Chapter One: Prepare For Battle
2529
In orbit around the outer colony, Biko
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Akoo scowled in disgust at the pasty yellow atmosphere of the human planet as it gradually came closer and closer into view through the main view-port at the head of the vessel, a Phantom. It glaringly reminded the young Sangheili of the fetid waste that was brought forth from a Jiralhanae's bowels.
His hoofed, booted feet firmly planted to the Phantom's deck, the minor Sangheili, Akoo Lislsee, his standard issue combat harness's bright blue pitch—signifying his novice rank— overshadowed by the dark purple light that emitted from inside the Phantom's deck, was actually grateful for the planet's atmospherically repulsive make-up.
It momentarily offered him an escape from the anxious thoughts that clouded his mind.
This was his FIRST combat mission.
It was here, now, that he would get his very first taste of battle.
He couldn't have been more excited. Secretly, however, deep down in the pits of his three hearts, he couldn't have been more apprehensive.
After years of training, after years of anticipation of the glory of his very first kill, his moment for greatness had finally arrived.
The momentous weight of these quickly passing seconds left him almost unable to contain the exhilaration that was threatening to burst within his very core.
Akoo covertly glanced at a Sangheili that stood locked into place at his right, another member of the eight man battle group he'd been placed in. This Sangheili was adorned in the same polished blue armor as Akoo, obviously signifying he was a minor just like him. There came a small twinge of embarrassment that almost deadened Akoo's mood as he continued to look at the Sangheili beside him and realized this warrior seemed as though he'd been carved from the hardest stones of Jujttu back on the home-world.
His posture absolutely reeked of confidence while his gaze was set intensely on the planet before them and the battle that lay ahead.
Here this Sangheili, a soldier of the Holy Covenant just like him, was so incredibly calm while he, another warrior of the Holy Covenant, couldn't stop his hands from shaking ever so slightly as he gripped the plasma rifle in his four-fingered clutch.
A voice suddenly crackled from the battlenet transmitter in his helmet.
"Prepare. We shall be landing in less then five quips."
The voice belonged to the pilot of this Phantom, another Sangheili, who sat in his seat working the controls to the transport vessel several meters ahead of Akoo.
Stinking Pakbait!
How dare this mere pilot, too afraid to taste real combat, remind him of the large battle, possibly the most important one of his life, that lie ahead!?
Taking a deep, silent breath to quickly calm himself, Akko relented from the childish rant inside his head and refocused on the planet that grew closer and closer and the reason why he was here.
Akoo and his combat group were to be part of the first wave of a massive invasion force that would come down ferociously on this planet that the humans called Biko.
Usually, a groundside attack meant there were ancient Forerunner relics to be uncovered that the human filth were too ignorant to be aware of and far too unworthy to learn even existed on one of their pathetic settlements.
But not today.
Today was about one thing and one thing only.
Extermination.
Today was to be a day of ruin, death, and blood.
A day of fiery purification.
A day where the Holy Covenant came one miniscule step closer to an ultimate goal:
The utter annihilation of humanity from the cosmos.
It was the will of the all-knowing San Shyuum, who's powerful knowledge continued to widen the path to all those who were worthy enough to take the Great Journey.
The San Shyuum, in all their incontrovertible wisdom, had realized fully that the pathetic humans had brought upon their destruction all because of themselves. It was they who recklessly continued their unbound defilation of the sacred sites that the Forerunners once inhabited.
And it was for that they would all be consumed by the blazing blue fires of holy light the weapon in Akoo's hand produced.
Akoo's back straightened and his gaze hardened on the planet set before him as he realized the entirety of the responsibility that was now in his hands.
The two upper mandibles of his quadruple-hinged jaw raised slightly.
He was grinning.
As very well he should have been. For his tale of absolute conquest started here.
And he would very much so enjoy it.
--
Nanap stood at the stern of the Phantom, just behind the eight Sangheili gathered into ranks of four on the main deck, along with all the other Unggoy of this battle group.
All around him, his short, stout, dog-like brethren were shuddering terribly, and it was not just because of the fact that it was a lot colder in the stern then it was at the front of the ship.
They were all afraid.
So very afraid.
Nanap on the other hand shivered only because of the chilly temperature.
He wasn't afraid.
He had no reason to be afraid.
He knew he was going to die here.
They were allgoing to die here except for most of the Sangheili of course.
That was the way of things.
As far as those larger, more reptilian soldiers were concerned, no, as far as the entirety of the Covenant were concerned, they, mere orange armored Minor Unggoy, were nothing more, probably far less, than cannon fodder.
Theywould be the ones sent to the frontlines and get torn apart by the primitive human projectiles so that their leaders and other more important species of the Covenant would not be killed as quickly by incoming fire.
