Section II Huragok
"These are the Huragok?" Rona said skeptically.
"The Huragok are pacifists, they live for fixing things, and they feed off micro organisms. The 'Forerunners', as you call them, bred this species to build complex weapons for them, and for the past 10,000 years, that is what they have been doing," Ion said.
The Huragok were a deep shade of purple, with dozens of tentacles that, the monitor said, could split into hundreds of super fine cilia to manipulate objects. They floated around on air sacks, had six eyes, and could decipher how something works in 25 seconds.
"Ask them if I may see these weapons," Rona said.
"That is pointless impersonator," Ion said, "First of all, the Huragok do not give their technology to anyone except the Denar- um…the Forerunners," The monitor stuttered, then regained its cheery demeanor, "and second of all, if you wanted to take the products of 10,000 years of work, you would have to fill ten million of your puny starships to the brim. Ha-ha, my hilarity is only exceeded by me great intelligence. Ha-ha, I am a genius."
"Just ask them!" Rona said, his patience was waning, and he had a feeling that the monitor was superfluous to this part of his mission.
"Okay, but they will say no," The monitor said, he then hovered noisily over to the Huragok and started speaking in high squeals and clicks; to which the Huragok replied in kind.
"I…I don't believe it," Ion mumbled and started to hover back to Rona, "the Huragok have agreed to show you to the weapons cache. They say that they will need your help in the hours to come, yet I have never heard of an instance where the Huragok could foresee events, although I guess it is possible." He could later be heard saying 'I…I've never been wrong…am I going mad?'
"Good, show me the way; oh, wait, I should contact my master while I still have communications signal," Rona said, and he reached to his belt for his portable comm. System, "sir, I may drop out of signal soon. I have found the species we are looking for, and they have agreed to show me their technology. They are taking me there now. I will send you the schematics of the new engine as soon as I can," Rona said.
"…Understood…sorry…I…much signal…this part…galaxy," Zale said, Rona could barely hear him through static, but could understand what Zale meant.
"Okay, sir," Rona replied.
"Are you ready impersonator?" the monitor said, "We should go."
"Lead the way," Rona said.
With the monitor's light illuminating their path, and the Huragok leading the way, Rona descended down a marble staircase into the unyielding darkness, and the abyss below.
Rona waked for what seemed like an eternity. The only time he stopped was because the Huragok made the monitor turn off its light before entering the next room.
Unbeknownst to Rona, the reason for this was so as to not alert an organism in the room to their presence, but that was inevitable due to the organism's acute senses.
The instant the gateway into the room was opened, a fleshy yellow blob slipped out the door and scrambled up the stairs.
The blob slipped under a crowd of hovering Huragok and burst into sunlit freedom. The Sentinels hovering above were completely oblivious to the organism that they were created to destroy as it passed right below them.
The blob scrambled and bounced between the wreckage of crashed ships until he found a suitable host. The blob injected a large needle into the carcass' spine and began to control its motor functions and brainpower.
For the next hours, as Rona was underground, the now-blob-controlled being worked at reproducing to create more 'blobs'; which then took over the remaining bodies littering the crash site. These forms gained immense strength and intelligence due to the 'Denarkine' brain which they controlled.
"Are we nearly there yet?" Rona said.
"I believe so, you sentient life forms are so impatient, oh, we here now!" Ion said.
The Huragok opened a set of double doors into the biggest room Rona had ever seen. Wide open spaces that must have been dozens of square miles around. At all sides of the room there were double doors that opened into rooms of equal size.
The main room consisted of tables with plans for new weapons and devices. Millions of Huragok sat near these tables and worked on new prototypes and schematics.
In the room through doors to the east of the main hall, three million Huragok worked 31 out of 36 hours of the day building weapons called 'Plasma pistols' and 'plasma rifles'. With dozens of hyper sensitive tentacles, each Huragok could build about a dozen weapons per minute.
These weapons were carted to an attached room of equal size and were stacked on mile high shelves for storage.
