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 Here it is! Just in time, 15 minutes till Saturday! That was close….Anyway, I feel overjoyed that people like my story and actually cares if it is finished or not. I really do my best to please not only myself, but all those who view. I always thought I wasn't that good, but you've inspired me to get better. Thanks you guys! Now, sit back and relax for Chapter 5!
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Rtas' Vadumee: Rise of a Recruit
Chapter 5
Things Aren't What They Seem
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Rtas stepped out of the large Covenant ship, onto the large ceremonial floor beneath him. Ahead of him stood hundreds of lined up Honor Guards, the most sacred of Warriors who up took the armor of old. They stood at rigid attention, fully prepared and in a stern stance. They had been chosen at birth for their duty, and trained from an age far earlier then a normal Sangheili.
The large purple and blue colored walls decorated the room, at the far end of the hall was an enormous door that would lead to the Prophets. Rtas was sure to carefully position himself behind the Minor Prophet, along with the other Sangheili. The Unggoy stood further behind, trailing across the large mother ship that they now called home. Rtas felt bad for not only himself, but the Unggoy who had not even seen their icy homeworld.
Walking down the long hall, Rtas kept his head up high, and was careful to avoid eye contact with the guards of the Prophets. It felt good to be back here, the place were Sangheili first went for initiation into the Covenant, or for sever punishment. His brought up the thought of his previous failures, but the Minor Prophet had made it here with no troubles, perhaps he would be forgiven.
As the Minor Prophet hovered in its large portable chair, Rtas spared a glance to Dai' which rewarded him with a smile from his ally's four pronged jaw. Dai' was a young warrior like himself, who had proven to be a good soldier and a reliable one at that. It was rare that the young commander managed to stay in contact for too long with the same soldiers, as lower commands were almost constantly switched around to were the Covenant most needed them. Of course, that changed once a Sangheili become the rank of Major or was permanently accepted into a squad.
Oh, what a beautiful scent. The scent of High Charity, were the highest soldiers were posted to defend the Prophets. What did he do to deserve such beauty?
Rtas admired the room, but was brought back to reality once he heard the door's sliding noise, and saw the Prophet float and bob as he made his way through it. Behind the room revealed a large Gravity lift, which connected in three ways and leading to a total of three different rooms. Stepping onto the gravity lift, Rtas felt the familiar feeling in his abdomen as it went down, revealing to the party of warriors one larger door, defended by more Honor Guards.
The Honor Guards held the staff of the Sangheili, which their ancestors wielded back in the old days before the Forerunners. As soon as the Minor Prophet came by, their attention immediately went to him. The Emissary of light held a hand up, causing the Sangheili guards to lift their spears, paving the path.
The sliding door opened, and Rtas followed the Minor Prophet in. He and four other Sangheili went through, but the guards slid their spears into an "X" formation, halting the remaining Sangheili and Unggoy. The door slid behind them, and the Emissary went on his business further into a large room filled with more Honor guards, and at the center floated Truth and Mercy in the same chairs as the Minor Prophet.
Rtas looked back at the sliding door, but returned to walking. Passing by several more Honor Guards, he looked upon the Prophets of Truth and Mercy, their robes and crowns shone brightly to their magnificence, making them seem like Gods before Rtas. He kneeled with his fellow comrades, the minor Prophet doing a slight bow and moving to the High Prophets of the Covenant.
"Noble Prophets of Truth and Mercy, I have brought before you the sacred artifact recovered from the vermin race of Humans."
The Minor Prophet took from his gravity belt the shining crystal no bigger then its thin palm, and handed it to Truth.
Truth took the crystal, not looking very surprised, or really any other emotion other then perhaps light contempt.
"Is this all?" Truth's voice seemed questioning, and somewhat annoyed. Rtas felt a slight stab of disappointment. They had lost many lives for that shard, and the High Prophet didn't even seem to care.
"Yes, Truth. I am afraid that is all."
Truth inspected the crystal, and put it somewhere deep in his robes before facing the minor prophet again.
"I suppose that it will be enough. "
Truth floated further up to a wall behind him, covered in ancient Covenant history. Rtas felt sweat drip from his armor. Is it possible that they would punish him here and now, and recall the human data that was lost?