That, and the fact this was his, along with the other Unggoys', first battle, practically slimmed down his chance of survival to almost nil.
Nanap didn't mind.
Matter of fact, the reality of dying mildly excited the little Unggoy.
When he died, he, having died serving under the name of the San 'Shyuum, who in turn served under the legacy of the divine Forerunners, would automatically have a place preserved for him when the Covenant as a whole were finally allowed to embark on the coveted Great Journey.
Nanap made a toothy smile behind the mask that adorned his face and continuously pumped a steady stream of methane from the tank strapped to his combat armor and into his lungs.
He had fed incredibly well today. Better then he had in years.
He had fought a brutal battle against another of his kind for extra time at the food nipple and if his disemboweled opponent still lived, Nanap was sure he would've admitted that Nanap's logic was flawless.
He closed his eyes.
Already Nanap was imagining what kind of paradise the Great Journey would take the Unggoy to.
He purred at the thought of a glorious intoxicating benzene filled void where there where all the melons they could eat, and the ground was practically alive with delectable little Dins—small little rodents from his homeworld—to catch and devour.
And there would be mating.
Lots and lots of mating.
Before he could delve further into his thoughts, the pilot's voice broadcasted over a special battlenet device in all the Unggoys' mask.
"Prepare. We shall be landing in less then five quips."
Nanap tried to keep from laughing when some of the other Unggoy burst into tears and mournful howls at the news.
Why was it so hard for other Unggoy to realize what he had?
If the Great Journey was what the Holy San 'Shyuum made it seem like it was, for the Unggoy, dying was truly the day worth living for.
Nanap then pulled a grenade from his belt and smiled at the explosive blue orb of plasma.
Of course, eliminating some of the naked primates before his time came wasn't such a bad idea either.
Nanap suddenly realized the other Unggoy had fallen deathly silent.
Each one was staring at him with wide red eyes.
Nanap chuckled at his brethren.
"Trust me my friends. Me would not want to deny the humans a chance of their own to kill us."
--
Akoo considered it a blessing when the wailing of the Unggoys behind him and the other Sangheili abruptly ceased.
Why were the Unggoy such cowardly creatures he wondered?
If they would only work up to their potential and maybe even show that they had spines, the San 'Shyuum would probably hold them in an at least marginally greater bit of light.
Casting his thoughts of the weaklings aside, Akoo refocused his attention on Biko just as the Phantom broke through the atmosphere.
The planet was filled with a varying degree of forestry. From wild jungles, to simple woodland areas, and several humongous oceans of fresh water, Biko thought the place was rather fitting for the former tree-swinging apes that inhabited it.
Everything however, was cast over with a sickly yellow-brownish hue because of the yellow atmosphere.
Akoo hissed in disgust. He would be glad to see this world burn.
It would be pure torture to continue to look at this sordid reminder of Jiralhanae waste.
The priority target of this invasion was the largest human establishment on this planet, a humongous metropolis that the humans called Durban.
It had been confirmed already by Covenant spies that there was quite a large military establishment on this planet. Some of the humans' best forces were said to be located here because Biko just so happened to be a common target for separatist forces within the humans' own kind.
It seemed the Covenant had caught the petty creatures in the midst of a Civil War.
All the better then, he didn't want his first battle to be an easy one.
The echoing voice of his combat group's leader abruptly boomed through the confined space of the Phantom's deck as the ship began to slow. It would be landing soon.
Their leader, his body adorned in the bright crimson armor of a Sangheili Major, paced between their two ranks.
"Do not let anxiety cloud your minds young warriors!" he growled, "Remember your training, and remember your purpose, and you will return to the splendor that is our divine city of High Charity with the glory of the kills you will have made here today!!"
All the Sangheili unleashed war cries of absolute victory.
Akoo's cry however, was loudest.
He was ready.
The Phantom came to a stop and hovered in mid-air.
A section of floor paneling at Akoo's feet suddenly slid open, revealing the ground twenty feet below. A purplish red glow of light began to emit downwards from the Phantom's belly.
He heard his leader's voice again. "Now, let us go my warriors! Let us burn these vile primates in the name of our great holy ones!"
Akoo again joined in on another wave of war cries and he eagerly stepped into the light.
As a balmy wave of reversed gravity gently carried him the entire distance to the ground, Akoo recited part of his family's battle maxim inside his head.
When the warrior first grasped his blade, he was timid, maybe even afraid.
But when his stroke improved, when his slash became strong and true, the fear was gone.
Torn apart and burned by pride, serenity and the power of a warrior who was meant for greatness!
--
Nanap watched as one by one the Sangheili walked into the grav-lift to be deposited on the ground.
"Ouch time." an Unggoy next to him said.
