Setting up the Field
B312
1540 Hours, September 3, 2552, Two Days after Wide Spread Planetary Glassing
Spartan B312 sprinted at his fastest speed towards his destination. The village was gradually growing nearer to him, the true damage finally coming into view. From where he had originally caught sight of the village the fire had appeared relatively small to the Spartan. Noble Six should have guessed that his originally assumption would have been wrong. Things were never easy for Noble Team. . . Even if said team consisted of only one confirmed member.
The village was dwarfed in his vision by the orange inferno covering the small Reach settlement. Not a single building was spared from its fate of being torched by several of the planet's last surviving humans. Humans killing other humans, and destroying their own creations. Six scoffed at the bitter irony that was the fate of humanity as they saw their own demise. The lieutenant had never felt more disgust at anything than at that moment. His SPARTAN training overcame his own emotions, and the Spartan III soon found himself in the emotionless calm that was a perfect Super Soldier.
At the moment he was not a human; he was a sword of the human race, a weapon whose purpose was to protect two civilians.
Dimly as he neared the burning village his mind began to bring up nearly forgotten memories. Memories of the first mission he had been sent on that involved killing a human. After joining Noble, Six had foolishly assumed that he would never have to kill another human being, he couldn't believe how wrong he had been.
As the lone Spartan neared the sound of gunfire became more pronounced in its intensity. Enough that he could make out the sound of what models the murderous band of humans were using. The lieutenant was surprised to hear the distinctive sound of several M6 Series hand guns, as well as the clack of MA3 Assault Rifles. What promised to prove most difficult was the short burst that sounded like an HMG-38.
Noble Six felt a scowl cross his hidden features. The weapons he was identifying were inaccessible to any civilian contractors. Not just on Reach, but any UNSC colony world. The fact that they were being used in the village told him that their users had obtained them from the black market. Which meant that he was not dealing with a desperate band of civilians attempting to steal what they needed.
He was dealing with the Reach Insurrectionists, rebels who opposed the so called "oppression" of the colony worlds. The Spartan III forced himself to run even faster than before, the desire to eliminate the rebels increasing with each step. After all that was the original purpose behind a SPARTAN Program in the first place.
Approaching the Northern part of the village the Spartan slowly came to a halt. With the experience gained from tens of dozens of engagements, he began to list what he could see in the village that was useful information. The first thing the soldier noticed was the structural condition of the buildings. Even from his location, no more than 500 meters from the farthest off fires, Six could see that all of the buildings were from structurally sound. With a simple glance over he knew that it would take little effort to bring the buildings down. That meant he could change the battle field to whatever best suited him, or collapse a building over the Insurrectionists.
His augmented eyesight caught notice of the half dozen fuel tanks scattered throughout the village. Perfect for causing quick distractions and start an ambush. There also appeared to be nearly two dozen of Reach's civilian vehicles to provide excellent cover. . . So long as one avoided shooting up their fuel tanks that is. He also took notice of the current inhabitants of the village.
Leo soon began to take count of all the armed rebels that came into his vision. With the patience of a mountain he counted twenty two different armed individuals. While doing so the Spartan could not help but notice the bodies not moving.
Strewn at points all over the Reach village were nearly three dozen murdered civilians. He punched the ground as he saw that several of the bodies were also children no larger than Rozsa. With aid from the continents recent rain showers blood ran in the small village pathways. The dead Reach settlers were having their bodies picked at by several of the Insurrectionists, looting for God knew what.
He shook his head at how far his species could fall while they faced the invading Covenant.
Shaking off the train of thought, the Spartan quickly came back to observing the village. The forest he was hiding in ended about fifty meters from the closest group of three rebels. Deciding to take action, Leo parted with the fallen tree that he had looked over the state of the village. Stealthily the lieutenant stuck close to the trees, his armored formed making no sound in the silent forest.