After a few glances, Truth turned and spoke.
"Alright Emissary of light, you shall be well rewarded for bringing this prize. Have the Sangheili troops below you promoted, and then return to your regular duties. Now leave us."
Truth turned and waved for them to leave. Rtas got on his large hooves and sat up straight, following the Emissary of light out, his fellow troops next to him. Rtas was glad to hear about possible promotions, and now was also relived that punishment was not in question. It still puzzled him about the artifact, but he decided to leave the matter to the higher arcs.
Leaving the room, Rtas was greeted with the rest of the group, who had been waiting there for the past twelve minutes. They went back up the gravity lift, and the young Sangheili decided to risk a few questions with the minor Prophet.
"Emissary of light, will we be returning to out previous posts and gain field promotions?"
The minor Prophet did not turn, speaking in a low tone.
"Yes, once we return to the ship I will radio the Ship Master of your current position and allow him to decide these matters. For now, let us just return to our ship."
Rtas left it at that, and followed the minor Prophet silently.
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Truth ordered the Honor Guards to leave for their break and leave him and Mercy alone in the large ceremonial room shortly after dismissing the Minor Prophet. The Sangheili warriors were puzzled by this, but loyally left them to their wishes.
As the Honor Guards left the room through the large sliding doors, Mercy moved his chair closer to Truth.
"Could this be the piece needed, the one we've been searching for all these years?"
Mercy's voice held hope in it, as though the old Prophet had a chance of finding something long lost. Truth turned his head to check if the Sangheili had left the room, his head piece bobbing slightly. Nodding to Mercy, he floated to the inscriptions on the wall.
"Yes Mercy, this could possibly be the next piece of the puzzle. The shard that may lead us, to the Sacred Rings."
Truth couldn't keep excitement from leaking out of his voice. The Sangheili may have actually found the shard that would lead them to Halo. All he needed to do now was test the theory.
"First, we must see if this is the correct one. I have an idea, we shall send of the minor Prophet and whatever forces he has to find the Ring. Chances are, that the will reach an uncharted area in space, enter a black hole, or find the Rings."
Mercy tugged at his beard and nodded in agreement. Indeed, it was a better idea to send that group. After all, it wasn't much to lose and everything to gain.
"Alright, should we alert the council to the existence of the shard?" Mercy questioned hovering closer to Truth.
"No, not until we know that it's the Ring world. For now, let us keep this to ourselves…"
Truth turned back and called in the Honor guards with the touch of a button on his hovering chair. Regret was not here, off doing some errands. No matter. If this was the Ring, he could finally put his own plans into action. He wondered for a moment if the Brutes would be better suited for the tasks, looking from one Sangheili Guard to the next with equal contempt.
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Rtas now stood back in the ship with his crew mates, not satisfied with their brief visit. He decided to be thankful that he wasn't executed, and instead was to be promoted. The clacking of his boots on the bridge of the ships bridge deck signaled his coming, and he overheard the Minor Prophet speaking with an Honor Guard.
"Us? Shouldn't you send someone else? More capable?"
The first voice was the Minor Prophet, surprise was apparent in his raspy voice.
"Yes, it has been commanded by the hierarchs. Take the fragment, and find the Ring world. We will be here for you to radio us in, if anything happens."
The other's voice was loud and gruff, belonging to a Sangheili. Rtas identified is as an Honor Guard, and listened as the Sangheili left through the sliding doors.
Rtas ducked away as the Minor Prophet left the room, barley avoiding him. After the Prophet had gone, Rtas went to find Dai' and the Unggoy under his command. Moving through the large corridors lit with blue lights. Soon, after passing many staffed Unggoy, Rtas found Dai' giving out the orders Rtas had told him to. The Unggoy were working hard to get the ship moving, lower Sangheili checking up to see if everything was operational.
Dai; turned to see Rtas and held his hand up high in greeting.
"Officer Rtas, it is good to see you brother. The ship is near ready for take off, apparently we have a new destination."
Rtas raised his hand as well, stepping closer to the Sangheili minor.
