing white smoke as they blew upwards, like a cork from a champagne bottle. The four spacecraft soon became small dots to those on the ground as they head to the darkness of the cosmos.

Despite the dire situation, Six couldn't help but feel excited, he enjoyed launches, from the heart-stopping actions, to the changing view of bright blue sky into fading to a jewel speckled darkness. He couldn't help but challenge himself to keep his eyes open against the G forces pushing him into the cushions of his seat as he absorbed all the sensations. He could hear Jorge move slightly, he was probably discomforted by the sudden and violent movement. This take-off was quite different from a regular shuttle or space elevator lift off.

The atmosphere seemingly tried its hardest to keep the Spartans on the planet as it's grasping fingers were burned away from the area around the cockpit by their speed. Bright orange flames seemed to originate from the ship as they hurl to the stars like a brilliant comet. Finally, they passed the point of no return and the flames slowly died as they left the skies of Reach and entered the wider universe.

No sooner did they pass this point, than the rockets stopped blowing and the Saber begins to float, as it coasted forwards into the eerie blackness. The rockets began to break away from the Saber, stripping the ship bare until it looked as if it had shrunk to a third of its body size.

'Such a waste.'

Six thought as he watched the booster rockets drift away. He had once read somewhere that this was how the first shuttles were able to get into space.

'I wonder if that's why there's so much junk flying around Earth.'

"Activating primary thrusters now."

Six reported, although it was unnecessary as the ship began to move forward. The other three attack space crafts had already lost their rockets and had formed into a formation. It'd been a while since Six has last flown a Saber and now he struggled to remain in perfect formation. Jorge, by contrast, had seemingly settled into his role and had already scanned the surrounding area.

"Large structure at our twelve o'clock. I think it's Anchor Nine."

Sure enough, a large shape appeared in the debris field, revealing itself to be a massive space station. It was nearly the size of a skyscraper, and the enormous Frigate currently dock within it proves that fact. Anchor Nine looks just that, like an anchor, three shielded openings mark the landing strips for small crafts. Hundreds of mechanical arms protruded from its exterior as it tends to the needs of any and all ships, most of them are deactivated, and the only ones that are moving are currently tending to the needs of the Frigate. The squadron leaders voice came over the radio as he conversed with the station.

"Anchor Nine, this is Saber one-four, is the package ready, over?"

"Not yet one-four, give us a few minutes and we should... Hang on Sabers we have slip space disruptions. It's the Covenant!"

As if on cue, there was a small bang and right at them came a dozen space Seraph fighters.

Six pepped the ship for combat.

"Guess now would be a good time to test the weapon systems."

**Shress POV**

Shress watched as the Phantoms, Spirits and Banshees left the ship and travelled to the surface of the human world. She was still unable to believe she was able to get them to leave.

At first the Shipmasters of the Ardent Prayer and The Long Night of Solace, were completely against her the moment she voiced her proposal. They wanted everything to go smoothly with the arrival of the Prophet of Mercy and thought that the presence of a large crowd would please him. Though they did not voice it, Shress also knew they didn't want to be taking, or even consider listening, to the ideas of a mere female.

It took all of Shress's self-control not to roar in the Shipmaster's faces. Instead she patiently went through the reasons she has invented why the troops should be sent to the surface. She had questioned them. What could be more glorious in welcoming a Prophet other than a victory against the humans? The show of their might may interest the Prophet of Mercy who may bestow honour among the fleet for their accomplishment. Furthermore there's no doubt that once the Prophet arrives he will wish to begin working on the Navigator. Which Shress pointed out was still in human territory, she suggested using the ground troops to take the location. At first both fleet leaders were planning on glassing the site clean of the human presence. Until she pointed out that they may accidentally damage the Forerunner artefact and would be executed for their actions. Regretfully the Shipmasters acknowledged her claims and allowed her to order her soldiers from the corvette.

Her small army followed her command for departure despite their grumbling among themselves, They muttered about having to leave the safety of the ship to fight in a battle that could easily be won without their help.

'And to think I'm doing you a favour.'

She thought as another group of Sangheili's walk by, audibly cursing the human world for the rough ground they'd have to sleep on that night. They wouldn't realize how lucky they were, leaving this doomed ship before it's destroyed.

'That is if the humans succeed.'

Shress silently pondered to herself. She had never seen a space battle where the humans are the victors, what chance could they have now?

'Well they have Michael.'

She reasoned and then paused at her thought.

'What did that mean?'

Now that she wondered about it, she had been thinking about Michael a lot lately. She longs for his presence. He was the only one that comforted and bestowed confidence upon her. He was the only one that did so willingly and not just because of her rank. She wished to speak to him, to rid her mind of worries, just for a bit. To ask of the abnormality of the human life and how being a demon made him different from other humans. She wanted to look at his face, an alien that wished not to kill her. A strange appearance that has caught her attention more effectively than that of any other human, or Sangheili for that matter.

She also wanted to feel his warm and reassuring hand touching hers and now, after getting over the initial shock, she enjoyed having him rest a hand on her shoulder. It just felt so so alien. Four long clawed fingers, that was the hand of a Sangheili, the only hand that has ever touched her skin. The smaller and five-digit hand of a human was quite different though. Especially with the lack of distance between the two's bodies. Normally by Sangheili standards to touch a female would mean the male wanted to court her, but the way Michael does it suggests that this was not the case with humans. Her observations of humans touching each other proved that point, she remembered watching human soldiers as they casually grabbed and slapped each other's hands, backs or other sorts of places, which suggested their emotions weren't so reserved either.

'I wonder how Michael sees me. Am I really as different from my brethren as he says I am? Does he see me as an alien? After all he did admit he forgot how I am different from him, did he really mean that? I wonder if he's just interested in my figure like the other males I have come to know.'

