A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone. Instead of finishing the rest of the last chapter by replacing content, I'll just make a new chapter because I like how it ends. And I just hope you enjoy this one. By the way, the name I currently have the Sangheili's (Elite's) planet is temporary, once I think of a good name that I like, it will be replaced. A small factoid for any who care, Jiralhanea is actually the Korean word for monkey.

Chapter 8: Light Fuse, Run Away...

The Arbiter stood nervously on the command deck of the flagship for the RG forces. Hoping that his communications officer could fool the Jiralhanea defense force into falling for the ploy. The RG forces could still win an outright battle, but the losses that would account for it would not compensate for the victory. The near 300 Human vessels would enter on the side of the planet where the Plasma Batteries were not located, so the Humans do not get decimated in the battle.

In fact, while the Slipspace journey was being made, the Humans had already strengthened their shields to a higher energy output, making them stronger. The Arbiter was amazed by how well the Humans adapted and improved to anything. And he hoped that now, without the Prophet's grip on their Engineers, they would be able to improve upon their own technology.

After the plan had worked, the Human ships appeared just beyond the sight of the RG ships. An incoming message came from the orbital Plasma Batteries and ships from the Covenant forces.

"Brothers, the Humans dare enter Holy Covenant space? Let us show them our might! Attack! All forces attack the Human invaders!" And the transmission ended.

This is it, as the Humans say, now or never. The Arbiter gave the order for all 400+ ships to follow the Covenant fleet, which numbered only 400. He felt the deck rumble as the engines powered up. Once out of range from the Plasma Batteries, the RG ships would unleash a massive salvo of Plasma Torpedoes, Plasma Cannons, and the Plasma Lances equipped on the largest of ships. Out of over 400 ships, the RG forces had only 30 with Plasma Lances on them, but because the Lances could cripple any ship, Human, or Covenant, with only one hit, it did not matter.

"Send a message to all ships in our fleet, tell them to power up all weapons and fire at will. Make sure there are at least a quarter of the enemy force destroyed before the Humans encounter them."

"Yes, Arbiter. Your message will be carried out" Came the reply of the comm officer.

Fleet Admiral Reiner confident this attack would succeed. Improved shield technology, better than what the RG forces had given them, meaning better than what the entire Covenant armada had, and prototype plasma cannons made from Cortana's design were also on all ships that were larger than the destroyer classification. This attack would not fail, he was sure of it.

They had just arrived on the other side of the Brute homeworld, Lobonikos, the Elites had called it. About the size of Mars, the planet would serve well as a forward attack base and resupply center after they take it from the Covenant.

A look at a monitor told him that the Brute controlled ships were already responding to the threat, as were the RG ships. Good, if the Arbiter gets off the first shot, it'll confuse the enemy, and let us strike them while they try to figure out what has happened. Hopefully, anyway the Admiral thought. He could see the plasma gathering on the lateral lines of the RG vessels first, and soon the Brutes were doing the same. But the RG ships fired away, hitting at least half of the defense fleet, destroying more than 100 instantaneously as multiple shots pierced shields and then the hulls reaching the engine cores.

"Launch all 4 Shivas into the enemy fleet, set maximum burn for 3 minutes. That should get them into the middle of their battle group. And set them for proximity detonation, with a field of 200 yards. And make sure to tell the Arbiter about those nukes. I don't want friendly fire, not here." The Admiral finished.

"Aye, sir. Maximum burn and proximity detonation set. Reclaiming Glory forces notified."

The Admiral decided to now sit down and enjoy the show from one of the multiple cameras pointed towards battle.

"Arbiter!" Yelled the communications officer. "The Humans have launched three Shiva class nuclear missiles into the enemy fleet, and they have sent word that we should get out of the blast radius."

"Very well. Tell the fleet to get out of the blast radius. The nuclear missiles have done much damage to our fleets in the past."

"Incoming transmission from Fleet Master 'Sotoramee, Arbiter."

"Put it on the main screen."

"Arbiter, This is Fleet Master 'Sotoramee. Won't the EMP in those devices knock out our shields?"

"Only if you stay inside the blast radius. They have approximately 2 minutes left until detonation, so I trust you can get your fleet out of it."

