Chapter 6

11/20/2019- Rewritten due to criticism.

Theramore

"What the hell happened?" Said High Elf Archer in horror as she watched, via some contraption called binoculars, Horde troops begin to move in on Theramore with no one to stop them. That shouldn't be possible. The last time she was here, there was a strong military contingent on Theramore, there were barely any civilians in the city.

Seeing no Alliance soldiers, made High Elf Archer nervous on what had happened.

"Cortana found no life signs in Theramore when we sent in the drones." Said Chief. "She also spotted a large crater in the center of town. If I had to guess, then the Horde deployed some sort of bomb that wiped out everyone."

"If that so-so, then they built big bomb that didn't break-smash city." Said Ikit, growing anger that the Horde had developed such a weapon. It may not have eclipsed his Doomsphere, but the fact they made a bomb that left infrastructure intact made Ikit angry and jealous. He must find out how to make such a bomb.

"Had to be something that doesn't include radiation, right?" Asked Jack. Chief nodded in agreement. Couldn't have been a conventional bomb or even a nuclear bomb. It had to be magical in nature.

Magic. A concept that was foreign to the humans, but completely natural to Ikit and High Elf, though they had differing ways it works in their worlds.

In High Elf, a mage or priest can only cast a certain number of spells per day, no matter how powerful they are or if they're healing or attacking, forcing them to be more tactical in how they used in an adventure.

For Ikit, a person can cast as much as they wanted so long as they had sufficient winds of magic, the energy source of all magic in his world, coursing through their body.

Regardless of their methods of magic, both had no knowledge on what caused the destruction of Theramore while leaving the buildings intact.

"So, what's the plan, Chief?" Asked Courier as he aimed a large anti-material rifle at an Orc in metal armor, who was leading the entire invasion group.

Chief, for a minute, stayed silent as he formulated a plan. From what Cortana told him, there was a strange energy source coming from the crater in Theramore. If he had to guess, the Horde was both securing Theramore and recovering what was in the crater, which likely was the reason that Theramore's population is gone.

If they wanted to figure out what happened in Theramore, they needed to both investigate that strange energy source and capture a Horde soldier, which may prove difficult as there was, at least, a hundred fighters.

Sure, most were equipped with melee weapons, but they spotted at least two mages with them, judging by their staffs. They'll need to play smart.

After a few minutes, Chief spoke up.

"I got an idea. Ikit, how good is your Doomflayer in shredding armor?" Ikit just grinned as Chief began to explain his plan.

"Me like-like this man-thing." Thought Ikit, liking the plan that Master Chief just spoke of.

Later

Ruins of Theramore

Two Orc warriors were busy plundering the remains of a store in Theramore, looking for whatever loot that was useable for the Horde. As they plundered the store, they suddenly heard the sounds of a loud motor start up. Similar to the sounds of a Goblin war machine, but much smaller in sound. Looking at each other, the Orcs came out of the store, wondering what the sounds was, only for a giant ball to come right at them with a giant rat behind it.

The rat laughed manically as the ball smashed into one Orc, ripping him to chunks of flesh, despite his bulk. Stunned to see his companion being brutally slaughtered in such a way, the other Orc roared in anger. He was about to kill the rat when it swiped at him with its halberd, taking off his head.

"Ha! These are green-skins!? They not as tough to kill-smash as green-skins I know of. Yes-yes." Though Ikit, reveling in how easy it was to kill these so-called Orcs. With those two Orcs dead, Ikit yelled out a battle cry as he charged into a group of blue-skinned beings. Trolls, if he recalled.

As Ikit was wreaking havoc in the Horde's ranks, Courier was getting into position on one of the towers of Theramore. Having used a stealth boy to bypass the Horde's forces, Courier found a good sniping position that enabled him to both cover Ikit and to take potshots at any Horde mages that tried to wreak havoc on the team. Bringing out his trusty gauss rifle, a slightly rusted gun with massive coils surrounding the barrel, he found a window and began to set up.

Once he was set up, he informed Chief to move in.

"Alright, Jack! You're up." Said Chief as he waited with High Elf Archer for the pilot to commence his attack on the Horde vehicles. Once he was done destroying the vehicles, Chief will bring up the Warthog to support Ikit, who sounded like he was having the time of his life and was most likely attracting every single Horde soldier in the area.

