Chapter 27: Raku

The Venerated Lance cruised through slipspace alongside the rest of the Fleet of the Perilous Dawn. Anxiety about the coming battle filled Raku's veins. The only way they would even have a chance at succeeding was if Raku's memory served him well, and that the Covenant hadn't increased their defences since the last time he was there. He had to hide his nervousness from the others, to show that he was strong.

An assortment of Sangheili were joining Raku's team for the assault, all of them had different ranks and specialisations. They'd split up the SpecOps soldiers between the teams to give each group more of a fighting chance. 'Tantor had joined the team on the Font of Might, so the only other person Raku knew on his team was 'Rylanee, who had only just now begun referring to himself as 'Rylan. As they weren't a part of the Covenant military anymore, they had all begun to drop the suffixes at the ends of their names; except for 'Veraskee, who seemed to prefer keeping the suffix.

"Prepare to exit slipstream space," Nehr Tok said over the ship's intercom. "In 3… 2… 1…"

The stars began to fade in around them as they exited slipspace. Raku could see the shipyard in the distance, and on the ship's sensors, as well as the fleet guarding it. Just like Raku had remembered, three Ket-pattern battlecruisers surrounded the station.

"Remember," Raku said to the rest of the fleet. "The Prophet of Doom and Sacred Provenance are to distract the cruisers while everyone else lands the teams. We are here to secure each corvette and get out before reinforcements arrive."

The Venerated Lance and other smaller ships broke away from the carrier and the larger battlecruiser. The Prophet of Doom soon launched a swarm of fighters as the Covenant cruisers launched theirs, and they already began trading shots with pulse lasers and torpedoes. The shipyard also launched its own swarm of fighters, but most of them were only Banshees. They would be easy pickings for the Prophet of Doom's Seraphs.

"To the ship breachers," 'Rylan said to the warriors who were eager to fight.

Raku, 'Rylan, and the others boarded the Venerated Lance's ship breachers, and waited with much anticipation to be launched. Raku couldn't see outside of the ship breacher, but he imagined the battle in his head as it happened. As the swarms of fighters blew each other out of the sky, and as the capital ships launched torpedoes at each other from their extreme distances.

The ship breacher sealed, and Raku felt it shudder as it was launched from the Venerated Lance and toward the shipyard. The last time Raku had done something like this was when he and Sen infiltrated a human ship without being seen. He was used to stealth missions, and this was anything but a stealth mission.

Everyone in the ship breacher was lurched forward as it impacted the station, and suddenly everyone was hanging from the ceiling of the tube as it adjusted to the station's artificial gravity.

"Team one has made contact," 'Tantor said over comms.

"Team two is ready," came the voice of another of the team leaders.

"Team three has touched down," Raku said just before the breacher opened, and everyone slid out.

They were immediately thrown into the line of fire as Jiralhanae were waiting at both ends of the hall. Raku fired at the Jiralhanae on one side as a Sangheili Minor fell, and 'Rylan engaged the enemies on the other side. Once everyone had left the breacher, they made short work of the Jiralhanae guards. As they took down the guards, the final two teams made contact with the station.

"The Jiralhanae will catch onto our plan quickly," 'Rylan said once the hall was clear. "They'll lock the corvettes down."

"I'll head for the control hub," Raku said. "You get ready to secure the corvette."

"Can you take the Jiralhanae on your own?" 'Rylan asked.

"Of course," Raku nodded.

"Then good luck, and good hunting."

Raku ran down the hall, opposite the direction of the docked corvette as 'Rylan and the others made their way to it. As soon as Raku turned a corner he was faced with a squad of three Jiralhanae wearing power armour, but Raku cut all of them down with his sword before they could get a single shot off on him.

Through the screens in the walls and the ceilings Raku could see the battle between the ships, and it was just as he pictured it. All of the fighters were together in a single swarm, blowing each other apart with plasma cannons and fuel rods. From there he couldn't tell which ones were his, and which ones were the Covenant's. Past them in the distance he watched as the cruisers traded shots.

Raku patched himself into the fleet's channel to hear what the Shipmasters were saying to each other. He turned away from the battle and continued his mission. He ran into another group of Jiralhanae leading a few Unggoy as they were on their way to intercept the boarding teams. He grabbed his plasma rifle in his left hand, and opened fire on the Unggoy as they shot at him with their plasma pistols.

