Isabella used the cover of the tall grass to move, a GPS notification told her she was where she needed to be but it was only a formality. She reached into the trunk of the tree and retrieved a portable computer, wrapped and insulated in some fabric. She synced all the recordings and data she had collected, from a storage unit in her helmet, with the computer and hit the 'send' button on the screen. The system seemed to hang as it encrypted the files and struggled to find a connection, it failed to find one and displayed a connection error on the screen. Isabella groaned and started to think, somebody was jamming the signal in the area, probably Covenant. In what she basically called an anti-ballistic cat-suit, fighting the Covenant head on was risky, almost out of the question but it was something that would happen eventually. She needed better armour and more weapons in case things got hairy. She knew a place that could have what she needed, maybe. A Covenant Dropship engines whined over as she dug into the grass, she guessed it heading towards her destination.

"Well, I guess there is no avoiding it"

She packed up her stuff and moved towards the Lodge

The Lodge was mainly as a hotel for the rich and powerful, perched on a hill with a wonderful view of the village bellow. Isabella was aware that some top military officers visited the place from time to time but it was of no strategic importance, there was no reason for the Covenant to be here but it seemed she was wrong. She approached the Lodge from an elevated position, stopping far away from the conflict and taking a spot up a tree, she could see the residents put up a valiant fight. Rifles, energy weapons, cannons and explosions pulsed through and painted the battle. The Lodge's defensive turrets were alien in design –parts floating the air but functioning like a SPARTAN laser- and terribly effective against Covenant dropships but some ships were still able to land successfully. Jackals formed a phalanx and Ungoy followed behind, once some ways away from their craft, the phalanx was broken and the Ungoy attacked with reckless abandon, their job was to force the humans to shoot and reload. Once they did, the Kig-yar would stand to their full height and open fire, peppering barricades with plasma rounds. The screams were blood curdling.

Minutes later and the Lodge was lost and Humans held as hostages as the Covenant searched for something. An Elite arrived and after a quick inspection, he barked some orders and the human were arranged in a single line, one by one executed by two Kig-yar as the rest of the Covenant packed up. A young man broke from the line and headed for the trees, towards Isabella. The Kig-Yar bickered amongst themselves before one took the initiative and chased after the Human. He ran right under Isabella and moments later, his chaser caught up with him and savagely attacked. The young man was torn and tossed around like a rag doll until he went limp, even then Kig-yar took some jabs at him. Isabelle watched the Kig-yar walk back towards her tree, she wanted something he had, something that would help her survive. She drew both her combat knives and held them tightly until it was just below her. She jumped on the Kig-yar and planted her blades at the base of its neck, she kept stabbing until she almost severed the Kig-yar's neck. It struggled to stay alive but the alien eventually gave up. She dragged the body and placed it on the dead man's body. She also placed a knife in the dead man's hand and gave the scene some space. The Kig-yar's friend came to check what was going on, it saw the scene, let out a squawk of disdain and left after attempting some kind of investigation. After about a minute, the last drop ship left. Isabelle did a thermal scan of the area with her helmet just to be sure. She stood over her kill

"Now...how do I get you to work for me" she said to no one and a plasma torch in one hand.

"Well, it is definitely not pretty" hours later she strapped in the last piece of salvaged armour and stood. She had cut and strapped on pieces of the Kig-yar's armour. It took some time but she had finally mastered it and with a tap, the energy shield came alive. She repeated it a couple of times. "Now time to go scramble that jammer"

The Grunt didn't see her approach from behind, the alien barely had time to be startled before she snapped its neck and dragged the body under the bush. The last of the lookouts was down and she was free to observe to Covenant group below. The platform below her was the perfect over look for the village below. A Huragok worked fervently on what looked like a slab of metal, the more the Huragok interacted with the slab, the more it lit up and changed shape. Eventually it displayed an augmented map of the area. There were two Elites; one looked like an Elite zealot and the other a minor. Of the two, the minor was bigger and looked more in command, his armour a resplendent gold, engraved skulls of fallen enemies on his waist and strips of cloth hung from his waist with tiny blades at the end of each strip. The minor looked at the display as the Zealot spoke in urgent barks. Isabella watched the interaction astonished, had the Covenant chain of command somehow changed? it was wasn't her problem now, what was her problem was the pylon of to the side of them, it was the thing jamming her broadcast to the UNSC.

it took some time but the golden minor seemed to be leaving, he and the zealot had argued for a while but it seemed there was no winning the argument, the minor barked some orders and walked to the edge of the cliff, he said on last thing and nodded, the zealot gestured in kind. The minor jumped of the cliff and seconds emerged riding on top of a banshee, heading towards a waiting ship.

"Now what to do with these guys" Isabella pondered for minutes, formulating a plan that she was almost sure wouldn't survive execution. Most of the grunts were by the pylon, jackals on the opposite end of the platform scouting and chattering. A grunt started calling out for the others she had killed, it was only a matter of time before the others would notice, she had to act. With some SPARTAN strength she leapt from her elevated hideout and over the Grunt calling out. With a roll she was in her stride and headed for the Zealot. By now the Jackal and grunts were sounding the alarm, she lobbed a grenade at the jackal cluster to keep them busy. The Zealot was almost turned to face her when she delivered a strategic kick to the back of his knee, forcing the zealot to take a knee, even with his energy shields on, she climbed up his back and delivered two strikes to the his neck with her combat knife, they pinged off his shields but the second strike depleted them. Isabella delivered the third fatal strike but the Zealot grabbed her hand and flipped her over his shoulder. Her heels slammed into the console and the Huragok floated away in panic. The Zealot got to his feet and tried to step on her but she rolled away, drew her pistol and started firing, trying to land head shots, the zealot weaved in and out as an energy sword crackled and screeched to life. Isabella had to think fast, the zealot made a stabbing lunge, she quickly parried with her arm shield, planted her pistol under the surprised Zealot's jaw and fired three rounds.

She primed the plasma grenade and took cover behind the alien console, seconds later and with an explosion of orange and blue the pylon was down. She quickly checked her tablet and there was a signal. She breathed a sigh of relief and worked her way to the front of the console, she started the encryption package and waited. "Access Denied" flashed on the screen and she swore. A command line console popped up

"Hi" the popup displayed

"Who is this?" Isabella replied a bit apprehensive

"Someone that needs your help"

"With what exactly?"

"The town below you. I need you to help me save the people down there" she looked at the town below and it took her back to a time she had tried so hard not to think about. She tried to steel herself but it was hard to snap back to reality, she could still hear Alistair wailing.

"I'm not sure I'm the woman for the job"

"Whatever problem you have with the freedom fighters means nothing, there are just people down there and they need our help"

"You mean, Insurrectionists"

"Call it what you must"

"What's in this for me?"

"on my honour, you get to send your message" Isabella looked to the town again

"Who is this?"

"My name is Korai"