Warning: If you copy/plagiarize any part of my story, you will be prosecuted to the maximum legal extent. If I can't really do anything to you legally, I'll just flame you and/or report you, unless it was honestly a coincidence. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine. Klasz Hakamamee (the name) belongs to Mr. Xiran and the character itself belongs to Bungie and Microsoft. Yes, he let me use the character, so don't flame me.

A/N: Hi again, as I promised here's the next chapter. The action in the story is starting to heat up, and the war between Humanity and the Covenant is beginning.

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Rtas' Vadumee: Rise of a Recruit

Chapter 3

Infiltration Works

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After the destruction of the human system Harvest as well as their ships, Rtas had returned to the destroyer The Prophecy and was rewarded well. He had been given praise by his commanding officer, the soldiers under his command and himself being awarded medals as well as a relaxing ceremonial dinner that the returning warriors were afforded. It made Rtas's mandibles twitch in delight.

Before digging into the feast with his warriors, they uttered a prayer underneath their breath which Rtas was careful to recite,

So full of hate were our eyes

That none of us could see

Our world would yield countless dead

But never victory

So let us cast arms aside

And like discard our wrath

Thou in faith will keep us safe

Whilst we find the path

Rtas had burned the Covenants Writ of Union into his mind since the day he had joined the Covenant, the day of his oath to the Prophets. After the Sangheilis prayer, they began tearing viciously into the meats and fruits that the chiefs of the Prophecy prepared. Rtas saw the alien meats blood squirt from the dead pig like animal, the green blood fell onto his leathery vest. The food was delectable, his mandibles crushing the bones.

The young Sangheili searched the room for a moment, looking for his father but realized too soon that he was not there. Rtas knew that Alzeke' Vaduamee held himself in the command center, most likely re-watching the battles that took place on the humans frigate the Vostok, thanks to the cameras in Sangheilis armor.

Rtas decided to wait until he would be called in for a briefing to meet with his father in person. For now, he decided to depart off to his quarters in the bow of the ship. As the young soldier made his way down the path to his station, he passed by numerous small aliens, who were amorphous creatures held aloft by gas bladders. The creatures were known as engineers, and they possessed uncanny skills to dismantle, repair, and resemble nearly all complex technology.

Rtas pushed them aside which caused them to bob slightly to the side, but they soon turned back to work on the ships systems. After passing many Sangheili in the halls Rtas overheard two Unggoy having a conversation.

"Why is it that we always get stuck with the grunt work on the ship? We did not even get to eat at the big Sangheili feast, and those aliens nearly shredded us!"

The other Unggoy turned slightly to be at eye level with his comrade as he snickered.

"You should watch your tongue, kemeph. The Sangheili are the "sacred" warriors. We don't get this work done by the time the Kig-Yar gets here, we are gonna be in BIG trouble…"

Rtas approached the Unggoy, and they heard the click-clack of his boots, turning around to see the towering warrior. The first Unggoy jumped in surprise, falling over. The second Unggoy slightly hopped in surprise and started to say something only to be cut off by Rtas.

"Ah, keep up the good work Unggoy."

Rtas decided not to dawdle, and started to go at a faster pace to his room. The Unggoy just stared in surprise.

After arriving in his room, the Sangheili laid down on his gray colored mattress, and fell into a deep sleep……

Rtas's green eyes opened simultaneously to the sound of boots just on the out side of his residence. Rtas pulled himself up, moving the comforts of sleep away; he quickly began suiting up in his righteous armor Tzoku. He marveled at the simple yet defined beauty of the body armor as he placed the helmet on, putting armor over his mandibles.

After placing his boots on the correct hooves, Rtas clicked several glowing buttons by his door's room, entering the password. The door split open and Rtas walked out to a cluster of other Covenant soldiers prepped and ready. The destroyer had earlier gone through slip space, back to High Charity which was the Covenants base of operation and home of the three Prophets of Mercy, Regret and Truth. The Covenants council always took residence in the massive planet ship, were they decided the course of action and reviewed many ancient prophecies.

Like other Sangheili, Rtas was more of a warrior then a monk. He believed that if one fought in battle well, he would be rewarded by the Great Journey, were he would meet if his flesh should fail in battle.