Nanap laughed. "Ouch not even begin to describe it."
He wobbled over to the open grav-lift on his stubby legs and leapt into the purple light.
--
His prey saw him.
But it was already far too late.
This elusive little beast was as good as dead.
Quickly Zex pounced from his hiding place among the underbrush of the forest floor and grabbed the frog with his three fingered hand. He tightly squeezed the little vermin until it croaked as it frantically tried to wriggle out of his obdurate grip.
"Got you…" Zex hissed. He opened his long pointed jaws wide and bit into the frog with his sharp, needlelike teeth.
The amphibian's struggles ceased immediately, and Zex bit the little creature in half.
Chewing his meal noisily, Zex suddenly felt a tinge of regret knowing that this human planet would soon be nothing but a lifeless, glassy ruin.
Who knows where else he'd get to catch more slimy delicacies such as these?
He savored the taste of the frog as he gulped down the rest of his snack.
It was such a waste.
His species, the space-faring avian-like Kig-yar, could have really come to like a planet like this.
There was a little bit too much vegetation, and land mass of confusing variations such as massive gorges and canyons, something non-existent on the completely aquatic world of Eayn, but it was something he was sure his people could get used to
Shrugging, Zex licked his long, purple tongue along his snout and both sides of his jaw to get any remnants of the frog's flesh.
"None for me eh?" came a voice from above him.
Zex chuckled, turned around and looked up a nearby tree to find his commanding-officer, a Kig-yar Major, staring down at him from a branch.
The much older Kig-yar, his maturity signified by his tough, pointed beak, and lengthy featherlike quills, longer then Zex's own, along the top of his narrow skull also indicated his authority over the younger Zex.
If that wasn't enough, the Kig-yar, his name Qax, was Zex's elder brother.
Zex gave a toothy grin. "My sincerest apologies dear sibling, but it's hard enough trying to catch one of these slimy little beasts, let alone two of them."
Qax snorted, a shrill, windy sound because of his beak.
"Oh please… you're not even a third my age. There is little that can evade you. Your eyes are still so very keen." As Qax said this, he tapped the metallic helmet that almost completely covered the left side of his face.
A slender scoping device to better his aiming extended from his left eye.
"I wish I could say the same."
Zex shook his head, "Don't let that device dampen your spirits brother. It merely signifies that you're getting older than an Mgalekgolo shield, nothing more!" he squawked.
The two brothers broke out into cackling laughter.
"In any case, Zex I have just received good news," said Qax, and he leapt down all fifteen feet from the tree branch to the ground, landed in one graceful motion, very much resembling the creatures of wondrous flight their species so much resembled, and was already striding over to Zex before the younger Kig-yar could blink.
"I have just been contacted by Fleet Master Ythuan Har Urezakee. He thanks us for our reconnaissance on the humans of this planet and is most pleased to inform us that the invasion has begun. The fleet has already stationed several assault carriers around the planet's orbit and dozens of Phantoms and Spirits have already been sent groundside. They are unloading troops as we speak."
Zex beamed. "Finally."
Though he liked this planet and its plentiful populations of tasty amphibians, this human establishment was not his home world, and certainly not the magnificent structure that was he and his brother's present home, High Charity.
Having been discreetly transported via undetectable pods that had been shot from a cruiser within the fleet near the planet Biko, they had been stationed here for two entire weeks left to gather intelligence on the human defenses and never had Zex been so bored in his life.
He was sure attempting to mate with a filthy Unggoy would've provided more entertainment then it was to watch the actions of humans during their daily lives.
Zex's trigger finger had gotten such an infuriatingly powerful itch, more then once did his brother have to remind them of their current mission, and how he would have to wait until he could finally unleash the powerful lavender radiance that was the laser beam of his Beam Rifle.
But it was just so hard to resist firing when you had the head of a human commander in your sights as you watched him go about his duties. It was beyond maddening to see him act so nonchalantly as though he continued to hold his life within his own hands. Then again, that was the downside of being apart of a reconnaissance mission.
You watched but you could never act unless you were under danger.
And shooting down primal predators that attacked him and Qax during the night did not conquer his desire for a human kill. Matter of fact, Zex had more then once gone out on his own during the night, willingly becoming the hunted in order to turn his Beam Rifle on the hunters to keep himself sharp for the battle that was hopefully soon to come.
However, most glorious news from the Sangheili fleet master had quickly changed all that. The battle he lusted for had in fact finally arrived.
"Let us return to our encampment brother and prepare ourselves for the battle ahead."
Zex nodded. "Yes lets."
Qax rapped his fist against the light gray armor, standard Kig-yar sniper uniform, Zex wore.
"May our eyes be sharp—" the elder brother said.
