Chapter 2: A Weary Meeting

Lieutenant Noble Six Spartan-B312, 6'9, Male

Second Lieutenant Dominic-H209, Male, 6'11

Sangheili Ultra Aila'Taromee- Female, 7'5

Date: August 30th, 2552

Time: 19:47pm-Present

Aila POV:

Aila and her Sangheili comrades were on board phantoms and dropships ready to return to their cruisers after a long and hard-fought victory. Their recent victory involved capturing the Shipyard that the Pillar of Autumn had taken off in, one ship that would surely be crushed like the heretics they were. One single ship couldn't break through the line that encircled Reach, or could it?... She brushed that thought aside in sheer doubt, their holy navy was bar none to perfection and this victory would bring honour and respect to herself and the soldiers who fought with her. Being a female in a male-dominated role was tasking at the least, and at most, it was a nightmare. She was a warrior growing up in a Sangheili keep, as being raised to the stereotypical role of a female in Sangheili society didn't suit Aila.

Instead, she opted to train and hone her skills in combat, turning down many potential suitors because they wanted a "female to welcome them after a battle, a woman to serenade them to sleep and to feed their bellies when they are hungry from a day's work." The only thing they get in the belly is a hard gut punch and an insult while they writhe on the floor, Aila acts more male than some of the males on her ship. Striving for success and victory was Aila's goal, not finding a man or being the centre of the spotlight, she just wanted praise and acceptance for the work she put in for her species and the Covenant. If she wanted a husband or even a mate, she wanted one that treat her like a servant or some plaything that was expected to fulfil their every want and desire. Aila wanted a partner who saw her as an equal, one to spar with and to share each other with fairness. Though she doubted that she'd ever find a male like that, all of them were too glorified in talking about themselves or ordering their mates to do their bidding; how pretentious. Finding a male that wasn't self-absorbed about their military career was almost impossible, if not impossible during this time of war. Being a rebellious child and going into the military didn't spark much interest from the males around her besides the odd one or two, they didn't like the idea of having a warrior wife.

All of a sudden she was broken out of her daydream-like state, her thoughts and mind ramblings along with her trance washed away with the sudden evasive manoeuvre the phantom needed to take. One of the few remaining UNSC stationary Anti-Air missile defence systems launched an Archer missile towards them in an act of final defiance during the fall of reach, and unluckily for them, it was a narrow miss. The commander, a Sangheili gold-armoured General was shouting orders at the pilots of the phantom to get them back to the cruiser. Aila would have recommended resuming ground operations, to flush out any more survivors and their small fortifications, the last bastions of humanity on reach striking back at the covenant. She dared not to open her jaws, cause she knew they would be shut the second she suggested any sort of plan to the General, as Daro Vil'Nulukee wasn't the sort of commander to be open to suggestions. Silence reaped on that phantom, before one of Aila's field officers, a red-coloured elite name Heru'Davakmee spoke to her in a hushed tone. Two of the Zealots had peered in her direction, one was Davo'Lakamee, a distinguished and respected Zealot who had been decorated due to prior successes in battle and another unnamed one.. She hadn't seen him before, so she wasn't sure on his name, but still he bore that condescending look (as they all do..)

"Our latest attack was a daring success commander, the hierarchs would be proud. You've done well for the Great Journey despite being a female in the ranks, I have come to respect and may I say, revere your skill in combat.. Most thought a female would never join or get this far in our ranks, but I applaud you for this." Heru was one of the few Sangheili that Aila could speak with, without being discriminated against, harassed or just plain ignored. She was assigned as one of his superiors, and despite their rocky start and lack of confidence in each other, their admiration grew. Heru spoke to her with his usual positive voice, this soothed the fear she held for the general, lightening her mood slightly.

"Thank you, Heru, you're a good officer too. I'm proud to be paired with someone of your tactical prowess. Gods know that some of our lances need some of that." Aila fired back at his compliment, she tried to be quiet as well as to not speak out of line. But she feels the General heard the last part of her comment despite his head being turned, his mandibles flared up after her remark. Best not to speak ill of other soldiers or a commander's battle strategies.

Aila wasn't all wrong, as Daro was known for being reckless in his military career. He was ruthless and efficient sure, but the lives lost at the cost of gaining territory were excessive at some points. While he was no incompetent leader or skill-lacking tactician, Daro cared more about the task rather than the lives of his men. Not like anyone could deny his orders less it was a Zealot or higher, and even the Sangheili of that ranking couldn't complain about the results he conjured. Her thoughts yet again were interrupted by another distraction, but this time it was Heru's hand on her shoulder. She turned to see the culprit himself, who he gave what was the Sangheili version of an appreciative smile and a light nod of his head. He was a great guy and a very suitable mate; he was not cocky, arrogant or a megalomaniac like some other elites. Thoughtful of his troops and always swift in battle, it was a surprise that he was only a Major/Field officer and not of a higher rank despite being fairly new to the covenant. After their war would end and she'd retired, Heru was the type of male she could see settling down with, but those thoughts were for later as something suddenly came up.