As Rtas passed many more sliding doors, he noticed the large hunting grounds installed in all Covenant ships, were Sangheili practiced their hunting skills against various animals from their homeworld. Rtas had gone their many a time to train himself physically and mentally, following the tracks left by the animals and generally enjoying the thrill of the hunt. The dome contained the hunting preserve, and easily incorporated the feel of the Sangheilis home world with immense trees and long grass.

The corridors of the destroyer were thick and filled with Covenant officer Sangheili, major Kig-Yar, and several veteran Unggoy. The Engineers cluttered around the vast spaces on the ship, checking around for anything that needed to be fixed. Passing them with a face full of respect, Rtas boarded a large Grav lift, taking him up to the inner sanctity of the Ship Masters station. Rtas met with two Sangheili officers.

"Rtas, the Ship Master wishes to see you."

Rtas bowed to the higher ranking warrior, and went pass the large sliding doors to the room he had been in the other day. The room was just like before, except the regular staff of high ranking Sangheili and Unggoy had disappeared .The walls of the inner command center were painted a deep purple and blue, the fortifications had various ancient forerunner symbols on them, which all glowed a light blue.

In the center of the room stood Alzeke' Vaduamee on the platform, which held on it floating projections of all the Covenant ships that were with them. Alzeke's hands remained behind his back, clasped together with his head looking up. The gold Tzoku armor he wore shined bright and also held the forerunner symbol brightly on its back. The Tzoku made the Sangheili warrior look far bigger then a normal Sangheili, and combined with the fierceness of the wearer's eyes, it could intimate even the mightiest warriors.

Rtas noticed his father turn to face him, his body tilting slightly. Rtas bowed his head down slightly, his mandibles forming speech.

"Sacred Commander, I have come as requested. What is it you have for me?"

Alzeke moved closer, coming down from the barren platform to stand face to face with his only son.

"Rtas, you have done well lately you have risen through the lines of Sangheili at such a quick pace compared to others, and are already commanding small groups of lesser warriors. It is an honor to have you as my son."

Rtas beamed brightly. It was not often that his father complemented his skills such as this. But he knew there was something else coming.

Alzeke 'Vaduamee grabbed Rtas's shoulder tightly, and leaned forward slightly.

"Rtas, it is nearly time for you to achieve what is of great worth: your name."

Rtas tried to stay calm, but his eyes betrayed him. Names were of great worth in Sangheili culture, and only the worthy were named such as high ranking warriors and Flagships, Cruisers, in addition to Destroyers. For a Sangheili to attain ones full name was a great honor, bestowed upon a soldier who showed exceptional abilities.

"Father, I am greatly honored, but I am unaware of what qualifies me to obtain my full name. It is regularly given to high ranking officers. I am but a minor Sangheili."

The Ship Master chuckled, releasing his four fingered palm. The young minor had dreams of aspiring to the rank of Major, an officer who possessed experience in the fields of combat and could maneuver his warriors around the battlefield masterfully.

"Young Sangheili, soon you shall be sent on a dangerous mission into enemy territory, and then you shall be rewarded with a new higher rank should you succeed," Alzeke calmly walked to his station again, pressing several projecting buttons before continuing his sentence.

"The mission will require excellent skills, and infiltration tactics. It is rare that a warrior as young and inexperienced as yourself to obtain the rank of major so quickly, but you are my son and you shall prevail."

Rtas felt pride and acknowledgment from the veteran Ship Master, and held his head up as high as he could. He looked at the holograms displayed on the Ship Masters command center. It showed a large ship in space, obviously of human space craft design due to the metals it was constructed from. The ship itself looked like a smaller version of the human frigate, with strange words in human tongue written on the side of it. It was moving through space, completely oblivious to the danger that would come.

"After the boarding parties slaughtered the humans crew on their last ship, we recovered various star charts, must of which have been deciphered to show human worlds. Unfortunately, we still do not posses the location of their homeworld or important planets."

Alzeke paused for a moment entering more commands on the ships control system. A more detailed version of the small frigate appeared now, showing the ships schematics.

"As such, we still do not posses the data we require to eliminate these festering humans. Fortunately though, we have spotted a human frigate which appears to be an intelligence ship. Our pilots have identified that they have a holy artifact onboard, most likely what they found in the Harvest systems."