Suddenly her thinking ceased and she felt herself freeze after that last thought. Did she really just think that? Why, oh why did she think something as stupid as that?

'He's a friend'

She tried to reassure herself.

'He's also a human. There's no way he could ever think of me in that way and even if he did it just wouldn't work out, especially now, and with all of the risks I'm taking at the moment, it wouldn't be so surprising if I end up dead in the coming week.'

Her internal musing were as always interrupted, but this time it was by a growl.

"Commander."

Shress wasn't surprised when she turned from the loading docks to face a tense Dinjit. He kept his gaze down and his whole body was rigid. She mentally moaned to herself at the sight of her awkward suitor.

'How long until this fool gets all his anger out?'

Despite the spiny irritation clawing inside of her, she spoke in as tolerant a voice as she could manage.

"Yes Dinjit?"

He raised his head and gave a stiff salute to her, although he refused to meet her eyes, instead he stared over her shoulder at the wall as he provided his status report in a raspy voice.

"All the soldiers are on board, we are awaiting you to join us,"

Shress nodded before she picked up her bag at her feet.

"Very well Dinjit, let us depart before-"

"Commander."

Another voice called out, interrupting her, but when she turned to face the new speaker behind her, both she and Dinjit bowed their head when they saw the golden armour of the Ardent Prayer's Shipmaster.

"Yes sir?"

"The Prophet of Regret will be here soon, as such he wishes to see you. So I suggest you put someone in command of your legion while you wait for his arrival here on the Ardent Prayer."

Shress felt the air leave her lungs as she repeated the Shipmaster's words she has heard in her mind.

'The Prophet of Regret wants to see me? Why? Is it true he can see into the future? Is it possible that he saw me betraying the Covenant?'

As suddenly as they came she shook those thoughts from her mind.

'The Prophets are liars, and with them in their chairs, she doubts they have any power at all. Now that she thought about it, if the Prophets were so powerful then why do they not heal themselves so that they may walk?'

Still, they are the strong leaders of the Covenant and her people will not hesitate to follow their orders without question or hesitation. She took a shaky breath before she responded.

"Very well. Thank you Shipmaster,"

She did not dare to lookup, for fear the shipmaster would see the raging battle of emotions within her through her eyes.

The Shipmaster only grunted before he walked away. Shress puts her bag down and turned to Dinjit.

"Ranger, I want you to lead the legion while I wait for the Prophet's arrival."

She expected Dinjit to look happy at the short term promotion, instead he sneered disdainfully.

"Me? Not Kova?"

Shress turned sharply to Dinjit and let out an angry growl as bitterness coloured her thoughts.

'So that's what this is about. How dare he!?'

Kova is a mated male, she would never do something as disrespectful as to try and steal him from his mate.

"Dinjit."

The Ranger took an involuntary step backwards at the deadly toneless voice that his name had been uttered in.

"I am a Zealot, a Zealot. If you accuse me or even suggest that I perform unclean acts with my own soldiers again, I will personally rip your heart out and force you to eat it!"

She suddenly roared to get his full attention. Seeing his startled look she calmed her voice and glared him down.

"Understand?"

Dinjit's mandibles were slightly agape as he took in her fury, but he eventually bowed his head in submission.

"Yes Zealot Vdamee, please forgive me, Dinjit Darbee, for my disrespectfulness."

The use of the formal apology didn't move Shress, she had just shocked the Ranger, and she doubted his apology was sincere.

"Just go and keep my soldiers under control."

Dinjit nodded before he walked to the Phantoms and started to bark orders at the remaining troops, many of whom were frantically at work and avoiding the closer areas to their commander.

With that matter settled, Shress sighed and silently prayed that the human attack would be successful, even if it meant her death. At the moment she would rather be anywhere else in the galaxy than to be in the presence of a prophet.

**Six POV**

"Come on! Hold still!" Six muttered.

His Saber chased after a pesky Seraph fighter that kept evading his attacks. If it wasn't for its garish purple exterior and the trail of blue energy it left behind, he was sure he would have lost it. The Seraph flew through a debris field and cut close to Anchor Nine's hull, its petite body making tight turns that threaten to lose the pursuing Saber. Once it made a sharp turn and fired its weapons, nearly hitting the Spartans ship. He heard Jorge shift uncomfortably behind him. Raw determination filled Six as he pressed down on the thrusters and closed in on his elusive target, accurately lining his sights up.

"Gatling gun?"

"Spinning hot."

Six pulled the trigger and watched as bright yellow light suddenly flashed on the nose of his craft as the bullets flew at the Covenant fighter. The shields glowed a bright blue, then purple, then red. The Seraph jinked and spun, trying not to lose its protection. Finally the shields faded away, leaving the ship vulnerable.

Six has made the mistake of trying to destroy the fighter with the gun during their last encounter, not wanting to risk its escape again, he called out to Jorge.

"Missile pods?"

"Armed and ready."

"Firing,"

Was all the warning for Jorge before he released the payload.

Four red dots blasted from the openings on either side of the cockpit before the casing released the armed missiles within and bright yellow replaced the red dots as the ordinance flew to their target. The Seraph desperately tried to get away, but it was too late. The missiles slam into the fighter. It flips in circles after the first two hits before the third and fourth finally finish it off, causing the ship to disappear in a ball of flames. The bright blue light broke the blackness of space for a bit before it faded away and the crispy remains of the alien craft float away to join the rest of the trash floating in space.

Satisfied that the threat was neutralized, Six spun the ship around and headed back to Anchor Nine, preparing for another engagement. However once he got there, Jorge reported.

"Radar says the area is clean."

The lack of shooting and the floating destroyed Covenant space ships confirms that fact. The Saber squadron fell back into formation as they received a transmission from Anchor Nine.