The same thing happened in all other rooms. Millions of Huragok built dozens of types of weapons and put them away for storage to be used by the masters that they believed to still be alive.
Rona was led room to room, testing weapons, viewing plans for new ones, and taking prototypes. By the time Rona had finished the second to last room, he had filled three large sacks with weapons.
He had taken 10 of each weapon: plasma pistols; plasma rifles; plasma grenades; plasma turrets; a giant arm mounted fuel rod cannon that Rona could barely carry (of which he only took 2); and many others.
Rona was led to a room slightly smaller than the last and was told to receive the weapon that was stored there. He walked up to a tall shelf, and, confused, picked up a small baton that lay there. Once he pressed a button on the end, a bright blue-white blade materialized out of it.
The Huragok placed a large block of an unknown metal in front of Rona, and he swung the sword experimentally. The blade cut cleanly and swiftly through the block, dicing it in two.
"Take many of these," the monitor said, "The Huragok say that these swords have yet to be perfected and they will run out of energy after a specific amount of use. Hopefully in a few years, they shall perfect it."
"Thank you," Rona said.
"There are only a few more things the Huragok would like to show you," the monitor said.
"Show me."
Raging ion took Rona through three sets of double doors, and into a room which was only 20 meters length and width. About 30 Huragok hovered around the room, fiddling with electronics and copying down schematics. In the middle of the room was a suit of armor.
The darkest and most pure shade of black Rona had ever seen glistened on its skin, and shallow hieroglyphics were engraved upon its surface. The Huragok told Rona to put it on, to which he complied.
"The Huragok say that this is the most complex device they have ever created. They are saying that it has a skilled camouflage system, a built in motion and heat detector, as well as a sonar radar system, and a health regulator," the monitor translated for the Huragok, "It will amplify your strength and reaction systems, as well as your senses.
"That is amazing," Rona said truthfully.
"You are very lucky to be given this system, the Huragok are saying that they doubt that they could ever duplicate its skills. Its original maker was killed in a weapon malfunction and the schematics were burned in the resulting fire," the monitor said, "If you bear the name of the peacemaker of the Forerunners; THE ARBITER!"
"Thank you," Rona said.
"Now, there is last thing to give you," Ion said, and he hovered quickly away, "come!"
"What are these?" Rona said, after he had followed the monitor down a short hallway, which seemed to be unique for this structure.
"You're supposed to put them over your eyes like lenses, and they will help you see. There is manual, read it!" the monitor said, acting as though Rona were inept.
Rona picked up an electric manual that came with the lenses, and, not being able to read the awkward script, pushed a random button.
"Give me that!" Raging Ion said. A streak of electricity shot out of the small machine, and wrenched the device out of Rona's hands, "It says here that the lenses will link with the electronics in your armor, as well as your mental state. So if you think something, it will do it; as long as the action is within its capabilities. There are five setting capabilities: heat sensor, negative vision, night vision, and its main setting is 'informational' which will tell you about special objects or species. Its most advanced setting is a special x-ray vision, which will be able to see through solid objects, though not perfectly. It will make hidden weapons visible and show you the health of those around you; that is the extent of its capabilities," the Monitor concluded.
"That is amazing!" Rona said, testing out his new gear by looking at the monitor in the alternating views, "My leader says that the Huragok should have a special engine that can get our ships here in minutes, can you ask them about that?"
542 Raging Ion spoke to the Huragok in the unfamiliar language of clicks and squeals, then turned to Rona and said: "They say that they will show you what you ask."
"Zale, I am sending you the schematics of the engine you're looking for" Rona said, sending a satellite feed through a remote console in orbit around the planet.
"Amazing," Zale said, "This engine should be able to let us travel great distances almost instantaneously. I will order our mechanics to install this into our ships immediately; we should reach you within the day."
"Thank you, sir."
"Impersonator, come!" the monitor said, "I am receiving reports of my sentinels being attacked. Were you followed when you came to this planet?!"
"No!" Rona said, and he ran out of the room and up to the surface.
