Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.
A/N: Like Eric Nylund and William C. Dietz said, Spartans do things out of duty, not out of cruelty...or at least the Master Chief does. This holds true for most of the Spartans, Younger or Elder. They do things out of necessity, not out of personal pleasure...well, that might be a bit open to argument, but the bottom line is, they do things because they have to. They have no choice, and if they enjoy it in the process, so what?
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Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant
Chapter 17
Going in Feet First
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Ship Master Zita Hinomee was discontent. Despite the best ID checking sequences and security, the Demons had somehow landed upon his ship, the Forbidden Destiny. Now there were reports throughout the ship, announcing him that the Demons are in that location and wreaking havoc. The only problem is that he got about four or five every minute. He roared his frustration and suppressed his urge to hit something as another report came in.
"Leader! The Demons have captured our last remaining armory on deck four!" a red Sangheili Veteran reported.
"Try to slow their advance at the best of your abilities young warrior and together, we shall crush these filthy animals," said Hinomee.
"Yes, Excellency," mumbled the Veteran Sangheili and he retreated.
"Nikolee! Milokaree! Start the self-destruct sequence. We're taking out all of the accursed Demons and, with this selfless act, we shall be propelled beyond and stars and into the divine beyond!" he ordered his subordinates.
Normally, a Sangheili Ship Master such as himself would not burden themselves with servants to help them, but Hinomee preferred giving orders to living things, as opposed to machines. That's why he had Nikolee and Milokaree helping him with the various command tasks. Some of his brothers didn't approve, but on his ship, he was God, so no one raised any objections.
"Wise decision, Excellency! Initiating the self-destruct countdown now! In exactly five minutes, this ship will detonate!"
"Good," mused Hinomee, glaring at the footage in their security cameras. Four Demons ran into view and opened fire upon their targets, which the camera did not see. Then one of them stared directly at the camera and destroyed it. A wave of static filled that holo-screen. Despite this, he smiled. "What will you Demons do now? Neither your prowess in combat nor your armour will protect you from the destruction of this ship. How will you survive?"
Then his smile turned into a vicious grin. "Simple. You won't."
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"Fire in the hole!" cried Kayleigh as she primed her last remaining frag grenade and lobbed it into a group of Jackals. The explosive hit the floor with a gentle ping. The Jackals, recognizing this object, shrieked in terror and tried to get out of the blast radius of the frag.
Boom! Five Jackals were blown to pieces. The three surviving aliens were knocked to the ground, gasping for breath.
"I got 'em," muttered Kyle over the COM as he opened fire with his dual submachine guns. The Jackals scrambled to get their shields into place but were too late. The five millimetre rounds penetrated their flesh and blood spurted from their wounds. Their screams of pain echoed in the empty corridor and died away.
"We must be getting close now," said Xiran. "They're putting up a real fight."
"There are more of them now too, I guess they really don't want us to find the bridge of this cruiser eh?"
"The Covenant have activated their self-destruct sequences and we have five minutes before the ship blows!" said Aphrodite over the COM suddenly.
"Do something about it!" replied Xiran urgently.
"We are. At this rate the self-destruct sequence should be neutralized in approximately ten seconds."
"Good, but just in case," he keyed to COM to Green and Gold leaders. "Secure those pods and ship fast. We may have to get out of here in a hurry."
"On it," came the double reply.
He snapped the COM and spoke to his own team. "Spartans, let's move!"
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"Excellency! Our plan has been discovered!" cried the Sangheili warrior known as Milokaree, one of ship operators aboard the Forbidden Destiny.
"How so?" replied Hinomee, his growl filled with chagrin.
"They have used their unholy constructs to stop our self-destruct countdown!"
"Awaken the Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Sangheili warriors that are still in cryo sleep!" he ordered. "Bring the ship up to Combat Alert Alpha."
"Yes, Excellency," Milokaree replied.
"And Milokaree," he added almost as an afterthought.
"What is it?" replied Milokaree, forgetting the customary 'Excellency'.
"Unleash the SpecOps teams."