Another screen came up, revealing a bright blue object. Rtas had seen few of the gifts that had been left by the gods such as this. He was thrilled by it.

"We've decided to send in groups of Sangheili for an infiltration mission, to retrieve the sacred artifact and kill the humans onboard. It is also decided that they should try and recover more star charts from the ship."

As the Ship Master closed the windows Rtas spoke up in as deep of a voice as he could manage.

"This mission seems vital, am I worthy of going on it?"

"You shall not be leading it of course, but instead shall have the honor of tagging along and gaining valuable experience. With these tests you shall ascend to a higher honor in your role of the Covenant."

Rtas understood now that he was incredibly lucky to be on a mission such as this. He knew that it would be dangerous, that these humans were not completely defenseless. They were savages after all.

"There shall be a full platoon, two groups of Sangheili with Unggoy serving as cover fire. You shall be in group two, were Major Lieutenant Naku 'Malikzee shall be your commanding officer."

Naku 'Malikzee was the Sangheili in red Tzoku who had led the previous assault on the human's ship. Rtas was happy to have him lead the squad. Hopefully, the two teams would assure victory on whatever mission the Ship master sent them on.

As if summoned, the doors on each side of the room split open, revealing several Unggoy backed up by Sangheili. On one side stood a group of four Sangheili and six Unggoy along with Naku 'Malikzee leading them. The other door revealed a group of nine Unggoy and three Sangheili, one of which was the same rank as Naku 'Malikzee.

Naku 'Malikzee spoke up, his words smooth and graceful, as though he were addressing one of the Prophets.

"Sir, we have come as commanded. Are the preparations going accordingly for the mission?"

"Major Lieutenant, your concerns now are taking care of the sacred artifact aboard the human vessel, identified as "Black Wasp". You are to board it as well as take the holy artifact, in addition to killing all the humans in your path!"

The Ship master was greeted with the Sangheili roaring in approval, obviously encouraged by their leader's speech, his orders like music to their ears. The other Lieutenant Sangheili nodded, his mandibles clicking against themselves.

Rtas cheered with them, his fist up in the traditional Sangheili salutation. When the cheering silenced, Alzeke Vaduamee explained how they would get on the human ship, also how they would get out. Once he was done, Rtas fallowed Naku 'Malikzee past the hunting preserve dome, and into the armory, a large room with blue lighting which reflected itself off the Sangheilis armor. He noticed that the other team was their as well, their leader staying by Naku 'Malikzee.

"Soldiers, gather your desired weaponry. Be sure to have an extra weapon for if the first fails, you may rely on another. Also, stock up on grenades. Do it quickly, and then meet me at the section the Ship Master requested."

Naku 'Malikzee says this as he grabbed a brand new plasma rifle from one of the large purple crates in the room. He also picked up two plasma grenades in each hand and puts them to his belt, which is seen holding a plasma pistol in place. With that the Major walks through the sliding door, leaving Rtas and the others to pick up their weapons of choice.

Choosing the beloved plasma rifle, Rtas stocked up on seven plasma grenades and also picked up a needler for his secondary weapon. He had seen its devastating effects before, and would enjoy having the chance to test it out later. Once he had all the weapons and ammo he needed, Rtas followed several other Sangheili and Unggoy to were the two Lieutenants Majors had gone too, preparing for the deadly mission at hand.

Officer Brian Jorgenson put his hands behind his head, allowing himself to relax. He had been assigned to watch the scanners of the Black Wasp's for anything that might concern them.

What a load of crock. Brian didn't think there was ANYTHING that could concern them in this area of space. After all, they had previously left the harvest system after getting an ancient artifact of some kind, something that ONI wanted. The Officer couldn't care less, the only thing out here is junk and garbage, Brian thought as he drifted into a deep sleep. This is why no one noticed a large group of pods disguised as wreckage getting close to the small ONI ship, and the aliens that used plasma cutters to get inside the ship. Brian was always a lazy one.

The boarding parties secretly their way through the humans' armory, crouching and trying to silence the click-clack of their boots. The Unggoy made quiet barking noises, which Rtas and the other Sangheili tried to keep under control.

As the two platoons made their way through the armory, they encountered several humans acting "casual". Rtas sneered, Accursed savages. He overheard a pair of them talking together, their weapons slung on their backs.