As Rona sprinted out of the cellar-like door to the exterior of the planet, he was met face to face by the most horrific thing he had ever seen.
In fact, he was met by hundreds of the most horrific things he had ever seen.
An orange-beige, sickly sponge-like body stood before him. Its neck was broken backward, and out of slits in its neck came thin tentacles of the same color; thin tentacles which stretched towards Rona. Its arm was bent at an appalling angle, and its chest was caved inward, showing grotesque, decaying insides. A dozen thin tentacles replaced what would normally be hands, and small sensory feelers stuck out of small holes over its whole body.
Behind this, hundreds more stood. They were mostly alike, save different angles at which the limbs were bent.
Dozens of sentinels spun around in the distance; doing their best to destroy this threat to their existence.
The…thing in front of Rona just stood there, as though it didn't notice him. Even though Rona's job was to offer a position in the "Covenant" to any willing species, he knew that this species was a threat; therefore, it had to be exterminated.
The organism in front of him twitched, and its neck broke a tiny bit more; a piece of bone broke its skin and spurted blood on Rona's new armor.
It did not even notice its new injury.
The organism did not acknowledge Rona, but rather stared 'through' him. The reason that it did not attack was one of extraordinary luck. It had recently awakened from its deep hibernation, and was not in tune with its new senses. That fact, and the fact that he was the leader of this particular group of organisms, saved Rona's life.
Rona knew that this slow reaction would not last long; therefore, he ran. As soon as he moved, the organisms reacted and swarmed after Rona in a tidal wave…in a flood.
Rona sprinted towards the nearest downed ship and scrambled inside. He heard the beasts assaulting the hull of the rusting ship. It splintered and cracked under the surprisingly vicious blows.
Rona continued running deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels that made up the interior of the ship. As he turned a tight corner, he came face to face once again with the first monster he had seen.
This actually was a false statement, since the monster's head was bent completely backward and indistinguishable against its deformed body, making Rona come face to tentacles with the beast.
The monster lashed out with a whip-like tentacle attack, throwing The Arbiter against the tunnel wall, cutting one of his mandibles and making his temple bleed.
As the monster ran towards the Arbiter, readying for another attack, he pulled his legs back and kicked it in the center of the chest. The soft spongy tissue gave way, and sick green ooze flowed from the wound; through the cavity came small yellow tentacles which extended towards the Arbiter.
Yet the monster pushed forward.
The Arbiter pretended to punch the monster in the stomach, and instead kicked him in the chest once more. Its ribs caved deeper into its chest, and there was a sharp popping sound. Green-beige powder sprayed out of the wound, making The Arbiter sick to his stomach. He fell squirming to the floor and moved no more.
As Rona kicked the body to make sure it was dead, the monitor rounded a corner and hovered towards him.
"There you are!" it said, "Quickly, the Flood has escaped! We must stop this infestation before it can spread."
"Wait, these things are called Flood?" Rona asked.
"Yes!"
"Well, I guess it's a fitting name," Rona said, remembering the way they 'flooded' towards him.
"You must find a way to defeat this threat!" Raging Ion said.
"I will kill them all, but first I need to find a place to think in peace," Rona said. He searched for a way to leave the downed ship besides the way he came in.
Rona had been sitting in the bridge of another downed ship for ten minutes. For the past six hours he had been running from place to place as the flood discovered and attacked him time after times. He had finally found what he thought was a safe place, and was having a conversation with the Monitor, who was hovering in front of him, and Zale, who was over the comm.
Zale had recently launched two dozen destroyers to Rona's location, and had employed 200 of the best engineers in the galaxy to work on the new engines in flight.
The Monitor had been explaining the history and anatomy of the Flood, so as to help Rona in his fight against them. The Monitor explained that the Flood were a parasite which infuses a needle into its hosts spinal cord and invades its nervous system, taking over all its motor functions. Once in control of an organism, it will scramble into its chest cavity for easier access.
They have 4 main forms†:
Infection Form: the original form of the Flood; small, bulbous, with tentacles used for motion and a needle used for parasitic activity.
