Firebase Noble
November 16, 2557
"Okay. Thank you." The nurse gathered the datatablet and disappeared back behind her desk.
The medical waiting room in the firebase was rather small, when pertaining to personnel that were not in the military. Families, spouses, friends etc.
The UEG had made a new decision to allow families and friends of those who served to also have temporary benefits to the military grade medical care, which at the moment, had reached its highest growth in the entire decade.
Marcus sat Gabrielle down at a waiting chair and he picked up a magazine, looking through its contents.
Over the night, her condition had gotten even worse and his departure earlier had not made anything much better. She was beginning to cough, complain about muscle pain and basically felt tired frequently.
He offered to take her to her doctor, but she refused, as another medical bill could strain on her funds. In response, he took her regardless, but this time to the military base's facility.
She knew that he was in a military force of some sort, but concerning the matter was nil. He had kept her completely in the dark.
On the other hand, Austal was completely nervous. Not about her condition, but the fact that someone would recognize him and leak out his secret.
He hated it. Hated keeping secrets from people. His parents had done that. A lot of things that they did were out of his awareness and eventually he knew exactly why.
Both Steve and Loretta Austal were respected UEG diplomats and ambassadors concerning economic and protection negotiations during the Covenant War.
The nature was highly controversial, especially with UNSC resources already spread thin on worlds, many of them his parents often worked at. In order to avoid such diplomatic incidents, many teams operating to evacuate civilians in the outskirts of the densely populated cities were denied extraction initially. A handful of them would eventually fall in defense against the Covenant and the unarmed were slaughtered.
His parents weren't comfortable with the decision either and possibly lived with the guilt forever.
That still didn't mean that they had to hide it. Right?
The two of them drove away from the base when the appointment had finished. The doctor's diagnosis was most likely the flu, as there were a couple of bugs going around, but nothing too serious. Marcus had the prescription bill sent to his account and arranged for Madeline to pick it up at a pharmacy near their apartments.
He was strangely rigid during the entire drive back and said no more than two words since they had left and he checked out with the guardpost at the front.
A half hour later, they pulled up to the apartment complex where Gabrielle's closest friend awaited them, a white bag in her hand.
Madeline was taller and had long golden blonde hair. From his entire time he had known her, she was always a flirt. He could see why. A slim curvy figure could leave any cynical person tongue tied.
He learned from Gabrielle that she had a huge crush on him. It was a good thing he had a preference to brunettes.
"You're back." She moved over to help her friend out before pulling her into an embrace. "I hope you're okay."
Gabrielle smiled weakly. Her pale skin made her look even worse than normal. "Yeah. Got the prescription?"
"It's called…whatever I can't say that." Both her and Marcus chuckled at that.
"Hi Marcus."
"Hi. How are you?"
"Doing great!"
"Good." He started up the stairs, "I have to take care of something real quick."
His face turned grim when he opened the door to his own residence.
Gabrielle was lying on the couch that they had shared from watching the movie the other night. A wet towel was over her forehead, but her temperatures merely made the water feel like hot sweat.
She rubber her temples and sat up.
Only to be forced back down. Madeline laid a hand on her cheek and gave her a glass of water. "Easy girlie. You're not going anywhere."
"Probably not. What about work?"
"I've already been in touch with Erica." That was her boss at Westbrook. "She's already given you a pardon. Take as much time off as necessary."
"That's good to hear. Where's Marcus?"
"He had to take care of something. Can I get you anything else?"
She shook her head, "I'm okay."
"So what is it exactly?"
"Probably a flu." She shut her eyes, wanting to just sleep for the time being.
"Is it? Or is it something else?"
Gabrielle felt her pulse quicken. "What do you mean?"
"You're just like a little girl. You know what I'm talking about."
Her cheeks began to burn again, not from the sickness. "No! Never!" Her denials caused her friend to giggle, "I'm not ready to be a mother yet!"
"Relax! I know he isn't like that! I'm just playing around!"
The two were interrupted by a knock on the door. It was Marcus.
"Madeline, mind if I talk with you in private?"
"Uh sure." She turned back to Gabrielle, mouthing "Be right back."
"What did you need me for?" The blonde asked as she stepped inside his room.
"I have to leave again." He stepped past her into his bedroom. Taking a look around his apartment, he kept a neat and tidy appearance as if he was expecting guests to show up at any time.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, maybe I just have to start from the beginning. Before I explain, I need to know you can keep a secret."
"I can keep secrets."
