Ingu Fortumee spat his blood onto the deck of the Consecrated Offering, a ship only hours before he had called his own. Now the Ship Master lay crumpled at the Brute Captain's feet.
He was the last of his crew, the rest had been struck down quickly when the insurrection began. How foolish they had been to align themselves with such mindless cretins.
"Your worthless species, Ship Master, is seeing the beginning of its end. The Brutes will start your cleansing here. Regret has gone in haste and affords us no accountability. When the rest of the glorious fleet returns, your species' presence here will be no more." The Brute paid no attention to the Sangheili slowly dying at his feet, rather looking over a fallen Elite's sword handle as the instrument powered to life.
"The hierarchs will never stand for this. Your treachery will be avenged. There will never be a place in the Covenant for creatures as worthless as yourselves." Another coughing fit hit Ingu as he continued to clutch his stomach, trying to keep his insides from spilling onto the floor.
"You are but a fool Ship Master. Tartarus is already gaining Brute favor in the eyes of the Prophets. Our great Chieftain will convince the hierarchs of the Sangheili incompetence and will make sure your species is left behind when the Great Journey begins. The lesser beings will become ours to command and this will become our Covenant. We will rid the universe of you and the filthy humans."
The air about Ingu's head sizzled as the blade was brought next to his head, his skin singeing at the heat coming from it. "The Sangheili will also fall at High Charity at the hands of my kindred. This will be a glorious time for our Covenant, a time where your pestilence will no longer infect our union. Goodbye, Ship Master." With a quick flip of his wrist Dujonus severed the former Ship Master's head.
"Remove this trash from my site, and jettison it into space. Let it be a spot on the Human's world and stain my ship's decks no longer." The guttural echoes bounced off the silent bridge's hall as several Kig-Yar approached. The Jackal's quickly picked up the Ship Master's remains and carried them off. There were thoughts of heresy concerning Dujonus's words, but no concerns about it would be uttered.
Dujonus turned his attention back to the forward view screen, as the battle above Earth continued. He was quite displeased that the Humans were able to put up such a fight, but relished in the thought that it would be short lived. Once Tartarus seized control over High Charity away from the Elites, the fleet would be coming to squash the Humans once and for all. Regret's sudden departure was somewhat of a blessing to the Jiralhanae, as they could work on their own accord within this system.
"Comm, give me a link to my brother, I must share the news of our victory here."
A small holoscreen swung around to meet Dujonus's gaze as it flared to life. The sight that was laid out for him, however, confused the Brute. Sand and Earth filled much of the image as shadowy figures scurried in and out of view. There were sounds of battle, and Jiralhanae screamed in pain before they were silenced.
Jiralhanae blood was covering the ground in the screen's view and the fall of a nearby Brute made the image shake.
"Is that all of them?" A female voice called out.
"Yep, we got all of the hairy bastards, move out to checkpoint Epsilon, they have heavy fighting over there." The second voice was also female, although it had much more masculine undertones.
"You heard the lady, move out Dragoons!"
With that all commotion ceased and only the shuffling of sand by the wind could be seen. Anger grew within Dujonus at the realization that his brother was dead.
"Ephanus, take command of this ship. I want a drop ship prepared for launch immediately! Find out my brother's location and have a team assemble there to meet me. I will hunt down these Dragoons and rip them apart."
Noise once again returned to the room as the crew began making preparations for Dujonus's departure.
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Amy and the other Dragoons moved swiftly to assist the fifty-third infantry. It had been hit hard upon assignment, made it through, and now found itself in another predicament. A large contingent of Brutes and Jackals were bearing down on them, and they would be quickly decimated if Amy's team didn't make it in time.
Amy pondered their battle with the new species. The Brutes as they were called, were nothing short of savage. They often forsook their armaments instead choosing to rip soldiers apart with their strength. This tactic proved useless against the Dragoons, however, as their blades, speed and agility quickly disposed of the creatures.
Silently and invisibly the group moved with only the displacement of air and occasional footprints giving away their location. Though none of the Dragoons spoke, their internal links allowed them to wirelessly communicate thoughts and ideas to one another. Mostly they stayed silent though, each one resigning to only give or follow commands, and choosing to harbor their memories of another life.
Kiersten seemed to be the exception to the rule, however. The group was well aware of her hatred for the Covenant. She had no reservations of telling the group how her family was slaughtered on Draco III, torn apart by frenzied grunts and Jackals. How at the time she was still green and was one of the first off the ships to set foot on Draco III, one of the first to see the carnage, and one of the first to find her family's remains. She knew more than most about the truly horrific nature of this war and of the savagery of the creatures they were fighting.