Combat Form: the result of a Biped sentient with sufficient biomass being controlled by an infection form. Can hold most weapons and pilot most vehicles.
Carrier Form: the result of a biped sentient with slightly too little biomass being controlled by an infection form. Forms a bulbous head that carries up to six infection forms; Head bursts when it comes in contact with a suitable host for its carried infection forms.
Engineer Form: Rare; highly intelligent; normally pilots captured ships.
Forerunner Form: the result of an infection form capturing a Forerunner. A mix between the strength of a combat form, and the intelligence of the Denarkine.
The thought of these monsters scared Rona, and he was forced to avert his gaze from the holographic images that the Monitor produced. If he wasn't careful, he realized, he could end up as one of these things host.
His thoughts of the Flood were interrupted by the actual thing. Six combat forms ripped through the hull of the ship as if it was tissue paper. They immediately attacked the six sentinels that were guarding Rona. The Flood's teamwork helped them destroy all the Sentinels, while the Sentinels only destroyed two of the Flood.
The Flood forms then turned their attention towards Rona. They lashed out with whip attacks, and tried to pummel The Arbiter to death. One hit to the chest was enough to send Rona spiraling through the air. He landed against the main view screen of the bridge.
"Monitor," Rona said, "I need you to get me one of the weapons out of the duffel bags." The monitor sped towards the duffel bags at the other end of the room, and did its best to search through them with the absence of hands.
The Arbiter did his best to hold the flood off from getting to the weapons, but they were too strong. Every move he made, they evaded and counterattacked.
Although it was hard to see in such fast paced, close combat; he could tell that these Flood forms had made a plan of action. He knew that they were intelligent, and he wasn't going to take any chances.
The Monitor was soon able to bring the Arbiter a plasma sword, which he wielded unskillfully.
The Flood jumped, ducked, and rolled to avoid his blows. Eventually, he was able to cut off some limbs, which didn't hinder the Flood's mobility or dexterity. Once he scored a single major blow, he was able to finish one of them off by destroying its internal organs, which the monitor said they still rely on.
"Impersonator! You must hurry, I have received reports that the Flood are preparing to attack the Huragok to reach the Weapon cache," the Monitor said.
"Let me deal with the task at hand first," The Arbiter said, he punched one of the Flood forms in the 'face', which only made it bleed green ooze.
The Monitor's distraction made the Arbiter bring his guard down, and he took a vicious blow to the head. The force of the blow knocked The Arbiter's sword out of his hand, and it imbedded in one of the Flood forms chest. The infection form inside popped and the Combat form fell writhing to the Floor. The Arbiter pulled the sword out of the dead organism's body, and wielded it once more.
The two remaining flood forms attacked.
The arbiter lifted a long thin spear that, oddly enough, just happened to be next to him, and skewered the two Flood forms through the abdomen. The forms writhed and roared as they tried to determine how to get it out of them. Having a short moment of piece, the Arbiter stopped to think.
He then realized that he had done the most obtuse thing imaginable: He had forgotten to power on the skills system in his armor. But how do you power on this complex armor? HE didn't have the slightest idea!
The monitor seemed to read his mind and he quickly hovered over, and talked to him over the comm.
"On your hip there should be a small black casing," Ion said, "there should be a small black chip in that casing. Insert that into the slot in your wrist."
The arbiter did what he was told, and a small shiver ran up his arm. A small hum reverberated through his sound system, and then faded. His vision seemed to blur, then clear magnificently, and a heads up display appeared in his vision.
His increased vision magnified on the Flood forms trying to pull free, and The Arbiter acted quickly. He jumped behind one of the Flood forms, and snapped its neck. Four quarts of green ooze spurted from the wound and the flood writhed lazily. Due to the loss of blood, the flood form pulled free of the spear, walked lamely towards The Arbiter, and fell face first on the floor at his feet.
The Arbiter then simply gouged the remaining flood form through the chest and left him to die.