"Spartans, space is clear, you are now authorized to link with the station, over."

"About time."

Six commented and directed their Saber to head to the space station. As they approached the station, both Spartans couldn't help but marvel at the massive command centre.

'It's a floating glorified garage.'

They docked outside the third entrance of the station, long metallic arms reach out and held their craft in place. The radio crackled as Anchor 9's operator contacted them.

"Spartans, to your left is the Slip Space drive, we already modified it and attached a detonator to it, it is now a fully primed bomb,"

Both Spartans turn and saw at the first opening a pelican, with a massive piece of machinery sticking out of the rear. The Pelican was already a large aircraft, yet despite this, a large chunk of it was sticking out. People, technicians Six guessed, float around the craft doing final check-ups.

Six turns to Jorge.

"You ready?"

The bomb needed an escort, one by air and one by ground. Six was flying since he was the only one who knew how and Jorge would be with the ground security detail. Until they arrive at the Corvette and powers down its defences, they're splitting the Spartans up. So if one should fall, the other will ensure the success of the mission.

Jorge sighed.

"Let's do this."

Six nodded, completely understanding Jorge's unspoken thoughts, and opened the hatch. Oxygen vented out of the ship, but their MJOLNIR armour kept them breathing easily.

Six watched with uncertainty as Jorge floated out of his seat, grabbed the side of the ship, and pushed himself forward, causing the Saber to rock in its moorings. Six watched his friend fly across the blackness known as space before he threw the switches again. The cockpit closed once more and the robotic limbs released their hold on the ship. He backed away before flying off a bit, keeping a careful eye on Jorge, if he missed the Pelican, then it was up to Six to fish him out of space and bring him back to try again.

Jorge was still soaring through space, awing Six slightly as he watches the giant fly as if he was meant to. Sudden bright lights caught Six's attention, for a terrible moment he thought it was another Covenant space attack. But with mounting horror, he realized the bright flashes were coming from Reach. Giant explosions were blossoming all over the surface, as fire consumed the planet and Six felt his gut wrench, thinking of the millions of people on the ground. He quickly called the AI.

"Dot what's happening?"

"Large scale Covenant bombardments are taking place,"

As always Dot's response was cool, no emotion in her smooth robotic voice. Jorge chimed in himself, concern colouring his tone.

"No joke? How bad are we hit?"

"Billions of casualties, mostly civilians. The cities of Manassas and Quezon has been completely destroyed."

Six tried not to think badly of Dot as she told them the body count, so ordinarily as if she was telling them the weather.

"Military casualties are peeking into the thousands. I am sorry Noble Five, but Sword Base has been destroyed. The whereabouts of Doctor Halsey is unknown."

Six didn't know how to feel about that last part. He was devastated by the number of people dying, yet out of all them he was finding it hard to find pity for Halsey. The woman has been causing him grief ever since he first arrived, toying with him, disrespecting him, spying on him and trying to throw him in the brig multiple times. Hearing she could be dead didn't cause his heart to stir for the irascible doctor.

"Noble Five?"

Dot's question brought Six out of his thoughts and he quickly looked to see where Jorge was. He had safely made it to the Pelican, having grabbed onto its side to catch himself. He seemed alright, but Six thought he heard him say something.

"Goodbye ma'am."

Now Six felt sympathy. Halsey was the closest thing the Spartan II's had to a mother, and she was gone. Before he could say anything to comfort his big friend, the radio crackled to life once more.

"Noble Six are you there?"

Identifying the voice as that of colonel Holland, Six answered.

"Go ahead sir."

"I'm guessing you can see our situation from way up there, the situation has just became dire, I hope that idea of yours will work."

"Sir, it will,"

Six states, although it's more to reassure himself then the officer.

"Understood Spartan, the UNSC Savannah is the one that donated its drive to your cause, and so it will be accompanying you to lend you all the support it can."

Six glanced at the said frigate, which was now bringing up the rear as the Saber team led the way to face the Covenant threat. He watched as Jorge's Pelican made it on board the shuttle before he responded.

"Don't worry Colonel, we'll get it done."

**Shress POV**

Shress tried to not appear too anxious so she wouldn't cause suspicion to rise, but how can she not look nervous when the leader of the Covenant, the holy government that Shress is helping to betray, is coming? His wanting to speak to her, and the fact that she was on a ship marked to be obliterated. It didn't calm her at all.

She tried to make herself appear as if she was sleeping on the chair she occupied, but she didn't know if her rouse was working. All around her, the deck crew of the Ardent Prayer was going this way and that, trying to position the Corvette directly over the highly populated human centres. Shress shuddered with the ship as she thought of the millions of innocent people dying at that very moment, killed by her command.

'How calm they are walking around, unknowingly killing, murdering, for no apparent reason.'

The thought sickened Shress as she watched the crew walk to their consoles and perform their duties. The Shipmaster meanwhile stood in the middle of the activities and watched the genocide below his feet, looking if anything slightly bored.

Shress wanted nothing more than to leave the deck, but to do so would be rude, even if she said she was tired, that would not excuse her. The Prophet would be here soon, the humans needed to hurry up with their assault before he…

A shout from one of the Sangheili at a console interrupted her.

"Shipmaster, a human attack force is approaching sir."

Shress almost let out a sigh of relief until the Sangheili spoke again.

"It's just one ship and it's smaller than the Ardent Prayer."

Shress could just feel her heart sink at those words.

The Shipmaster just snorted, although whether in disgust or amusement she couldn't tell, he dismisses the report with a contemptuous flick of his wrist

"That's no trouble. The patrols can handle this ship on their own."

With that, the bridge crew returned to work, as if the arrival of the humans were nothing more than a bug crawling on their foot. One that would soon be squashed.

