Disclaimer: Due to the length of this chapter, the battle will begin right after this one! This chapter shoots us off to it for plotpoints!

Announcement: Merry Christmas from Texas!

Cicirnius IV, CAMS

April 4th, 2526

In the rising shine of Corbulo Academy's early morning, the calming winds of the spring brought the whispers of the coming summer. Much of the weather was cloudy, foggy, and full of the aroma of the valley and the crisp shadow of the space elevator and the concrete platforms surrounding it. Dozens of Atlas mechs would patrol the grounds of the facility with the Marines, scanning the area constantly at every hour.

This was the effect of The Insurrection.

Looking into the marching orders of the waking dormitories of the academy, many of the academic systems activated at the odd hours of the morning. At the hour of Six O'clock, emergency systems would begin to flare open, and alarms would awaken the entire campus to what was causing the alert status. Many of the Marines, Security Mechs, and campus staff rushed to their stations; few knew what that alert meant. The news of what had occurred in the UNSC and the data that had been accumulated gave much extensive evacuation planning into what would happen should this threat surface.

It was why General Black dreaded what would happen should it be the case.

However, when the Marines, staff, faculty, and General Black made their way to the tether…

They would find that the bay doors were shut and the security mechs guarding it did nothing. No matter how many times the Marines attempted to open the entrance, there was no budge to the material. No matter how many override codes were given, Orlyn did not respond. And as the cadets gathered in mass, they would worry if they were able to survive.

All except 2/3rds of the class. For when the doors were blocked and the mechs were disobeying commands, all the signs pointed to one outcome:

Griffin was coming.

No later was the expectation set, through the distant alarms blaring in the city centers; a soothing song began to rumble from the fogged atmosphere. It was small in pitch, but easily noticeable in the silence. Whistles and long hums of their pitches soon reached a higher tone in the environment, causing many Marines, Staff, and Faculty to pull out their weapons and silence the cadets who freaked out. No one was held at gunpoint, but the tension was immense among the staff. Except Smith, who waved his hand low and motioned the Marines and the Instructors to lower their weapons.

At the final lowering of weapons, Smith would cover his ears and brace for the next step in the calling. Knowing Phoenix, his meanings were practical, literal, and didn't miss a beat.

Smith's assumptions were proven correct when the ear-splitting roar of a massive beast of scale and shadow flew over the rear of the academy and soared away from the closeness of the ground. Many of the cadets and instructors clutched their heads and crouched low at the sheer size and loud boom that the creature shallowed, its massive wings arching to the side as it grabbed some distance from the academy to elect for a turn-around. The harsh gust of wind and the dust cloud it made caused a few of the closer students to fall to the ground as the beast went.

To see such a colony of force flying over the forest and the academy, many were dumbfounded at the mere fact a mythological beast existed…

And coming right for them.

The moment General Black was about to give the order to fire, a steep breath from behind the pack of staff members caused them to all turn around the big gust of breath…

Lurched on top of the building, a towering dragoness would appear from the camouflaged coloring of the building and revealed herself to them. "I would not try that if I were you." The sweet female humbled the group with her kind voice. However, the second they realized she was almost as large as the side of the building itself, General Black waved his hand and caused the crew to lower their weapons.

"Good choice," the dragoness would speak within their minds. In their surrender of weapons, nearly fifty Pelican-sized dragons would appear out in the open nearby the cadets, the open fields, and the side of the tether's entrance. It was an incredible shock to the entire academy that such creatures would exist, but many questions would be answered when the massive, scaled reptilian made its descent and swooped down upon the ground with a fury of the gods. Those who were on the ground felt the earth rumble as the beast roared proudly to the world, before its eyes turned onto the humans with its glowing golden eyes.

It was here when the people noticed the silver cape dangling from the black dragon's nape. The moment it lowered its head and neck to the ground, the reflective shine of a silver armored man would reveal itself to the academy. They would see that the human's armored glowed in many places, his helmet's visor was V-shaped, and the horns of the dragons were rudimentarily symmetrical along the man's helm as well… creating a nearly crowned set of horns to drape a ritualistic and heavily armored human being.

In the moments that preceded the man's dismounting of a nearly three-story black dragon, the man would make his way before the few hundred cadets and dozen or so instructors and took his helmet off.

Griffin Phoenix had returned.