As he neared the edge Leo caught sight of another Insurrectionist approaching the trio near him. The Spartan estimated the distance between the rebels and himself to be about seventy meters. It would take him a handful of seconds to reach them, time in which they had the chance to open fire on him there by alerting their comrades to his presence. Despite knowing that they would prove little to no difficulty the Spartan refused to take any chance.
1532 (Human Time) Kilometer from small Reach Village
Commando
Voro 'Refumai stood on top of a large rock formation, the carbine he had carried previously had strapped to his back now in his hands. Shouldering the weapon the Operations Officer had begun scanning the area before him. Voro allowed himself to relax his guard slightly with the knowledge his Active Camouflage was functioning perfectly.
An hour after having landed at the crater Voro had soon found a trail. The trail was only a few days old, still fresh enough for him to obtain certain details. He found that instead of one pair of tracks the Sangheili discovered a trio instead. While curious Voro could not hide his joy at knowing the two other humans would slow the Demon immensely.
Following the trail he had came to a large creature of the planet. The beast's body was cold and showed many injuries which were obviously inflicted from Covenant weaponry. Curiously he found a blade imbedded in the enormous beast's skull, clearly the cause of its death. No true Sangheili would have dared to leave a blade behind like that. Which meant that the Demon had been responsible for killing the creature. They were the only humans with the physical prowess to kill such a creature from such close ranged battle.
Following a poorly hidden trail Voro had arrived at a makeshift campsite inside a cave.
A human made piece of equipment left behind in a damaged state. From there the trail had grown cold to the Sangheili Swordsman. Reluctantly he had contacted the Bane of Heresy and asked for the location of any human settlements near the cave. Thankfully the ship's scanners detected a small concentration of human survivors several hours from Voro's position. Relying on the fact that additional humans would slow the Demon, Voro quickly made his way to a position far from the human village.
The Swordsman came to a sight that caused his disgust in the human species to increase immeasurably.
From his position Voro watched as a large group of humans began to massacre another. The armed band thoroughly executed the entire human population of the village. What caused Voro to growl in hatred was the fact that not a single one of the village's population held any weapons to defend themselves.
Voro felt a desire to contact a warship and request the village and several miles of its surrounding area be glassed. However he fought that wishful way of thinking down in light of his mission. If the Swordsman was right then the Demon would soon arrive at the village looking for supplies. Despite this Voro came to a decision about the state of the village whether or not the Demon arrived. He would enter it himself and eradicate the human filth; a fitting warm up for his duel against the Demon itself.
Looking through the carbine's sights Voro caught a slight movement in the forest near the village. The Swordsman kept one eye locked on the area he had noticed the flash of movement, while the other peered continued to observe the village through the scope of his weapon. Experience had taught the veteran warrior that it never aided soldiers to be fully distracted by the smallest of details.
Voro continued to watch as the last of the human villagers were killed. The entire settlement now burned a bright orange inferno on the horizon. Smoke filled up a large portion of the Sangheili's own vision. He could clearly make out the forms of several of the humans raise their weapon to the air and begin to fire.
Voro snapped his mandibles in annoyance at the humans vain attempts at real glory. They had not won a victory and they lacked even basic discipline, truly little more than armed rabble. The Operations Officer was genuinely glad that the humans soldiers were nothing like the ones still alive in the village. Battling those humans would give a Sangheili at least some honor, where as these would not be worth even meeting them face to face.
Once again his eyes caught another instant of movement. His mandibles twitching in anticipation Voro turned the scope of the carbine on that area of the forest. The Operations Officer moved his sight from tree to tree until he caught sight of a slight reflection of light. Focusing his own vision on the immediate vicinity of the reflection, Voro's eyes widened slightly in pleasant surprise.
A figure was pressed to the side of a fallen tree, also apparently observing the village as well. He saw the large human raise its fist before quickly dropping it to the ground. Voro narrowed his eyes as a large crack appeared over the tree bark. Any doubts as to the identity of what he was looking at vanished as it pulled away from its cover.