Shress sighed and huddled on her chair again and closed her eyes to hide the pain from her fellow comrades.

'Was Michael on that ship? Was he about to be killed, is there anything she could do to help?'

No, she couldn't, she was only trained to fight in combat, not to pilot a large spacecraft. She couldn't even activate some of the defensive weapons on this ship and use them to destroy the Covenants own ships. Even if she did know she would be killed on the spot for helping the enemy by the bridge crew.

For five agonizing units, Shress sat in the chair pretending to doze while her whole body tingled with worry and guilt, thinking that her friend was going to be killed by her plan for sure. Suddenly the same crew worker shouted.

"Shipmaster! The humans! They, they destroyed all the ships in the patrol!"

Every Sangheili eyes widened at these words, never before have they heard of a human ship destroying an entire patrol of Seraphs. She couldn't help but wonder if the demons had something to do with it.

"All of them?"

Demanded the shipmaster as he gripped the rail guard around his podium and thought for a bit before commanding.

"Get the Ardent Prayer into an attack position and prepare to fire upon this ship."

"Shipmaster, small human vessels are approaching."

The shipmaster didn't even glance at the reporting engineer.

"Activate the forward defensive systems, that should destroy them."

"But sir," the same engineer shouted again.

"They, they have already landed on the Ardent Prayer."

"What!"

Thundered the shipmaster as he spun to glare at the offending engineer.

"How, I thought the hanger doors are shielded?!"

"They are shipmaster, but the humans landed in a blind spot on top of the Corvette, they might already be inside the ship."

Seeing an opportunity to leave the deck, Shress rose

"Shipmaster, permission to find the humans and eliminate them?"

The shipmaster just nodded and growled through his clenched mandibles,

"Yes, go and find the heretics and kill them, kill them all!"

'Not likely.'

Shress left her response unsaid as she turned and strode from the deck.

**Six POV**

The Ranger had barely climbed onto the roof of the Corvette when Six jumped him. He wasn't well suited for EVA combat, but he was able to take the alien down none the less. A quick thrust with his knife caused the blade to sink within the shields and deactivate them. He then twisted and yanked the knife out. Six was slightly disturbed as he watched the alien twist in circles as it slowly ran out of air. Soon, the still body begins to float away, nothing more than an empty shell now, just another part of the surrounding debris.

He brought his attention back to the task that was at hand now. The Saber squad stood around him, all nervous. They'd been trained for air combat, not close-quarters fighting, this would be their first time shooting for some of them. The black-suited pilots looked like ODSTs, but their quivering movements gave away that they knew nothing of the bravery that propelled the Marines into danger so willingly.

Six could only hope that the six men attack team he was leading wouldn't lose their heads. He had enough problems to worry about. Without having to watch them and make sure these men won't get into any trouble.

"Alright, let's do this people."

Command given he descended through the large hole in the floor. The interior of the ship was strange as always. With its smooth curves and the pulsing walls of energy it almost seemed as if it were a living organism. There were multiple levels in the room he found himself in, he had no idea what the place's purpose was, but before he could think more of that matter he saw moment,

"Contacts!"

The battle went smoothly, his warning had saved any of the green pilots from harm. Although it was only a small skirmish. Something the Spartan was grateful for, they didn't have much time left now. With the limp bodies of the Elites floating around in zero-g, the humans moved forward and enter a corridor. Once the door closed behind them, air and gravity returned, keeping the soldier's feet planted firmly on the floor. Satisfied at the current lack of opposition he quickly flicked his radio on again.

"Captain, this is Noble Six. We are on board and are now on our way to the hanger, over."

"Good job Noble,"

Despite the praise, the captain's voice was strained and in the background Six could hear shouts and blaring alarms. As if knowing what he was thinking, the Captain continued to speak.

"The Covenant has launched a full-scale attack on the Savannah, we are keeping her together, but we can't last much longer. I sent the bomb to your location, drop those shields and get it ready to blow, we can't last forever out here."

Despite the steadiness there was a pleading note in the man's voice. Six could do little to reassure the man however.

"Sir, we'll get it done,"

No sooner did he finish speaking, than they arrived at another door and opened it. Six was relieved to find the hanger. While it wasn't as large as a UNSC hanger it was still huge. It was thankfully vacated of any other craft, all of which must have been launch before the attack force arrived. There were two levels, one of which had a console and other controls on the second floor on the other side of this mechanical chasm, their primary objective.

Seeing the same thing the Spartan was gazing at, one of the flyers started to move forward.

"Wait,"

Six called, but the man kept walking, unconcerned. He only twisted his head round to look at the Spartan.

"Why? It's just right-"

Suddenly a purple spike shot out of the shadows and hit the man's helmet right in the centre. The pilot didn't move, frozen, but then the crystal imploded, blowing the man's head apart along with it.

"Ambush!"

Six shouted before he jumped behind cover. The other men tried to follow his lead, but a pilot, still traumatized by his comrade's sudden death, stood still, until plasma fire hissed forward to cut him down. Six assessed the situation.

'Two pilots down in less than a minute. This isn't going well.'

Six tried to get a lock on the shooters, but the attackers were invisible, literally.

"They're Stealth Elites,"

Six warned the remaining improvised troops.

"Watch the shadows."

No sooner did he say that he then he heard a strangled cry and turned to see what was happening. Another pilot was down. He was floating in the air, body limp. The head rolled to the side, the smudges on his throat indicated the area as the spot where the killing hand was clenched.

As one, the humans lowered their muzzles and open fire; a barrage of assault rifle, battle rifle, and SMG bullets tackled the strangler. The alien's shape was outlined before its camouflage failed, and then the shields, and finally, the masked Elite let out a gurgling scream before falling. The human pilot's corpse, shot up as well, fell to the floor alongside his killer.

