Shield World Requiem
February 14, 2558
The single T-56 Lich slithered through the night sky and cast its light on the smoldering wreckage. Surrounding it was a company of phantom dropships and banshee fighters. Their gravity lifts activated and they dropped several personnel on the ground, who in turn spread out to secure the area.
Several large figures were already around the rubble patrolling in slow steps. The big Promethean Knights were even taller than the sangheili working alongside them and their rather erratic behavior reflected their robotic nature. They also seemed to make spasmodic movements and sounds that felt as if they were some sort of insect. As the group of sangheili approached, two of the knights faced one another and one of them thrust its face in front of the other, a "mask" parting in two to reveal a glowing skull underneath. The other one stood still, unfazed by the gesture.
The blue armored elite descended from the lich, accompanied by a pair of zealots and strode to the crash site. When he was in view of the cockpit, he waved his arm, a signal to the lich, in turn revved its engines and began flying away from their position.
Self-proclaimed Supreme Commander Jul 'Mdama made no effort in trying to socialize with the groups of robotic knights surrounding his former camp. They were machines and had no sense of personality or motivation. If he needed their assistance, they along with their smaller crawler and watcher cousins would spawn on the field. He had no direct command over them, if they wanted to spawn at an area, they would come and go as they pleased.
"Commander," A storm sangheili held his rifle at attention when 'Mdama approached, "Previous logs by the outpost's commander seem to be that the shields were deactivated before the humans attacked."
After the UNSC Infinity crash landed on Requiem, allowing his fleet to enter; he had his sizeable army set up outposts and fortresses to supplement his fleet inside the world. The force flourished and his name was now being cited as a major player in the post-war era.
All of this had started because of his hatred for humans.
Unlike most other sangheili he served alongside in the Covenant, he did not hate humans because they were heretics. He hated them because if they defeated the Covenant, which they did (of course not alone) they would expand uncontrollably like an invasive species. The only thing worse than them was the parasitic Flood.
Still, the presence of the human named Glassman gave him more insight. He had begged for his life when he unexpectedly appeared right into their territory and Jul agreed on the bargaining chip that he'd work with them as a slave in hopes he could be able to walk away from this.
He had agreed, but he never said anything about walking away in one piece.
There was another part of humans he hated in particular. Spartans.
Back in the days of the Covenant, they were called Demons, partially believed to be reincarnated soldiers previously killed and coming back to haunt their killers. They were so rare back then. Now that they had bigger ships outfitted with reverse-engineered Covenant technology and even normal humans were becoming these Spartans.
Were they just as lethal as the other ones? Sometimes, but also sometimes not.
Nonetheless this was an act of Spartans doing. He would count on his troops to put up a fight against normal humans and when they were under attack, it would take a lot longer to get destroyed, enough to send out a signal for reinforcements. Yet here they were without probable cause of annihilation.
"Any idea who the attackers were?" 'Mdama asked.
"No Commander," The storm replied, "We've attempted retrieval of the logs and security feeds, but it is as if everything just completely vanished."
"This is the work of demons," Jul's voice dripped with malice and contempt, "Get ahold of our other sources and I want a list of names. Whoever they are; I want to be the one to put a sword through their hearts."
Jul didn't get angry at many things, but hearing this loss right before losing a pair of cruisers in an enormous engagement that almost destroyed one of his bigger bases continued to irritate and fuel his hatred for humans.
"Commander, you need to see this."
'Mdama hurried over with his bodyguards, gathering around the storm.
The elite was holding a small device that looked almost microscopic in his hand. Obviously it was made for humans due to its tiny size but it immediately powered up when it was touched.
Jul didn't know much about human culture, but he knew this was some sort of communication device.
The small screen flickered for a moment before it revealed an image.
An image that further heated his boiling blood.
Five Spartans were grouped together, each of them was holding up the severed heads of sangheili zealots.
These five were some of his best zealots, in his elite bodyguard unit. These Spartans easily defeated them and displayed it like it was some kind of prize.
Although as infuriating as it was, the sign was what really got him.
In front of them lay a banner written in English, but his armor's translator automatically made the adjustment.
"Happy Valentine's Day Jul 'Mdama! Much love from Eon!"
For the first time he set foot on Requiem, Jul 'Mdama lost his temper.
With a roar of fury, he whirled around, a plated arm striking a metal barrier into scrap. He grabbed another piece of rubble and tossed it out of his way. For some reason, in his fit, he had his energy sword in his right hand.
It came alive with a bright flash and he swiped, stabbed and slashed at whatever was in his way. He let out an anguished cry, suddenly grabbing a grunt that was a bystander and flinging it away.
The unfortunate unggoy was screaming as he landed on top of one of the knights and already panicking as the mechanical beast tried fruitlessly to shake it off. Finally it swung its own hardlight blade upwards, striking the grunt and bisecting it, ending its terror.
'Mdama continued his furious tantrum, waving his sizzling sword around as the others hastily backed off. After a minute, he had finally calmed down and observed his work. The metal wall had been scorched enough that it was no longer discernable as being the normal purple hue. Surrounding him were the other elites and his rage had even caught the attention of the knights.
"I am putting out a bounty for this Eon," Jul said, "I want them dead now! A handsome reward is in store for whoever brings them to me alive. I want to make them feel unimaginable pain. If they're dead, recover their helmets and we will send the humans a message of our own."
