0500 Hours, July 30, 2533 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant controlled space, planet Te
"And so we honor our brethren with new armor, to prove you are warriors with remarkable skill. You two will be above the rank of 'Sangheili Ultra' yet below the rank of a Zealot. Let your strength guide us on The Great Journey!"
Dark luminous clouds wrapped around the small valley. The sight below the clouds was an intriguing one at that. A light downpour started to fall down on the unsuspecting victims. The pitter patter became louder and louder as the water that fell to the ground became more viscous.
"Thank you, Hierarchy."
A Covenant Carrier drifted lazily through the clouds, the Unbreakable Transport was a sight to behold. Unlike its brethren it was three times the size of a battle class two cruiser. The Carrier stopped right above the rocky fields and deployed its gravity lift. The purple beam shot down to the ground, it was transparent so you could see the ferry of troops fall down to the ground. Twenty Sangheili fell to the ground, they all carried a silver armor in their arms.
"Killer of Demons!"
Unngoy chanted throughout the crowd, even the Sangheili were giving their supportive comments to the two next to the San 'Shyuum. "The Minister of Fortitude has settled the task on me to make sure all the new features and functions work fine. We will begin by putting on the new armor."
Sangheili strode up to the two Bond Brothers and started detaching their armor, the two stood perfectly still as they remembered the mission that led to this day.
1300 Hours, July 23, 2533 (Military Calendar) /
Outer Colonies, Dwarka
"Bond Brother! Wake up! We arrive where the humans lay."
"Excellent!"
The Phantom descended to the ground to unload its crew, two Mgalekgolo and ten Unngoy. The city around them was falling and soon this pathetic planet would be burnt, just like the rest before it. A single Unngoy by the name of Yip-yap shouted and ran, "Humans!"
Igadi Sota Soto and Agida Sota Darro were thrilled to be down on the ground. Their kind wasn't deployed often, either when the job needed to be fast or when the ground teams were receiving trouble. Igadi wondered to himself which one it would be this time.
Unngoy weren't the most powerful or dedicated warriors in the world. If anything they were cannon fodder for the Covenant. But what they lacked in skill they made up in sheer volume, they would mass themselves in the hundreds. For this reason they became slightly formidable if not watched. The ten on the ground started firing off in the general direction of the humans, with their Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher and their Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol.
The humans however pushed back, they threw a "Grenade!" Yip-yap yelled as he ran and jumped from the human weapon. A splash of shrapnel exploded killing two of the Unngoy. It seemed it was time for the Mgalekgolo to step in.
"Brother! I have felled a human." Agida chuckled to himself as he fired off another blast from his Assault Cannon. The gun itself was attached to his blue armor and would last him for days before needing to be fixed up with new fuel.
"Congratulations are in order then!" Igadi chuckled as well. Unlike his Brother, he sent off a stream of plasma towards the small building the weak humans were hiding in. The sides of the building burned red and finally gave in, the building collapsed.
"Eight Unngoy left. Four more settlements to destroy."
"How will we ever come out victorious?" The two Mgalekgolo chuckled once more.
-
The final settlement was located in the middle of the town and it was the only building the last two humans were trying to defend. It must have been important, in some way.
The humans had set up a small perimeter, not bad for their kind. Two turrets surrounded the building along with a couple of concrete walls. The two humans were attempting to finish the last of the Unngoy with their projectile -yap had proven quiet then lucky one. He was hiding behind one of the concrete walls, he could feel the humans fire against it.
"Look Brother! Do you see what I see?" Igadi began to sing a battle hymn to himself in anticipation. Agida was shocked at what he saw, a demon. Two demons! That was how this building was still standing, it was the only possible way. The Demon was thought to be a myth but there it was, full clad in green armor, killer of thousands. "Let us kill them!"
Before they could even start their attack one of the Demons went running, very fast mind you. "Do you think it runs for it does not know our kind? Do we impose that much of a threat?" Agida asked in a very curious way.
"How should I know Brother?"
"Brother!"
Agida turned around and hefted his giant shield, the bullets dug into it but no damage was done. Letting out a growl Agida saw his attacker, the Demon who stayed behind. A blast followed by a second, thanks to Igadi, went straight for the Demon. "It was a miss Brother! Try again!"