"Yeah, I hope they don't serve the same crap to us today. I swear that stuffs gonna kill me.

The other human nodded in agreement, scratching his head.

"Yep, those chiefs really need a new menu plan. But, anyway…did you hear about losing contact with Harvest? Our transmission just stopped out of nowhere."

The first human looked in surprise and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"That is awkward, but I'm sure it's just a screw up on ONI's part with transmissions. We have nothing to worry about."\

The human sighed in relief and decided to continue chatting. The alien invaders had other plans.

The Group of Sangheili slit the throat of the first marine human and cracked the others neck before they knew what hit them. The Sangheili moved their bodies into the armory before making their way through the human's ship, scouting for the sacred artifact and silencing large amounts of humans before they could get help.

It's almost too easy to dispel these humans, mused Rtas as killed off another soldier. Of course they had not traveled far when they spotted a few Marines walking down the hall, their guns unslung and readied. They were getting suspicious as to why the soldiers here were off duty.

The Sangheili Major motioned Rtas and the others keep silent and hold position behind many of the human's crates and boxes. They were going to lure the humans their and kill them once they had their backs turned.

The two marines moved down the hall a little, and everything seemed to check out. Other then the red blood splatters on the ground.

"Jesus! What in the world-

The Sangheili ambushed the two marines with deadly speed. The first on managed to turn his head in time to see plasma burn through his armor and into his flesh. He fell with a loud clunk and rolled slightly, his eyes opened and lifeless. The other marine had turned as well, several plasma shots hitting him in the right arm. At first he was surprised and afraid of the alien invaders, but his combat training kicked in and he fired his M5B in a long burst, the bullets bouncing off the creatures shield seemingly harmlessly.

"Damn!"

The soldier raced through the halls, and jumped to activate the alarm, but his life was cut short as red needles sunk into the vulnerable parts in his armor and exploded, sending him flying into a wall.

The Sangheili Major Naku 'Malikzee laughed in a deep, guttural voice kicking the human bodies as he led his warriors further. They were making their way towards the humans command center of their ship, were they suspected the creatures kept their vital information.

Rtas followed his commander down another hall, until they reached an intersection. Right ahead of him stretched a wall with two openings, one leading to the right and one to the left.

Naku 'Malikzee give the signal to halt, the other Major stopping his own followers. Naku 'Malikzee spoke, his gray eyes focusing on all the Covenant soldiers in the room.

"Covenant soldiers, we will split our Platoon here and make our way to the command center of this ship, located in the front. One team will distract the humans while the other goes and captures the sacred artifact and human data. For the glory of the Covenant, do not fail!"

The units cheered quietly, not wishing to alert the humans to their presence. Naku 'Malikzee sent his team to take the left route, while the other unnamed Sangheili officer sent his forces down the right. They believed that the left side would be the quickest route to the humans command center.

The teams split up, and sprinted down the following hall, passed several human computers. Rtas then entered a room with large tables, and many humans who were stuffing their disgusting food into their mouth holes. Unfortunately, the humans all turned too stare at the alien presence, their eyes wide with shock.

"Aliens! Shoot'em!"

And just like that, over half the population of humans grabbed their close by fire arms and began shooting at the aliens. Rtas and the other Sangheili charged forward, screaming war cries at the humans and firing their plasma weapons. I was starting to tire of sneaking around anyway. Rtas rolled, narrowly dodging human fire and lifting over the human table to cover himself and some of his comrades who followed, occasionally looking out and fire super heated plasma at the humans.

The humans outnumbered the five Sangheili and six Unggoy by a three to one margin, but Rtas knew that they had the advantage.

"Holy flare!"

Rtas threw one of his plasma grenades at the humans who were clotted together, who simply looked at the glowing ball of light as it blew them off their feet.

This gave the Sangheili a chance to fire back without fear of instant retaliation. The Covenant cut down many human soldiers, including those that dropped their weapons and tried to escape. Rtas spotted a human grenade land nearby him, giving him the split second to escape.

"Grenade!"

Rtas rolled to the side, his shields taking the brunt of the explosion. A Sangheili nearby was sent flying, two Unggoy next to him soon followed.