"Good job, impersonator," Raging Ion said, "Hurry, we must get to the Huragok."
Rona ran outside and climbed upon a large piece of shrapnel to get a better look at his surroundings.
"Should we get inside the weapons cache to save the Huragok, or attack the Flood on the ground front?" the Monitor said.
"I must protect the Huragok, but I believe that I would be more help on open ground," Rona said.
"Than hurry and do what you can," Ion said, "we haven't much time."
Rona sat with his back against a smooth metal plate. The Flood were about 600 yards behind this metal plate. Rona had inferred that they 'saw' by sensing changes in heat signatures, which would be why they did not attack themselves, and by hiding behind something cool, they wouldn't be able to sense him. So far, it had worked. Before him lay rows of weapons.
'Six plasma pistols, six plasma rifles, twenty energy swords, three dozen grenades, two fuel rod cannons, and beam rifles with sniper scopes and extra charges,' Rona thought, ' this will have to go without a hitch, I barely have enough weapons to kill 100 flood, now I have to kill 500."
"Impersonator," Ions voice sounded over the comm. "I have set up a communications relay in a hidden spot just outside the weapons cache. That way, I can maintain contact with you throughout the battle. My Sentinels and I have set up a defense grid inside the cache and are evacuating the Huragok through a secret passage. The rest is up to you, you are on your own."
"Understood," Rona said.
Rona lifted himself high enough to see over a ledge onto a group of Flood. He knew that if he actually shot one of them, they would be swarming over him in seconds. Therefore, he devised a plan.
He rigged a plasma grenade on a timer, and placed it on the other side of a Flood-filled gorge. Once the bomb was tripped, the Flood would be sent to investigate. Therefore, he rigged a second, much larger batch of grenades on a remote activation system that he had found in a destroyed ship. When the Flood investigate the first explosion, he would detonate the second batch of grenades, killing them all.
With a lot of luck, he could wipeout a whole mini-armada in ten seconds.
Unfortunately, his luck was just running out. Rona was in position to activate the fist explosion, when a small infection form snuck up upon him. He popped it easily with a single punch, but it broke his concentration.
He went back to his plan, and hastily activated the first explosion. Although, when it went off, only six flood forms were sent to investigate.
He quickly devised a simpler plan of picking them off one by one with a beam rifle. As he did so, more and more were sent to investigate, letting him kill the majority of them before any of the remaining forms realized what was happening.
As a last batch of Flood forms checked upon their fallen comrades, The Arbiter decided to detonate the second batch of grenades, letting him save his beam rifle ammunition. Rona became the first person to use a plasma grenade, and those Flood forms became the first people to die by one; although they ended up getting a lot less recognition.
"Impersonator," Raging Ion said over the comm. "finish what you are doing then come here, you are needed."
"I'm coming," Rona said.
"Please hurry," The monitor said and exited the comm. Channel.
As Rona walked through the desolate and carcass filled canyon, the air became thick with a yellow-green powder. This powder was called 'Flood spores', and was slowly being absorbed into Rona's bloodstream. An increased exposure to these Flood spores would be harmful, but Rona soon left the dust cloud and entered the cellar-like door to the weapon cache.
"I'm on my way," Rona said over the comm. "how much trouble are you having down there?"
"Flood… so many…" Ion said; breaking up over the static, but Rona could hear the gurgles and roars of the Flood attacking the Sentinels, "I'm evac…ing the… agok," the signal ended abruptly in static.
The cellar-like doors had been ripped of their hinges and thrown some yards away. A dozen Flood form bodies and 3 Sentinel frames lay smoldering next to the doors.
The darkness of the path ahead beckoned to him as he took a step once more into the abyss.
Sickening piles of beige slime coated the walls and walkway, making the path slippery. Rona continued forward, only for the survival of the Huragok as a race.
As Rona stepped into the main prototyping factory of the weapons cache, he slipped.
What he landed on was soft like a pillow, and as he looked down, fearing the worst, he looked into the blank white eyes of a dead Huragok. Dozens of them littered the floor, along with hundreds of Flood bodies, and a dozen sentinels.