"General, look! Down below. A small human outpost with a... Demon?! Our soldiers down there are being slaughtered by one. One demon! General, we must land and assist them, demons are a priority target. Think of the recognition we could be granted for taking down this beast." The pilot yelled out to the General in a mix of shock and anger, if this demon was cutting down their ranks it needed to be stopped no matter the cost. Even from 100m above ground, the outpost was littered with the bodies of dead grunts, elites and jackals from the Spartan's rampage. That Spartan was Noble Six during the midst of his final stand, and he was taking as many of those alien bastards as he could with him. If he died here and now, may as well go out making your mark on Reach.

Six POV:

Another one of those Alien bastards down, Six thought as he stood triumphed over a dead Sangheili Major with the barrel of his magnum smoking from the fresh bullet he just put between the split-lips eyes, another one for his team and another one for reach. He was pumped full of adrenaline, but battered and worn down from the mass graves that the Covenant would have to be digging when seeing all the bodies scattered around the outpost. Dozens of lances of Grunts, Jackals, Elites, a pair of hunters and even a wraith in the background lay waste in the wake of Six's carnage and he for sure wasn't done yet.

Too many Covenant and not enough ammo, he was down to just his magnum and standard issue assault rifle. His armour was stained and tainted with plasma burns and even a slice from an energy sword that an Ultra nearly cut him in half with. Six put another bullet in the head of a grunt minor before his shields broke with a loud energetic crack; 2 plasma pistol bolts hit his visor and large splintered cracks formed along his faceplate. Six's helmet visor was heavily damage; slumping to the ground he removed his battle worn helmet before picking up his rifle again. He was tired, aching and scarred, but Six was still fighting. He fired a barrage of bullets at an Ultra enclosing in on him, breaking their shields and sending them tumbling to a ground with a loud thump. Some sneaky general tried to get him from behind, but a quick elbow thrust with a rifle smashed through his shields before six put a magnum round through his head. An onslaught of plasma threw itself as his body, carving its way through his armour before dual wielding both rifle and pistol as he cut down a minor and a major.

An Ultra (Aila) charged him and knocked Six on his ass, causing his weapons to fly out of his hands. In reaction he pushed the Ultra off as it tried plunging an energy dagger into his throat, sending it backwards and losing their stance. Another zealot got the same treatment the Ultra did, but with a sharp left hook and breaking its shields and dazing the damn thing. The ultra returned and tried holding him down, receiving another hit and this time with his elbow as it cracked their shields. Six barely had time to look up to see the Zealot raising an energy dagger and plunging it into his chest. No sound, no scream or guttural raw, just a mean headbutt to the zealot who dealt him the final blow as the life faded from Six's eyes and the cold yet almost soothing feeling of death's release washed over him and carried him away.

Aila:

Her General was dead, some of her comrade zealots were dead; so many lives were lost here due to this one demon. There was no solace in knowing the demon had been slain by one of the commanding Zealots at the sight, but there was comfort in knowing Heru survived the ordeal after being shot. The demon broke his shields and he tripped over, remaining dazed, but being dazed is better than being dead right? She saw him emerge from the gathered dust of the battelfield. Aila and the remaining 3 Sangheili roared in victory and anguish, they were all that was left in this outpost besides a few grunts and jackals. They all kneeled in respect for the General, he was a good commander and a born leader, so respects must be paid for those fallen in battle. No rest for the wicked though, as the small group of grunts and pair of jackals were obliterated following an explosion. A grenade decimated their small numbers and they were all that remained..

They all looked at each other in confusion and looked around, scanning their surroundings to see where that explosion came from before seeing another figure in the distance clad in armour in a full locked sprint towards their location.
"Another demon, come on brothers and sister. For the avengement of these soldiers, we will kill him as we did this one!" The commanding zealot said in a roar of anger, the other 3 Sangheili joined in an roared a loud battle cry and turned their weapons on him. What wasn't smart was the younger Zealot to charge fourth with his energy sword, they needed the numbers and soldiers if they were to win against another demon, and Aila was afraid he'd be cut down too. She was right, as the demon effortlessly put him to the ground with his primitive firearm. One that spews fire and spits flakes of metal, so inhumane and so hard to treat wounds caused by a weapon like that. Only herself, their commander and Heru remained.

Heru had been blinded by his rage, so while Aila was taking cover behind a small concrete block and firing barrages of plasma bolts, Heru flanked around the side and tried taking him down. For a second, she'd thought the risk paid off as Heru struck a hard blow to the side of the Demon's head and seemed to daze him temporarily. But, that victory was short lived as the demon recovered quickly and but a blast of his gun into Heru's body. Luckily his shield's took the brunt of the force, but then the demon tackled him to the ground as they traded blows. Aila tried picking her shots carefully as to not hit her own teammate, but most of her bolts were simply absorbed by the demon's own shields. Then the moment of shock hit as the demon began smashing its weapon into Heru's head with ferocious force, deafening cracks and crunches were heard as the demon seemingly caved the Major's skull in. Aila choked on her own breath in terror and shock as her long time comrade was just brutally killed in front of her, and they weren't done yet.