With such the shock of this revelation being presented before the entire academy, the two-thirds of Corbulo Academies cadet corps stood at attention and saluted the robed human before them. It was here where Griffin's shock was presented before the cadets, causing him to stand tall at attention and receive their salutes with his own.

The moment this event concluded, Griffin would patch himself into the speakers through Orlyn and speak:

"First off, I just wanted to start off by saying that I do apologize for my absence. The Insurrection wanted my ass and so I beat them to death with it." Griffin would hear some laughter in the crowd. "However, my return is not the cause of why you were brought out here, but the reason why I have come right now." Griffin started, before he looked up and began to witness the distant rise of hundreds of Civilian Evac shuttles flying off from the cities.

"We are about to be invaded by an Alien race that has deemed our extinction for the very simple reason: We simply exist." The man soon looked at the many cadets, now seeing their expressions go from that of ease, to that of terror. "Already, colonies have fallen to their orbital bombardment… Harvest and many others bear this fate." He would speak, soon raising his left arm to display the glassing of the planet with a holographic image.

It was hard to show mere young men and women these images, but they were going to be the UNSC's future officers and soldiers… they needed… were obligated to see the truth with both eyes unclouded to help humanity survive. Their collective fears, sadness, terror, hatred, and pure grief were nearly too unbearable to witness, but there was a need to persevere.

Looking at the instructors in the distance, Griffin could see them recording or were too shocked to witness this news being presented. Yet, there were signs that ONI may have been present, and his children sensed what might have been in the instructors from the beginning.

"I present this information because you were prepared for The Insurrection, not for the wars that are now ahead and upon us. Many of you have learned from me and you are measured greatly by the success of our exchanges, but for Corbulo, we are not ready for The Covenant, the enemy that hunts us all." He began, now turning his attention to looking at the people. "That lack of preparation will end today, now I give you the chance, opportunity, and tools to take part in Humanities fight for survival and not its extinction."

"Ever since I was freed from the Insurrection by the fighters of Atlas, I had taken steps to prepare humanity for the times ahead. All the armor, weapons, mechs, the ships above, and the engineering feats we see today; I have imparted my lessons to many people to bring us tools that may give us the edge… even my children before you." Griffin would further shock the entire class by raising his hand and rubbing the chin of Ancalagon, causing an audible coo that brought many of the cadets to seem at ease with these creatures. In moment's however, that would be changed when his remaining children swooped from the sides of the buildings in the air and landed safely upon the ground. Each massive dragon had surrounded the cadets and caused them all to shake with the sheer power before them.

Yet, when they landed, every cadet would see large cargo boxes hanging around the dragon's chests and necks like necklaces and chains. When the remaining five dragons would lower their giant heads and necks upon the ground, the fifty formerly camouflaged green dragons would take the crates and containers before setting them into many displayed rows for the cadets to look at.

"My friends, fellow cadets, future soldiers, I now give you the new weapons of war. You will be given evolved armor, effective weapons, and technology that are ahead of the curve. The ground battles will be hard-fought and brutal against butt-ugly and wild animals of aliens. I have imparted the fire of humanity within you, and I will teach you on how to rip them to pieces!" He roared, looking at them all. They were now looking at the revealing containers with even more shocked expressions, but now, their confidence increased.

Anger that was of grief turned into anger to kill and bring vengeance, a direct and cold focus sensed upon the many. Griffin smiled at this fact, before he stood at attention.

"Now, for those who do not wish to fight but take the battles of humanity by supporting and giving us more time… you can now go to the tether with the information I bring. This world will be attacked, but for those who wish to fight against The Covenant here and gain battle experience, this is your chance to see how they really fight. I will not tell you to flee or to throw away your lives… This is your choice now. Go with the rest of the evacuation shuttles, or stay here and learn your enemy." Griffin would speak, soon starting to make his walk into the head of the entire academy.

"AXIOS!" He roared, standing at attention to salute the academy.

The rest of the cadet body this time soon stood at attention and saluted in return. "AXIOS!" They all roared in reply to him. And in that, the man dismissed the formation and let the cadets and the staff sort themselves out.

In the end, however, Griffin would look to the many familiar faces of Hastati squad and grimaced at the truth of knowing only three would survive the battle of Corbulo. Many of his sons and daughters turned their massive heads in worry to their Ur-Father. This would bring the attention of many cadets who witnessed the towering dragons shifting their focus.

All they would see was Griffin putting on his helmet and thus activating the suit's HUD.