Six couldn't believe it. The pilots were dropping like flies and the remaining survivors were now shaking out of control. Their movement was twitchy and unpredictable as they wildly swung their weapons around.

'This is why I don't work with others, and certainly why I'm not meant to be a team leader.'

"You two,"

He called out to get their attention and pointed to the pilots with assault rifles.

"Give me cover fire, and you."

Here he pointed sat the last man, whose clenched hands were gripping his SMG.

"Watch the shadows and make sure we don't get flank, got it?"

The men nodded their understanding.

"Alright, covering fire!"

Before he ran from cover and headed over to the controls.

No sooner did he start running, than a hail of plasma rounds came out from three corners and began to eat away at his shields. Six leapt and rolled, avoiding some of the fire, before coming up in kneeling position as he started to shoot at one corner. The same process, took place, the cloak evaporated, then the shields, and finally the Elite.

He turned to face the remaining two tangos, but saw a blue grenade fly towards him. He dropped to the ground and activated his armour lock system, but the grenade sailed over him.

Six grunted.

"Hah, missed".

Then he stopped. He was too close to the Elites. There was no possible way they could have missed him. Unless he wasn't the target.

Six deactivated the lock and jumped to his feet. He turned just in time to see the grenade detonate. The pilots had seen the threat land within their area and tried to run for it. In their crazed escape, one tripped a fellow pilot and together they crashed onto the floor, still inside the kill zone when the grenade exploded. The last pilot who survived the bomb paused to take a breather, but he was right in the middle of an exposed landscape. Six shouted a warning but it was too late. Another needle was launched and buried into the man's chest. He looked down at the shard in shock before it discharged, and took the pilot with it.

Six stared at the men he was responsible for, all dead, in less than three minutes. The fire started up again, and Six turned, eager to gain some vengeance. The two Elites were spaced together so Six hurled a grenade as well. The attackers got out of the way while suppressing Six. The Spartan dodged the shots before returning fire, dropping the now exposed enemy fighters.

The whole battle took only five minutes. In that time, ten beings were killed, six humans and four Elites. How was it Six was still alive? Because he was better, because he was more determined, or was it just because of plain dumb luck? Six didn't know and at the moment he didn't want to know.

He turned and continued on with the mission. It was all he could do at the moment, honour these men sacrifices and save as many lives as possible. He walked up to the strange holographic controls and pressed the one with the "open" glyph. Now he was thankful for all the glyph studying he had been doing with Shress.

He keyed his comms once more and reported in.

"Jorge, you're clear, get in here and let's finish it."

"I hear you loud and clear Six."

A few moments later, a Pelican flew into the hanger and landed on the main landing pad close to the centre, the bomb clearly visible in the rear.

Out of the Pelican clambered Jorge, the Spartan struggled to wriggle past the makeshift explosive device without disturbing it. Once he was out, he reached back into the vehicle and brought out a massive machine gun, similar to the one he left behind on Reach.

"Is it just you?"

Six asked as he walked up to Jorge, who has turned to face him casually hefting his gun.

"Why? You disappointed?"

"Hardly. Did you fly this on your own? I thought you didn't know how to fly."

"I know how to fly a Pelican, but not a Saber, besides, Dot did most of the work, gave me directions and I just followed them."

Six could just hear the smile forming on his friend's face as he let out a shaky breath.

"Well, we are just about done, now we need to move the Corvette closer to the Super Carrier."

"How do we do that? You didn't go over that part of the plan with me."

Six continued to elaborate the plan for his friend.

"It's quite simple, the ship mostly pilots itself, on the deck there's a command switch that we need to get to. It'll put the ship on a course heading to the Carrier for a refuelling run, hit the button, arm the bomb, and get out before it rips up the dimensions of space, that's it."

"Somehow you make the simplest things in life sound like the hardest things in life,"

Jorge commented dryly before he hefted his massive gun.

"Well let's get moving then."

Six didn't move with him as he voiced his thoughts.

"There are still enemy combatants on the ship, maybe you should hang back and protect the bomb."

"Not going to happen."

Six tried to protest but Jorge continued.

"Look, we need to get this tub moving and we're neck-deep in enemy territory, if you fail we need a back up in order to ensure the mission is a success."

Six sighed as he listened to Jorge recite protocol at him. He has no idea why, but he just didn't like the idea of working with another person on missions any more. Especially after he witnessed the bloody deaths of the pilots he had been charged with leading and keeping safe.

"Fine, you win, let's move,"

Six said as he abruptly spun around and led the way to a door on the left side of the Pelican.

Six began to tamper with the controls while Jorge watched the rear. It wasn't long before the big Spartan broke the silence however.

"You know where you're going?"

"Positive, the deck is located directly at the front of the ship."

"How do you know that?"

"I was briefed about it before the start of the mission."

Six stumbled over his words as he tried to pull a convincing story out of the air.

"Why are you and Carter the only ones who know about the plan and the rest of Noble don't?"

Six was starting to feel uncomfortable so he hurried in opening the door.

"Well because um, Carter and I are the only ones allowed access to certain assets."

"What assets?"

Jorge questions suddenly sounded a lot more demanding.

Before Six could answer the doors began to open. Jorge snorted.

"Finally you got it."

Six turned to Jorge and quietly reported.

"That wasn't me, someone is opening the door on the other side."

The Spartans raised their weapons and waited as the strange door unlocked itself before pulling apart to reveal the next corridor. Stood in the hallway was an Elite in red armour, an armour system that Six instantly recognized. In that split-second he could only question.

'What is she doing here? She was supposed to have left with the rest of her troops.'

Suddenly he heard the clanging of a round being chambered and panicked. Shress was in danger.

Without thinking, Six jumped in front of the Zealot, before he turned to Jorge and shouted.

"Wait!"