His target stood taller than any human he had ever seen. Its body was covered in a powerfully looking emerald green armor, with small amounts of gold added to its coloring. A black visor hid the humans face from his sight, yet caused a slight nervousness to enter Voro's state of mind. It was unarmed as far as the Officer could tell, but there no longer was any doubt. This was the Demon he had been instructed to capture by Fidelias.
Intent on observing the capabilities of his quarry Voro continued to watch as the Demon neared the village. To his own great surprise it appeared as though the Demon intended to attack the humans in the village. While still somewhat curious as to why, Voro continued to watch as his target began its attack on several of the planets last remaining human inhabitants. His anticipation grew as he watched the sight before him.
Voro continued to watch the Demon's movement with the patience of the greatest of hunters. The prey may be different, and it needed to be taken alive, but this was a hunt nevertheless. The Operations Officer had been an excellent hunter of his home world's rodent population. The same skills he learned as youth were as useful today as they had been so many decades earlier.
His own keen eyesight clearly caught sight of the same practiced motions he himself sometimes used. Approach your prey to nearest of your abilities without revealing your presence. Wait until you are certain of the number of your targets kind accompany it. Then search for the devices nature itself gave to you, and then find way to use it to distract your goal from its unseen hunter. Remain motionless until your instincts call out to you, predatory nature revealing the true moment of success. Then unleash your full might on your prey, and kill without hesitation.
Voro had spent time around several of the Prophets and, with the utmost reluctance, Jiralhanae as well. With the knowledge he had gained from such experiences Voro knew that if he had a mammalian face that he would have a smirk on it.
This Demon was like him in a way. Both hunters, both warriors of shadow, masters of patience, and most of all it was a worthy opponent to face in a duel. The Demon held the same type of calculative mind many Sangheili in the Special Operations Branch of the Covenant Military had themselves. To see something so similar to his sect of the Sangheili Military in a human soldier as well however. . . Was exhilarating, especially when Voro thought of how very near to their battle he was.
However, if Voro was going to be honest with himself, the Sangheili Swordsman was somewhat disappointed by the Demon's appearance. With the way his quarry was posturing itself near the humans still in the village, Voro was certain of its own desires for those humans. The Demon was about to launch an assault on the other humans still scouring the remains of the settlement, and even scavenging the dead as well. That would mean the Voro would unfortunately be unable to exterminate the filth himself.
Despite his mild regret Voro was also incredibly pleased at the prospect of observing the Demon's true capabilities. Tales of skill from some of his more experienced Sangheili brothers were encouragement to fight at best. The frightened whispers from the lowly Unggoy were terribly unhelpful and sometimes led to several of the lowly creatures lying on the ground; Voro could take only so much talk of fear and cowardice. What few pieces of video that held some amount of the Demons was obviously lacking and a poor way to gauge their strengths and weaknesses.
The Sangheili Swordsman felt some amusement as he turned the scope to bring up the sight of four humans to himself. They were picking at one of the bodies that laid unmoving on the muddy planet soil as though they were perfectly safe; completely and utterly oblivious to fact that they're within a true hunters kill range. Voro felt almost apologetic for them as he watched as they began speaking to one another in an annoying human tongue.
He briefly entertained the wish for a Special Operations Unggoy to be at his side. Those members of the diminutive race that was simple cannon fodder were surprisingly quite easy to be around. The fact that the tiny creatures had a surprising ability to understand human languages would quickly sate his mild curiosity as to what was being said.
No matter what race a soldier was simply by just being a part of Special Operations they all became part of a loosely connected family. The dangers faced while serving as such a soldier were universal and did not distinguish between the most powerful, or the least skilled. Voro even had made the acquaintance of several of his fellow Special Operations Sangheili who made it a point of protecting the Unggoy serving beneath them with the same dedication they showed to their own brothers.
Especially one whom he respected with nearly as much, and admired, of the same respect as the Bane of Heresy's Ship Master. A Sangheili Special Operations Officer by the name of Rtas 'Vadumee with whom he had briefly served under before his own promotion to the Officer ranks. Rtas was a true Sangheili in everyway way who carried himself with the same confidence, and held the same personal standards as a full blooded Swordsman, at all times. The last Voro had heard of the 'Vandum was that he was very near to becoming the Special Operations Commander of the Covenant Military.