"Former members of the Saegilius Squad, Li, Jack, your squads, and current members of Hastati Squad; form up on me. It is high time that I repay the kindness you have given me." Griffin implied, taking the moment to make his way and move to the open fields of the Academy courtyard. Easily enough, he could sense that Hastati and Zuma Squads, and sixty additional cadets making their way to him. A full company of cadets were going to be there with him, friends, squadmates, and important figures alike.

Letting his eyes glow one final time, Griffin would raise his hand slowly.

What came next would overshadow the chaotic events of Griffin's speech as thousands of dragons of the seven different scale types were now spreading across the sky. So many of these dragons would move to spread across the entire region, just as entire evacuation shuttlecraft could be seen entering the atmosphere along with what was left of the colonies lucky many.

The cadets would not see what Griffin could see, however. As the colony shuttles and evacuation ships ferried all evacuees from the colony, Griffin was seeing the mass offloading of every asset, fleet, and ship that was made by The Rachni, The AI, and The Solarians. He knew of their contingency plans as every Mobile Station, Solarian Colony Ship, Rachni Fleet, and Atlas corporation ship slipped from the system to random target vectors. All of this was seen from his HUD, as is everything within his detection algorithms.

He knew that no matter what happened on this planet, the fight would continue on, and The Covenant would not see what was coming. At that moment, Griffin would turn to the formed-up company of cadets and smiled from within his helmet.

"Who among you would wish to ride a dragon?"

Catherine Halsey

Reach, Epsilon Iridani System

April 5th, 2526

Watching every ONI department scramble in their offices stirred an odd feeling within the doctor. Only three things could cause such a stir in the ONI Headquarters in SWORD Base:

1) There was an imminent attack on the facility.

2) Section Zero was performing an audit on assets.

3) Another declaration of war had just appeared.

Due to the nature of events happening all throughout the facility, Halsey took part in requesting non-classified intel from the subsidiary branch of Section Three, the Spartan Aides. Through applying classified and contextual analysis on the field, use of their invaluable tactics and strategies with the Spartan II's, and position in the department; rumor had reached the aides that a top-down message was spammed throughout the UNSC's external drives. It was as if someone sent a bait message, the bot accessed the contents, and was compromised immediately. By requesting this data, Catherine would receive the intel from Spartan II aide Osman into her data drive.

Already, Catherine chuckled at the header of the quarantined email that somehow executed from the messaging system. She could easily see that the message was littered with every messaging exploit known in the 21st century. Only she knew how to not fall for such an easy emailing phishing system that had somehow never been updated to the patching system of the UNSC's mailing folders. Now, all she did was merely open a virtual machine and open the message there.

Easily enough, the message soon popped off and displayed a single man with silver armor, ritual coating, a cape, and a helmet.

"God damn it Christian." Halsey cursed to herself.

"Hello there UNSC, this is your daily dose of the Red Pill! If you understand that reference, please seek the nearest Adult Care center. If not, then you really need to get a life. However, if you have received this message, ONI will most likely be bagging you in three… two… one… okay. If you haven't been tagged by ONI Section Zero, then either you are an ONI agent or the Naval Intelligence branch isn't as fucking cutthroat for now as it seems." The man began, soon placing his hands behind his back to speak even more.

"In this point in the message, then either you are aware or forced to not be made aware of what is coming through the farthest reaches of our space. Yes ONI, I know what you are hiding, and I will reveal it all. No lie is going to keep you from getting spanked with information." He continued. "What I am revealing here is the alien races who have so declared war on our very existence. They call themselves The Covenant. Most of you may already know of them at some point, but now I am making that shit common knowledge. What you don't know is that these aliens are seeking to exterminate us because we are a destined species."

The human soon pointed at his chest.

"This here is The Forerunner symbol of 'Reclaimer', us. The Covenant believes this symbol is reclamation, a symbol to their divinity to godhood. This difference in their translation is why they believe they are going to be gods after finding all of these ancient races' artifacts. However, their tracers, or 'Luminaries' are devices that seek artifacts and detect them along a planet. Sadly, because we are destined, these Luminaries trace us and they can detect us from human cities to outposts on any planet." He soon chuckled in his helmet. "Now this is where you might be executed by ONI. Because the truth is: All of this technology that The Forerunners have, a majority of our colonies live on them like treasure planets. ONI has kept all of this from you, UNSC, all of the important details to the basics of our human origins. You know The Covenant wants us Extinct, but you never were told why."