But it was too late. Six could only watch as the bullets flew from Jorge's gun and feel the force of them hitting his body.

**Shress POV **

Shress saw the blast roar from the dark muzzle of the giant demons' weapon and realised that she was as good as dead before Michael jumped in the way.

She watched in stunned horror as her friend was lifted off the ground by the impact and flung backwards. Before he landed in a crumpled pile right at her feet.

His shields were clearly down, his chest armour blackened and he wasn't moving.

Fearing the worse, Shress forgot about the giant demon and his gun and dropped onto her haunches her face inches away from Michael's helmet.

"Michael!"

She called out as she gently grabbed his shoulder and shook him a bit. He still didn't move. Shress had no idea what to do. While she was trained in healing arts she had no idea if she could help her human friend. She didn't even know how to get his armour off to inspect his wound. She feared that his lack of response meant that he was badly injured.

'This can't be happening, I can't lose him, I can't! He's the only one that I can call a genuine friend, someone I can rely on, someone I can trust, the one who has helped me see the truth and is offering me a new life, he can't be gone.'

"What's going on here?"

Shress looked up at the giant demon, his destructive gun trained on her, but she hoped he was still too shocked, too surprised to fire off another shot.

Before she could think of an explanation, she heard a cough and looked down at the blue-clad demon.

He still didn't move and for a moment she was afraid she had imagined the sound. Then Michael raised a hand and rested it on the side of his head,a groan of discomfort projected by his suit.

"Oww. What just happened?"

Happiness and relief flooded Shress's body as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Michael, are you alright? Where is your injury?"

"Shress?"

He sounded slightly confused as he looked up at her, but all she distorted image of her own face reflected back from his blue faceplate.

"What are you doing here? You were supposed to leave with the rest of your troops,"

He tried sitting up before he groaned and clutched his stomach. Shress tried to help him up by grabbing his arms and gently lifted him off the floor.

He stopped halfway to his feet and looked at the large demon.

"Did you shoot me?"

Shress desperately tried not to laugh, despite the near-death experience, Michael sounded more offended and angry than fearful and shocked.

The demon remains silent, it or he as the roughness of his voice suggested, just stared at Michael and Shress, like him never seen them before. Michael tried to get him to respond

"Jorge?"

He tried to step forward but found was held back by a familiar hand on him.

"Uh, Shress, you can let go now."

Shress then realized that despite the fact Michael was back on his feet, her hands were still locked onto his shoulders. She hurriedly let go with a mumbled sorry.

Michael looked up at her as if he could hear her embarrassed tone. It made her feel uncomfortably warm and she tried not to look into his faceplate.

Michael looked away from her and turned to his demon brother.

"Jorge, you alright?"

The demon, Jorge, just continued to gaze at them, switching his gaze between the two of them before he finally settled on Six.

"Spartan, what is going on here?"

'Spartan? Is that another name for Michael, or is it what the demons call themselves?'

Deciding to leave it for now Shress made a note of it and reminded herself to ask Michael about it later.

"Um, right. Well remember those assets I was telling you about earlier?"

Michael asked as he waved his hand back at Shress.

'Did I do something wrong, what is an asset?'

Jorge continued to gaze at them before he demanded.

"How? What did you..."

Shress couldn't tell how the demon was feeling and began to wish he would put the large gun down, or at least point it away from her, until he regained control of his emotions.

"Look, I'm sorry Jorge but long story short, I met Shress, she knows how much trouble the Prophets are causing, and is now willingly helping us, she is our new informant, and she was the one who supplied us with the intel we are currently using for this mission."

"You're following the words of an Elite."

Jorge suddenly stated as he pointed the weapon in Shress's direction. She self-consciously stepped back and kept her hand close to her belt of weapons. Noticing her movement, Michael puts himself back in between Shress and Jorge once more before he continued to talk.

"Yes Jorge, I am, and so is Carter. It is because of her knowledge that we've made it this far. She emptied the ship of most of the Covenant troopers, she gave us the intel on how to infiltrate the ship and she was the one who told us how to get the corvette closer to the carrier, it is because of her that we are still alive."

Six finished, still stood firmly in front of Shress, his own gun held loosely at his side.

Shress continued to watch Jorge, wondering what he would do next. She trusts Michael and had lost her fear of him, but she felt that old fear return as she watched the huge demon before her, as he weighed her life in his hands.

Jorge's silence lasted for whole units. The whole time of which she couldn't tell if he was going to kill her or not. Now was the time for her to rely on Michael to keep her safe just like before, after they had first met.

Eventually Jorge sighed and lowered the weapon.

"Six, I expect you to tell me the whole story when we get out of here."

Shress let out a relieved sigh, this was the second time that week she thought she was going to be killed.

'All these near-death experiences aren't good for my health'

She thought amused but she still felt her nerves twitching from the event. Michael must have noticed there was something wrong with her and took her hand in his.

The gesture was so familiar, but now she somehow felt different when their hands touched. In her mind's eye she remembered his body lying at her feet, looking as if he had passed. Remembering that moment made her feel slightly humiliated as she recalled the words that had echoed in her head at the thought of the human dying. It wasn't until then that she realized how much he meant to her.

'Does that mean I'm actually developing feelings for him?'

Shress remembered how at first she felt disgusted by the prospect when he accidentally said something among those lines back on the mountains seemingly such a long time ago. Now she wasn't so sure of how she felt towards the human.

She looked back up and saw Jorge staring at their joined hands. Slightly embarrassed Shress released Michael's hand and they both looked away from each other awkwardly.

"If you two are done, we got a job to do."

Jorge reminded them before he focused on Michael.

"Six, which way from here?"

Shress wondered who he was talking to, before she remembered when they first met, Michael had told her his name was Six.

'Why does he have a number for a name? Could it be used to represent his family name?'