Explosions sounded in the distance as the Dragoons neared the fifty-third's location. It was a relief for Amy to hear that there would be someone left to save. The group continued their brisk forty-five mile per hour sprint and slowed as the battlefield came into view. It was easy to see the fifty-third's predicament from their vantage point. For the most part the Marines had suitable cover, but there was just too many enemies advancing on them. They would be overrun.
"Amy, you take John, Manuel, Phillip, Robyn, Trey and Steve and hit the left flank. The rest of you are hitting the right flank with me. Coordinate the attack and hit 'em at the same time. Give me three to slice n dice, two assaults and a sniper for each group. Go." Kiersten's internal link for the group fell silent as the Dragoons moved toward their targets.
Amy estimated there were about fifty Covenant soldiers total, with about twenty Jackals per flank and following them was a pack of Brutes each. The Marines were making use of about the only feasible cover; the first floor framework for what Amy assumed used to be a very tall structure due to the amount of rubble strewn about. Dust still filled the air and whipped about from varying gusts of wind.
Luckily the wind carried the particles away from the Dragoons, keeping them from being dusted and possibly spotted. The two fire teams swiftly approached their targets, who remained unaware.
"Hold here, wait for them to pass." Amy cut her link and the Dragoons knelt as the Covenant lines passed by about twenty meters away. "Wait for the signal."
"Go." The lone command flashed through the Dragoon's processing cores as they quickly moved upon their Brute targets.
Amy extended her deadly forearm blades and crossed her arms. With one quick scissor motion her Brute's head was cleanly removed from its body as both parts fell to the ground. Blood spewed from its wound and soaked the Jackals in formation before it. Several Jackals turned in confusion and quickly gave way to horror at the scene as the other Brutes were systematically cut down.
A barrage of plasma was let loose from the Jackals' plasma pistols. Static washed over Amy's shields as they began to deplete a little faster than she would have liked.
A quick stirring of dust was all the Jackals saw as Amy catapulted herself over the line. Her squad mates did the same with the exception of Trey. A fully charged plasma shot impacted his chest, his shields were instantly depleted which allowed the onslaught from several pistols to melt through his armor and into his core. His blending system faded and what was left of him came into view.
Trey's left arm was gone, and half of his facial plate had melted off. A massive hole in his chest exposed the machine underneath as other smaller holes began to litter his chest cavity. The Dragoon fell heavily to the ground.
Amy knew it was too late for Trey, but continued to try to save him. Each Dragoon worked as a grotesque surgeon, separating Jackals from their appendages and causing them to lose their heads.
Confusion spread among the Jackal ranks as to where the attacks were coming from, and caused them to fire into each other as the carnage spread.
Amy's shields restored, and she was pleased to see them holding under a barrage from a lone Jackal. Sand kicked up behind her as Amy sprinted at fifty miles an hour toward her lone attacker. At the last second she brushed the bird-like creature's shield aside and rammed it full force, its bones popping and protruding from all angles out of its chest.
The Jackal was momentarily launched into the air and came crashing down about five meters away. Amy walked over to the Jackal as it struggled to breathe. She looked the desperate creature over momentarily before Amy brought her foot down upon its throat and crushed it.
Kiersten's group appeared to Amy to fare better, as they didn't appear to have any casualties. The last Jackal fell with a solemn silence as Kiersten rent her blade from its chest.
"Alright Dragoons, the coast is clear. Let's meet up with the locals to let them know they can quit hiding." Kiersten snapped off her Comm. As if on cue, the Marines began exiting the crumpled structure and looked about in an almost disoriented fashion at the carnage strewn about.
The Dragoons all switched off their cloaking, and became as human as they could in order to talk with the fifty-third. Amy began descending the slope down to the group when a sight of a slender and dirty figure stopped her in her tracks. "Josh?"
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E'Las Pertumee had no trouble keeping stride with the two Spec-Ops Elites in his group, but marveled at the quickness and apparent agility the Unggoy Spec-Ops apparently had. They undoubtedly assumed the scouting role for the group. Even if they were spotted, a Jiralhanae would not be able to run them down on foot.
The pair were almost out of sight when they stopped suddenly and appeared to look skyward. E'Las looked skyward and noticed a lone phantom on approach but still far away. As he and the other Elites caught up with the Grunts, E'Las noticed that a battle had taken place a few meters from where they stood. Brute corpses lay on the ground, horribly dismembered and gored.
"What could have done such a thing?" E'Las asked of Doru Blyasmee.
"I am not sure young one. Perhaps more of our brothers disposed of the beasts with their swords. However the tracks around the bodies suggest something… smaller. Perhaps the desperation of the human filth is also bringing out new aggressions, though I doubt it would take no less than ten humans to accomplish this."