"Yes, I have heard. We seem to be using the sacred artifact to get to this unknown destination. I believe it may be to…the sacred Rings."
Dai's brown eyes lightened up at the mention of the Sacred Rings. His voice went to a whisper, and he spoke softly to Rtas.
"Brother, is this true?"
"It is. We will be leaving soon from the looks of it. Now get to your station."
As if summoned by the young Sangheili officers words, the inter com sprouted alien words, revealing for everyone to get to their stations.
Rtas rushed to his station in front of the ship, standing at station, and then getting into position for slip-space. Soon, High Charity was out of site again.
Slip-space was different this time. Rtas noticed on the star chart that they were going to parts unknown, but dared not to speak about it to the Minor Prophet. The duration of slip space was of course regular at first, but it was going much faster then the normal high speeds. Rtas was almost worried, but said a quick prayer and relaxed.
Covenant ships already were gifted by the gods, going at high speeds through space and ending up at their destination in little time. Rtas felt the sudden lunge of the ship coming into normal space, showing a nearby planet with two suns and a moon orbiting it. What Rtas saw on the scanner shocked him.
By the planet was a human a Battle ship, UNSC marked on the side. It was large, painted the same dull color of the other human ships Rtas had encountered before, and it was far larger then the Pillar of Autumn. The ship was a box shape to Rtas, with big wing like segments coming off the bottom and downwards. It had enormous cylindrical propulsion systems on the back side of the massive hulk of the Fenrir class battleship.
The images of the ship appeared on Covenant screens, their ship being a Cruiser class one. The Minor Prophet shouted out in anger.
"Humans! They defile us with their presence, eradicate them!"
The Sangheili pilots onboard quickly sent a message, similar to what Alzeke' Vaduamee had done, to the human Battleship. It was translated as;
Your Destruction Is The Will Of The Gods.
And we are their instrument.
Rtas ordered the Sangheili below him to open fire with their plasma turrets, the heated bolts hitting the unsuspecting humans' ship with a large volley. The crew remained focused, although amused at the human's weakness. They were filth that needed to be cleaned and swept from the face of the universe after all, what could their pathetic ships do?
The humans pathetic Battleship retaliated quickly with their turrets, prototype MAC guns hitting the Covenant's shields and damaging them. The human ship and Covenant cruiser fought fiercely in space, the small human planet below watching the fire works.
The Covenant crew onboard gasped at the power of the human weapons, powerful enough to damage their shields. These humans actually knew what they were dealing with, and were doing everything in their power to take the Covenant ship out. None the less, Rtas kept his composer and reminded himself of the Gods and their gift.
The Covenant Cruiser blasted their plasma off again, this time a round nailing the human Battleships engines and blowing them off, debris scattering everywhere. Fire and pieces of metal scattered across the area, blinding them for a moment.
More shots were fired, and the humans blew through part of the energy shields, allowing random missiles to make their way in and puncture small holes into the haul.
The Minor Prophet barked out orders to the crew, the Covenant pilots aiming and blasting at the human ship, their Cruiser getting closer. Rtas felt the tension in the air, and he decided to watch the battle from the large screen. He looked just in time to see another part of the humans vessel blow apart by the Covenants next volley.
Aboard the Fenrir stood the Spartan soldier 717, name: Joseph. He had heard of the Covenant before, but this was his first time ever seeing one of their ships, which was massive and elongated with a silvery shine to it. Avery had seen it deliver the first punch with its plasma rounds, and he decided that they had to finish it. Now racing through a corridor in the launching zone, he had to get to the Admiral Ruckus to find out what to do next. Double checking that he was equipped with his MA5B Assault rifle, and a standard class pistol he moved on. He almost forgot the large black knife that he had slung on his belt.
The Spartan was now at a sprint, nearly making it out of the launching zone when the area in front of him is blow out by another Covenant volley. The hole sucked Joseph out at great speeds, sending him into space. Thoughts raced through his mind, he frantically looked for a way out but so far he couldn't see one, and his suit wouldn't hold forever in space.
Joseph could see now that an MAC round had hit the shield and went through, causing a large damaged piece in the ship. The Spartan pushes off debris, narrowly moving to the sides to dodge incoming plasma bolts. Penetrating the damaged hull, he breaks through and into the Covenants ship.