"Good." He opened his drawer and to her surprise, held the black shape of a handgun in his hand. A clacking sound indicated he had placed a magazine inside. "Because I need one other person to know. That person is you."
"Why me?"
"Rest of my colleagues already knows. Gabrielle's the only other person I truly trust with this matter and she's the one that can't find out."
"What secret?"
Austal stepped out. Changed from civilian clothes, he now wore a sleek black costume that shined off the dim light. His shorts were replaced by dark cargo pants and fastened securely on his waist by a utility belt.
"Your suit…" She started, aghast.
"Is a black under-outfit for a Spartan four. Yes. I am one."
Covenant Battleship Abdicated Fortitude
Inside the primary bridge of the Abdicated Fortitude, the sounds of teeth slicing into meat was something new and not heard everyday.
The jiralhanae were known for their barbaric warlike natures on and off the battlefield, utilizing a pack squad mode to overwhelm opposition.
They lived up to their name, appearing as apelike creatures with different shades of fur. They were immensely strong, capable of overpowering a Spartan in their MJOLNIR armor. Bonding in packs, they fought with utter ferocity, instilling overwhelming power and fear into anyone who dared to oppose them.
Their bonding and loyalty bordered on overzealousness, meaning that they could easily be manipulated. The Covenant discovered them to be in a war of their own already and they were easily defeated and absorbed, thanks to their savagery. It was rumored that before their pre-industrial state discovery by the Covenant, jiralhanae had developed nuclear weapons, but had nearly put an apocalypse on their world thanks to a combination of warmongering and the nuke's destructive capabilities.
The last of the major races to join the Covenant Empire, the jiralhanae instantly sparked a mutual hatred with the sangheili due to their aggressive behavior which clashed with an elite's usual sense of snobbery. Their blind following spirit would eventually be exploited, when the late Prophet of Truth dismissed all elites from their position and replaced them with their brute counterparts. Before this, they served prominently as shock troops and stationed as primary officers of the mythic Covenant secret police force Apostles.
When they had usurped their positions, the Prophets issued blank checks and new issued equipment, replacing the traditional plasma based weaponry for weapon designs originating from their homeworld of Doisac. Although many of them are remade, the new weaponry reflecting their warlike nature were based on weapons used by tribes for centuries. Their armor was reminiscent of their home planet too.
The Covenant now journeyed to Earth and was ultimately defeated after UNSC and their newly-allied Sangheili forces fought long and hard battles. The brutes themselves had made themselves formidable foes in their betrayal against the elites with these new tools.
After the Covenant had been destroyed, the brutes were left leaderless, as their prophet commanders fled the battlefield to avoid risk of detainment or execution. They once again found their roots of animosity against one another and began attacking amongst themselves. Both the UNSC and the elites took full advantage of this.
Fragments of brute factions still existed, long after the war. Many of them continued to serve their sangheili masters and others resumed their campaign against both the elites and humans. Many of these brute tribes had possession of sizeable militaries and powerful warships to be on the target list of the UNSC Defense Force.
Like the faction in control of the Abdicated Fortitude.
The Viking like manners aside, the Council of Chieftains comprised of an enormous jiralhanae force along with unggoy, kig-yar and lekgolo who had escaped the collapse of the Covenant.
Fanatical to say the least, they had fled from their posts, stumbling across a Halo in the process and rebuilt themselves in hopes to resume their war of genocide against humanity.
Abdicated Fortitude was constructed at the large Testament shipyards and launched a year before the start of the Human-Covenant War. She was the last of her class due to expenses having to go towards construction of Assault Carriers and CCS heavy cruisers.
Stretching two kilometers long, she and her sister ships bore twelve energy projectors, pulse laser point defense guns and plasma launchers. Her hull was reinforced with the newest armor composite and insulated by a new overshield. By herself, she was able to inflict massive damage on UNSC ships.
Instead of most conventional aesthetics of Covenant ships, she was more elongated than her sisters, more bulbous towards her stern and somewhat resembling a purple zeppelin.
The Council of Chieftains had been assigned the vessel and now it served as the flagship for their nine-ship fleet of cruisers and frigates.
The main representatives of the CoC had now gathered together on the bridge as they heard a transmission that had given them a new purpose. The fleet had intercepted humans trying to see what they were doing, but in all, it was a ruse to the true intentions.
Soon, the UNSC would have yet another front of war in their theater.
A rising threat means that the good men and women of the UNSC will be the first to confront it. What they don't know is that they're going to strike closer than expected. Primarily a filler chapter, as I am beginning to catch up with myself in writing.
Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.