Milokaree's answering grin was vicious.
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The seven Spartans under Xiran's command, plus himself, moved stealthily along a large hallway. Kyle was in front while Kayleigh covered their six. Everyone else was spaced out evenly so that one lucky grenade couldn't kill them all. At last, the hallway came to an end. A large door, enough to fit a Wraith through stood in their way. There was a holo-panel right beside it.
After pushing every button on the holo-panel, the doors still didn't open.
"Have you stopped the self-destruct sequence?" Xiran asked Aphrodite.
"Yes, we have to constantly monitor it though, in case they try to restart it."
"Good, let Tlaloc handle that. Can you open this door?"
"Sure thing, give me a minute."
That minute turned out to be five seconds. The great doors unlocked and slid open with a hiss. The room was large, about twenty meters high and numerous doors led to the side passages. Weapon crates were scattered all over, as if they were preparing to deliver them before the Spartans arrived. Four Apparitions were parked here, obviously out of commission. Great puddles of coolant and other various liquids resided beneath the transports.
"Looks like Alyssa's team was here," Dominique remarked smugly.
"Indeed, let's move on before Covenant forces arrive. Judging by the lack of bodies, they haven't arrived yet," replied Xiran.
A single sliding door beeped, signifying its opening. "Hide!" whispered Xiran into the COM. The Spartans slid behind the crates without making a sound.
Guttural barks and high-pitched voices identified the hostiles as Grunts. Dominique slid a length of fibre optics wire from behind her cover. Ten of the stubby aliens walked cautiously into the hanger, their needlers and plasma pistols ready.
"How many?" Xiran signed. Dominique placed her assault rifle on the ground without making a noise and raised ten fingers. Xiran looked around and saw that the Grunts were past Morgan and Kayleigh's positions already. He risked a bit of radio chatter.
"Plasma 'nades from behind," was all he said. Kayleigh and Morgan each took out a grenade and primed them. The explosives hissed and sputtered which caused the Grunts to look around, trying to find the source of the noise.
A bright blow orb flew directly at the aliens as they screamed in fright. "Grenade! Run!" cried the one in red armour, their leader.
The Grunts scattered in all directions, screaming in fright. Another plasma grenade sailed at the Grunts and latched onto one of them.
"Not again!" screeched the unlucky Grunt in panic. Xiran wondered about the implications of that for about half a second and found it mildly amusing.
The rest of the Spartans came out of their concealed hiding places and sprayed the Grunts with lead. The screaming was high and panicky as the Grunts were cut down one after another. The lead Grunt, who was more disciplined than the others, fired his needler at Kyle. He heard the sound of a needler being fired behind him and dived behind a purple weapons crate. Explosive pink shards bounced off the crate and exploded harmlessly in midair. Some shards imbedded themselves into the ground and detonated.
The Grunt kept firing until his ammo ran out. Realizing his mistake at the last second, he tried to reload as quietly and quickly as possible. Kyle, hearing the telltale kaching! of a needler being reloaded, jumped straight up into the air and unleashed a barrage of five millimetre rounds at the Grunt leader. The Grunt fell into a puddle of its own blood.
"That was just a scout. More will be coming any minute now. Let's move!" ordered Xiran.
"All of the doors on this level are locked, I'll override them," said Aphrodite, her voice calm. "Secure this door." A navigation point appeared on Xiran heads up display. "It's the fastest way to the bridge."
The Spartans sprinted noiselessly to the door. Just then, the door adjacent to it beeped and slid open. An Elite, followed by a platoon of Jackals and Grunts walked through.
"Engage!" cried Xiran, his assault rifle already spewing out deadly 7.62mm rounds. Spent casing fell to the floor with gentle pings. The Grunts in front were killed instantly as the hail of bullets greeted them. The Jackals immediately behind formed a defensive wall with their shields and the Elite crouched behind it. Safe behind the wall of plasma, the Jackals began firing their plasma pistols at the Spartans. Globs of molten glass flew as the bolts of plasma missed their intended targets and hit the unoffending walls. The Spartans continued to fire, trying to find a weak spot in their shields, but there were none.