"Phantom approaching. Coming to us." One of the Unggoy pronounced in a rather calm tone. As E'Las looked up the Phantom's outboard plasma guns came online and began training on their position.
"Move to the ridgeline young one. Go!" The five warriors raced up the sandy incline to an overhanging cliff as plasma began to pour down, turning the sand around them into glass. Even though E'Las was in front, he was quickly passed by the Grunts. He cursed silently for not having their speed.
Fire licked at his heels and the air around him became uncomfortable as his shield began to diminish. With a desperate leap E'Las cleared the overhang and began to roll down the other side. Forcing himself to come to a stop, E'Las looked around and noticed the Phantom had descended below the ridgeline's view.
Doru and Akon were both lying at the top of the ridge, surveying the scene below as Hajaf and Tatak sat down patiently behind them, appearing to drift off to sleep as other Grunts tended to do.
E'Las crawled along his belly to Doru's location and peeked over the ridgeline. Four Brutes, one donning Captain's armor seemed to be ignoring the fact that E'Las's group were still in the area, and chose instead to look over the remains of the Brutes before them. There were six accompanying Jackals, however, who appeared to be fanning out to find them.
"This is unusual. Brutes do not tend after their dead. There must be some connection between the Captain and one of the dead. A relation perhaps." Doru looked to Akon, who nodded in agreement.
"Surely we cannot allow blood to continue to stay apart. We must join them once more my brother."
"Hajaf, Tatak, you two will hit the middle of the Kig-Yar's line and spread out to the sides. We will enter your opening and hit the Jiralhanae."
"Should we not assist the Unggoy?" E'Las marveled at the confidence that Doru continued to place in the small creatures.
"I would like you to see this, young one. Stay here while Akon and I attack. Do not watch our victory though. Watch and behold what our Unggoy are capable of."
With that all the Spec-Ops disappeared save for the footprints that quickly made their way to the Jackal line.
Before E'Las and the Jackals knew what were happening, the necks of the middle Jackals snapped, and they crumpled to the ground. The next one to the right was knocked to the ground, and blood exploded from its neck as its insides were forcibly ripped out.
A screech from the left focused E'Las's attention in time to see another Jackal's leg contort grotesquely as it snapped at the knee. The Sangheili warrior wasn't sure what happened next but the Jackal's body went into spasms briefly before its movement ceased. He could however see blood pooling out and soaking into the ground beneath it.
By this time Doru and Akon were engaging the Brutes, having slashed off the hand of one and stabbing through the chest of another as Dujonus tried to decide where his targets actually were.
None of that mattered to E'Las though, as he continued to try to follow the Unggoy's gore-riddled paths.
Two more Jackals were left, and they were terrified. One covered his head and began to run from the battle, but was quickly knocked down and trampled by Tatak while the other had his stomach torn open by Hajaf.
The Grunt showed the Jackal no mercy as he fell, immediately jumping on top of him and repeatedly stabbing finger-like appendages into the Jackal's chest as purple blood began to coat his camouflage.
Suddenly a lone Brute stood against the two Elites as they powered off their cloaks. "You dare challenge me cretins? You will all die for what you have done!" Dujonus took a melee swing with his brute shot, the knife slicing air mere centimeters from Doru's body as he jumped back.
As he landed, Doru was knocked backwards as a round from the Brute Shot impacted his stomach. His shields dropped to twenty percent as Akon cast himself between the two of them and lunged at Dujonus with this plasma sword.
Behind them the lone Brute pilot fired up the Phantom engines and the craft slowly levitated. The craft's plasma canons took aim and began pouring superheated plasma toward the group. E'Las broke into a sprint toward Doru, who was slow to move after the shot to his chest.
The ship's aim was getting better and E'Las knew he was out of time. A trio of plasma bolts struck Doru as he attempted to stand, draining his shields completely and burning into his chest. The Elite roared in pain as flesh was melted away and blood began to pour onto the ground.
Another blast from the ship's canon struck Doru in his head and exploded it. His body stayed upright momentarily before collapsing onto the ground.
Akon turned to see his brother's demise, and Dujonus took the opportunity to strike, hitting the Elite and knocking him to the ground. Dujonus then turned to see an open ramp leading into the Phantom's entrance and jumped on board. The ship floated away as the Grunts met up with the remainder of the group.
Akon fell to his knees as he looked upon his brother's remains. His eyes were filled with rage as they reverted back to the ascending craft.
"Young one, find us a ship. We are going to find that Jiralhanae so that I may spill his blood." Akon's voice was heavy laden. E'Las knew there were bigger things to focus on, but did not want to have to fight the Spec-Op, which is what it would come to if he did not obey.
"Yes Akon, right away."