Catherine would soon cross her arms and shake her head. She knew there was going to be a great deal of shit she would have to deal with long before she would have to handle The Covenant and their technology in the research and development projects she was already dealing with.

"Now, without any of the fanfare and the revelations that could break a scandalous organization. It is time to inform you all of a new invasion that will be taking place soon and probably one of the bigger naval battles in this war. Hear that UNSC? Why yes, Circinius IV is the next colony that will be attacked! And before I say anything else, why yes, I am on that planet; so come after me ONI. I know you'll be on the lookout, you little shits!" He soon composed himself and took a breath. "As you all will be made aware, the colony has gone dark and that no comms have been made available. I do not know what is happening between our planet and the rest of the colonies, but now we are evacuating or have evacuated a majority of the population who chooses to leave."

It was here, the man took a complete shift in tone, before he cracked his neck. "With that being said, it is confirmed that Covenant forces are going to attack this planet, but we do not know when it will happen, but they will be given a trap. Because of Atlas's willingness to act swiftly and prepare for this assault, we have enough defense forces and a tactical battleground to slap them around. However, I know I may not survive the encounter. It will be up to The UNSC to determine if they would wish to weigh their odds in rescuing battle-hardened commanders, or let The Covenant focus their attention on a man who will thrash them around."

"I hope The UNSC makes their decision without the influence of ONI in their minds, they have given The Insurrection reason enough for it to continue this long. If you don't come to save innocents, then if I come out of this alive; I will prove that I have a bigger dick than all of your admiralty. This is The Phoenix, over and out."

"This kid is trying to get himself killed." Catherine whispered to herself. However, due to the massive blunder this kid was doing to the UNSC and ONI, he was going to face a swift and decisive response from them. "Osman, what is the status of this… Phoenix." She asked, wanting to know what was in store for Christian.

"Spartan Teams Red, Blue, and Green are being deployed to execute the individual for compromising Classified Tier One assets. Order comes from ONI Section Zero. There is rumor that three strike groups have been formed to go to the colony world of Cicirnius IV."

"Tell Teams Blue, Green, and Red that killing this Phoenix is a miscalculation; capture him if they are able." Catherine advised, knowing she was not a military official. However, there were ways to subvert the orders.

"Message relayed Doctor," Osman implied.

"Good, then let us see what happens next." Catherine sighed, hoping that it wasn't too late.

High Charity

April 8th, 2526

The shift of power resonated in the pleased demeanor of Truth's predicaments. By seeing to his ascension from Ministry duties to the esteemed position of High Prophet, the once named Ord Casto hovered his right hand over the resonant anti-grav chair of his throne with great delight. Much power was gained, a large victory obtained in the path... and an uncomfortable truth was avoided all in the same day of his conglomeration among his other couple of rivals.

With much distaste, Truth had to admonish the nature of Mercy and Regret's ascension were due to happenstance; mainly on Mercy's part in all of this. Lest they forget, the truth of The Covenant fell on the shambles of a mistranslation of a single word...

How could The Reformists miss such a critical detail in the founding of The Covenant?

"No matter... savor the victory for now and eliminate opposition in time. Nothing will stop my continued ascension... time is my only enemy. Killing 'the gods' will guarantee I will obtain such a title." Truth hummed in thought, he rubbed his chin in question.

However, whilst he floated in his chamber, the display of I'ra Be'Ar, or more commonly known as The Prophet of Exquisite Devotion appeared over his armchair's display. The next moment, Exquisite Devotion bowed his head to the display of Truth, bringing an expression with hands and arms of 'I am yours to command'.

"Most esteemed High Prophet of Truth, I bear a message from The Heretics."

A message from the lesser primitives? Truth thought to himself. However, possibly to indulge in Exquisite's mind, he would simply feign a smile and look at him.

"And why should I accept this message instead of destroying it?" He asked.

"My most grand of sires, this message was retrieved from Tartarus." Replied the Prophet.

Knowing the Jiralhane were still on the human world, he would nod and present an expression of 'Do not waste my time.' To the Prophet and waited.

In seconds, the message transferred, and Truth would soon see the message displaying itself in a holographic image of a human in strange armor before him.

Immediately, Truth would feel a chill resonating throughout his body at the sight of this heretic. A human in glittering silver armor was there before him. He could see the inscriptions of The Arbiter symbols all over the plating of the Reclaimer's armor. Marked onto its chest plating, the symbol of Reclaimer by The Forerunners was there upon crest of the human's form, mixed with all the familiar and alien inscriptions upon the man.