The Jiralhanae opened fire with their spike rifles, which didn't do much other than bounce off his shields. Raku melted one Unggoy, and he rushed toward a Jiralhanae and cut its legs out from under it. Another Jiralhanae took advantage of the close quarters, and slammed its fists into Raku's sides, sending him across the room.

The Jiralhanae leapt after him, and found itself impaled on Raku's sword just before it could bring its hands down on him again. Raku tossed the Jiralhanae aside, and finished off the Unggoy with his rifle before his shields could break. He was now realising that he could take a stealthier approach now that he was away from his team. Raku cloaked, and continued through the station.

"It's as I feared, we cannot get through the docking tube," 'Rylan informed him.

"I'm close to the control room," Raku said. "It'll be just a moment."

Other teams began to report that they were locked out of their corvettes as well, and Raku assured each one that they wouldn't be for long. On team five was a Blademaster, who had decided to cut through the door with his energy sword. Raku warned him not to, but he did anyway.

A depressurisation alert sounded throughout the whole station, and Raku watched as the docking tube to the fifth corvette exploded. The depressurisation killed the entirety of team five because of one foolish warrior's mistake.

"Cruisers are on an approach vector," 'Veraskee said over the fleet's channel.

"Let them come," said 'Kalrah. "My plasma lances will obliterate them."

Raku looked up at the view of the battle outside and watched as both of the Prophet of Doom's plasma lances fired. Blinding beams of light cut through the open space, and melted through the shields of two of the cruisers. Though in order to fire the plasma lances, the Prophet of Doom needed to lower its shields, which left it vulnerable. A plasma torpedo slipped through the lowered portion of the shield, and vaporised a section of the carrier's hull.

"Prophet of Doom!" 'Veraskee shouted. "Damage report!"

"Minor structural damage," 'Kalrah replied. "Dorsal plasma lance is offline."

"Be more careful of those approaching torpedoes, the Jiralhanae will not offer us respite."

"I will keep that in mind."

A direct hit from a plasma torpedo was deadly for most smaller ships, but due to the Prophet of Doom's size it was able to mostly shrug the blast off. And even despite the damage, two of the Jiralhanae cruisers had been destroyed. The Sacred Provenance launched a volley of torpedoes at the final cruiser as it engaged the fighter swarm with its pulse lasers. Each torpedo exploded on the ventral side of the cruiser, and tore it apart.

"That's all of them!" 'Kalrah shouted triumphantly.

"Standby. Keep watch for Covenant reinforcements," 'Veraskee replied in a calmer manner.

Raku reached one of the doors to the station's control room, and he cut the power to the door's locking mechanism. Every Jiralhanae waiting inside opened fire as the door slid open, hoping to hit whatever attackers there were before they could enter, but Raku was gone. He opened another one of the doors, and then another. The Jiralhanae inside went from confused to panicked.

Raku slipped through the first door and ignited his blades, which he stabbed through the back of one Jiralhanae. He was fired on by the others, but he deactivated his blades and moved quickly so the Jiralhanae would lose track of him. He ignited his blades again and cut the head off another Jiralhanae, then he severed another one in half by the waist.

The last Jiralhanae blasted Raku with its spike rifle and was able to keep sight of him even after he deactivated his blades. He ignited them again when he realised the beast wouldn't lose sight of him, and he rushed to it. Just as Raku felt his shields break, and he felt a spike pierce the armour on his torso, he slammed his blades into the Jiralhanae's face, cutting through its throat and its brain. When the spike in his chest cooled down, he pulled it out and tossed it on the floor.

"Warriors," Raku addressed each of the boarding teams. "Take heed, the Jiralhanae may have placed explosives in the docking tubes. I am going to release the lockdown, take cover where you can and do not damage any of the blast doors."

He quickly found the lockdown controls, and lifted the lockdown on each of the corvettes. He was informed by team two that there were proximity mines placed on the other sides of the doors, but with the warning they were able to disable them before they could go off. Raku stared at the lockdown controls before slicing them apart with his blades, he cut every console in the control room apart to prevent the Jiralhanae from taking control of them again.

"High velocity stream identified!" 'Veraskee said over the fleet channel.

Raku had hoped there would be more time before Covenant reinforcements showed up, but they still had plenty of time to secure the corvettes. The only issue now was that they would only secure four of the five they had originally planned on getting. Raku decided he would change that.

He made his way to the sixth docking tube. The way to it was empty, as the Jiralhanae had realised that they were only after five of them, but Raku stayed cloaked just in case. As he made his way across the tube he heard that the Covenant reinforcements had arrived, and that the composition of their fleet was concerning.

