Chapter Four
Regroup
0622 Hours, November 1, 2552 (military calendar) \
Aboard Sangheili controlled Super Carrier, Unseen Treachery
Slipspace, en route to Earth.
Close to a hundred Sangheili ships sped through slipspace in a hurry to make it to Earth before the Brutes and the Prophet of Truth beat them too it. The Arbiter was concerned, if what Keyes had said about Earths Defences, they wouldn't be able to hold for long against the hundreds of Brute ships.
If only the damned Zealots understood what was happening here.
The doors opened to the bridge and the human commander along with her sergeant took positions along the Arbiter.
"We're going to need to contact our HighCOM and make sure they don't open fire on us." She stated once again.
"Once we're out of slip space you're clear to make the transmission." The Arbiter replied.
"I'll see how the Marines are holding up." The sergeant said, and he walked out the door.
Arbiter sat in the command chair and stared at the navigation console. It would be several more hours before they could make contact the Humans Defences. And then, could they stage their-
The Arbiters thoughts were interrupted by the sudden blackout of power in his ship, and exited slip space into unknown space.
"Status!" He yelled across the bridge.
"Power failures across the board, the Huragok are trying to figure out what the cause is." The Elite at the communications console spoke up.
"Do we have inter-ship communications up?"
"No sir, attempting to recon-"
The lights flickered on and the Arbiter opened up communications with his fleet "Ship Masters Report."
The Arbiter listened to each of his Ship Masters reports and then looked at the navigational display again.
"Where are we?"
The lights flickered again and a deep voice boomed throughout the speakers, "All Covenant Ships you will stop immediately where you are and will now be guided by my A.I into orbit."
"Who are you and what are you doing?!" The Arbiter yelled out.
"is apparatus of universum spin porro quod porro seorsum." The link snapped off.
The Arbiter whispered, "Requiro subcribo, custodis of flamma. yehlj mos plumbum vos ut bellum, quod forsitan, ut victoria."
"Is that Latin you're speaking?" Commander Keyes asked in disbelief.
The cruiser began to shake and an explosion rippled throughout the decks.
"Explosive Decompression in Aft Hanger bay six! The ship is moving on its own!" One of the elites yelled before the Arbiter had a chance to speak.
"Ventral Cameras now!" The forward displayed changed and showed the underside of the ship, which was on a fast paced course towards a dust brown, dead looking planet. "After cameras!" The view snapped off and changed again, this time showing the rest of the fleet on the same heading as their own.
"Arbiter, hostes hostium est fere super nos sis thi njot?"
"What did it just say?" Keyes demanded
"It's part of an old forerunner poem; left behind by the great ones to inform the species of the flood war. "
The
sergeant appeared at Keyes side and said "The gears of
the Universe spin further
and further apart."
The Arbiter replied, "Look for the signs, the keepers of the flame. They will lead you to war, and perhaps, to victory."
The elite jumped out of his command chair and drew his energy sword, "Commander!" The arbiter drew his sword along with the two honour guards guarding him and charged the Pink armoured being.
The odd thing was the armoured being now had positioned itself in front of the humans as if it was protecting them. No matter, the Arbiter had built up enough moment for a deadly swipe.
In a matter of seconds the Arbiter reached out and performed a vertical swipe with his slash, but in an instant later the being had moved the two humans and him away from the attack. Somehow, it had disarmed Arbiter and his honour guards after the swing.
Arbiters thoughts processed at a rapid pace and his reflexes slowed. Also, his life flashed before his eyes.
In a blink of an eye it was all over, but it had never begun. The memories stopped and his eyes re-adjusted to the scene. The human commander had stepped in front of him with out-stretched arms to take the blow.
The sergeant had his pistol drawn and aimed at the beings armoured head, along with every other soldier in the bridge; plasma rifles glowed, charged and ready to fire.
The Pink armoured foe looked confused for a moment and hesitated; this gave Arbiter the chance to study his foe more carefully. The armour looked old, it was filled with scratches and dents and areas where the color had faded but returned as a sickly green yellow color. Its edge had been smoothed down for less grappling areas, and two wing like objects protruded from its back.
It reminded Arbiter of the pictures of the Angels of the Citadels. The Holy Forerunner beings who were the warlords of the forerunner army. But then that would mean...
"Everyone! Lower your weapons, it means no harm." The Arbiter commanded
It didn't move, either contemplating what to do next or how to kill everything in this room and getting out alive. Either way it stood motionless; the only thing that moved was the door to the bridge as a hunter pair and five humans wielding flamethrowers and heavy gear entered.
The armoured being's armed twitched and plasma rifles once again winked on and charged. The being's armoured joints hissed and locked up, then at once the being collapsed.
"Can someone explain what the hell just happened?" The sergeant growled.
"Seems as if something controlled the armour and shut it down to protect us." The commander stated.
"Or itself," The Arbiter whispered thoughtfully. "Get this thing to a med bay, I want its parts removed and studied. See if you can find anything that relates to the Forerunner archives."
Two Commando elites appeared at its side and disarmed their energy swords "Yes Arbiter, we shall assign the task to-"
"No," The Arbiter cut them off, "You will do it yourselves; you know the archives better then the rest."
"Yes holy one." They kneeled before the Arbiter and activated their camouflage. An instant later two more Commandos took his side.
"Are they always with you?" The commander asked
"Yes, I have two full units for protection and special operations missions; they are commanded by my Ascetic." He explained
"Oh." The commander replied softly, the look on her face said she was not completely satisfied with the answer. Lack of knowledge perhaps? There was much for both Cultures to learn about each other.
"An Ascetic is a Sangheili warrior who has shown the most courage, and the most adherence to Religious and military standards. Ordained by the Sangheili leaders, and blessed by the prophets, they are sent as Zealots to wipe clean the heretics and 'infidels', as well as to inspire those who are under their command to glorious salvation."
"How come I haven't heard of one before?" The Arbiter could tell she was digging deeper into Sangheili life.
Good. The Arbiter thought and answered "Yes you have; who do you think took down your Orbital Gun generators on your 'Reach'? They, and their units, are only sent on most important missions or religious tasks."
"I see."
The Arbiter and the commander turned towards the bridge door and watched as it opened but nothing came through. "Here he comes now."
A three and a half meter tall elite in reflective black and crimson armour appeared before the Arbiter. Out of its helmet two 30 centimeter blades protruded.
"Arbiter, he's an Angel!"