Rtas witnessed a human rifle tear through a Sangheilis shield and blow half of his face off, resulting in a very messy wall. The humans had started fighting better now, working together to beat the near invincible warriors. Rtas was followed up by an Unggoy who held a needler weapon. Rtas pulled out his needler, and fired the plasma rifle and needle weapon simultaneously, which come out as a devastated effect.

The Unggoy to the side of him wore the red armor of a veteran, and fired his needler with great accuracy, backing the larger Sangheili up. It threw a plasma grenade, which in turn stuck to one of the humans.

"Shit, shit SHIT!"

The armored marine ran in a circle for a second, taking out many of his friends with him in the blue explosion. It seemed as though the Covenant were winning, their holy fire superior to the humans pathetic savagery, but Rtas noticed that the humans had sent off an alarm, and more of their races soldiers were arriving to back up the slowly retreating ones.

Naku 'Malikzee noticed this as well and commanded them to push forward, and get up close to the humans. After some minor struggle, the Covenant soldiers moved up, firing their weapons and sending some of the humans to their deaths. Rtas jumped and delivered a blow to the nearest human, which sent him toppling over.

Aha, so Major Naku 'Malikzee is having us move upwards to take the battle hand to hand, while having the remaining Unggoy back us up.

Rtas blocked the attack of a human rifle bating into his skull, grabbing the weapon s though it was a mere toy and throwing it. He then pushed his large hoof into the nearest humans stomaching, sending it sprawling into the wall.

One of the marines moved his fingers similarly to a human commanded, shouting,

"Pull back, pull back! These things are too strong!"

Rtas tasted lead a moment later, as bullets pulled through his Tzoku and leather piecing his hard reptile flesh. He grabbed his stomach, head being pushed to the side by the blow. He yelled in pain as more human fire blew his arm to the side and nearly tore into his skull, was it not for his helmet.

Just when he thought he would be sent on the Great Journey prematurely, a Sangheili smacked the closet human, shattering his bones with a loud CRACK.

Naku 'Malikzee laughed as the humans retreated to the safety of the other side of the ship.

"Pursue them, they will lead us to the holy artifact!"

The Sangheili raced after them before the doors shut, Unggoy sprinting to keep up. Rtas had counted the dead, two Sangheili and three Unggoy. That left them with three more Unggoy and three Sangheili including himself for this team. Not ad he thought considering that he estimated about sixteen dead humans.

The Major lead the way and they encountered more human resistance. Soon they had gone into a large room, with stairs leading up to another level in the human ship. Once they entered, human fire was directed their way, and Naku 'Malikzee ran up the stairs, backed up by his soldiers.

"Die vermin!"

Grabbing a human with both hands, he threw it down the stairs. Rtas fired his plasma rifle, but found that the needler was empty. Throwing it to the side regretfully, Rtas shot a human in the side, causing him to fall off the balcony he was on.

Their shields allowed them to inspire fear into the ranks of the humans, and give them a decisive edge against them. Naku 'Malikzee fired his plasma weapon as he ran towards the exit at the far end of the platform they were now standing on. Rtas followed up along with the other Sangheili and Unggoy.

Before reaching the door, the red armored Sangheili was nailed in the head by a sniper round. The force blew off his helmet, and his brains splattered to the ground, followed by his large body. Rtas was outraged that his commander had been killed here, and now their mission would become a lot harder.

"Take that you ugly son of a bitch!"

The human tried shooting Rtas as well, but missed due to the alien charging and now mere feet away. Rtas smashed the human's skull in with the back side of his rifle, the human crumpling under the strike. The remaining marines tried to escape, but were inevitably cut down by Covenant fire.

The remaining Sangheili and Unggoy cluttered around their commander's dead corpse, saying a light prayer before continuing. The mission had to be finished, no matter what. Since Rtas was the son of the Ship Master, and the second highest rank there, he took control of the soldiers.

He ushered them to move through the exit, ducking to avoid human fire. Another battle soon ensured, complete with grenades. Rtas had led through the area miraculously not losing another one of his soldiers. His joy was not long lived when a few humans blew an Unggoy to shreds with their rifles, but they were soon felled by the cleansing flames of the Sangheili.

Maneuvering through another room, Rtas believed that they were coming up upon the front of the ship. But now the humans realized they were under attack on the inside and were fighting back.