If John was hearing him loud and clear, then everyone else had as well. So they needed to work fast.

"You got it! BT, time for us to show what we're made of." Said Jack before piloting his Titan to three Horde vehicles. He didn't know their function, but upon seeing the large cannon on top of the large vehicles, he guessed that they're some sort of tank.

Upon seeing them activate, Jack fired several missiles from BT's rocket pods on his shoulders. The missiles impacted on the vehicles, piercing their armor, and exploding inside. Upon seeing them blow up with so few missiles, Jack let out a whistle.

"This will be easy." Thought Jack as he entered Theramore and saw various Horde soldiers coming out to investigate what happened. Upon seeing the large mech, the group was in awe and shock at seeing it, only for it to quickly go into horror as BT opened fire on their ranks.

The X-25 chain gun had been designed for Titan on Titan combat in mind. As a result, it was usually equipped with armor-piercing ammunition, though it had access to explosive ammunition to use against infantry as well.

Seeing that they're not as advanced as the IMC, Jack had quickly replaced his armor-piercing ammo for high-explosive ones, and it worked flawlessly. The bullets exploded in heaps of glory, taking out whole groups of Horde soldiers. A few Orcs, whether through stupidity or bravery, roared out a challenge and charged at BT.

Once on top of it, they began to hack at BT's feet, trying to take it down. Amused a bit at this, the Titan simply raised a leg and squashed one Orc into paste before swiping at the rest with an arm, sending them all flying to a wall.

As it did all this, a mage sent a large fireball at the mech. When the fireball impacted on his body, BT stepped back in shock. Fortunately, the shields managed to endure the hit, though they lost a full one-fourth of their shields in the process.

As the shields began to recharge, the mage was in shock at how it endured such a hit. That fireball was strong enough to put a hole in a reinforced stone wall, yet this mech had endured it with no scratches. The mage was about to cast another spell when their head suddenly exploded. The few Horde, who was this were in shock at seeing their mage being suddenly killed, before they met their own end in a similar way.

"That's five for me." Said Courier as he reloaded his gun. "Better hurry, Chief, you're missing the action."

"I am." Said Chief before appearing in the Warthog, passing BT as he smashed some bull-like people with him bare hands. Stopping in the middle of the battlefield, Chief got out with High Elf, who brandished her bow. Looking at his friendly elf, Chief motioned for her to go to reinforce Courier while he helped Ikit and Jack with taking out the last of the Horde. Nodding, the elf ran towards the tower that Courier was in.

An Orc saw this and tried to stop her, only to get shot dead by Chief, who fired a few rounds into the Orc. With High Elf safe, Chief looked forward to see an Orc in metal armor coming at him with a giant wolf. Besides him were several other armored Orcs. They all stopped a few feet from Chief, glaring at the spartan, who simply looked back at them.

"You!" Yelled the Orc on the wolf. "You dare fight the Horde! The power of Kalimdor! You Alliance dogs have no sense of preservation! You will all die under the might of the Horde!" Ignoring the idiot's rant, Chief spoke.

"I assume the Horde is responsible for this?" Chief gestured to the ruins of Theramore. "That Garrosh approves of this?" Upon hearing that the Orc leader laughed out loud.

"Of course, he did! He orchestrated the destruction of Theramore, after all. It was his brilliant plan to have this plan filled with Alliance heroes and soldiers. And when Theramore was filled to the brim with the scum, we dropped a mana bomb on their heads, killing them all. Because of his brilliant plan, we killed many Alliance dogs and rid their stench of Kalimdor once and for all!" Ignoring the rant, Chief kept him talking. He needed to know if there were survivors. That civilians were caught in the blast.

"Any survivors? Civilians?" Asked Chief. The Orcs life was dependent on his answer. Upon hearing the word civilian, the Orc laughed.

"Civilians? More like worthless whelps that deserve an axe to the head. When we learned that some Theramore whelps escaped the blast, we sent a warship to destroy them all. They're hunting for them as we speak. And when they find them, they'll all be killed in the name of the Ho…" He couldn't say anymore because Chief had thrown a frag grenade in his open mouth. Widening his eyes in shock, the Orc began to choke on the grenade when it went off, blowing up his head into tiny chunks.