A Jackal overcharged its plasma pistol and let it loose in Xiran's direction. The plasma's magnetic fields were automatically attracted to the Spartan's energy shields. With a sudden pop, the golden screen disappeared from around Xiran. The other aliens, sensing that he was weak all concentrated their fire on him. The Elite stood up and fired his plasma rifle at Xiran. That proved to be a terrible mistake.
As soon as the Elite rose from its crouched position, the other Spartans took aim with their assault rifles – and Kyle's case, double submachine guns – and fired as one. Lead projectiles impacted upon the Elite's shields from three sides. The personal shield of the Sangheili warrior flashed silver and was dissipated in a heartbeat. The other thirty or so rounds tore it apart.
One Jackal, hearing its commander fall, looked back in a startled glance. His shield slid ever so slightly to one side, which exposed another Jackal's leg. With his shields fully recharged, Xiran jumped out from his cover and fired a trio of rounds into the alien's thigh. The Jackal twisted involuntarily and knocked another one of its comrades' shield out of line. Dominique shot the second Jackal and it crumpled to the ground. With the Jackals out of line, the Spartans took advantage of the hole in the defensive wall.
Morgan primed a plasma grenade and threw it into the hole before the Jackals could close it. In panic, they dove in every direction, trying to avoid the blast. A big shiny crater appeared where the Jackals used to be and the Jackal patrol were five aliens short. Under the combined assault of the Spartans, the remainder of the squad fell very quickly.
"Got it. We should move through now, before any more reinforcements arrive," said Aphrodite. The marked door slid open and the Spartans ran inside.
The proceeded with caution and made their way down the hall silently. There were two sleeping Grunts guarding the door at the end of the corridor. They never woke up. The Spartans proceeded without another word.
The halls of the Covenant ships were confusing, and there were dead ends everywhere and the twisting and turning didn't help much either. The Covenant redoubled their efforts at self-destructing and that forced Aphrodite and Tlaloc to focus all their attention on that. Although Aphrodite and Tlaloc were smart AIs, they were one of the first ones made so they lacked the processing powers of Cortana.
Without the help of AIs guiding them, they had to proceed through the ship by trial and error. Eventually, after an hour of running through the ship and slaughtering its inhabitants, the control room was finally located. During that time, the other teams also achieved their objectives. The drop pods and Apparitions were secured, as well as the lifeboats, where were conveniently placed together with the drop pods. A dozen purple NAV points also marked where armories were.
Now four Elites in crimson armour stood on guard in front of a large sliding door, decorated with various symbols. They were alert and focused on the job. As soon as the Spartans slipped around the corner, their plasma rifles whined as blue plasma sprayed forth.
"Shit!" cried Kyle as he quickly sprung back behind the wall, his shields almost completely gone from the combined attacks of the four Elites.
"Throw a grenade around the corner," Xiran advised.
A plasma grenade was activated with a hiss and Morgan threw it from around the corner. A deafening explosion took place, but no screams of pain or even surprise. Two seconds of silence passed and an alien growl could be heard.
"They're still alive. Let's get them," suggested Dominique.
Kyle popped around the corner again and saw an Elite with the top of his body blown off. Only a hoof attached to four inches of leg remained. Another Elite was leaned against a wall with blood flowing freely from its mouth. It was still alive, but barely. The other two were alive and well, not to mention extremely pissed off. Xiran and Morgan marched out from behind their cover and took their places beside Kyle. The others stayed where they were to defend their comrades, in case there were attack from behind.
The Elites roared a battle cry and bore down upon the Spartans with their guns blazing.
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Klasz Hakamamee, otherwise known as Half-Jaw, prowled through the ship looking for something to kill. It just so happened that a squad of Demons boarded the ship he was on. No more than an hour ago, the Shipmaster, Zita Hinomee, ordered all SpecOps units aboard the Forbidden Destiny to seek out and destroy the Humans. So far, he had encountered none of the Humans, although there were many reports of other SpecOps squads going missing or killed. He silently cursed his bad luck and the incompetence of the other squads. How could they fail to kill a few weak Humans? How could they all lose their lives with inflicting a single casualty? What was wrong with them? Well, at least his squad is up for the challenge.