Rtas pushed the thought of them failing out of the way, as he led the strike further. He was now in a small room now; the door that surely led to the command center of the ship was now guarded by seven marines. Rtas ordered the remaining two Unggoy to throw their grenades at the humans.

The move proved successfully, taking out two unsuspecting marines and dividing the others up. Rtas and his group were now spotted by the left over five Marines, who each held an automatic rifle. Rtas did his best to instruct the Covenant soldiers to take out as many humans as they could.

"All soldiers destroy the human filth!"

Rtas watched as the Sangheili rained death upon the humans, their plasma rifles and needlers blazing. The humans fought back, but fear lurked near them, as the aliens moved closer, and took out another one of their men via exploding needles.

Rtas pushed forward, his shields drained by the human fire, bullets making their way through his flesh. But that would not be enough to stop him. He charged with a loud battle cry, Sangheili soldiers to the side of him as well. One of the Sangheili screamed as hid legs gave way from the bullets piercing them.

"Excruciating PAIN!"

Rtas noticed one of the Unggoy being hit by a burst and toppling down. Rtas screamed in anger, and was now close up to the humans, sending one of them flying with a fierce kick, and blasting another with a barrage of plasma in the face. They shrieked in pain and died.

The human soldiers were down to one mere marine, two killed by Rtas himself and the other killed by supportive needler fire. Rtas quickly counted one Unggoy and two other Sangheili not including himself.

Rtas tried to bash the humans face in, but his fist hit the wall as the human rolled out of the way and began firing at Rtas, whose shields had not yet recovered. The bullets broke through the armor, and continued on into his body.

Rtas roared in anger again, his mandibles parting. He did another lunge, this time landing it correctly. The human died instantly with a satisfying thunk to the ground. Rtas felt disgusted after smelling that the human had soiled himself, and decided to round up his warriors.

"I detect minimum human resistance in the next room, small movement is also apparent."

Rtas listened to the blue armored Sangheili besides him, learning if the room was dangerous. He thanked the forerunners for motion sensors.

After a moment of tactical thinking, Rtas gestured his soldiers to sneak up on the humans. Crouching, they went through the sliding door and into the humans control room. Inside were a group of humans at their controls, and at the end of the room was the "Ship Master".

"Shit."

The Admiral of the ONI's Black Wasp had been radioed in fifteen minutes earlier that the ship had somehow been infiltrated by these alien creatures, and that they were being overpowered. He had little time to think of what to do, since he wasn't sure a slip space travel would do them much good, and something like cutting off all air in the vessel wasn't what he had in mind. Of course, now that he saw the massive eight foot tall alien in front of him, any idea probably wouldn't be a bad one. He pulled out his pistol and fired three straight shots and the lead Sangheili, but the pistols blows were knocked aside due to a mysterious shield surrounding the beast.

The admiral then was hit in the chest with a volley of plasma, and felt for about seven seconds horrible pain before flopping over and dieing. The crew went with him, unable to defend themselves properly and in shock, they all died gruesomely.

Rtas walked over and began extracting the data aboard the human ONI vessel, and he then handed it to one of the Sangheili with him. After making sure he had downloaded all the files, Rtas checked the human Ship Masters corpse, and found a small, glowing crystal no bigger then his hand. This was what they had come for.

Rtas secured it to his belt, and shouted in his own language orders,

"Warriors, we must leave this human vessel and make our way to the humans docking station. Unggoy, call in team two."

The small Unggoy sniffed the air and began radioing in the other group of Covenant soldiers in. After a few seconds of static, Rtas heard the voice of the second Major.

"Group two, can you read me?"

"Yes Rtas, were is your commanding officer?"

Rtas paused for a moment, remembering Naku 'Malikzee.

"He was felled by a human sniper, but we managed to make it to the bridge of the ship. We now have the Sacred artifact and human data in our possession, and we are waiting to be picked up from this filthy hell hole."

Silence was heard on the other side of the COM channel for a moment, then the Sangheili could be heard on the other side.

"Alright, get to the humans docking bay. I am calling in a dropship to come and pick us up, it should be there soon. Many of my men are dead or wounded, so we will meet you there."

Rtas acknowledged this, and the COM channel turned off.

"Alright soldiers of the Covenant, lets get down to that bridge."

The remaining Covenant warriors followed p along side Rtas as they raced down the bridge, heading for the humans docking bay.