As the other Orcs recovered, Chief aimed his rifle at the guards and opened fire. He managed to kill two Orcs before the other two recovered and charged at Chief, roaring in anger. He gunned down one, before he went into a CQC situation with the other.

Dodging all the Orc's swings, Chief brought out the type-1 energy sword that he brought, ignited it, and sliced at the Orc's hands, slicing them off. Roaring in pain, the Orc starred at his stumps of arms in shock before being decapitated by Chief. Once that was done, Chief contacted everyone.

'You all heard that?" Asked Chief, having kept his comm link open all the time so that everyone can hear what the Orc said.

"Yeah, and I can't believe it." Said High Elf Archer in barely controlled anger. "These Horde. They deserve every arrow they get." She emphasized her point by shooting an arrow into an Orc's cranium.

"While I agree to an extent, we don't know if all of them agreed with this." Said Courier before firing on an Orc. "We need more information before we condemn them all."

"Who care-care!? We kill-smash them all anyway!" Yelled Ikit as he gleefully shredded an elf to chucks of meat with his Doomflayer, enjoying their tortured screams.

"I do." Said Jack as he got out of BT and began fighting on foot, deciding to save up on ammo. "I'm all for defending myself, but we should know if all the Horde is up on this plan. They're a coalition, right?"

Seeing everyone was voicing their opinions, Chief ordered them all to continue fighting but to leave a handful alive. They needed answers. As they relayed their understanding of the orders, Chief reloaded his gun before resuming to fight the Horde.

An hour later

Crater

"So this is what's cause the destruction of Theramore." Said Jack as he, Ikit, and High Elf looked at the giant metal ball in the crater. Even on the rim of the crater, they could feel the power that was emitting form the giant ball.

"Must be. Got the same color as that big expanding ball of light from before." Said High Elf, pointing to the middle of the ball, revealing that there was a purple glow coming from the inside of the ball. Upon seeing the glow, Ikit growled.

This was, in Ikit's mind, a rival of his Doomsphere and he intended to make sure that he won this little competition. By making his Doomsphere make an even bigger explosion, of course.

"We'll secure it." Said Chief. "Cortana is bringing a Pelican loaded with heavy lift gear. Keep it under guard. As for you four," Chief then looked at the two prisoners they had. Out of the hundred Horde soldiers they faced, these were all that was left.

Well, there were originally four, but two Orcs, tried to gang up on High Elf Archer when she tried to tie them up. If it wasn't for Chief and Ikit, the elf would be missing a head right now.

The two prisoners they had were two Elves, blood elves they were called. The elves stared defiantly at them, their posture speaking of their arrogance.

"Alright, you two are going to explain to us the whole story on what went down here." Said Courier. "If you do, we'll give you a quick death. If you don't, then we'll make you die a very painful death."

"Why would we waste our breath on a human such as yourself?" Demanded the female Blood elf, glaring at the Courier with hate. She had just watched her brother die when that rat shredded him, along with several other elves, with that gigantic wheel. She would be dead as well if that massive being in green armor hadn't knocked her out.

"Because its going to be better than the alternative." Said Courier as he brought out a pistol. "Think about it. You lost against us, even though you outnumbered us twenty to one. You have no idea what else we're capable of. For all you know, we got some rather insidious ways in making you talk."

"Like what?" Demanded the male blood elf.

"Let's see." Said Courier as he checked his pistol. "The rat could use target dummies for his other inventions, that are just as evil as that giant ball of blades that you're acquainted with. Our giant robot can crush you both under his foot, just slow enough so that you can feel your body being crushed. Our elf friend can tell us how to torture you guys. And our green friend can throw you off the highest tower here and then catch you before you hit the ground. And that's some of the things we can do. Willing to cooperate?"

By now, the elves were shaking in their armor. The way the Courier spoke had convinced them.

"Alright, alright." Said the female elf. "We'll talk. We'll tell you everything as long as you let us go."

"Done." Said Chief, fully intending on going back on his word after they tell them what they need to know. He may keep his promises, but he's not going to make a promise to these people, who were perfectly fine with murdering innocent lives. "Though we won't guarantee your safe arrival to Horde territory."