"Leader, we have reports that there are Demons in the Ejection Room," said one of his subordinates, Laku Loralee. The Ejection Room is where the orbital drop pods were held and launched when needed.
"Are you sure?" replied Hakamamee.
"Yes, leader. The reports come directly from the control room."
"Then we shall go to that place. The crimson blood of our enemies shall be spilt there, and we will return with the knowledge that we have defeated the infamous Demons!" growled Hakamamee. He never missed a chance to say something heroic. His squad roared with approval. "Let's go! Loralee, take point. Zamakamee and Garlanmee, cover our rear."
Loralee quickly moved into the front while Zamakamee and Garlanmee slowed down and fell to the back. They went through corridor after corridor, until they finally arrived in that section of the ship. After all, walking through a three-kilometre ship with multiple levels takes a while. Along the way, they saw a group of nine Unggoy soldiers, running directly towards them, screaming.
"Halt!" barked Loralee. "Tell me what's going on!"
The Unggoy leader looked at Loralee and screamed. "Ah! They're gonna kill us all!"
"I command you to tell me what's happening at once!" roared Loralee.
The Unggoy tried to run away but Hakamamee's squad was faster, stronger, and bigger. They caught up to the Unggoy in a very short amount of time. Loralee picked up the Unggoy in red armour by its throat and snarled.
"Tell me why you are running before I tear out your throat," growled Loralee in a deceptively quite voice.
The small creature flinched and said in a hoarse whisper. "The Humans, Excellency. They killed our leader and most of our squad mates and we-"
The Unggoy never finished his sentence because Loralee tossed him to the ground. The impact was too great for the Unggoy. His eyes glazed over and fell unconscious as soon as he hit the ground.
"Release the others," ordered Hakamamee, and the rest of the Unggoy were released. "Nicely done, Loralee," he added, after the Unggoy were all out of earshot.
"Thank you," replied Loralee.
The hunt resumed shortly after that. They finally arrived at the entrance of the Ejection Room after a few minutes. Numerous dead bodies were slumped against the walls and the floor was slippery with blood. Hakamamee quickly scanned his motion tracker. Nothing moved on the other side, but that didn't mean that there were no hostiles on the other side. The Sangheili SpecOps Squad moved slowly towards the only entrance of the room to avoid setting off the enemies' motion trackers, if there were indeed Demons on the other side.
"Loralee, open the gate," commanded Hakamamee. Loralee moved cautiously towards the holo-panel and swiped his fingers across the hologram. Then he press a few more buttons on the insubstantial control pad. A loud grinding sound was heard as the mechanisms in the gate started working to open the giant grey door. The door slid open a metre, and Loralee cautiously peered inside. A sniper round caught the Sangheili warrior in the middle of his forehead. The high calibre round easily wiped out the Elite's shields and penetrated through his helmet. Brains splattered across the floor.
"Get under cover!" barked Hakamamee as he jumped behind a wall. The order came too late, and two of his more ferocious warriors charged into the room with their plasma rifles blazing. The sharp crack of a Human sniper rifle was heard and the sounds of plasma fire dropped by half. Another shot echoed in the vast room and the plasma fire ceased completely.
"Accursed beasts!" growled Zamakamee as he hit a switch on the holographic controls. The gigantic door to the room hissed shut. "What can we do, leader? If we rush in, we'll be killed by that cowardly sniper before we can fight back."
"We shall guard this door and make sure none of them leave this room. Then we shall call in a squad of Kig-Yar snipers. Sangheili snipers, if they don't have other duties," replied Hakamamee.
"Yes, leader."
"Good, let's call in the snipers. Then we shall see..."