With a snaking movement of his neck Voro stopped his own musings. He was there to observe the Demon and then plan his order of attack. It was not to reminisce over the Sangheili whom he himself held up as idols.
The Operations Officer took his eyes off the Demon for an instant when he had seen a small amount of black appear between rock formations similar to what he was on at the moment. From this distance he could make out the basic human shape, and then another taller human appear as well. The second quickly pulled the smaller human back behind the rocks.
Voro blinked a single eye several times, his personal habit of how he reacted to small surprises. Two additional humans that appeared to be in the same the direction the Demon had come from. The Sangheili wondered whether or not the two were the pair of humans the Demon had taken with him. His fast thinking mind began to formulate plans for the two of them.
Experience had been a cruel instructor to his people in their entire existence at many times in history. From those experiences all Sangheili had developed the unconscious action of forming fall back plans on reflex. The Demon would not have taken the two humans with it had they not been important; either to the species itself or simply important to the Demon solely. Perhaps the taller one was its mate, and the smaller its offspring? Regardless of what status the two humans held they would be useful should Voro fail in his first encounter with the Demon.
Immediately the Operations Officer returned his hard and calculating gaze back towards his quarry. A true warrior will have learned victory by seeing with their own eyes how his foe has achieved it. Such was the quote of Fal 'Chavam, the disgraced Sangheili whose actions were the reason that the title of Arbiter had become a post for only the most dishonored yet skilled of his people. The heretic's actions were something all Sangheili were disgusted by, but his skill as warrior was legend to all. Many Sangheili followed his own teachings of how war was best fought, and all duels were conducted by the traditional rules first made by his clan.
As a true Sangheili Swordsman it was his own duty to learn from his opponent before challenging him to a duel. Whether or not the Demon deserved his respect was about to be determined as he watched. Voro watched as it picked several stones off the ground and covered them with its hands one by one. Voro's eyes both blinked several times again.
He recognized the tactic was vaguely similar to what Sangheili children would do when they began to hunt the small rodents that inhabited Sangheilios with them. It served as a sign of ingenuity and a test of early strength. First the youths would chose several well sized rocks from the ground. Then they would find a way to locate the weakest points on the rocks. Once that was done it was a matter of using the proper amount of strength to break the rocks into sharper more angled shapes. The result were several sharp throwing weapons that could pierce the rodents hides easily.
Curious as to what the Demon had planned, Voro returned his eyes to the scope. The Demon was proving more and more worthy of warranting the attention Fidelias had given it, and Voro's desire to fight it.
B312
1545 Hours, September 3, 2552, Two Days after Wide Spread Planetary Glassing
Leo felt the small weight shift in his left fist as he continued to watch the Insurrectionists. The Spartan wanted to avoid using his only weapon for now. The M6G held only four rounds in its possession and the soldier intended to save them until he absolutely needed it. Considering the positions of both himself and the four rebels that moment was clearly not then.
Noble Team's sole known survivor was no more than seventy meters from the Insurrectionist, all of whom were busy talking while picking at what little the dead Reach civilians had on their bodies. Leo was well hidden from their sights and had a clear view of them himself. The Spartan had also made several improvised weapons to use in this particular situation. Sharpened rocks while primitive were still very dangerous to unarmored human flesh. And the Reach rebels were obviously unarmored aside from outdoor hunters vests.
With his right hand Leo picked up on of the seven rocks he had sharpened into deadly weapons. Tossing it up several times to test its weight the lieutenant was quickly satisfied with his own creation. The angle he had sharpened the stones to made them resemble unattached arrow heads now. With a grim smirk Leo snatched the rock out of the air. They were perfect for what he intended to use them for.