The Aliens had been in such a rush, that they had missed one cowering human who had hid under his desk. That human was Brian. With an unsatisfied grunt, Brian crawled out from under his desk. He was horrified by the death of the Admiral, but had to keep cool. He knew that the aliens would get away with the data, and after killing his crewmates it stated that they were not friends of the human race.

Were the hell is the self destruction button on this damn thing? Brian quickly moved up to the ships control center, and feverishly looked for a way to blow up the ship, since escape wasn't possible and they were all doomed. After a minute or so, he had found the controls for self destruction.

"Please enter password."

Brian smirked and said,

"Password."

"Welcome. Please enter commands for self destruct."

Brian typed in the commands the he had called up from his brain, and was relieved to hear that it was going well. Now all he had to do was push the button. And that's exactly what he did.

"Self destruct T-minus ten minutes. Have a nice day."

Brian laughed to himself at the computers little joke. He whished that he could override commands and make it more like ten seconds, but he had no idea how to. As he sat down at the ship, he went back to sleep. He would never have to wake up, after all.

Rtas had stormed through the bridge, killing various scattering humans as he passed by. Another door opened and he could see the human's ship bay below. Its at this time he heard the computers loud voice tell them they had ten minutes until this ship exploded .

"By the gods…"

Rtas and his following soldiers moved down the bay, shooting down several humans on their way. He hoped the drop ship got there soon, or else the sacred artifact and data would be destroyed, and they were the top priority.

Rtas decided it was a good thing there were only a few humans here, and none were armed. He wasn't completely sure he could succeed against another large batch of humans with the forces he had, and ammunition was also running low.

Before Rtas could do anything else, a large human vehicle came into his site. It was large, and their were three humans in it, one operating its systems, one in the side, and a final in a large turret which was located at the back of the vehicle. The vehicle was an ugly green color, and looked like it had tusks. Rtas rolled out of the way to one side, his comrades following his example. The vehicle missed them, but turned around to try again. The Unggoy ran and ducked to one side while the three remaining Sangheili dodged out of its way again and began retaliating with their plasma rifles.

The plasma tore into the vehicle, slowing it a bit but not enough for it to charge at them again, and this time the marine in the turret was shooting at them with a turret. Most of the bullets missed and hit the metallic floor, but Rtas saw that the gun had not only overwhelming attack force with its large bullets, but also had a very large supply of ammo.

"Warriors, surround the vehicle!"

Rtas shouted orders as he crouched to avoid the bullets. This was becoming strenuous, and he didn't know how soon the drop ship would be here, or were the second squad was. All he could do was dodge and try to return fire against the vehicle. He also had to worry about the self destruction sequence on the human ship.

Rtas radioed in the second group, crouching low as the vehicle passed him.

"Second squad, this is Rtas. We are under heavy fire by some sort of human vehicle, and the humans have activated a self destruct system! We need evac of this ship immediately!"

Rtas's words went through the COM channel, and he could make out the Sangheili Officer on the other side.

"Rtas, we have met some human resistance as well. Hold your position and do your best to deal with that vehicle, the drop ship should be arriving soon! We will try and get down there as soon as possible. May the forerunners be with you."

The COM channel ended there as the hog slammed into one of the Sangheili, crushing him against a wall. The Covenant warrior's shields appeared and faded, and purple blood hit the vehicles screen.

Rtas could see his brethren struggling to push back the "Warthog" but he was slowly being crushed. The two Sangheili rushed and began firing at the marine in the turret, hitting him in the shoulder, but not causing serious damage.

As this happened, the Unggoy known as Kemeph had radioed in the Destroyer Prophecy for help, realizing that this human vehicle would be able to kill them all. Kemeph cowered and kept his head down as the Sangheili charged and rolled to dodge the chain guns fire.

The Sangheili was starting to get his armor plating crushed, and couldn't hold on much longer. Rtas and the Sangheili closest to him both maintained fire on the human gunner, shooting off pieces of its armor before the plasma burned into his flesh. The marine gunner turned his direction to the two Sangheili and opened heavy fire on them. Rtas felt a few bullets make contact with his shield, but by crouching he had avoided most of the attack.

The Sangheili holding the human data tried rolling, but his shields were cut down, and the chain gun shredded through him, sending purple blood all over the area. The Sangheili fell to Rtas's dismay, the data of human information falling with him and breaking into pieces.