"Fair enough." Said the male blood elf before telling them what happened. "The Horde's war chief, Garrosh Hellscream, wanted to destroy Theramore. It's a strategic position to the Alliance. Not only was it a fortress, but it enabled Alliance soldiers to offload troops and supplies from the Eastern Kingdoms to fight in Kalimdor. Our war chief wanted it gone."

"And you did it by using that bomb." Said Jack, pointing at the giant ball in the crater.

"Yes." Said the female blood elf. "It's a mana bomb, a powerful device that uses Arcane magic to create a powerful explosive. As you see, it doesn't destroy buildings. No, it just disintegrates any living being in its radius."

"Who made this thing?" Asked Courier.

"The blood elves, of course." Said the male blood elf. Upon hearing that, High Elf Archer, who had been eavesdropping the conversation, stomped forward and grabbed the male elf by the collar

"What?!" Demanded High Elf Archer as she glared at the elf. "Your people made this bomb? Why in the hell did you make something like this!?" Shocked to see the little elf lifting him up, the elf nonetheless sneered.

"Have you've been living under a rock, elfling? If you knew what dangers are out in the world, you would see why we made such a device." Said the male elf.

"But that doesn't justify using a bomb against this city!" Yelled High Elf as she glared at both blood elves. The others meanwhile, wondered just how naïve their elf companion was. They knew how naïve she was, but they didn't think it was this far.

While Ikit didn't care, rather he would enjoy the horror she would feel when she saw what else was in store for them, the others couldn't help but feel sorry for her, knowing just how cruel the world can be.

"It was a military target filled with combatants!" Yelled the female blood elf, glaring at the naïve elfling. "It was filled with countless Alliance heroes that could have easily turn the tide against the Horde. Better to kill them all with a bomb than waste Horde lives to kill them all in a conventional way." Upon hearing that, High Elf was about to smack the female blood elf when Chief grabbed her.

"Enough.' Said Chief before pulling her away and into Jack's arms. "Jack, keep an eye on her. I won't have her deal with our prisoners."

"You got it. Come on, High Elf. Let's get you out of here." Grunting, High Elf Archer smacked Jack's hands away and walked away, eager to get away from the blood elves. Sighing, he followed her, but not before telling BT to keep guard on the bomb site. Once she was gone, Chief resumed the interrogation.

"Now, how exactly did you deploy the bomb? I'm guessing you did it by air." Said Chief. The two blood elves nodded.

"Yes. A Goblin airship deployed the bomb from the air. The Alliance couldn't shoot it down as our forces shot down anyone or anything capable of destroying the airship. So when it deployed, it took out all of the Alliance forces in the area." Explained the male blood elf.

"Did any Alliance forces escape? Did any of your forces got caught in the blast?" Asked Courier. The female blood elf nodded.

"Yes. Vereesa Windrunner, along with a group of her Silver covenant followers and Night Elves, pursued our retreating forces. They survived, but their interference prevented some of our forces from escaping in time."

"And they got caught as a result." Said Courier. He sighed when the blood elves nodded in confirmation. With that done, he looked at Chief, wondering what his leader was thinking.

With the full picture, Chief looked at the crater in thought. While he could respect the tactical know how the Horde showed, he couldn't help but feel a cold rage flowing through him at the devastation around him. It reminded him of the Human Covenant war. Of how destructive it was.

Whole human colonies were destroyed, most of the time with their whole population with it. Not just the colony though. No. The planets containing human colonies were glassed, rendered uninhabitable by the Covenant's plasma weaponry.

John could remember the times he had been sent to those colonies, of all the destruction and scorched earth he encountered while walking in the ruined remains of a world destroyed by a bunch of religious aliens.

The destruction of Theramore reminded him of that.

And though a part of him wanted to shoot these blood elves, which he was going to, and declare a self-imposed war on the Horde, he knew that he had to play smart. The others, they needed him and his leadership. There was also the fact that he promised to bring them back home. And he never made a promise that he couldn't keep. There was also the fact that he didn't know if all the Horde was in on it.

So, looking at Courier, who shrugged, Chief quickly put a bullet in both of the elf's heads from his pistol, reacting far too quickly for them to even react to Chief's bringing his pistol at their heads.