Pressing his back against the bark of the tree Leo placed four of the rocks in his right hand. He lightly palmed each of them in an attempt to force his will on their direction. The rebels deserved no mercy for what they had done to the small village and its people.
With lightning speed Leo rolled himself to the right of the tree, stopping in a crouched position. With reaction time only another Spartan could match he soon threw one of the rocks towards the last of the rebels to have arrived. The man was still standing and he had a vicious smirk on his face while he stood over the body of an elderly woman. Leo was very satisfied when the rock struck the man in the uncovered throat. The stone penetrated the skin easily and traveled out of the of the other side of his neck, the spinal cord severed and the vocal cords destroyed the man fell to the ground silent and paralyzed, blood flowing from the open wound.
Before his comrades could even notice what had happened Leo had already thrown another of his rocks. This one struck the rebel next to the first who had died. That man had the unfortunate luck of being struck in the back of the skull, dying instantly as his body lurched forward. As he died the other two finally began to process what was happening. There own minds to slow to follow what the Spartan was doing, or even know he was there.
Leo launched another stone aimed at a rebels heart. That Insurrectionist was launched several short feet from the speed of the vicious throw. The man quickly went into shock as he made a show of touching the now fast growing stain of his blood.
As the last rebel rose up and attempted to shout an alarm Leo threw the fourth stone. He aimed at the man's throat, exactly where the vocal cords were located. The Spartan then broke into a dead run as the rebel was struck. The force of the throw had greatly unbalanced the Insurrectionist and he fell to the ground clutching at his neck as blood flowed.
Leo closed the distance in mere seconds, and as the rebel finally became aware of the approaching mass of steel it was too late. The lieutenant kicked the Insurrectionists rifle from him with enough force to snap his entire forearm into several large fractures. As he silently screamed in agony the Spartan's hand quickly flew and covered his head. With a flash of barely controlled anger Leo stood up to his full height applying pressure on the mans head slowly. The rebels working hand grabbed at Leo's armored forearm viciously in a vain attempt to obtain freedom.
Leo held the man up still gradually applying more pressure. The rebels legs swung wildly striking at his well built armor, likely breaking several bones in the action. Noble Six narrowed his eyes on the rebel. The Spartan tilted his head to look at the three civilian bodies surrounding him. One was an elderly woman likely in her late eighties, a woman who should have died in her sleep painlessly. The other two snapped what little control he still held.
Spartans were masters of controlling their emotions at all times. But once the augmentations, training, and conditioning were taken away they were still baseline humans. And all humans were capable of unpredictable actions when placed under unknown variables. It was simple human nature to feel emotion, and Leo's emotionless wall had slowly begun to crack as the Battle of Reach passed.
The sight that was responsible for the sudden and uncontrolled rage felt by the Spartan was tragic. A middle aged woman lay in the mud curled up into a ball, blood flowing from a large wound on her back. Clutched between her arms in a protective manner was small child, a boy no more than four or five. Both were equally unmoving.
Leo applied even more pressure on the Insurrectionist's skull, enough that he heard the crack of bone. The rebels writhed in even more pain, his hand attempting to strike at the Spartans helmet.
"You bastards." he said menacingly, his anger detectable to his own ears unbelievably easily. The rebel's movement stopped and his body tensed in fear. Good. "You murder and entire village even as Reach is invaded, as the world is burning all around you. You kill your own species, damn you! The Covenant is doing that well enough themselves!" Leo lifted the rebel up even higher and the mans struggles began again with a renewed sense of urgency. "I am going to enjoy this. Just this once, I am going to become the Reaper again. You bastards deserve it."
The Spartan then promptly threw the man to the ground, his hand still on the rebels head. Noble Six pushed it into the muddy earth harder and harder. He only stopped as an even louder crack was heard and the mans struggles ceased. Blood flowed from between his fingers in a flood as he kept the face covered. Slowly he pulled back his hand and stared at the crushed human face no longer staring back at him. The skull had caved into itself and the sight no longer resembled anything remotely human.
"Life was wasted on you and your kind. I intend to take it back."