Michael responded evenly to his fellow demon, as his hand gestured to her.

"Shress, can you lead the way to the deck?"

Shress wasn't so sure how to respond. She was fighting for humanity now, but she wasn't so sure how she'll act if she is forced to fight a fellow Sangheili.

"Just show us the way, and we'll take it from there."

Shress was slightly unnerved that Michael seems to know what she was thinking, but she simply nodded in confirmation.

Michael turned to Jorge.

"I'll move ahead and set the ship on the refuelling run, you can stay and prep the bomb."

Jorge looked doubtfully between Michael and Shress.

"Six, if you fail, how will I know this Zealot will complete the mission?"

Shress growled, quickly earning her Jorge's attention.

"My name is Shress La' Vdamee, and I took an oath to defend the innocent and fight for the weak."

"So where were you twenty-seven years ago?"

Jorge response cut her. Shress tries not to show it, but the comment caused her surfacing guilt and pain to be released and spread within her once more.

"That's enough, Jorge, she's on our side. We will not fail, protect the bomb and we'll be right back. got it?"

Shress could have sworn she heard a hardening edge in Michael's voice.

Jorge stared hard at Michael before he sighed and says.

"Well what are you waiting for then? You and your girlfriend better get going."

Shress cocked her head at the unfamiliar word.

"His what?"

Michael hurriedly grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Jorge.

"Nothing, I, I'll explain later,"

His rushed response failed to satiate her curiosity but before she could ask any more, the door behind them closed and they were alone together in the corridor.

Soon Michael released her and she walked forward leading the way. They came to the battery station, the room before the deck, Shress signed for Michael to stay back while she enters the room. Inside she saw a Sangheili engineer at one of the counsels. The man was busy firing salvos of plasma at the human ship, a widow in front of him showed the ship that was now so badly damaged that it looked as if the entire vessel was on fire. She signalled to Michael of the danger, he nodded and silently moved forward. The room was mercifully empty of any other presence, Shress watched the deck door to ensure no one would walk in and surprise them, but she also did it so she wouldn't have to see Michael kill one of her brothers. Someone who was to die simply because of his belief in an already blood-soaked fictional cause. Against all her training, she closed her eyes when she hears the strangled cry before the silence returned.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched badly before turning back to look at Michael, who also took a step back from her, sensing her fear. She sighed and nodded, she was alright. Suddenly there was a flash of light that lit the room from the outside and both turned to look for the cause. She quickly skimmed her eyes past the lain out body to the view through the window.

A new miniature sun had seemingly formed outside the window of the corvette. Shress was confused, how could a sun so small appear so quickly? Then the bright fire begins to dim, revealing the remains of the human ship. A skeletal form of black smouldering wreckage that now floated among the stars. Shress stared at it in a new light, a ship, full of valiant defenders, all gone, all that was left of them was their charred vessel, a dark grave marker.

She felt a hand on her arm and turned from the view to face Michael.

"Is the deck beyond those doors?"

She was taken aback when she heard the coldness in his voice.

She simply nodded in response before he continued calmly.

"Why don't you stay here Shress? Make sure no one is following us."

'And ensure you won't see the carnage.'

She knew that was the main reason why he wanted her to stay. Regardless she just nodded in confirmation before he walked away, not looking back, as he unslung the rifle off his back.

His chilling demeanour, the way he wasn't looking at her, and the hardness of the voice betrayed his anger.

'Was some of that anger aimed at her?'

Shress waited outside of the room. At first she heard nothing, and then she began to hear the heated whine of plasma, the blasts of a loud weapon, and the dying roars of a Sangheili. She tried her best to block out the sounds and focus on watching their flank. But she couldn't get the sound of her brethren dying out of her head.

'Am I doing the right thing? Isn't there another way to end this? I wish I had the ability to tell the people of my race that they are being used, but how? I only learned of it by befriending a demon, by breaking the law, something no other Sangheili would do, and those that do are punished.'

She sighed as these thoughts raced through her mind, she wished more than ever now that there can be some way of informing her people they are being deceived. However she could not yet to figure out a way without getting herself denounced as a heretic and killed.

Suddenly she lost her footing as the ship made a sharp turn. Remembering the view from the deck and quickly estimating the heading of the ship, Shress figures Michael must have won and had sent the corvette on a course to the Long Night of Solace.

The door opened and Michael strode out. His weapons were back on his back and his rigid posture had seemingly softened,

'Has he worked off his anger through killing?'

"Sorry if you heard anything unpleasant."

Michael stopped in front of her and looked at her.

She shrugs and simply responded to him.

"Let's get back to Jorge,"

In truth, for the moment she had no idea what else to say.

The two of them began to walk back to the hanger, silent, unsure of what to talk about. Shress would have loved to talk to Micahel about anything, but at the moment she was actually afraid of him. Never before has she seen him that angry and now she feared that some of it was directed at her.

"Shress, what are you going to do now?"

His sudden question caught her unawares.

"What?"

"Are you going to come back with us, or are you going to try and regroup with your soldiers?"

Shress glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but the human kept his gaze pointed straight ahead, not even glancing at her. She sighed.

"I don't know Michael, maybe I'll go and try to find the Covenant. I'll be of better use to you as a spy rather than anything else. And well, your friend Jorge, and no doubt others like him, looks like he's ready to kill me at the slightest provocation. So...,"

She left the sentence hanging there, unsure how to finish.

Unexpectedly, Michael took her hand in his and squeezed.

"Shress, if you come with us, I swear, I'll do whatever I have to, to keep you safe."

She looked intently at him and this time he met her gaze.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah I am. We're friends, I won't let any harm come to you."

She should feel happy after that statement, but all she actually felt was a little saddened when she heard him call her a friend.

'Stop that!' she berated her errant mind.