Two beams criss crossed each other as they focused their attention on the green armored human. The Demon went back inside, popped out to fire a few rounds from its automatic weapon and then fell back into hiding.
"We will never get any where standing up here. Let us rush Brother! Break the walls!" The two Mgalekgolo ran shield first into concrete wall after concrete wall, decimating the pathetic barrier the humans had set up.
The Demon popped out, holding what looked like two black tubes. Right as the two Mgalekgolo burst through the last wall the Demon fired. "Rocket Brother!"
A roar was let out as the shield shook, Agida crouched. He felt weak, tired even. He just wanted to rest, his blood lay splattered around him. "Brother…"
Igadi let out a bloodcurdling roar as he charged the Demon, breaking down the building's front entrance. Surprised at this action the Demon retreated to another room. After some clicking was heard the Demon jumped back out and pumped out rounds from its new weapon. Igadi deflected all of the bullets with his shield then in one fluid motion he threw down his Assault Cannon, re lifted his arm and grabbed the Demon by the head. To its credit, it did try punching and kicking, but to no avail.
"You harmed my Brother!" Igadi realized that the human couldn't understand Mgalekgolo tongue considering it was just vibrations but he felt like yelling at it. Throwing the Demon down to the ground, it skidded about a meter and stopped against the wall. The Demon got up and ran across the room –
or it would have if Igadi had not leaped into the air and impaled it with his shield.
The human yelled out in pain, grabbing the closest gun to it, it fired off shots at Igadi. "Your bullets have no effect on me, Demon." With that Igadi pulled his shield out of the Demon's stomach and forced it into its head.
"Brother! You have killed a Demon! You have done our race proud!"
Igadi turned to see his Bond Brother standing there, he was happy. But his peripherals showed him towards the two petrified humans. "One has soiled itself, Brother!"
"Then their deaths must be quick."
The screaming could be heard for miles.
-
"There! Rejoice for the armor and weaponry are now complete." The San 'Shyuum floated backwards to stare at the two Mgalekgolo. They were now covered in silver armor. The once orange protruding spot was now covered, the only place that donned the Lekgolo were at the base of their necks. Their shield was now gone and replaced with another shield, smaller, lighter, more compact and sharp. Very sharp. Their Assault Cannons looked the same, they fired in the sky together to celebrate and a shock went through their bodies. Instead of the normal green, it now shot out dark blue, black and red plasma.
"Thank you, Hierarchy." The two Bond Brothers began to recite battle poetry. Although they could speak some tongue of the San 'Shyuum and Sangheili, they preferred to stay known as silent warriors. This was true for most Mgalekgolo, yet these two were different. Most of their kind hated the Covenant, other then their warrior brethren the Sangheili. But Igadi and Agida particularly liked the Unngoy for their stupid mannerisms and the constant idiocy. While the two preferred Sangheili, they could work with the Unngoy, unlike most of their race.
Kig-yar was a whole other story however, they despised the bird like creatures. If they had the chance they would purposely step on the damned creatures. Maybe that is why no Kig-yar attended this ceremony? It mattered not, the poem was over and the Carrier would soon depart. Today, two Mgalekgolo became heroes.
0530 Hours, July 23, 2533 (Military Calendar) /
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex,
planet Reach
Dr. Catherine Halsey paced back and forth along her office. She had just been transferred to a more "accessible" location, is how ONI put it. The small box that was now deemed "hers" was cluttered with papers and computers. How she could even locate anything was a mystery.
"You wanted to see me Doctor?"
Déjà flickered to life in front of Halsey, it startled her but she didn't show it on her face, she just gave a weak smile. Running her hands along her new metal desk, a quiet squeaking noise was heard as her fingers rubbed against the metal. Sitting down in her chair, her hands went to work, typing furiously along her new keyboard.
"This is what it will take for you to become a smart AI."
Déjà immediately turned and stared at the computer screen. Algorithms and scientific gargle flashed onto the screen. Déjà 'entered' the computer and began processing all her main units to understanding and working out any problems.
"I had two scientific AI work on this with me, along with three smart AI to double check my work." Dr. Halsey said almost in a proud tone. Although she herself had no clue at why she pushed so hard on this project. Perhaps it was her liking of Déjà? No. She liked the AI but she wasn't a smart AI like the one that was going to be made in her image soon. No this AI got all the extra work thanks to Daniel. Maybe the AI's personality of liking that certain Spartan had finally rubbed off on her. She would never know, but now she could focus all her attention onto MJOLNIR.