The demon looked as bloodthirsty and full of rage as ever as it drew what seemed to be its blade, pointing it at her last comrade, her current commander the zealot. This seemed to be a challenge or just revenge, as he was the one who killed the demon laying before them. Her commander looked at her, with Aila returning the gaze and giving a small shake of the head.

"Don't do it, he'll kill you!" She pleaded with her commander, but Aila would doubt it'd work. There was nothing stronger than a Sangheili's pride and honour when it came to a challenge.

"If I do, I die defending my honour Aila.. Should you not defeat this demon, make sure you die with your honour intact as well."

Her commander ignited his energy sword, with the new demon and himself circling one another as Aila could only watch in horror. He charged at the demon, letting out a final battle cry and taking a wide swing, hoping he'd only need the one to kill the demon. But he was too quick and the demon's serrated blade carved into his back heel as he let out a pained yelp after the blade ripped through his tendons, blood pouring onto the ground. He ignited his energy blade and tried to swipe at him after collapsing to one knee, but the demon caught his wrist and drove its own blade into his throat.

Aila was all that was left and she was trembling, a demon that cut through the remaining remnants of her team was standing before her and she was terrified.

Dominic POV:

All of them were dead except for one, he wiped the purple blood from his knife and pointed it at Aila, slowly nodding his head. Dom stared at Aila with nothing but hate, but noticed something he hadn't seen in Sangheili before this one- fear?.. He could see that this elite's hands were lightly shaking, and their body was twitching as if their legs were about to give out from under them. Did he really put the fright of their life into them? No matter regardless, they'd join the rest of the dead covies around here for their crusade against his kind.

Dominic paced slowly towards Aila, but they seemingly snapped out of their fearful phase and raised their plasma rifle to him, firing a few barrages of plasma towards him, He didn't care and didn't bother dodging, some hit and most missed due to those trembling hands that Sangheili had. His shields flared up and were about to crack before the Elite's weapon overheated and seemed to have run out of its juice. He suddenly lunged at Aila, using his body weight against the Sangheili and tackled her to the ground with the both of them making a short grunting sound as Dom hit her and she hit the ground. Dominic raised the knife above his head and brought it down, but it was stopped by those same trembling hands as they gripped tightly around his wrist. The Ultra struggled against his angered state, the blade coming ever closer to the opened joint at their neck so Aila rolled him to the side and kicked him away. That kick sure had some punch to it, as that was enough force to knock down Dominic's shields, but he scrambled over to the elite who was picking themself back up and shoulder rammed them into a concrete roadblock. Dominic got a hard punch to his gut, sucking the air from his lungs as Aila ignited an energy dagger and slashed diagonally at his chest piece. Luckily for Dom, that didn't pierce through the whole set of armour or his undersuit thank god. The Ultra leaped ontop of Dom and slammed the energy dagger down to what was supposed to be his face if he didn't move it to the side.

Dominic reached up at the Ultra's throat to get a grip on it as he was pinned to the ground, he gave a short flurry of jabs to the faceplate before a sharp headbutt. He turned the tide on his attacker before he heard an almost feminine like groan? Was- this Elite a female?... No matter that right now, he flipped her to the side and this time he pinned Aila to the ground and gave her a hard punch to the side of their face as he knocked her out cold.

He sighed and laid back, picking up his dropped knife and leaning forward once again. 'For reach', Dominic thought as he was about to jam that knife into the Sangheili's throat, but something held his hands from performing such an action. He sat in this position for a minute with a knife that could be dropped with full force into their jugular before groaning and standing up. Looks like he'd have a prisoner, a prisoner on a... Dying world. Dominic looked around him, the darkened clouds of smog and plasma, the warn torn battlefields and scorched plains. There was some underground outposts and bases that could still be intact, the nearest one being maybe a kilometre or two away. So, Dom looked down at the unconscious and presumably female Sangheili and hoisted her sideways over his back. She or he would be had questions to be asked and answers to give less they be tortured until they perished. Dominic got his bearings and walked off into the distance with what assumed was the direction of the outpost, disappearing into the smoke and clouds of dust surrounding the destroyed base.

(Small notes from Visari: Hey viewers, sorry for taking literal months to update from the first chapter but now we're back kind of. Look, look I see a lot of potential stories go to waste on here and I don't want to be one of them. I'll update this more often, I just lost my touch and interest in writing as I focused on others things in life. But I will try write more as I know some people, myself included, don't like seeing unfinished stories.)