Normally, this would be a great victory; except for the fact that if a single infection form was able to get into this room, all these Flood would be resurrected. Rona felt as if he had been fighting these demons forever, and he was exhausted.
At that moment, both sides of the room caved in explosively, and a conflict began.
Sentinels fought on one side, Flood fought on the other. The Flood severely outnumbered the sentinels and had an superior combat formation, but the sentinels soon gained the lead. Flood fell rapidly, but were soon reincarnated by an unoccupied infection form. Sentinels fell rarely, but were irreplaceable, leaving holes in their combat formation.
The Flood took advantage in these weak spots, and sent in saboteurs. The Sentinel's small attention span was now only focused on the Flood, and the Arbiter was left to deal with the sabotage.
The Flood severely underestimated the Arbiter's capabilities. He caught and incapacitated dozens of Flood forms, big and small, that were trying to fool the Sentinels.
Soon, the quantity of Flood forms increased, and he had to leave the fight. The Arbiter tried to help in any way possible, but was not able to get into the fight due to the Sentinels high-energy beams. The Sentinels attacked in a sweeping formation with their weapons that had as much of a chance of hitting him as it did hitting the Flood forms. Those weapons were effective, but they only killed the infection forms; a combat form would merely be incapacitated until an infection form was able to get to it.
He got his chance to help when a third wall was broken down, and thousands of Flood infection forms swarmed over the area looking for a host. The pods wobbled and hopped over the area; crawling into the dead bodies that littered the floor. The bodies gurgled and shook spastically as a needle was inserted into its spine.
The Arbiter went to work crushing the little blobs before they could accomplish their task of doubling the Flood forces. He randomly sprayed the ground with automatic gunfire from his plasma rifle, and then began crushing the remaining blobs with his feet.
Once the majority of the infection forms were dead, the Arbiter ran around the chamber crushing the dead Combat form's chest, so as to prevent the infection forms from crawling inside them.
A second wave of infection forms flooded the room, but they were short of bodies, so all they could do was back up the combat forms ranks. They developed an intelligent scheme; putting the infection forms in front of the combat forms, so that the combat forms would not be killed by the Sentinels beams.
As Rona ran out of ammunition, for his plasma pistol, he remembered that his new armor had a new camouflage system. With it, he could sneak up to the Flood ranks a wreak havoc on their forces.
When he did this, the Flood became instantly bewildered, and concentrated on their new attacker; giving the Sentinels the time they needed to attack.
Rona, feeling his job was done, walked stealthy out of the carnage. As he walked camouflaged around the tables of prototype weapons, he realized how well Ion and the Sentinels did in evacuating the Huragok. Out of the millions that had occupied these rooms, only a dozen had been killed.
A single infection form crossed his path; which he promptly stepped on.
"Impersonator, why are you not fighting the Flood?!" The Monitor said.
"I already did," Rona said lazily, "why do you call me 'Impersonator'?" He sat down upon a lone bench and crossed his arms in front of his chest. A single Huragok hovered out of a storage closet and attended to his damaged armor.
"I call you that because you pretended to be someone who are not, a Reclaimer," Ion said, "Therefore you are an impersonator."
"I did not pretend to be your Reclaimer," Rona said with a start, "you falsely named me one!"
"This conversation does not have anything to do with the task at hand," the monitor said, "We must protect the Huragok."
"I have already dealt with the Flood, they shall bother us no longer," Rona said proudly.
"That is not a wise thing to say," Raging Ion said, "Just because you have won the battle, it does not mean you have won the war," he came in close to Rona's face, the Monitor's light burned Rona's eyes, "They will come again."
"I shall gather my strength," Rona said, submitting to the monitor's penetrating 'stare'.
"Rona-… I am orb-… ing-… you…" Zale's voice was cut out as quickly as it began.
"Ion, can you give me a way to get a better connection," Rona said.