And when he spoke, Truth knew it was not a fake.

"Most esteemed adversary High Prophet of Truth, or shall I say Ord Casto of the false journey?" The voice spoke to Truth, soon motioning with his hands to bring great insult between San'Shyuum. "You have started what will be the end of your Empire. This Covenant, your species... I know you and your fellow Hierarchs have deceived them. Do not think this a trick, a false political opposition inside your own ranks, or even one of your own... I alone know the truth of your lies, the hypocrisy of your position in The High Council. Your people have lived for thousands of years in treachery, a sin against The Forerunners who preserved us all from the cosmic horrors they brought upon us all."

"Even The Stoics had it right in bearing the same religious fervor. All you reformists have done is bring us one step closer to damnation, not godhood. And now, what could have been a grand unification of the age-old peace, the peace of the gods... you have begun its downfall. Two human colonies destroyed, untold millions of lives lost on both sides... and now, billions more will die because of your sins on Humanity and Covenant sides alike. There is no Godhood for you Ord Casto, nor anyone in your Covenant. It will all fail."

The figure would soon take off his helmet and reveal himself to Truth.

"Now you know the man you are fighting. I am The Phoenix, one who has come from the ashes of humanity to bring your end. And you shall have one ultimatum should you reconsider your actions..." The man known as The Phoenix would glare at the front with his slitted eyes. "Abandon your quest into Humanities territory, do not seek The Forerunners treasures in our territories. Leave us in peace, and you shall not be pursued. If The Covenant abandons our territories and stays away for a year, then we shall not come for you. However..."

At that moment, the man put on his helmet.

"If you decide to assault Humanity... I shall bring upon the full weight of The Galaxy upon The San'Shyuum, your lies shall be revealed, and Janjur Qom shall know of your treachery. Each day that passes in your continued actions, the noose on your long, fat, stupid neck shall become ever tighter. There was a hope that The San'Shyuum would join humanity in peace once again, and I shall not deny Ancient Humanities hope to see it happen... but if the children of The Reformists seek their claim... they shall burn with it."

In one final action, the figure would gesture one final insult.

"You have your choice Ord Casto, I hope your pessimistic mind doesn't clout the future of your people."

At the end of The Phoenix's words, the message would shut down. In this, Truth would shake in the sheer anger that resonated in his fists. But to not display his figure in anger or uncalm, he would take a breath and called upon Exquisite Devotion.

"My holy Prophet of Tr-"

"Has anyone else seen the contents of this message?" He spoke rather quickly, glaring at Exquisite.

"Only Tartarus has seen this, my sire."

"Order him to kill anyone who was in the room with him at the opening of this message." Truth ordered, soon looking to the armchair. "... and summon Regret's pet to me. I have a mission for him beyond the intention for the heretics."

Cicirnius IV, New Peragus

April 9th, 2526

Within the headquarters of Atlas, Patrick watched as the final shuttles of the city started to take off from the city. Every employee and their families were given the choice and freedom to evacuate from the colony at this point. It was made clear from the benefactors of the corporation that no one was allowed to be an unwilling participant in what was to come. The AI known as Orion made it abundantly clear of that fact.

The fact that this world was going to be wiped out from the galactic map by a genocidal alien civilization terrified him. What was surprising to the man, the majority of the population in this city, New Peragus, elected to stay. True, a large number of the civilians were hooked onto the cybernetics that came from Atlas, the weapons, prototypes, and the hyped-up commercialism… but what truly made them stay… it was the fact that they could have unlimited access to the tech Atlas could unload for them to survive.

If they survived, then there was a big chance that many of the people down there could grab entire landmasses for homesteads, more weapons, armor, and useful technologies to be flashy… And have the biggest pair of balls in the entire colony. Everything was on the horizon, especially when there was a chance that an entire career for killing aliens for bounties or more.

There was nothing stopping those in New Peragus from wanting to get their fill in gaining untold riches and glory from killing aliens and getting entire fortunes from their exploits. It was the promise that Atlas provided, the automatic security leverage against The Insurrection. Payment for simple protection and standing up to enforce that protective shield. Now that the non-combatant civilians were off system, it was easy to gage just how much support they were really going to have.