"So we may burn holes of hot amethyst through all who attempt to hinder our steps on the journey." Zex said, finishing the famed Kig-yar saying.
Qax nodded. "Let's go."
Zex nodded in return and the two brothers raced off into the brush to gather their equipment.
--
Akoo's feet hit the ground, his plasma rifle already up and ready.
There were no enemies to be found however as they Phantom had positioned itself on a cliff overlooking an absolutely massive valley.
Akoo snorted and moved from under the Phantom and approached the edge of the cliff, while the rest of his Sangheili brethren began floating down the grav-lift.
He peered over the edge.
A twenty thousand foot drop awaited any poor soul who had the greatest misfortune of loosing his footing. Akoo severely doubted that even an Mgalekgolo's amazingly thick armor could protect it from such a humongous fall.
Akoo looked further down the valley's path.
He saw it. The reason why they were all here.
Durban.
From what he could see from this distance, the city was filled with humungous skyscrapers and other smaller yet just as magnificent structures.
And from the data gathered by the scouts, there was large military base on the outskirts of the city.
His first battle was quickly approaching!
Without warning, Akoo was roughly shoved forward and his hearts hammered furiously in his chest when he just barely was able to stop himself from going over the cliff.
Rage flooded his veins and he quickly turned around, rifle already raised to deliver a brutal blow to the fool that had dared push him.
He immediately stopped himself when he realized how much he would have regretted the strike.
His leader, the Sangheili Major from the Phantom smiled at him, his two upper mandibles rising high.
"Did I surprise you young one?"
Akoo took a deep breath, willing the hateful heat that had built within him out of his body.
"That's putting it rather kindly leader."
The Major let out a deep chortle.
"My apologies then. You'd seemed so entranced with depth of the valley I was merely wondering if you'd like to find out how far down it goes."
Akoo couldn't help but let out a small laugh of his own before a deep humming sound suddenly attracted the two Sangheili's attention.
They both turned around and Akoo was treated to the sight of a multitude of Phantoms swooping down from the sky before each came to an abrupt stop and let out their troops.
Kig-yar, Sangheili, and Unggoy alike were all deposited from their vessels, quickly gathered into their respective battle groups and chatter began to erupt all around.
The Sangheili Major turned back to Akoo and patted him on the shoulder.
"Come young one. Let us gather ourselves and I shall assign you to your team."
Akoo nodded. "Yes leader."
And he and the Major walked over to a group of six other Minor Sangheili, the very same from the Phantom they'd exited from, while the eight Unggoy from the Phantom, chattered a few feet away.
Akoo noticed that one Unggoy however seemed to distance himself away from the other seven Unggoy. He was unusually complacent for his kind as he sat with eyes closed and seemed deep in thought, an unquestionably un-Unggoy like behavior.
The Unggoy as a species had not remained at the very bottom of the Covenant chain because they were good thinkers.
Becoming disinterested with the oddity of the Unggoy's manner, Akoo redirected his attention on the Sangheili Major who had just begun to assign him to his team.
"Minor, Akoo Lislee, you and Garahg Yetisee shall join me." announced the Major much to the astonishment of Akoo.
"Me your grace?"
The Major nodded. "Yes, unless you'd rather—"
"Of course not!"
The Major smiled. "I did not expect so."
He then looked over to the Unggoy. By the fact that they were all adorned in orange armor, it didn't take too long to choose. He randomly selected four from the group.
"You, you, you, and you shall join us." The Major looked at the remaining Sangheili, "You three take the remaining Unggoy."
Among the four Unggoy that the Major had selected, Akoo quickly realized he had picked the very same Unggoy who'd sat away from the others of his race.
The Unggoy noticed his stare as he waddled over to him with the others.
A normal member of his species would've probably cowered away from a Sangheili's gaze or at least not have made full eye contact.
This one however, did.
"Is there a…problem sir?" it asked timidly, continuing to meet his eyes.
Akoo shook his head. "None at all little Unggoy."
The peculiar Unggoy shrugged his shoulders and joined rank with the others of his kind.
The Major spoke again. "Now my warriors… we wait. The humans' technology is far too inferior to have detected our ships' presence. We have the element of surprise for now. But very soon that will change. We currently have inbound Wraiths on our location, along with several Ghosts and Banshees. Once the Field Master arrives and orders for the Wraiths to commence their bombardment of this pathetic human city, we will fully commence the attack!"
Akoo and the other Sangheili growled in unison. "Yes leader!"
The Unggoy all just nodded, probably too afraid of the coming battle to truly speak up.
All but one.
"It will be done mighty one." said the Unggoy that continued to catch Akoo's attention.
What troubled him however was how eager this Unggoy sounded.
It would be truly interesting to see just what this little creature did when the battle finally came.