"Yes, I will set up a signal transmitter," The monitor said, he buzzed away, and then quickly came back, "It is ready, if you bounce your signal off of its antennae, you should get good reception."
"Thank you," Rona said, "Zale? Are you still there?"
"Yes," Zale said, "What I was saying was that I am orbiting the planet you are on right now. I have brought with me 56 Destroyers."
"Thank you, sir" Rona said, surprised by Zale's kindness, and the fact that Zale had come himself, "could you send a spec ops squad groundside?"
"I've sent you 200 majors and 50 spec ops. We will wipe this infestation from the face of the galaxy," Zale said, and Rona could imagine him slamming his fist upon the communications console.
"Thank you, sir."
"Impersonator! My Sentinels have discovered a second battlefield swarming with Flood. I hope you will procrastinate no longer than you already have!"
"I will set out when the Sangheili strike force arrives," Rona said.
"More Sangheili?!" Raging Ion raged, "How dare you bring more filth to this already forsaken land!"
"Please put your annoyances aside; we must work together if we want to abolish this threat," Rona said.
"Fine," The monitor said, he wandered of to observe the Sentinels battle formations.
"Zale, can you put me on Fleet WIDECOM?" Rona asked.
"Yes, why," Zale answered.
"I would like to brief the Sangheili," Rona said.
"You're on," Zale said.
Rona explained the biological makeup of the Flood, how they normally fought, and how they should be killed. His speech ended up being ten minutes long.
He concluded with: "Do not be frightened, Elites. These monsters can be horrifying, but the Huragok are counting on you." Rona finished with a wish of good luck.
"We are approaching your vector now. ETA five minutes," Zale said.
"Good," Rona said.
Once the Sangheili arrived, Rona got to work distributing weapons and placing each group in squads. He had decided to place gunners in front to deal with the assumed first wave of infection forms. Behind them would be the swordsmen; with the spec ops and snipers in the back. Rona had decided to equip each soldier with a plasma rifle and an energy sword, so that they could fend off attacks from infection and combat forms.
As soon as the Elites were in place, the Flood began their onslaught. Rona, standing in the front of the battalion, noticed the fear in the young one's faces. They had never seen the Flood before, and the decomposing faces would probably be the last things the poor men would ever see.
The Arbiter was the first person to charge at the monsters, and the Sangheili followed quickly after.
Rona was immediately knocked out by a tentacle blow to the face.
The fall of the Sangheili leader, made the Elites lose their nerve; their battle prowess was shunned, and their formation scattered.
It was at this time that Zale Zoneema arrived, and, despite his high status and irreplaceable leadership capabilities, led the Sangheili into battle.
The battle raged on for days.
Rona opened his eyes to the sight of dead Flood. He gasped, coughed, and spit up blood as he remembered where he was. One of his mandibles were bandaged, and another was missing multiple teeth. This saddened Rona, for he prided himself in his fierceness, and the lack of razor sharp teeth would lower his morale.
He swung his legs over the table he lay on and stood up. To his disgust, his foot came down on the face of a dead Flood. It crushed and leaked green ooze.
The room was littered with bodies and destroyed objects. Smashed and turned tables lay scattered around the room. A single Elite medic tended to the wounded, while another Elite ran throughout the room gathering fallen weapons from the carcasses.
Rona then remembered his comrades, and ran to help them.
As Rona burst through the cellar-like doors into the intense sunlight, a decapitated flood combat form fell on him. The Sangheili soldiers stood in an orderly formation fending of wave after wave of Flood. Zale stood among them, doing more than his equal share of fighting.
Rona withdrew two energy swords from his belt, and joined the battle. Unlike the rest of the Sangheili, the Arbiter ran to and fro fending off random attacks by the Flood. Ignoring battle clusters, he decapitated and de-limbed multiple flood forms. Fountains of blood spurted from hole throughout the Flood's bodies.
The whole battle was as if a dream, adrenaline pumped through the Arbiter's veins, making him near invincible. Every move he made, superb; every attack he executed, faultless.
Rona was at home in war.
That was the end of the Flood.
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