In total, just by the look of the Fleets above, fifteen of these Battlegroups comprised solely of twenty-five UNSC composed Frigates, five Halcyon-Class Battlecruisers, fifteen strangely shaped Frigates, seven Prowler classed destroyers, and three Battlecruisers of a similar unknown design comprised of these fifteen fleets along the high-orbit of the planet. They had covered five critical sectors where their defensive formation was going to be: Which was the much-needed Space Elevator that was protected by five attached Cairo Space stations, and two entire sectors of similar Cairo stations to protect the corners of the planet from Covenant counter attacks.

Due to the evacuation, the remaining fleets that were with the defense fleets before had gone with the four shipyards to random vectors of nearby systems. These territories had been staked out long before and now the shipyards were going to use those zones as staging areas and a possible reinforcement sector to get everyone out in the event of a major enemy offensive. Aiding these evacuation fleets, several dozen Solarian and a few hundred Rachni warships aided this endeavor and provided the month of expected time much needed support to prepare for their contingency plans.

This was a massive undertaking by many leaders and rulers of races and creatures of power to make happen. Patrick had only been revealed this information and he had spent the latter half of the day just looking over what their defensive fleets and ground forces would have…

And the near couple of hundred of factories provided entire armies, legions, and possibly an armada full of weapons, armor, munitions, and combat mechs to boot on the surface and in space. If there was a ground offensive, it would be faced with the hardest reply of power and domination the UNSC had ever seen. To say that every city, region, and grid had a MAC Tower that either was there individually or placed into several clusters of them… he wished he was joking this time.

Then there were the strange allies of this… Phoenix.

Ever since he had arrived with his dragons littering the colony, the biosphere of the world started to rapidly change. In a single week, the flora and fauna started to shift in coloration, size, and shape in the week that passed. Change had been the defining character of what Phoenix had done; evolution could be the better term for it. There were more of these… aliens that populated the world now, creatures that had now chosen to serve the directives of this man.

Even more interesting, people followed him.

A lot of people seemed to have chosen to follow him. Ever since his name came out, not only did the cadets of the nearest academy seem to worship him; seven hundred people cheered when the famed 'Phoenix' rode atop of a Pelican-Sized purple dragon into the city center with sixty heavily armed cadets in what would be considered a Star Wars Mandalorian armor set. His cult following was made even more apparent when the man promised them tech that was far advanced to fight alien invaders. Nothing united a people more than a common enemy and aliens seeking to take your home… and a man promising you cool things.

Plus, he promised tons of loot and bounties for any tech that was taken from the enemy.

While the world changed and the defense of the planet became ever clearer, this Phoenix started to make his way to the center of town, right to where the Atlas building was located.

Patrick knew Phoenix was coming to him.

"Owner Patrick, Phoenix is here to see you."

What bugged the owner of the corporation even more, the robots knew he was coming and what to expect from the human. Everything that has been planned or what was going to be planned was expected, prepared, and ready in tandem. His mechs were of his design, something that he made, now they were spread all throughout the UNSC doing God knows what out there. Now they were here, following the orders of a silver-armored man who seemed to captivate the people and their interests.

"Send him in."

Before Patrick knew it, he would be looking at the tall and imposing figure of The Phoenix himself easing himself into the room. He stood tall like the caped leader that the man gave in his aura, but the engineer saw through most of the fanfare and blunder.

"I assume there is a reason why you have come into my office?" Patrick asked.

The figure would soon take off his helmet and soon, there was an even greater mystery to him. Patrick shook his head at the glowing eyes and the firm face behind it. He could now see that there was much to learn, but there were also just as many questions.

"Yes, I am here to ask you to evacuate. The face of Atlas does not need to die with it on this colony." Griffin would speak to Patrick. "You are in charge of a hundred projects that are about to come to fruition, aided by-"

"-by your AI." Patrick cut Griffin off, causing the man to smirk.

"Technically speaking, Mack is the reason why you are so successful, not me."

"Who?"

In that moment, the tactical droid that acted as Patrick's aide turned to its side and looked at Patrick. "It is I, Patrick." The unit spoke with a deep voice, sounding almost comical in its sarcastic attempts to act all serious. Patrick's reaction was indeed priceless, but Griffin simply turned around.

"Mack, I will leave it to you to talk Patrick Wellers to evacuate on the last remaining shuttles. His work must not die with him." Griffin spoke, before putting on his helmet in preparation to leave.

"Hold it, Phoenix!" Patrick yelled, causing the towering man to stop.

Griffin motioned the man to speak.