"This is incredible Doctor. I see there is a less then fifty percent chance that the process will actually work, however. Also, when will I be able to do this? I am assuming when you finish your MJOLNIR project. The data on your computer stated that an AI could actually be inserted into the armor, is this true?"
Dr. Halsey let out a small chuckle. Déjà acted as though she was a little kid in a candy store, wanting so much but only getting a little. "As you can see with your first question, if you look through test subjects six through eight their cores became - "
Knocking on the door interrupted what could have become an intellectual talk, maybe even a debate. "Come in!" Halsey practically shouted.
A marine stepped into the room, saluted then said, "Message from classified. 'ONI briefing room twenty six. See you in ten.' Enjoy your day Ma'am". He saluted, spun on his heel and left.
"Of course."
1500 Hours, July 23, 2533 (Military Calendar) /
Outer Colonies, Dwarka
"This is Daniel zero four seven. Repeat. Zero four seven. Ruchi respond. Private Hert, respond."
This was the third time since getting to the Pelican had Daniel attempted to get into contact with his small team. How the mission had gone so successful up until this point was a mystery to him. There always happened to be a snag, something that he would never expect in the mission, to happen to him. Every mission he had at least one.
Power suit failure in first ground battle against the Covenant, rockets automatic firing initiated during the battle of '29 decimating the final barrier. Accidentally puncturing the wall on some UNSC ship, he hadn't even been there ten minutes yet. There was no end to it.
But this mission was going well. His team had pushed the Covenant back a considerable amount. No casualties. They had arrived at the Processing Plant at 1400 Hours and initiated the purge once more. At seventy five percent complete, he had run back to an open clearing where he would retrieve a Pelican and come back for pick up.
Plasma washed over his windshield as two Banshees circled over head. He was being careless. He turned the Pelican around and began to fire off a couple of rockets, hoping to get lucky, considering the Pelican had about twelve rockets left. One Banshee got nicked in the wing which sent it spiraling down to the ground. The other, however, dodged with a barrel roll. The Banshee did a U-turn and shot off plasma. Instead of trying to dodge it, Daniel went head on towards the aircraft. Firing off eleven rockets, surely one had to connect.
And it did. The Banshee exploded and shrapnel fell to the ground below. Unfortunately the same luck couldn't be said about the com, as static is all that answered Daniel as he tried for a fourth time. Sighing to himself, he began to descend next to the Processing Plant. He was weary, grabbing a M90 CAWS, he slowly entered the side door. From the air he couldn't tell, but now on the ground all the barriers they had set up were smashed down. They weren't burnt with plasma, just smashed into millions of pieces. Grunts and Jackals weren't strong enough to do that kind of damage. Perhaps the Covenant have acquired a rocket like technology. No that wouldn't make sense, most to all of their weapons are plasma based.
Daniel pushed open the door slowly, the room was scarred with a hole in the wall. Continuing his quiet search he opened the door into the main hall. He turned to see orange blood near the main entrance. He determined he would get a sample of that later for ONI.
Checking his radar, there appeared to be no enemies nor friendlies currently active in this location. Unless they were overrun –
"Ruchi…"
Tears welled up into his eyes as he looked down at the scene. He could almost see the battle, how the struggle for power was there. She was either dragged or pushed across the floor. A gaping hole was in between her body, you could see right through it. Her head was... gone, bits of her helmet were scattered around her body.
Daniel had seen marines insides explode, had seen people killed. But this...This was more gory and gruesome then he had ever seen, it made him want to puke. Daniel's friend. His best friend, his partner, his everything at that point. They trained together, worked together. She was one of the best... and now... This was his fault, he should have sent her to get the Pelican. He should have been the one dead, he was the unlucky one! Why did this happen…
"Ruchi…"
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END TRANSMISSION
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For everyone who has reviewed thus far, I wanted to say thank you again! Your reviews really push me over the edge to try to make the best story possible. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as I did alot of research on the hunters to make sure they were portrayed correctly.
So everyone, reviews, comments, ect. ect. I appriciate them all.