Before she could say anything else though, they arrived back in the hanger. Jorge was pacing around the human aircraft, keeping it safe from harm. They walked over to him, seeing his gaze fixed on them Michael informed him of their success. Jorge only grunted his acknowledgement. Before turning to face Shress, gun held ready.

"Alright. No problems I assume?"

She growled again, disliking the demon more and more.

"I am an honourable warrior, I keep my promises."

Jorge gave her a strange look/

"Are you a New Harmony Ian?"

The question took Shress off guard and she replied in her regular tone.

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

Michael stepped forward then.

"It's just an accent problem we haven't worked out yet."

"Worked out yet?"

Jorge asked disbelievingly, but he shook his head and moved over to the bomb.

"Aliens sounding like they're French, now I have heard everything."

Shress turned to Michael giving him a quizzical look.

"What is an accent? People seem to notice but I don't know what it is."

Michael looked up at her and after a moment answered.

"An accent is, uh, it's just that you sound different from others, it's quite common on Earth, because of our different languages, like Jorge,"

He jerked his head towards his demon brother.

"Notice how his words sound different from mine?"

Shress nodded her understanding before another thought crossed her mind.

"So, how does an accent sound like?"

"I don't know, they're all unique, all sounding different."

"So, how does my accent sound?"

She silently prayed that he wouldn't say it sounded like Jorge's.

"Well kind of nice, almost adorable really."

Just as Shress felt herself grow warm again, Michael added quickly.

"In a friendly way of course."

Before Shress could ask if this was how he truly felt, they both heard a bang and turns to see Jorge walk over to them.

"Well, good news and bad news guys. The radiation from the bomb messed up the Pelican, so the only way off this thing is gravity."

With that, he pointed out into the darkness of space, causing Shress to become nervous. Michael still looked hopeful.

"And the good news?"

"That was the good news."

Jorge responded as he removed his helmet and let it drop to the floor. Shress couldn't help but stare at the human. He seemed older compared to Michael, grey hair, wrinkled skin and what she found quite peculiar, he had fur growing above his mouth. If it wasn't for the situation at hand, she would have found the partially furry face look highly amusing.

"The bad news is, the timer is also fried, it has to be activated manually."

Shress had no idea what fried meant, but she understood manually. Michaels suddenly stiffened body didn't soothe her growing foreboding either.

"That's a one-way trip."

Shress instantly knew what Michael meant, among her kind, the road to death was seen as the final journey, one of them had to stay here to detonate the bomb.

"I know."

Jorge touched his neck and yanked off a necklace. A necklace similar to Michael's.

"Listen, Reach is everything to me, don't let it die,"

With that he placed the necklace into Michael's hand and held on tight, before he then looked to Shress.

"And I hope what Six said about you is true."

Before she could protest, he grabbed her arm and she was surprised when easily he lifted her off her feet, along with Michael in his armour. Grunting slightly, Jorge carried them to the hanger entrance. Realizing what he was going to do, Shress made sure her shields were activated.

Jorge paused, looks at her and Michael one last time before saying.

"Tell them to make it count,"

And with that, he threw the two of them out of the ship.

Uncertain whether it was her or Michael who brought them together, all Shress felt was his arms close around her and she returned the embrace. She would have felt embarrassed, but at the moment all she was thinking about was surviving the inevitable crash.

As they fall, they watch as the Ardent Prayer inched closer and closer to the Long Night of Solace, both knew what was going to happen, but were still shocked at what they saw.

The Ardent Prayer disappeared in a sudden blinding flash as an intense force of energy escaped from it. Space suddenly began to warp around what was once the Ardent Prayer, bright blue light that soon intertwined itself with the Long Night, unfolding itself until it was the size of a small star. But, just as quickly as it formed, the blue light collapsed on itself and shrunk away into nothing, taking the midsection of the Long Night with it. The prow and the stern of the ship hung there for less than a minute. Then violent explosions of plasma showed themselves, encasing the remained of the ship in spectral blue flames.

'He really did it.'

Shress thought as they fell to the human world, as she thought of the giant demon in a new light. The demon that she thought was a threat, was as cocky as Dinjit. He had just sacrificed his life willingly, without even looking scared. A feat that many Sangheili warriors would have admired.

She thought she felt Michal clung onto her tighter and she returned the embrace, mostly to comfort him as he had comforted her. Soon they begin to fall into the atmosphere, the pressure building as the air thickened, colourful flames surrounded them in a beautiful yet deadly display. Now she was hanging onto Michael more to reassure herself rather than him, pressed close to his body for proof that they were both still alive.

There was another flash of light and Shress felt her stomach drop when she heard the boom, it wasn't a weapon launching. It was worse. Together, the pair of falling warriors looked and saw above them was another Covenant ship. Soon, one by one, more and more started to appear, an entire fleet was arriving, first dozens then over a hundred ships, Shress recognized the capital ship in the middle of the flock of metal giants, the dread weighing her stomach down even as she fell.

'The Great Prophet of Regret had arrived. They were too late.'

But before any other thoughts enter her mind, the bright orange flames intensified and her shields started to grow weak. She clung on to the human close to her with all her strength and said a silent prayer as she begins to blackout from the pure force of gravity as they fall from space. A brilliant blazing comet foretelling to any observers that the most moments events for their world were yet to come.
-

Thank you to all of you who are coming back and to all of those who are new I say welcome.
I have had some people ask if I will change things and make it may own. I will change little things, maybe even add some scenes. If you have any ideas I will be happy to hear them. Just remember any and all changes are my choice and mine alone.
To those of you are asking for updates. The two stories I am working on right now are Dirty Blood and this one. I will also Say thank you to my editor Verbus for all his work. I may have copied it but he worked his magic to make it how it is now. Send him your thanks people.