"Explain… why is this world changing after you suddenly pop up out of nowhere?" Patrick asked. "There's more alien flora, fauna, and wildlife being detected all across the region. What exactly is going on here?" He asked.

"Simple, Patrick." Griffin replied, taking his helmet off and looking at him with his eyes flickering brightly. "My blood brings life into this world, my sweat brings this defense, and my spirit brings Atlas into existence." He replied, putting on his helmet. "Yes, I am one of your benefactors. And my desire is for you to live. Take the rest of your corporation and save humanity, be the bastion that holds humanity against the tides of extinction."

Finished with his words, Griffin would put on his helmet and walk away, letting Mack inform the CEO of Harvest and what was done to it.

Sensing the dragon riders on the ceiling of the building, Griffin smirked and began his walk to the grand central elevator of the headquarters. "Mack, give them access now. We are all going underground." He requested, soon witnessing the elevator entrance turn from a regular elevator to the entrance of an elevator without the boxed container people rode on. It was a long way down by the simple look leading to the bottomless section of the building.

Looking up, Griffin saw them.

He could see the mass number of armored figures of the former cadets floating their way down the chute on their jetpacks. He could already sense Thomas Lasky, Orenski, Walter Vickers, Chyler Silva, the rest of Hastati Squad, and Zuma Squad being the first among the group to reach down. Yet, their dragons already took off to another entrance to the building.

Smiling, Griffin would step off of the entrance and drop into the chute like a rock.

All the way down one hundred floors of nothing but concrete.

New Peragus Underground, Cicirnius IV

April 19th, 2526

Thomas Lasky could not believe what he was becoming.

In the beginning of his training in Corbulo, the machines that had acted as their personal bodyguards, trainers, and protectors in combat did more for him than what even the instructors could teach. He understood space naval warfare when he was already ahead in sea battles, guerilla warfare when the class was still learning about the punic wars; he even was taught how to use a sword when there was no training regimen on it. There was always the slightest assumption that someone had assigned him these courses because of Cadmon…

This month, he was proven wrong on all of it.

"You are special not because of your older brother, nor are you because you are the son of a prominent figure in the UNSC. You are special because of who you are, Lasky." The voice of Griffin resonated in his mind, his training by the towering man was as if the man spoke to his soul and tried to light fires in him to become the best he could be. "You choose to fight not to perpetuate war, but to stop it. The UNSC was wrong in attempting to put down the people of The Outer Colonies, but like your assuming squadmate, Michael Sullivan; ONI has more power than you know." This was made true when Lasky was able to duel and beat him… even if the man wasn't even trying.

Even the ways of these new species… the Rachni were calmer to him and showed him how to sing in the mind, or simply have a better grasp at learning on how to communicate with the dragons mentally-speaking. Their lessons of the mind helped him grasp focus, intent, and determination by not even moving at all. The Solarians… the avian folk of the starlight were strange around him. They taught him minor lessons of the stars, of navigation, and logistics… before they attempted to tell him he was destined for great things.

It was when he first raised his own dragon, who he'd aptly named Talon for his bright crimson scales and sharp intuition; did everything become ever clearer. Where Lasky had difficulty in gaining the instinctual fire to take a life, Talon made up for the wisdom and clarity to save it. Between their minds touching and their visions being shared from birth to maturity, Lasky found a friend in his dragon, and the dragon found Lasky as a father figure. Together, they joined Hastati Squad in flight and saw how the world changed before their very eyes.

Before the month of April, Lasky thought he would be a soldier.

Now he was called Dragon Rider, Tactician, Warrior, and symbol of a new force of nature.

Now, at the end, Lasky stood in a massive holographic command chamber five miles underneath the city of New Peragus. Here, the Dragon Riders were among many great, intimidating, and large figures of power. Scaling the distant shadows, Griffin's 'children' stood like buildings in the chamber, with countless dozens of their grand sires sitting on their haunches and waiting. Then there were the many figures of the Solarian soothsayers as they were nicknamed; all were sitting on their knees and reciting passages of some sort.

He could see that Philip Shere was among the few Dragon Riders sitting on their knees and projecting something mentally. Talon, standing beside Lasky, merely whispered they were doing some kind of battle meditation for someone. "Or praying." Lasky mused, earning the light chuckle of the dragon between their mental bond.

