Halo New galaxy Ch14 Covenant of the Hand

26th July 2554

Unfaithful system

Starforge

The giant of a Sangheili, Amon Zumabaee walked off the Phantom with four Sangheili soldiers at his back. They wore the blue regular armor utilized by the old Covenant. Amon himself wore dark grey armor. It didn't cover his whole body, like the old Covenant armor. It was marked with the white hand of the Covenant of the Hand on his chestplate.

Eighteen other Phantoms was in the hangar. A few was landing and a few taking off. They had been transporting over troops and equipment for the last three hours. A general area of three km had been secured and with more troops arriving they would be able to secure the structure much faster. Now Amon himself had decided to go on board. He knew it would take a long time to secure the whole structure even with entire Legion. Then they had to keep it secured afterwards. If it turned out to be as important as he was starting to believe they had to protect it from any attack in the future. That meant securing the station and deploying tens of thousands of men with equipment here and a fleet large enough to maintain superiority around it.

The clean white walls was further proof to Amon that this structure was not created by the Forerunners. The architecture was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He pondered how old it was. It could have been here for tens of thousands of years-even hundreds of thousands-without being discovered. It was far enough from known space to have remained undiscovered by the Covenant-had it not fallen-since there was many desolate worlds between them. If his brother Roshaka had not ordered scouting parties to explore new systems in a search for long term resources in the war they would have never come across it. It appeared the bet was paying off.

He walked out of the hangar and met up with an Officer that showed him to a minor control room. It was six meters in diameter with a dozen terminals. They definitely weren't of Forerunner design, which strengthened what he was already certain of. The light colored terminals that was active had red holographic monitors attached. Two of them was online and was being investigated by Sangheili technicians. A Kig-yar was keying a holopad and scanning one of the terminals.

"Field Marshal," the Sangheili Major actively in command said. "There has been no detection of life or any automatic defenses so far. Several small control rooms have been found by nothing resembling the main CNC of the structure."

Amon nodded slowly.

"The command center will likely be at the heart of the installation," he mused aloud. "Have you decrypted the system?"

"No Field Marshal. The technicians will need time."

"I want to know the purpose of this structure as soon as possible," Amon iterated.

With an uncountable number what appeared to be hangars, its pure size and that it appeared to draw power from the local star left few options available. The sooner they could unlock the terminals, the sooner they could start utilizing its power.

The Major responded to a hail through his comm.

"Understood," he said and turned to Amon. "The Huragok is in the hangar now."

"Excellent." Amon clapped his hands together behind his back. "It won't take them long to decipher the alien system. I want them escorted here immediately."

The Major nodded obediently.

Amon stepped back into the corridor and looked down towards the hangar. Escorted by a Kig-yar the Huragok floated into the corridor and towards the small control room. He knew it wouldn't take long for the floating bags to put the structure under his control. He presumed they did, however, needed to locate the main command center to gain full control, but at least now he would gain an understanding of the structures purpose and gain control of the systems linked to the control room's terminals.

A Kig-yar Major led a Lance of Unggoy passed him and his guards.

As the Huragok floated into the control room the Major came out to Amon.

"Field Marshal, excuse me," he said. "A Zealot five levels above has reported that he has lost contact with two Lances under his command."

"Lost contact?" Amon said with a frown.

"Yes Field Marshal. Unggoy under Kig-yar leadership. He sent a Lance of Sangheili to investigate, but they are not answering either now."

Amon raised his head and looked up at the white ceiling.

"I want all forces to halt until more troops are on board," Amon ordered. "Send a message to my fleet to start docking in docks under our control. It will increase the speed of our troop deployment." No unnecessary risks. We move in force.

"Immediately Field Marshal."

In truth it didn't take long for the Huragok to gain access to the computer system. They reconfigured it to give the technicians easier access. Unfortunately the terminals didn't contain much information. They were simply local terminals controlling the hangars and nothing more.

Four the coming four hours Amon brought a mass of troops and equipment on board. They began expanding their control zone and created fortified checkpoints in corridors and junctions. Another eight Lances of men disappeared during that time, the majority of them in the same sector as before. To the great Field Marshal it seemed that someone or something did not want them to go deeper in that direction. Stubborn as he was he sent Platoon sized units to search and eliminate any threats.

A holographic map table had been brought in and set up for Amon and his officer's use. While overlooking it his mind drifted to the military campaign that was set into motion in a few hours. The Covenant of the Hand had organized their fleets into larger battlegroups and now they were poised to strike with lightning speed at colonies belonging to the Sword of Sanghelios. They would even engage Arbiter Vadam's fleet over Sanghelios. The idea wasn't too conquer any territory, just to overwhelm and knock out one of their main opponents. The battlegroups would strike quick and withdraw before a response could be mustered.

Roshaka was molding the Hand into a position where they could fight and win a prolonged conflict. The current Civil War that had shattered the Separatists was looking like it had the potential to become a long and drawn-out war. If they could push the Sword of Sanghelios off their feet they could prevent them to gaining the upper hand back on the Sangheili homeworld and ensure that the fighting continues in a stalemate.

Amon didn't know about the treaty signed between the Sword of Sanghelios and the Citadel Council. With Council support soon to head to Sanghelios to assist Vadam's ground forces in putting the Sangheili homeworld under his grasp. If it appeared to have a profitable future it was possible for continued military support, more troops and supplies. Since the Council had put their cards on the table and bet on one specific faction they had to ensure that they didn't perish.