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Muzzle flares from two submachine guns and two assault rifles sparked, and a deluge of bullets flew at the two remaining Elites guarding the entrance to the bridge of the Forbidden Destiny. The alien guards responded with a sheet of blue-white plasma. The silver shields of the Elites flashed and popped under the combined pressures of the bullets. The Spartans' golden energy shields lasted no longer as the plasma washed it away.
"Fire in the hole!" cried Xiran. He primed one of his frags and threw it at the Elites. Kyle and Morgan backed up around the corner to avoid the blast. Xiran also dove behind the shelter of the wall. One of the Elites tried to kick the grenade away, but when he was no more than a foot away, the frag exploded. The explosion and shrapnel ripped the Elite apart.
Kyle let his shields recharge before peeking around the corner to check for survivors. There were none. The mangled corpse of the Elite was on the ground. One of its arms was missing and its chest plate was charred and blackened. There were also angry scars across its skin and armour. Its partner was slumped against a wall, bleeding from the head. Kyle quickly put two rounds into the Elite's head.
"What was that for?" asked Morgan.
"Just in case," replied Kyle calmly.
"Okay, let's get this door open," suggested Xiran. Then he spoke to Aphrodite. "Can you get the door to the bridge open?"
"Yes I can, but I must warn you that there are a lot of troops inside the bridge. Most of them are heavily armed guards. The one you should worry about however, is the Ship Master. According to what I've found in this ship's databases, an Elite rises up in their ranks according to the number of casualties they inflict. This one is pretty high up the scale."
"What colour is he?"
"Gold. All Ship Masters are either gold or white, Zealots or Ultras respectively."
"Damn. Let me guess, Zealot is the highest rank?"
"Yes. They are equals, if not superiors, to the Prophets' Honour Guards."
"How many Covenant troops are in there?"
"There are ten SpecOps Elites in there, plus twenty-three Grunts. The Ship Master himself is in there also."
"I think we can take that. Aphrodite, blow the door please."
"Working on it."
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Four Kig-Yar snipers, accompanied by two Sangheili ones arrived at the Ejection Room shortly after they were summoned. Hakamamee had hoped for more, but beggars can't be choosers.
"Hoki Orahee reporting for duty," saluted the leader of the snipers. "These are my comrades, Koli Haralee," he gestured at his Sangheili partner, "Kaj, Bik, Tok, and Rok." He pointed at each of the Kig-Yar when he said their names.
Hakamamee nodded. "There are a number of Demons hiding in the room beyond this door and at least one of them uses a sniper rifle." He put no particular emphasis on the words "at least", but everyone got the message. "We need you six to go in and neutralize this threat. We don't know how many are in there, so be careful."
Those last three words sounded odd to Hakamamee. He had never told any of his warriors to be careful before. He suddenly realized that his soldiers weren't something to be discarded without a second thought. They weren't depleted plasma rifles or empty plasma pistols to be thrown away. They were alive, and they were his teammates. Each and every one of them was irreplaceable because they were all different. He stopped in mid-thought. No, acknowledging the fact that you love your comrades is a sign of weakness. Then he wondered if you could love your underlings and still be a strong leader.
Haralee's words broke his train of thought. "Leader, we are ready."
Hakamamee looked at their positions. Two Kig-Yar snipers were directly in front of the door, ready to fire at whatever moved on the other side of the door when it opened. The two Sangheili snipers and the remaining two Kig-Yar stood to either side of the two middle snipers.
"Zamakamee, open the door," ordered Hakamamee. The doors hissed as the mechanisms within worked and the doors started to slide open. A ghostly white trail whizzed through the tiny crack where the doors were a second ago. The shields of one of his Sangheili snipers flashed and disappeared. Another shot passed through the air in the exact same spot but hit nothing. The intended target was lying facedown on the ground, gasping as the quick fall knocked the wind out of him. Hakamamee nodded in approval at the warrior's speed and quick assessment of the situation and got under cover himself.