Inside was nothing like he had ever imagined the walls were a deep purple shade, and inside were odd ships. Realizing he was in the docking bay, the Spartan dropped down and ran through the ships loud opening doors; furthermore he was greeted with a small four foot alien in an orange colored armor, an odd rebreather equipped to its face.
Not taking a chance, Joseph filled its head full of lead with his pistol, and kept moving. The room was lit with a glowing purple light that matched the room's shade, which reflected off his pale green armor.
Going through another odd splitting door that looked to be made of some type of unknown metal, Avery ended up on a higher level in the aliens docking bay.
Oh, great. How am I supposed to stop this alien threat if I don't even know were to go? At least the aliens are small and don't seem to be fit for combat.
The Spartan ran across the deck, spotting four of the small Covenant creatures in orange armor. Ducking behind odd box like shapes that probably held the Covenants odd weapons, he carefully took aim and shot a hot bullet into each of their heads, sending some flipping back and screaming in pain, the clatter of their bodies onto a blue puddle of their own blood. The bullets made small holes in the wall behind the dead aliens, and Joseph decided to move up with all the stealth he had acquired in all of his years of training.
After moving through several more room, the Spartan thought that he had nothing much to worry about, calming himself down a little as he crossed the next corner. He bumped into a tall, seven foot alien with a four pronged jaw and blue armor, scaly skin visible in some spots. The alien shouted in anger, its mandibled mouth spreading apart, and its arms flailing around his sides. Joseph back peddled quickly, unslung his MA5B rifle and shooting off a sustained burst aimed at the aliens skull. To this surprise, the bullets pinged off the alien with little affect. This thing had shields similar to their ships. Now Joseph understood, THESE were the Covenants warriors.
More and more shots were fired at the alien, but they simply were pushed aside, beating against the small corridors walls. The Spartan saw now that the alien was running at him at a sprint, its arm outstretched. Avery moved his head and rolled past the alien in time to avoid a fatal lunge. Taking this opportunity to return fire, he delivered a swift kick to the blue armored aliens back.
The alien toppled over on the floor with a splat, moaning as it died. Its purple blood splattered against the wall, making Joseph raised an eyebrow.
That was a close one. Almost too close.
Wondering whether or not he'd have to face more of these terrifying creatures, the Spartan moved onward through the next door.
As the battle raged outside the ship in space, Rtas had heard radioed transmissions about some kind of green demon onboard the ship, slaughtering his warriors with deadly skill. The demon had apparently made his way from a wounded part of the ship in the docking bay up to the bridge area, and was currently making it's way towards them.
This stunning information chilled Rtas to the bone, and he prayed to the gods for his warriors to destroy this unholy demon and send it back to the gates of hell.
Ushering for his troops to go and investigate, Rtas charged himself and his new squad to hold position here and defend the Minor Prophet, who was angrily ordering the pilots to blast the humans to bits, and they seemed to be doing a good job of it.
The Sangheili and Unggoy left the room, armed with plasma pistols, needlers, and plasma rifles to deal with the threat. Rtas knew they wouldn't fail him.
Returning to his duty, Rtas idly pondered the events to come.
Joseph had made his way through many groups of Covenant soldiers, these "Elites" and "Grunts" sometimes alone, sometime together. His personal energy shields on the Mjolnir defended him greatly from the Covenants plasma weapons, but still died and left him with his normal armor. He had endured several plasma bolts in his side and leg, and tried to bandage the wounds up himself. Several needle like bolts of bright light had sinked into his sides, searing parts of his flesh and causing him extreme displeasure.
Ignoring the pain, he pushed forward, and heard the loud click-clacking of boots just down the hall. Jumping to the side, he took cover behind a corner and ducked, looking behind the corner to see a group of four Elites and six Grunts. They held the eerie weapons he had seen earlier, and the Grunts sniffed the area, the taller Elites looking from side to side in search of someone, who Avery suspected was him.
"Ogaarhh!" the alien creature yelled at the Grunts in its garbled language, ordering them to pay attention.