"By the Gods!" 'Veraskee exclaimed, the concern in his voice was unsettling. "Supercruiser! Kewu-pattern!"

Raku froze as he made it to the end of the docking tube. He had never seen a Kewu-pattern ship in person, but he'd heard about them. Ships of that class were purposely built with the job of destroying other Covenant warships in mind. Among the reinforcements was also a Varric-pattern heavy cruiser, and two more Ket-pattern battlecruisers.

"Raku 'Sol to the fleet," Raku contacted them. "You must recall your fighters and fall back!"

"We can take them!" 'Kalrah shouted.

"No we cannot! We must retreat now!" 'Veraskee shouted back.

Shipmaster 'Kaprakee joined the channel to say something, but his words were immediately cut off when the Font of Might was destroyed in an instant. Another corvette was gutted by the Kewu-pattern's flensing beam.

"Recall your fighters now!" Raku shouted.

Thankfully there weren't any Jiralhanae around to hear him. They were stupid enough to leave the corvette unguarded when they realised Raku's forces were after the other docked corvettes. And this is who the Prophets betrayed us for, the things that they want to replace us.

"Understood," 'Kalrah finally obliged. Raku could hear the disappointment in the Shipmaster's voice, but he knew that the Shipmaster knew they had to leave after watching the corvettes get torn apart.

"This is team one, our corvette is secure," 'Tantor said over the boarding teams' channel.

"Pull away from the station, and make the jump to our coordinates," Raku said.

Raku made his way through the corvette's corridors until he finally made it to the ship's control room. He sat down in the command seat and brought up the navigation station's controls. He watched the first corvette jump into slipspace, then the second, and then the third. The fourth corvette still hadn't moved yet.

"This is team four, we're facing stiff resistance from the Jiralhanae forces!" said the leader of the fourth team.

Raku looked up and watched as the supercruiser flew past the station. Every other ship in the Fleet of the Perilous Dawn had made the jump away, everyone left on the station was all that they had left there. The supercruiser manoeuvred around the docked corvettes while the heavy cruiser positioned itself above the station.

"Team four you must push fast!" Raku shouted as he disengaged the docking clamps on his corvette.

"We're doing the best we can! We're down several warriors," team four's leader shouted back. They had no idea how much danger they were currently in.

"If you cannot push past them, then retreat back into the station," Raku said. "Make your way to the sixth docking bay quickly."

Team four's leader didn't even have time to respond before the supercruiser's flensing lance severed the corvette clean in half, killing the boarding team and all of the Jiralhanae still aboard. The heavy cruiser above the station fired all sixteen of its torpedo silos, each torpedo tracking straight toward the station. They were going to destroy the entire thing rather than let Raku and the Sangheili get their hands on them.

Raku frantically typed in the jump coordinates and diverted all of the ship's power to its slipspace drive as he watched the torpedoes bearing down on him. There was no time to move the ship to a safe jump location, and so he pulled an entire section of the station with him when he entered slipspace.

Raku let out a breath of relief once he was safely away, but the fact that two entire boarding teams were lost pained him. They had also lost two of their own heavy corvettes, which significantly weakened their fleet despite the small size of the ships. When they didn't have a lot of ships in their fleet, any loss was too great.

The journey back to their rendezvous point would be a few hours, so Raku left the control room to make sure he really was alone on the ship. He kept a plasma rifle in one hand, and the hilt of his sword in the other in anticipation for something to attack him. He wanted to deal with everything before he made it back to the fleet, so nobody could give away their location.

He searched down every corridor, through every deck. When he finished searching the front half of the ship, he found that it was empty. He stopped again by the control room as he made his way to the ship's stern, and he made sure there were no tracking devices in the ship's systems. The fact that there was nothing was almost more concerning than if there was something.

Raku began to feel what he could only describe as boredom, which was something that he had never felt before. Boredom is a feeling for Jiralhanae, he always told himself, and I am better than them. For the first time since Raku could remember, he was truly alone. He'd always had Sen at his side in the past.

The search for tracking devices turned up empty, so Raku continued his search through the ship's stern. There were a surprising amount of areas inside the ship for the small size of the Makar-pattern corvette, so the search took him a while. His last stop was in the engine room, where the ship's pinch fusion reactor sat.

The reactor was bright, it would have blinded Raku if his helmet couldn't filter out most of the light. Even then, he still put a hand up to shield his eyes. The reactor's hum drowned out the sound of anything else, so if there was something there he wouldn't be able to hear it.