The white trails from the Demon's sniper rifle revealed his location. Four bright purple particle beams were fired at the Demon. Two of the shots missed, but the other two found their marks. The first beam hit the Demon square in the chest and the golden energy shields around him flared, trying to deflect or absorb the attack. The pressure was too great and the energy shields overloaded. The second shot hit the side of the Demon's arm, slicing through his armour. Bright blue fluid leaked out, tinged with the Demon's blood. The Demon didn't even flinch at the damage done to his arm. Instead, he responded by letting loose another two sniper bullets. The first shot missed its mark but the second shot compensated for that by punching through two of his Kig-Yar snipers. The two, Kaj and Rok, dropped their beam rifles and fell to the ground, gasping and screaming.
The remaining four snipers fired another volley of shots at the Demon, but he was already out of sight, hiding behind the SEVs (Sangheili Entry Vehicle). Hakamamee retrieved a beam rifle dropped by one of the downed Kig-Yar. Zamakamee followed his lead and also retrieved a beam rifle. The Jackals, eager to get a kill, rushed into the room to hunt the Demon down. They rushed to the position of where the Demon was seen last, only to be annihilated by a sheet of AR rounds. Their screeches of terror and pain echo throughout the room, as if the room itself was screaming in pain.
The four remaining Sangheili warriors closed in cautiously at the Kig-Yar snipers' intended destination, keeping their eyes open for any signs of traps. As they got closer, everyone discarded their beam rifles and withdrew plasma rifles for the closer work.
"I will lure them out," declared Zamakamee.
Hakamamee looked into his eyes and understood what he was about to do. "In the honour of the Prophets. Good luck."
Zamakamee ran to and dove over the exact spot where the Kig-Yar were killed. Hundreds of tracer rounds flashed through the air, attempting to cut the Sangheili down, but even for Demons, their attack didn't come fast enough. Zamakamee only lost half of his shields in the split second that he was revealed. Four Demons revealed themselves and came out of their hiding places, chasing Zamakamee.
"Attack!" cried Hakamamee as soon as he saw the Demons. His rifle spewed plasma at the Demons' backs and sides. The others followed their leader's example and fired as well. One of the Demons cursed as he threw himself sideways behind the cover of a drop pod. His warriors, eyes alight with religious zeal, followed the Demon to make the kill. As soon as they rounded the corner, they were met with hundreds of tracer rounds. Their shields held and died in the space of half a heartbeat. Their armour lasted no longer. Soon, they were lying on the ground, bleeding from dozens of places.
Hakamamee went to follow them but was suddenly struck from the side. He stumbled but quickly regained his footing. He turned around to see who had hit him and found himself face to face with a Demon. He instincts kicked in and he struck the Demon with all the force he could muster in one blow. The Demon's shields flared and died but it still returned a counterstroke. Hakamamee's own personal shield collapsed under the weight of the blow.
Then Hakamamee struck again, only to be blocked by the Demon, who immediately launched a countermove. This time, Hakamamee was ready. He evaded the hit and lashed out quickly with his fist. The fight continued in this fashion until Hakamamee, fatigued from the fighting, was struck in the chest before he could dodge it. He flew back into one of the drop pods. He willed his body to move but they only responded sluggishly. The Demon walked closer to him.
"This is it," whispered Hakamamee so softly that no one heard him.
The Demon then forced the hatch closed and sealed the Sangheili Commander inside the SEV. He tried to get out, but the controls didn't respond. He felt a lurch as his pod was ejected into outer space. He realized that he was spared a painful death, only to die by the hands of suffocation. The injuries he had obtained during the fight started to claw at his mind, a stinging pain in his chest, and a dull ache in his head. Eventually, he succumbed to his wounds and lapsed into unconsciousness.
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"Be ready for anything," announced Xiran just as the doors opened, granting them access to the Forbidden Destiny's control room. The Spartans rushed in two at a time, and the melee began. Total chaos ensued as the Spartans killed wave after wave of Covenant troops. They emptied their weapons into Grunts and Elites alike, and after their magazines clicked dry, they hastily reloaded and continued firing.
The Ship Master, Zita Hinomee, lunged at Kyle with a blazing energy sword and sliced one of his submachine guns in half. The muzzle clattered to the deck followed by the rest of the SMG as Kyle discarded it, while still firing with his remaining weapon. Two heartbeats later, the clip went dry. He started backpeddling and bumped into a wall.