Deciding that this was his best chance, the Spartan threw four grenades down the hall, knocking them off the walls and right under the alien's feet.
In grim satisfaction, Joseph watched the Elite scream and try to roll out of the way, caught in the blinding explosion. The Spartans visor defended him from the light, giving him the chance to see the aliens torn to pieces, their blue and purple blood splattering against the ground, as well as the walls. Body parts exploded and flew randomly, spreading across the stained floor.
Looking from behind the corner, Joseph saw the remains of the Covenant troop. Elite mandibles had been blow off and scattered across the ground. Grunt legs lay mangled, and strewn. The original four Elites were now one, and were the six Grunts had stood now held three, slightly damaged.
Joseph rolled out of the safety of the bend, releasing a spray of MA5B assault rifle bullets into the weakened Covenant. The blasts blew two of the Grunts of their feet, and sprayed into ones arm, tearing it off completely. It squealed in horrible pain, falling to the floor, almost slipping on its foot.
The Elites fired back with plasma rifles, tearing through the Spartans shields and into his soft flesh, burning and searing. He moved to the side blowing the wounded Elites head off and blood spraying into Joseph's visor. The Elite shot at the ground as its body went limp and fell to the ground.
The other Elite screamed in a rage, hitting Joseph in the shoulder. His blood now littered the area as well. Smacking the Elites chest plate in, the alien sprawled backwards, and was finished with a spray off bullets.
The Spartan reloaded his final clip in, and put his back against the wall. He was soaked in purple and blue blood, and his armor held only a few spots that remained green. His shields had begun slowly recharging, and he contemplated what would become of him. How could he survive much longer like this, he was tired, wounded, and running low on his ammo. Kicking the ugly beast in the face, Joseph got up and walked down the hall, he believed he wasn't too far from the command center…
Rtas growled loudly. He had just received a report that the team he sent down was killed, and regret filled his soul. Touching the butt of his plasma rifle lightly Rtas decided that he would have to end this "Demon" himself.
"Prophet, I shall deal with this demon."
The Prophet turned his head to Rtas, and nodded, satisfied.
"Good, I am starting to tire of this demon."
Rtas bowed, and took with him four Unggoy out the door. He knew that the Demon was only a few rooms from here, and he planned to ambush it and strike it down.
Joseph had so far not met up with any more resistance, thankfully. Moving through another door, he found himself in a small room with three other doors. He decided to take the one right in front of him. Moving past the odd marks on the walls, the door in front of him slid open, revealing a tall Elite in blue, dented armor followed by a group of Grunts.
Before he could react, the Elite fired off a burst of plasma right at him, taking out his shields. The Grunts fired off needles and plasma shots, the needles stabbing through his armor and exploding.
Joseph moved back to the wall, and started firing bursts from his MA5B at the Covenant soldiers. More covenant plasma blasted nearby, almost hitting him. Allowing his shields to recharge, Joseph checked the ammo counter on his rifle. It read half a clip.
Jumping out, the Spartan fired his bullets, dodging blasts of plasmas and needles; he managed to kill off two of the Grunts. The Elite moved and avoided most of the bullets, continuing the fire fight with the Spartan.
One of the Grunts yelled, and upon order of the Elite he threw a small glowing orb at Joseph. Deciding not to get touched by that thing, he rolled past it and went for the nearest Grunts throat. A loud explosion behind him made him jump, blue fire breaking his shields. Using the last of his ammo, the Spartan blew one more Grunt to pieces, and kicked one into a wall, breaking its rebreather.
The Elite then smacked the Spartan off his feet, sending him into a wall, almost shattering his bones. Retaliating in fashion, Joseph kicked the Elite in his chest effectively getting it out of his way. Reaching for his pistol, the Spartan ducked to avoid a deadly punch from the tall creature. Blasting the creature in the face with his pistol, the shots were reflected into the walls, and the Elite began firing from his cooled plasma rifle, cutting through his shields again and hitting him in the chest. Joseph rolled and tripped the Elite with a swift kick to its awkward knees, shooting the pistol rounds into its sides, and delivering a smack with the back of his gun to the creatures head.