Rtas threw a grenade onto the human in the gunner's seat, who tried to get out.

"AH! GET IT OFF! GET IT-"

But the human was too late; he exploded in a gory mess, sending the human Warthog flying into the air. It fell down near the human carcasses, the vehicle now shattered into several hundred pieces.

Rtas was blissful when he saw that the Sangheili who was trapped by the human vehicle had not been killed, just badly injured. Rtas made his way to the broken data files, and said a prayer as he did for his previous commander.

Though you leave this world,

You will come on the Great Journey when the time comes…

Rtas then moved down to his wounded comrade with great urgency. He got on his knees to eye level with the laying warrior.

"Sangheili, can you walk?"

The Sangheili lifted his long head and spurted out blood from his mouth, careful to turn his head so that it didn't get into Rtas's face.

"No brother, I cannot. I feel as though most of my bones were shattered from the impact of the human vehicle. Forgive me for not being more careful…"

Rtas picked the warrior up and carefully slung him over his shoulder, pushing his tiredness out of the way. He took several steps down the bay, followed closely by Kemeph.

"It will be all right. You shall return with me to the drop ship, were going to leave this place."

Rtas made several more steps down to were he suspected the large U shaped drop ship would come by, when a large piece of the ship fell and nearly hit him.

The ship was beginning to fail now, fire sparked from numerous parts in the ship and several pieces were falling off.

"One minute till final detonation."

Rtas sprinted in anger towards the end of the bay. He was rewarded with the site of a large drop ship appearing out of the black of space and moving in towards him. It parked in and the side opened, revealing a single blue armored Sangheili.

"Rtas, get all the survivors in! This ship looks like it will implode at any second!"

Rtas moved in and put his comrade inside the ship, strapping him in, as well as letting the Unggoy get in. Rtas remembered squad two now, and how they were not there.

"Wait, I need to radio in the first squad!"

The blue armored Sangheili besides Rtas had doubt in his eyes, and after a moment he nodded reluctantly. Rtas quickly called in the other Officer, but got only large amounts of static.

"Team one, Team one! Do you read me?"

Rtas received nothing but static and sighed regretfully. He started getting into the ship, when he spotted the human doors opening revealing the red Major and what was left of his team. Surrounding him were four Unggoy and one Sangheili. They looked tired.

Rtas yelled to them, and told the pilot to wait. The remains of first team sprinted towards the ship, but as they were only sixteen feet away, a large piece of human metal fell in front of them, blocking them off from escape.

Rtas yelled in fury, preparing to break through the metal and get to the other Sangheili and Unggoy.

"Thirty seconds until final detonation."

As Rtas reached out, he heard the other Majors voice.

"Go on without us, for the sake of the Holy journey, now GO!"

Rtas prayed for them, and ran into the drop ship. It reared out, and into space. They were going at dangerous speeds for a drop ship, trying to get out of the explosion radius. Rtas also noticed that the Prophecy had arrived near them.

And then the human's ship exploded in a fiery ball of metal, its debris hitting the drop ship. The force of the debris was too strong, and Rtas become aware of the oxygen leaking in the room. Rtas could feel himself getting light headed, his exhaustion taking affect, his comrades already on the floor knocked out. He hoped that the pilot had enough Oxygen to get into the destroyer, and that he would survive. He felt the sacred artifact on his belt and held on to it. Must. Get the sacred artifact…to the Ship Master…

Rtas slipped into sweet unconsciousness, collapsed onto the floor, gripping the forerunner artifact. Out side the drop ship debris flew to the sides, they had just made it from being destroyed. The pilot drove the ship into the destroyer, and landed.

TO BE COUNTINUED-

A/N Hooray, my longest chapter yet! I hope you all enjoyed it. It took me a while to write, and I kind of skimped on editing, but I think it's pretty good. I FINALLY read the Halo Graphic novel about 30 times over when I was around half way through this chapter. It was the best! I loved how Rtas lost his mandibles, and I can't wait until I get to that part in my story. I refuse to spoil anything, but you should really check it out. Not only for Rtas goodness, but all the other great stuff! Anyway, please review! It does help me out, and I love my ego to be stroked Next chapter next Friday!