"Yes, Arbiter. I will do as I must."

The Arbiter watched as the other three Fleet Masters got their ships out of the blast radius. Because of close proximity to enemy ships, they could listen in on their communications.

"Are the Traitors and the Humans retreating? They all seem to be moving away from us."

"Nonsense, Sangheili have never retreated before. So why should they now? I think they are planning something."

"Perhaps, but even the Humans have stopped firing at us. Do they wish to achieve some sort of agreement? If so, they are sorely mistaken. We shall not follow the footsteps of the traitorous Sangheili. We shall protect our homeworld, even to our dieing breath!"

"Thou in faith, will keep us safe. Whilst we find the path" one of them quoted.

Just after the Jiralhanea quoted the Covenant Writ of Union, all three Shiva's blew up. Out of the remaining 300 or so ships, about 50 more were instantly vaporized in the explosion. Numerous ships listed into others that were still intact. Only the Jiralhanea ships on the very outside of the explosion took minor damage. But, because of the EMP, none of their equipment was in working order, making them prime targets.

"Tell all of our fleets to fire at once, before their equipment gets back online!" The Arbiter practically yelled at his comm officer.

Hopefully, the Humans are doing the same for their fleet. Then we can capture the Jiralhanea homeworld, and make repairs. But, the Arbiter thought, we will need to send in ground forces if we wish to fortify it. The arbiter felt a thump as the Plasma Cannons fired from the turrets. With the adjustments from the Human AI, the Plasma was shaped into a beam instead of a ball of energy. As seen from just before the battle started, one could control where the plasma could go. Because of this, most of the Jiralhanea vessels were neatly sliced in two instead of having melted hulls.

From a view screen, he saw the Humans fire their own MAC cannons and their own Plasma Cannons. Out of an original defense fleet of 400, the Jiralhanea ships numbered closer to 100.

"What just happened!"

"I don't know! After the first enemy barrage, 50 more friendly ships just vanished from radar! Now we have lost another 200! How many enemy ships are there!"

"An estimate counts over... 700 enemy ships! My brothers... Our planet is lost... Warn the ground forces of imminent invasion. Perhaps we can hold them off from there."

"Yes, let the Forerunners watch over their souls. Forgive us."

Jabrolon watched as his brothers in the other ships were destroyed. He knew that he would soon be obliterated by the might of the Human's and the Traitors' weapons. May the Forerunners protect my soul in the Great Journey.

Jabrolon waited for death to overtake him. I welcome death as my savior from this horrid place. As his last thought took place an MAC shell struck his ship. After a few more shots from the Allied forces, one went through the Bridge, killing all who were in it, and making the ship another dead hulk in the field of space.

After the Allied forces mopped up the rest of the Brute fleet, they counted their own losses. The Human ships had lost only 7 ships out of about 300, and the RG vessels lost around 15.

Fleet Admiral Reiner had to reorganize his fleets as well as the Arbiter. Reiner opened a channel with the Arbiter.

"Arbiter, we should send in ground forces now. After that, we should attack the Plasma Batteries on the other side of the planet."

"I agree. However, we should capture the capital of the planet first. It is on the dark side of the planet, so we must use special forces. I suggest you land all of the Spartans on the planet, as your ODST's and Marines will not be enough, even with vehicle support. We will land 6 teams of Mirratord strike teams on various locations near the city."

"Yes, I suppose that would work. However, after we take the capital, about 30 of our ships will be leaving for reinforcements and for troops."

"OK, but be on your guard, do not go into the range of the Plasma Batteries until we can occupy the generators on the ground. I want to have a defensible position with more than just ships. After we take hold of the generators, we can launch boarding parties into the platforms to capture them. A note of coincidence, our Plasma Batteries are exactly like your super MAC cannons that were guarding Reach, and the ones that still guard your planet."

"Alright, thanks for the tip. We'll be on our way with the boarding parties. Make sure to send out yours after our Pelican takes off."

"It will be done."

The comm channel ended, and Reiner called for Master Chief to come up to the bridge.

A/N: I apologize if the chapter seems rushed. I have to start school in less than a few days, so I can't have much time for writing anymore. A bit shorter than normal because it was part of chapter 7, so I just hope that you still enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Auf Weidersehen.