"To be honest, I was going to do that if you weren't." Said Courier as Chief placed his pistol back in its secure place on his hip.

"Pretty sure that High Elf won't be as understanding." Said Chief, knowing that she'll be yelling at that after finding out what happened here.

"We'll just say they attacked us, left us no choice." Said Courier as the two looked at the ball in the crater.

"So, what are we going to do after we haul this back to base?" Asked Courier as Ikit began to sniff the ball, having went to the crater during Chief's interrogation of the prisoners.

"Yes, its too dangerous to be left here." Said Chief as he contacted Cortana to get a Pelican loaded with heavy lift gear installed, they needed to get this thing out of here.

"And what about our role in this little war?" Asked Courier, knowing that he won't stand by and let stuff like this happen while he's out doing nothing but training. He got his answer when Chief brought out his rifle.

"Simple." Said Chief before checking his gun. "We join the fight against Garrosh." Courier sighed at that, having a feeling that would be the answer.

"Well, figured that would be the case. So, what do we hit first?" Asked Courier.

"Got a target." Said Jack as he came back with High Elf Archer. After she calmed down, the two came back. They rose an eyebrow at the dead prisoners, but decided to ask later. "Got this from a Horde soldier." Jack then gave Chief a piece of paper. "Can't translate it, but it looks like they have some supply bases and outposts that are vital to their war effort on this continent. Should be worth a look." Chief nodded as he gave the piece of paper to Courier.

"Once we secured the bomb, we're going to prepare for war." Said Chief before leaving. "I hope you're all prepared for that." Ikit just grinned and yelled out in excitement, having heard it with his excellent hearing.

High Elf Archer nodded with Jack, both eager to stop the Horde from taking any more innocent lives. Courier gave a thumbs up, also on board in stopping Garrosh.

Two weeks

Horde supply depot

"Yup, no denying it." Said Courier as he saw some Orcs put some crates onto a giant lizard that had been trained as a supply wagon, sticking out of some of the crates were large weapons. The human was currently hidden in some rocks, some distance away from the outpost. He was currently watching a caravan of giant lizards loading some weapon and food to somewhere. "This outpost is being used to transport food and weapons to the frontlines."

"You got that right." Said High Elf as she hide between two tents. Unlike her companion, "Overheard some elves. This base is under orders to transport any supplies they could spare to Northwatch Hold, one of the last Alliance bases left in Kalimdor."

"Then we got to stop it." Said Courier as he aimed his sniper rifle at the giant lizards. "Any of them packing explosive material?"

"Oh yeah." Said High Elf Archer as she began to stealthily escape the camp, knowing what was going to happen. "3rd one to the right. Saw some Trolls berating an Orc over nearly dropping a crate, telling him that it'll blow or something."

"All I needed to hear." Said Courier before aiming at the desired lizard. Taking a breath, he aimed at a crate and fired. Moments later, the entire caravan went up in a fiery explosion, taking a good portion of the outpost with it. As the survivors began to recover, Courier began to go back to the Goblin, eager to get out of here.

"You got anything good from that outpost?" Asked Courier as he walked. Not only were the two sent to disrupt Horde supply chains, they were also ordered to find some good intel on Horde movements and plans, so they could disrupt those as well, giving an Alliance some breathing room to work with.

Speaking of the Alliance, after the attack on Theramore, they went out and declared war on the Horde, and the two have been at each other's throat since.

With the declaration for war, the Horde prepared to launch an attack on Northwatch hold, the last Alliance bastion in Kalimdor. The base would have fallen, but Chief had several Phantom fighters, loaded with high explosive missiles, attack the Horde locations that Jack had gotten at Theramore in an effort to delay the Horde.

Flying to their limits, the fighters quickly fired their payloads and left before anyone could see them.

To their luck, the bases were key supply bases for the Horde that been supplying food and weapons to the attack on Northwatch hold. Without those bases and their valuable supplies, the Horde canceled the attack, giving the Alliance the chance to fortify Northwatch hold, though sparsely so as not to repeat what happened in Theramore.

Now, the two sides were at a stalemate. With the Alliance busy gathering what troops and war material they needed to assault Kalimdor and the Horde preparing for an Alliance counterattack.