The Elites shields died, and it went sliding across the floor. Its helmet and shield had saved its life, but purple blood ran down his face. The Spartan ran threw the door, watching it slide behind him. Before it had slid all the way, he chucked a fragment grenade through. Seconds later he heard the loud explosion on the other side, and imagined the shrapnel flying from his last grenade. His pistol ammo was now becoming short, but he decided to reload and push on. He had to be getting closer by now.
Rtas had rolled far back, avoiding the grenades blast, the shrapnel flying into his armor and shields, blood oozing from his fresh wounds. Moving his arms from his face, he was welcomed by the death of the Unggoy and their motionless corpses spread around the room. Getting up, Rtas picked his plasma rifle up and rushed after the demon. He couldn't let it get to the Prophet…
Out side the ship, the human vessel was being pounded by the Covenants superior firepower, and was now running sluggishly, close to death while the Covenant ship still held most of its power. The Minor Prophet of light smiled at the chaos that ensured before him.
"Prophet! Rtas and his group have not responded yet, and our sensors tell us that the demon is only one room away from us, he should be here shortly!"
Unggoy screeched in unison, a few running around, but they were quieted by the Sangheili pilots. The Prophet's bug eyes went wide with fear. Calling in help from any nearby ships, the Prophet began shouting out orders to its underlings.
"Quickly! Seal and shut down the doors! Protect me! NOW!"
"It's too late!"
The sliding doors opened and the demon swept in, blasting apart the nearest Unggoy, and sending an elbow into the Sangheili named Dai's face. Dai's shields died and he fell down onto the cold ground, the Demon jumping onto the desk, shooting at the Minor Prophet.
Bullets bounced of his chair, and he tried to run but the Demon jumped onto his chair, and looked at him for a split second, before shoving his gun into the ugly creatures face, and blowing his brains out. The blood and brains of the Minor Prophet sprayed across the floor, and the chair he sat in fell, and exploded with the minor burning carcass still inside. And the Minor Prophet, Emissary of light was no more but a bad memory now.
The demon began shooting at the cowering Unggoy, Sangheili shooting back at it, but being forced to take cover behind their seats as they were pilots.
Shooting off more of his bullets at the hiding soldiers, the demon turned to see the Sangheili with blue dented armor, holding a plasma rifle at his face.
"DIE DEMON!"
Rtas fired the bursts into the Spartans face, taking out his shields, but the demon was quick and it knocked his arm away and shot off its remaining pistol shots into his face. His shields dead, Rtas smacked the pistol away and tried to kick the demon in his stomach. The demon painted in blood ducked and rolled over, avoiding more plasma shots.
Rtas had him pinned, but to his disadvantage the plasma weapon overheated, burning his large hand. Throwing the weapon away with a yell, Rtas jumped up to were the Demon was hiding, and discovered he was no longer there.
Rtas saw on his motion sensor that a flashing light was behind him. The Demon. Rolling far to the side, Rtas saw the Demon now holding a small black blade in its hand, dwindling it gracefully and moving in on him. Rtas felt no fear, and prayed aloud as he searched the room for something that could help him.
May the Gods have mercy on your soul, DEMON
He spotted an Energy blade just to the side of him in a crate, and even though he was not a high rank, he would have to use the blade slay this demon.
Pulling it out, Rtas activated it, showing the blade to the demon, and saying a low chant. Moving forward a little in the hunched pose, Rtas prepared for the fight of his life. Out side, UNSC ships were boarding the Covenants ships, small drop ships, and out of space came multiple Covenant reinforcements.
With a loud roar, Rtas rushed at the Demon with all his speed, strength, and skill. The Demon rushed as well, his knife extended. Rtas lunged.
TO BE COUNTINUED!
A/N Yes, I give you: A cliff hanger! Sorry guys, but I thought you'd be more interested this way. Besides, I am rather tired, getting this up at 11:50 PM here, before midnight. Yep, I now have Rtas battling a Spartan soldier, how will it end? What about the inbound Covenant ships and boarding human parties? You'll just have to wait till next week to find out! Have a great weekend everyone, and watch out for school! Thanks to The Simon of Cowell of FFnet! He helped me with a few ship things. Thanks for reading, please review!