AN: Ok enough vacation, back to work for the glory authoring. For the record Jiralhanae are Brutes.

I don't own Halo

The small recorder sparked to life and a small holo-image of my father looked at me, "Son if you are hearing this then you know that I am dead. There are things that I must tell you that I wish I could have told you face-to-face, but it appears that is impossible. The first and foremost of these things is do NOT trust the prophets."

I tensed, such words were heresy and the image seemed to read my mind, "You will most likely try to disregard my words as they drip 'heresy' as they call it, but that is the way they portray me, isn't it, a heretic? I can only hope that you'll still listen, I know you will, you weren't like me, you were smart, they feared you for that, did I ever tell you that?"

"They wanted you to be just another mindless warrior, but you always questioned it. I should have taken lessons from you, then maybe I would have seen it sooner. The second thing is that most of what the prophets believe will be the death of not only the Sangheili, but of all the races of the covenant!"

"I spent the last few years in an effort to stop them. Son, they are looking for the holy rings and they must not find them, they must NOT! You have to stop them, but I'm not saying alone, there is a species out there in the galaxy, they can help you. If you are heeding my words then go to Gangorili, I found evidence that this species there, go see if you can find them."

"And my son, I want you to know that everything I've done to you was ruthless, I shouldn't have tried to make you like me. I hope you can forgive me... goodbye, my son." The recording shut down and a tear escaped my eye. I had already made my decision: I was going to Gangorili.

I walked over to my room's door, which slid open with a hiss, and stepped out. Ungolko stood waiting with Jeradoo, much to my surprise. Jeradoo saw the determined look on my face and asked, "What are you going to do?" I looked him in the eyes and said, "I need to get to Gangorili."

Jeradoo nodded, "That won't be to hard, our ship is going to pass next to it on our current course, " he paused, "you know that once you leave this ship, you're on your own, right?" I nodded. Jeradoo grinned slightly, "Gather what you'll take with you and meet me at the hanger." I turned to Ungolko as Jeradoo left.

He stared at me and said, "I go where you go." I smiled, "Thank you, my friend." I walked back into my room and grabbed my father's sword and returned to the hallway to find another surprise. Recodo was leaning against the wall opposite Ungolko, his beam rifle slung over his back.

He grinned at me, "Hope you weren't thinking of leaving without me." I shook my head at him, "No Recodo, you can't come with me, you have a great future here." He sighed at me, "Yeah, well I'm going with you even if I have to jump in slipspace."

He gave me that look that all Sangheili know means there can be no negotiations. Sighing I signaled for Ungolko and him to follow me. Together we made our way to the hanger. No one else seemed to be there, but Jeradoo stood beside a phantom in its start up cycle.

He looked at us as we approached, "You'll need to be fast so they can't call you back, so just wait until the last second and burn space once your out." I looked at him, "You won't be coming with us then?" I asked. He shook his head, "No, my place is here, I'll try to buy you time, but once you're out you're on your own, that's it."

I nodded and extended my arm. He gripped my forearm in a soldier's farewell. We looked at each other and I said, "It was good serving under you Sir." He nodded and I stepped into the loading beam. Recodo and Ungolko joined me as I took the pilot seat.

I smiled as I saw Jeradoo had already set the lift-off sequence. We sat there in the phantom, waiting. Gangorili slowly spread before the hanger, a back water planet of little importance to the covenant. Green areas sometimes broke the great blue of the world's water.

The lift-off sequence activated and we accelerated out of the hanger. I pushed the throttle to max power and we flew toward the planet. We reached the atmosphere and the radar pinged three contacts on the far side of the planet. Curious as to why The Dark Revelation hadn't picked them up I pulled into an orbit course.

Recodo stepped into the cabin, "What's wrong?" he asked. I pointed to the radar and stayed the course. We came around the planet and I activated the ship's cloaking. What we saw made all three of us gasp.

Three ships that reminded me of the shape of plasma bricks floated just outside the atmosphere. They were small, but they were surrounded by several single-fighter looking ships that started at a point and extended to either side then came back and extended into a tail-like back.

Other ships came out of what I guessed were the larger ships' hangars. The front of these ships were round and the top angled back. They had two stubby wings on the sides. The greater portion of these looked like boxes with an extra little portion like a tail, but it was wider than that of the fighters.

I activated the ship com and cycled through the channels. Almost at once voices rang through the ships speakers. They were speaking in an odd language, one I'd never heard. I was about to turn the com off when I heard the voice speaking in the Sangheili language and I pulled my father's sword from my hip.

One of the medallions was glowing green and translating the odd language. I pulled the medallion off the wire and placed it in my helmet's translation port. It scanned the language and recorded it. I took the medallion out and passed it to Recodo.

Now I could understand what was being said, "... no sir, no sign of sentient life, the planet is quiet." Another voice joined the first, "OK then, start getting the planet ready for use." The first voice piped up, "Yes, sir." Then it was silent.

Now I was really curious, what were they using the planet for? Quickly I plotted a course to follow one of the ships heading for the planet. It sped into the atmosphere and down to the ground. At once I noticed a small base of gray metal. The ship was heading straight for it.

I pulled away and set down some ways from the base. I looked at Recodo, "Shall we go meet our new friends?" We quickly jumped on the gravlift and set out toward the base.

We had almost reached the base when we saw a group of these strange creatures. My first impression of them was they looked like Jiralhanae with less fur and Unggoy heads with sparse fur on the top of their head. They were wearing what I guessed was light combat armor that was a dark green.

One was laughing at what another had said. I walked forward planning to introduce myself carefully. A twig snapped under my foot and suddenly the two creatures were holding what I was betting were weapons.

And both were pointing at me...

AN: R&R