For their part, team Sigma, the name that the group of off-worlders decided to give themselves, had been sabotaging Horde efforts, taking out supply chains, killing their commanders, and generally causing chaos for the Horde in Kalimdor.

So far, it was working well. The Horde was reeling from the assaults, so much so that rumors were starting in the ranks of the Horde that the ghosts of those slain in Theramore have returned and were exacting vengeance on the Horde for the destruction of their homeland. The attacks had gotten so bad that many commanders, mostly non Orcs, refused to conduct attacks on Alliance forces, instead focusing their efforts in protecting Horde cities and outposts, something that angered many Orcs, including Garrosh himself.

They didn't know Garrosh's reaction to all these setbacks, but they knew he was pissed. From the diaries of blood elves sent to reinforce Kalimdor from their city in the Easter Kingdoms, they gathered that Garrosh was constantly in a rage, even killing messengers that gave him news that another outpost was destroyed.

One elf even claimed that Garrosh was blaming the other races for these losses, saying that, if those outposts were manned by only Orcs, they wouldn't have fallen.

This naturally angered the other leaders of the Horde to the point that rumors were forming that the other leaders were starting plans to overthrow Garrosh. Such rumors interested Sigma and they sent High Elf Archer, after dying her hair and eyes to match those of a blood elf, to Quel'Thalas, the city of the blood elves, to see if those rumors were true.

She couldn't get much, the leader of the blood elves, Lor'themar Theron, was uptight when it came to security of his city. If it wasn't for High Elf's good infiltration skills, she would have been caught the first time she infiltrated Quel'Thalas.

Anyway, all she could gather was the rumors of rebellion were growing even more in Quel'Thalas, especially in the upper levels of government for the blood elves. She also gathered that the blood elf commanders were angry at Garrosh, feeling that the Orc was becoming more and more ridiculous and vile as he kept insinuating laws that benefited Orcs and Orcs only. That little tidbit interested the team and they wondered if they could convince Lor'themar to rebel as it was clear to them that the elves were sick and tired of having Garrosh as a war chief.

Though, unless they could give him a good reason to rebel, the elf would likely not do so as he would be putting his people in danger from both the Alliance, who had more kingdoms and bases near his city than the Horde did, as well as reprisal from Garrosh, who didn't take betrayal very lightly. So, putting that thought aside for now, the team decided to focus on just disrupting Horde supply chains, something that was working well for them.

"Got some little tidbit." Said High Elf Archer as she ran towards the Goblin transport, confident that she can escape long before any elves spotted her. "Apparently some new found land was found. Horde troops are being transported to this new land so they can make their own stake on it. No doubt they want to plunder the resources there." Courier nodded in agreement at that.

"Let's inform the others of this once they get back at base." Said Courier as he got on board the Goblin, waiting for High Elf. As he waited he wondered what the others were doing.

Meanwhile

Ikit

"*Laughs manically* Yes-yes! Run fools-fools! Run before the greatness of Ikit claw!" Yelled Ikit as he chased after some Trolls, who were running away from the crazy rat. At first, they were eager to fight him, but then they saw him coming at them with his Doomflayer in all its glory. After it ran over some Trolls, the rest retreated, scared out of their mind.

Jack, meanwhile, shook his head before he put a lot of bullets into an Orc that tried to bludgeon him to death.

"Why am I always paired up with this crazy rat?" Thought Jack as ran towards BT, who was shooting down some mages that were trying to cast some spells on Ikit. Using his jumpack, Jack jumped high enough for BT to grab him midair before putting him inside the cockpit.

With Jack inside, the two began to exterminate any and all mages that tried to focus on them or Ikit.

This was a standard mission for them. While Courier and High Elf Archer normally got the infiltration and sabotage mission, with Chief occasionally helping them, Jack and Ikit, if the rat wasn't busy building something, were sent to destroy entire groups of Horde soldiers that tried to reinforce the forces on the frontlines. Primarily those that were sent to Northwatch Hold.

They only acted on intel acquired from High Elf Archer and Courier in their attacks, of course, as it would be too risky for them to act on their own accord. For all they knew, the group they attacked could be even larger or were more powerful than they initially believed. And with they're small numbers, they couldn't afford casualties. So, the three attacked groups that they were certain wouldn't be too much of a problem for them.