When it rains, it pours.
Hinomee ran at him at its top speed and slid his sword into the Spartan's chest. Blood splattered against the inside of his visor as he felt his grip on his body loosen. He fell to one knee and coughed again, misting up his visor even more. He tried to move his arms and they obeyed sluggishly. He felt around his armour and found what he was looking for, a plasma grenade. He looked up and saw the Elite raise his deadly plasma sword, ready to finish him off.
You're coming with me you bastard.
With the last of his strength, he ignited his plasma grenade and lunged at the Elite. Hinomee, taken by surprise, staggered but quickly regained his footing to ward off the attack. Kyle saw his chance and pushed the lit sticky grenade onto the Ship Master's armour. He gasped in fear and outrage as it realized what Kyle had done, but the realization came too late. A blue-white explosion rocked the control room and both the Elite and the Spartan ceased to exist.
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Meanwhile, the rest of the Spartans cleaned up the control room. With the Ship Master dead, as well as many of the senior officers, many of the Grunts lost their nerves and tried to flee. Even some of the lower ranked Elites tried to run. None of the Covenant soldiers achieved their goal however, since the Spartans systematically killed them when they tried to flee.
Xiran went into his roster and marked Kyle as MIA. He went through the list sadly. So many of his men had died on their first mission, it was unacceptable. However, he felt that the lives of his Spartans weren't wasted. An entire shipload of Covenant have been neutralized, and six Spartans had been lost. Kyle... Ashley... Thomas... Ian... Frank... Harry...These losses hit the Spartan hard, but he knew he had to go on, for the men and women of Earth...and for the rest of his team.
"Look at this," said Aphrodite suddenly.
"What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?" asked Xiran as Aphrodite scrolled data across a holoscreen.
"This!" she pointed and the scrolling stopped. She then capitalized a set of coordinates to show what she was talking about. Xiran looked at the coordinates as realization slowly sunk in. He had hoped that Aphrodite was wrong, but he knew that in the deepest core of his being, she was right. This only confirmed it.
The Covenant had found Earth and planned to launch as assault on it. They even had a set of instructions to rally with a ship called the Unyielding Hierophant. He thought for a moment, and decided on following these instructions, since it hid their presence from the other ships.
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It took them a week to rendezvous with the giant command-and-control station, the Unyielding Hierophant. They were the last ship out of Slipspace, since they had conflicting emotions of whether to rally with them or not. Each side had a large amount of good points but in the end, Xiran put his foot down. He followed his original plan to rally with the Unyielding Hierophant, follow the other Covenant ships with their attack on Earth, and defect in the midst of the battle. Then, while the enemy shoots their ship down, the Human would in turn blow their ships up. Before being shot down however, his entire team would get into the SEVs and drop down to some remote location on Earth. Then they're hike their way to the nearest command center and rally with the rest of the Human race.
"Exiting Slipspace in five," announced Aphrodite.
The ship shuddered as it slowed down and neatly sliced a hole in the fabric of space. The large Covenant ship easily slipped through the gap and fell back into normal space...just in time to see a Covenant flagship, which the Forbidden Destiny's sensors identified as the Ascendant Justice, crash into the space station known as the Unyielding Hierophant.
What happened next came as a complete – but pleasant – surprise to those aboard the Forbidden Destiny. Seconds after the Ascendant Justice collided with the Unyielding Hierophant, lances of plasma burst from the station's seams like solar flares. Blue-white explosions rocked the station, tearing it apart. The station had endured as much as it could and transformed into a roiling cloud of fire and plasma. The blast spread outwards, making the shields of the ships taking the hit shine silver. Each of those shields lasted about a second each before being engulfed and vaporized by the roiling fireball.
"Holy shit, what the hell happened?" asked an astonished Xiran.