Raku searched up and down the engine room, and there was no sign of anything until he made it back to the door. Until that point, he hadn't thought to look up, and he cursed at himself for not doing it earlier. Hanging from the ceiling were fifteen Yanme'e, each one clutching a plasma pistol in its hand. They were huddled up as if they were sleeping, and they twitched every few seconds as if they were experiencing a bad dream. Raku couldn't tell whether or not they were really asleep, but he didn't take the chance.

He slowly drew his plasma rifle, and very slowly stepped toward the door. His shields wouldn't last long against sustained fire from their pistols, so he did his best not to alert them. As soon as he reached the door and it slid open, the Yanme'e awoke. Raku was met with a barrage of plasma as he rushed out of the engine room while the giant insects chased him. He fired blindly behind him as he ran, managing to take one of the Yanme'e out.

Raku's shields failed against the Yanme'es' fire, and he felt the heat of the plasma burning his armour away. He managed to make it past a blast door and shut it, tearing another Yanme'e in half as it closed. His shields began to recharge as he took the moment to catch his breath. Those Yanme'e were either going to find a way around, or find some way to cripple the ship before Raku could even make use of it. Either way, they had to be dealt with.

He rushed back through the ship's corridors, toward the control room, only to find that he was locked out. They can't have worked that quickly, he thought. He didn't have time to waste, so he ignited his blades and began to cut the door open. Before he made any progress he felt a weight slam into his side, and launch him down the hall. When he got back onto his feet, there was nothing there, at least nothing that he could see.

"I seem to have severely underestimated you, Jiralhanae," Raku said.

He activated his helmet's heat vision, and he saw the heat signature of a massive Jiralhanae standing before him. It wore a full suit of powered armour with a very angular helmet covering its head. It reached for the shotgun on its hip, but Raku launched himself at it and stabbed it through the chest, killing it instantly.

Four more Jiralhanae appeared, two on each end of the hall. Each was armed with a spike rifle, and they all opened fire on Raku as soon as he attempted to cut into the control room once more. Raku's shields held long enough for him to place an explosive on the door and cloak himself, though he soon found out that the Jiralhanae's headgear allowed them to see his heat signature as well.

He rushed down one side of the hall just as his shields broke, and he sank his blades into one of the Jiralhanae. The brute next to it jammed its spike rifle's dual bayonets into Raku's side, and Raku cut its arms off before he let the pain stop him. He pulled the spike rifle's blades free and tossed it aside, causing immense pain. But Raku had a job to do, he wasn't going to let the pain deter him until he finished that job.

The explosive on the door detonated, blowing a hole through it that was large enough to fit through. The other two Jiralhanae sprinted toward him from the other side of the corridor, and opened fire on Raku's position to keep him pinned. Raku looked at the bloody spike rifle on the floor and debated picking it up and using it.

It was against the Sangheili's code of honour to use an enemy's weapon against them, but when the Prophets had taken everything else away from the Sangheili, would going against that code of honour really be that bad? He reached for the spike rifle, but he stopped himself. No. If our honour is all we have left, then I will not leave it behind.

He left his cover, wielding his sword in one hand and his plasma rifle in the other. He sprinted back at the two Jiralhanae, and all three of them fired. Raku felt his shields get torn away once more as he melted through the armour of one brute, and he slid along the floor as he cut the legs out from under the other. Four spikes slammed into Raku's back, and he fell onto the floor. He turned on his side and used the last of his plasma rifle's battery to kill the last Jiralhanae. The lumbering beast fell into a pool of its own melted flesh.

Raku used whatever strength he still had to push himself back onto his feet, and he made it inside the control room. He sealed the corridor behind him, and opened every other door on the ship, including the airlocks. He vented the entire ship, and watched as the remaining Yanme'e flew into the blackness of slipspace, there were even a few more Jiralhanae that he hadn't fought, though he was thankful he hadn't.

Minutes after venting the ship, it exited slipspace. There he saw the other three corvettes that had made it, alongside the Prophet of Doom, Sacred Provenance, and Venerated Lance. They were all that remained of the Fleet of the Perilous Dawn, but Raku hoped they wouldn't be for long. He knew more Sangheili would answer his call eventually.

Raku repressurised the corvette, and called for medical attention. Though they didn't have as many stealth corvettes as they had hoped for, they were now ready to retake the Supreme Crusader, and to begin their journey to find the Assembly.