And it worked for the most part. Aside from that one time that Ikit decided to launch a Doomrocket, a rocket filled with Warpstone, which unfortunately backfired and nearly killed them, the three managed to wipe out all battlegroups they came across with the survivors spreading rumors of demons hunting Horde troops, something that amused them all.

Unfortunately, the Horde was wising up. They were sending their groups and convoys in larger groups so as to prevent these occurrences from happening again. And its working. Sigma team couldn't attack without losing one of their own. To rectify this, Cortana was working with Ikit on creating a satellite weapon that could give them support without giving away their island like a Phantom fighter would. It was still in the prototype stages, but Cortana was confident it would work. They just needed to figure out a way to launch the satellite without giving away their secret base.

For now, though, they would have to focus on just destroying supply convoys and assassinations.

As BT squashed the last Horde warrior, a Tauren, into paste, Jack radioed Ikit with the transmitter that they managed to retrofit into his armor.

"How's it going on your side? Are all those Trolls you chased dead?" Asked Jack. Not to his surprise, Ikit laughed out loud.

"Yes-yes! Stupid horn-things thought they could run-escape from Ikit's genius contraption! But they wrong-wrong!" Yelled Ikit as he hopped on top of a dismembered Troll, not caring that he was spraying blood everywhere. Sighing at Ikit's antics, Jack spoke again.

"Anyway, how's the satellite going?"

"Work into space rocket going good-good." Said Ikit as he calmed down. "Need more time-time to make it work without going boom-explode. After that, need to think-plan way to launch without giving away burrow-base." Jack nodded in agreement at that. He wondered if he should help with brainstorming ideas on how to accomplish that.

"Moving on, you think Chief is fine?" Asked Jack. Last he remembered, Chief left to investigate a strange energy source that Cortana found on a group of islands called the Broken Isles. Though Jack was confident in his leader's abilities, he couldn't help but worry for him. They still didn't know what was on this world or if the locals on the Broken Isles were hostile. And if he died, then their leadership was in shambles.

"Man-thing will be fine-fine. He has this musk around him that I've only smelt from a handful of humans." Said Ikit as he drove his Doomflayer to the Widow transports, eager to get back to base so he could continue his experiments. "Besides, man-thing is smart. He knows when to fight-fight and when to run-run."

"I suppose. Still, I can't help but worry for him." Said Jack as he and BT walked away, eager to get back to base before Horde reinforcements arrived.

Chief

Broken Isles

"Is this where the energy source is coming from, Cortana?" Asked Chief as he ventured through the forests of the Broken Isles, particular the landmass called Suramar, a name he gotten from a map that was being carried by an Orc commander after he sniped the green-skin from afar.

"Positive, Chief. Just keep moving forward and you should be within visual contact of it." Said Cortana, responding from their secret base on an island some distance from Kalimdor. She was able to speak to him via a link they had with his suit and the base's transceivers, but the long distance from Kalimdor and the Broken Isles meant that Chief could barely hear Cortana with all the static. Until they built a signal amplifier in the Broken Isles, which was actually one of Chief's objectives here, he would have a hard time getting a transmission from Cortana or the others.

He would have brought her, but she was needed more at the base. As a result, Chief was on his own. Something that the spartan was fine with. He was used to it.

First objective was finding out what this source was and to determine if it's a danger to them if possible, with the 2nd being to find a location to build a signal amplifier on the Broken Isles, preferably somewhere high up, like a mountain, so as to prevent locals from tampering with the equipment.

As he ventured further into the outskirts of the forest, he saw something glowing purple on the edges of the forest. Believing he found the anomaly, Chief ventured slowly, assault rifle ready.

Eventually, he found his way out of the forest and to a beach. From the beach, he saw, to his slight surprise, a giant purple dome.

The dome was some distance away from the beach, located in the middle of a lake. Around the dome were small pieces of ruined stones buildings that were submerged in water.

Curious, Chief was about to report this in when he heard some rumbling nearby. Acting quickly, he turned around to find several lanky, thin-limbed, almost zombie-like monsters coming at him, hungry in their purple glowing eyes.