"Scanning," replied Aphrodite. A moment later, her voice returned. "It appears to be a reactor meltdown. Only that could've caused an explosion that big. The other possibility was the detonation of a nuke inside the ship, but the radiation isn't right. Our nuclear warheads emit a slightly different radiation from the reactor radiation of a Covenant reactor."
"I'd imagine that this would be a setback for the Covenant," said Morgan a bit smugly.
"Yeah, losing a whole fleet to-," started Kayleigh, but a transmission interrupted her.
"Ship Master Hinomee, by the order of the council, you are to rally with the rest of my fleet at these coordinates!" said an elderly alien that Xiran guessed was one of the leaders of the Covenant, a race higher up in the hierarchy than the Elites. A Prophet, as the Humans named them.
"Sending reply now," said Aphrodite as she sent a suitable reply.
"May the Forerunners watch over you as you make your journey," he said grandly. He then mumbled something about a sermon before ending the transmission.
"According to the intel I've been getting from the Covenant battle net, that was one of the highest ranked Prophets in the Covenant. He has sent a message to every surviving ship in this area to meet at these coordinates, which happens to be where Earth is," said Aphrodite after the Prophet left.
"Let's go then. Aphrodite, warm up our Slipspace drives and get us to Earth. Everyone else, gear up and be ready for anything."
"Slipspace drives activated, accelerating to the velocity needed to enter Slipspace." There was a fifteen second pause. "Entering Slipspace now. ETA to Earth is six hours."
Xiran opened up a COM channel to address all his Spartans. "Spartans, sleep in two and a half hour shifts. Half of you sleep and the other half keeps guard. ETA to Earth is six hours so we'll leave the last hour available to get ready, is that clear?"
Acknowledgement lights winked.
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Five days before the Forbidden Destiny rendezvoused with the Unyielding Hierophant, a lone drop pod floated in space as another Covenant cruiser passed its location.
"Leader, a drop pod is floating freely in space, should we recover it?" A lesser Sangheili asked the Ship Master of the ship.
"Send half a dozen of Seraphs to retrieve it."
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Five hours later, the Spartans were all up and ready. They then made their way down to the Ejection Room, leaving Aphrodite alone to pilot the ship. Soroush took Tlaloc with him however.
"Exiting Slipspace in three minutes," announced Aphrodite. Three minutes later, the gigantic Covenant ship shuddered as it popped back into normal space.
"Aphrodite, hack into the firing solution on the MAC guns and make sure we don't get hit. Then select an appropriate landing zone for us on Earth. After we're all safely ejected, find a cluster of Covenant ships and self-destruct," ordered Xiran.
"Is this how you treat girls?" replied Aphrodite, slightly offended. "Well, I suppose I'm the only one who can." Tlaloc chose to ignore that comment about Aphrodite being the only one who could.
"Spartans, pick a pod and strap yourselves in. This may get a little rough."
The Spartans each picked their own drop pod and climbed inside. Since they were roughly the same size as Elites, they had no problems fitting in.
"I'll fire you loose in approximately one minute," announced Aphrodite. "Be ready."
The Spartans waited for what seemed to be an eternity until finally, Aphrodite's voice boomed out of their speakers once more. "Pods away."
Xiran felt a sudden jolt as his pod was released and sent towards the surface of Earth.
---End Flashback---
"After we all landed, we called for a ride and went to various MAC stations to protect them. Some of us went groundside as well. After we found out that you were back, HIGHCOM ordered us back to this station to plan our next move," concluded Xiran. The entire story took an hour to tell, and there were still no sign of the Covenant.
"Intriguing, what happened to the AI Soroush brought down with him?" asked John.
"ONI confiscated it. We objected, but that didn't help much. They went ahead and took it anyway."
Suddenly, the loudspeakers blared and Admiral Hood's voice came through. "All hands, battle stations. Spartans, report to the bridge ASAP, the Covenant have finally arrived."
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A/N: Wow! Finally, back to the Master Chief and stuff. Whoohoo! Sorry that took so long to write folks, but exams and schoolwork are higher up on my priority list than this story. Well anyway, the point is that it's here, so...hope you enjoyed it! Also, don't forget to review!