UNSC Infinity
"Castle didn't deserve to die like they were." Palmer spoke at the podium. The entire contingent of Spartans were in their dress blues, minus the ones already deployed were in the atrium park holding a short memorial service. Six caskets covered in the red Spartan eagle banner were laid beside the podium, with what remained of Castle.
"They deserved a heroes death, but instead, they were shot down and then massacred as if they were in a slaughterhouse. Know this, anyone who seeks to kill me or any of my Spartans should be praying to their gods now. Thanks to the efforts of Eon, we were finally able to avenge their deaths by killing those responsible, however this does not mean the end of our mission here. The elite who ordered this attack, Jul 'Mdama is still out there and one day we will put a bullet through his head and make sure our friends and families back home can feel a little safer at night. Rest in peace."
Fireteam Castle's loss was devastating to the Spartans and Eon knew it too well. A few months ago, they lost an entire team, Jaguar to brute extremists. There was no struggle or any fairness in the fight. The four of them were mercilessly killed without any casualties on the other side. Eon of course avenged their deaths, but the loss of a whole team at once seriously stung.
Now the Infinity was feeling it.
A member of the UNSC Navy Band began to play "Amazing Grace" as the caskets of Castle's remains were loaded onto a Pelican and ejected into space.
Palmer saluted as it departed, followed by all the Spartans. They remained saluting in the direction of the Spartan flag at the top of the hangar until the bagpipe had finished playing.
"Spartans," She called out, "It's back to work. Report to your handlers for your next ops. Remember, the Atrium Valentine's Day Dance is here in this park today at 2015 hours! So if you want to look good in front of your teammates, I'd suggest looking for someone to ask."
There was no reception and the two hundred or so Spartans began to disperse in different directions. The majority headed to S-Deck to begin prep for their next ops on the surface.
Lusana approached Austal and Bailey, "Now would be the time to report your misconduct to Commander Palmer."
"Now? Really?" Austal whined, "Cap, it was a mistake."
"Captain." He corrected, "I normally expect the behavior you exhibited a couple days ago from Fowler. Go report it to Palmer or I'll report it to Tyrant. Either way, we have to document any personal incidents to make sure it never happens again."
"That could get me suspended!"
"And that is going on my record!" Bailey added.
"I can report it and I won't even put in a request for a report on your perspective. You're going to have to file the paperwork,"
"Fine," They both said and turned away, heading towards Palmer.
Fowler and Pine watched the two of them go as Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"If he wasn't married, they'd make a good one." Ross quipped.
"I still don't know what Austal's beef with her is about," Fowler added, "I mean, she did save his life, shouldn't he be appreciative of that?"
"Let's not forget you gave the rookie a cold shoulder too."
"I did that to Austal when he joined us, but he proved he's worthy of staying with us and from the way she handled the pressure a couple days ago, she proved it too."
"Let the misconduct get handled by me and Palmer," Lusana turned to his other squadmates, "We will take further action if more tension happens between the two."
"Like sexual tension?"
"You had to bring that up."
"Thank you Spartan Miller," Palmer handed a tablet to one of her handlers and strode to the operations table. The command center overlooking S-Deck was rather quiet, with the loss of Castle hanging over their heads. Nevertheless, all the teams out there knew to be extra careful and their analysts were leaving every small detail to be examined and translated properly. Palmer declared that nobody else today was going home in a body bag.
The more casual conversation was flitting around Infinity. The Atrium Park Valentine's Day dance. Personnel of all branches were in the rooms, halls and lounges talking about it, who was going, who they were going to bring or asking others if they knew someone had already been asked.
The event had even reached Spartan Ops, where the Spartans began to ask one another to the dance. Many of them weren't married and it was a mixed bag of the fours that would be going.
"Spartan Austal," Palmer looked up when she was approached by the duo, "Spartan Bailey. What can I do for you?"
"We'd like to report an incident of personal misconduct," Bailey started.
"Between who?"
"Us," They answered at the same time. Palmer's face went from intrigued to a frown.
"What are You? schoolkids? You two are Spartans. This is a big playground out there and I have no time to play superintendent. What happened?"
"I pushed an unstable ghost into an elite attacking Ma-, Spartan Austal ma'am and he berated me for doing that."
"I had the elite under my control,"
"Really?" She looked over in surprise, "I wouldn't call about to be stabbed with a sword under control."
"I wouldn't call playing with a ghost that's about to be destroyed" under control" either, but you had no regard to your own self. You could have died in that!"
"I think that if I'm going to be with your team, I should be subject to the same risks you are! I'm a Spartan!"
"Spartans?" Palmer's tone turned serious again and she looked irritated already, "Are you two done bickering?"
"Yes Commander." Austal said.
"Bailey?"
"We're done Commander,"
"From what I've digested so far, you two are making a big deal out of this for nothing. Now, Bailey saved your life Austal and while I am not your true commander, I'll say it again, as long as you're on my ship, you will report to me, take my orders and follow my rules. She deserves an apology and a form of gratitude. Bailey, while he was wrongful to act in the way he did, you did needlessly risk yourself. Judging from your past service, I'm curious why?"
"That was a different Bailey," She firmly responded, "I'm a changed person."
"Perhaps you are. From this point forward, you two WILL get along. Whatever it takes. I don't care if you two have to go to the dance tonight to make it up, but I have hundreds of issues that happen a day and I shouldn't need to address petty squabbles like this. Am I understood?"
"Yes Commander,"
"Good. You both wasted my time. Get out of my sight."
So our good friend Jul 'Mdama wants Eon's head on a platter while Austal and Bailey bicker with one another. Pretty good start to the Requiem campaign...
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.