Without warning, Chief opened fire with his assault rifle, the bullets ripped through entire limbs as the bullets went through the monsters like wet papers. Four fell down from the barrage, but the other three charged forward, running up to him in frightening speed.

His assault rifle useless in this range, Chief brought out a Type-one energy sword, weapons of his enemy, the Covenant, and engaged the monsters in close-quarters combat.

Though Chief wasn't an expert in using an energy sword, not like those of a Sangheili, who spent much of their adult life in practicing their skills with the energy blade, skills wasn't needed for these beasts as they performed no better than wild animals.

Dodging a swing from one, Chief sliced the head off from one before grabbing the head of another that tried to pounce him. Slamming the monster into the ground hard, killing it from the force, he ducked when the last one tried to pounce him as well. As it tried to get up, Chief stabbed it in the head, preventing it from rising and attacking him again.

With his enemies dead, Chief stopped to look at the monsters that attacked him.

They had dark-purple skin that had patches of flesh that flowed faintly. They all had patches of clothes that were worn and ragged in nature. Inspecting a dead monster, Chief could see small tufts of hair on its head. Further examination showed a pendant on its person, showcasing that this used to be intelligent.

Wondering what happened to this being, Chief was about to leave when he heard more ruffling, this time much closer.

Acting quickly, he turned around and grabbed the being that was just behind him. Seeing that he caught someone, he slammed them into the ground and brought out a pistol. He was about to fire when they spoke.

"Asheiw!Asheiw!" Said the being as it raised its hands in surrender. Upon hearing the words, Chief stopped and looked at who he acquired.

The one that he captured looked exactly like the ones that attacked him just a few minutes ago. But unlike them, this one seemed more intelligent, based on its eyes and how properly maintained its clothing were. The fact that it spoke also meant that it could be interrogated and reasoned with, something that stayed Chief's hand. Getting off, Chief pointed his gun at the being and motioned for it to get up. Once it did, it spoke again in a language that Cortana's translation program was trying hold to translate.

While they were here, Cortana had made a translation program for Chief, Jack, and Courier so they could understand the locals that don't speak the same language as they do. It wasn't complete, they didn't have much to work with as the only references they had were books from Theramore and diaries from Blood elves that they acquired from attacks on Horde outposts, but it was better than nothing.

As the being continued to talk, however, its words began to become more and more coherent until eventually Chief can understand it.

"ashuione…have you any idea what you've done!?" Demanded the being as it pointed at Chief with fury in its eyes. "Those were my latest test group! I needed them to complete my work on the withered." Now understanding it, Chief spoke, hoping that it could understand him as well.

"They attacked me first, I have the right to defend myself." Said Chief, shocking the being. After recovering, the being spoke again.

"Yes, I understand that, but I needed them to further my research on the withered. Without them, I need to find another group." Sighing, the being shook its head and looked at Chief. "Moving on, what exactly are you and why are you here in the ruins of Suramar?" Deciding that it would be best to show, Chief pointed to the big dome behind him. Upon seeing what he was pointing to, the being sighed.

"I see. I should have figured that would be the case." Said the being before speaking again. "And I suppose you want to know what it is and what's inside?" Chief nodded. "Well, then how about we make a deal? You help me find a new group to help further my own research and I'll give you all the information you want about that dome and its inhabitants. What do you say?" Pausing at that, Chief went into thought.

On one hand, he didn't know much about this being and what it wanted. For all he knew, this thing could be trying to get him killed or use him to create terrible monsters, such as those creatures.

But on the other, he needed to know about that dome, what it was, and who was behind it. Plus, he could always just shot the being when it was determined that his research was harmful to him and his group.

"Alright then. But first, you tell me who you are and what that thing is. After that, I'll help you." Sighing at that, the being nodded in agreement.

"Very well. My name is Kel'danath. I used to be an arcanist in the city that is being protected by that barrier behind you." Said the being as it pointed to the purple dome.

"Explain." Said Chief as he looked at the dome.

"While we're moving." Said Kel'danath as he began to walk away from the beach. Chief, having made a deal, followed Kel'danath to his destination. As they walked, Kel'danath began to explain the whole story of the dome and why it was put up.