Finally, The Rachni Queens made their appearance in the lesser mounds of the facility. It seemed they were tunneling for an escape route in the event The Covenant came in and glassed this entire building from orbit. While Lasky witnessed the hordes of Rachni moving into the wide, deep, and attachable building in the entire city, Talon lowered his massive head and nudged Lasky's shoulder.

"We can survive this Lasky, our power is uncontested here."

"I have never seen such a power prepared so quickly underneath our noses. How could the UNSC not notice any of this?"

"Maybe the Ur-Father is just that good?"

That-there is what caused Lasky the most confusion, especially when the story of the young man was contradictory. He was aware that Cadmon trained him, even as the young man was beginning the first year halfway done. Already, the man went from being one who had a crippling beginning, to becoming the top of his class.

Just who was he behind the decorations of titles, power, and skill?

"Maybe he had been preparing for this long before he had come to this planet." Lasky replied, causing Talon to coo as he scratched the beast's chin.

"Indeed, I have," came the voice of Griffin as his silver-armored form walked past Lasky five meters to his right. He could feel the man tap his shoulder guards as he would walk from the entrance of the vast chamber and made his way to the central platform where another tall Solarian was waiting for him.

"Told ya," Talon chuckled.

"That just makes it worse," Lasky replied in turn.

The dragon soon sat on his haunches and decided to envelop Lasky in a big winged dome covering, with his claws bringing the man into a hug with the giant dragon. "Aww, sounds like the Dragon Rider is broody, time to nap now." Talon mocked Lasky, before the young man appeared out of Talon's reach before he realized it.

Conceding the action, Talon merely snorted and let Lasky brood.

And as Lasky and Talon chose to banter, they would soon see Griffin stand alone with the avian female who was armored and draped in some form of royal silk. Nothing much was said between them and the rest of the Dragon Rider numbers tried listening to them. However, all they would hear was silence as the silver-armored man simply bent down and sat on his knees.

The second Griffin bent onto his knees, the entire room would darken to a nightly shade. What came next would be a massive holographic projector activating and connecting to every Dragon Rider's HUDs. Lasky would soon see the displays upon his helmet, startup screens for a program called 'Fleetcom' for him and the others in the room.

Once connected to the program, the holographic projectors would immediately pulsate and shoot off a massive holographic map in the room. In the center was the planet of Cicirnius IV and every single ship, station, and assets from satellites to the space elevator. Assets like the nearby planets, moons, and asteroid belts were highlighted as assets in this program… a plan that would soon be incorporated for the battle ahead.

Between Lasky all the way to Orenski, every Dragon Rider gaped at the numbers of the defense fleet as these strange ships numbered in total close to a hundred ships plus a few orbital stations. However, there was something that Griffin was holding out as they watched him access the nodes through his telepathic mind… it was the fact that he was looking into the shadows of space to detect anything that may infiltrate the planetary grid undetected underneath the sensor wall…

What terrified everyone in the room:

Griffin found them. Five small Covenant vessels entering the planetary grid on its blind spot. What shocked everyone else in the room, Griffin looked unphased. In the next few seconds, with the motion of Griffin's hand; the Dragon Riders would witness fifteen nearby MAC cannons within hidden layers of the Rachni tunnel system powered on the map…

And in the next three minutes of non-stop rounds of repeated and continuous firing, The Covenant ships were destroyed. This was done by mental coordination with the Solarians, Rachni, and eventually executed by the AI once targeting solutions were made from Griffin's perspective.

"Dragon Riders, Rachni, Solarians, Dragons, and my fellow Droids… the time for preparation has passed. Our war has just begun. Rachni and Atlas mechs, go retrieve the remains of those ships and begin adapting our technology to our enemy, it is time we turn the tables on our foes!"

Griffin soon stood up and turned to face the room.

"This chamber will become our C&C and orders will be carried out through here. Let's show these religious fucks what we are made of!"

Aaaand another chapter comp-

Ripping the fabric of time and space, Griffin will grip the writer of this story and tug him into a glare. "This chapter is finished when I say it is finished!" He yelled at the shaking University Student, soon throwing him back into the chair and closing the tear in time and space.

But wait [shakes uncontrollably]... t-there's more!

Cicirnius IV

April 26th, 2526

Today was the day that battle would be met with the main Covenant force. After countering a couple more failed Covenant infiltration attempts, Griffin knew the enemy would see their tactics failing at an easy victory. With the Rachni, Solarians, and Dragon aspects enhancing his focus in the C chambers, they could be able to sense any incoming force just by a mental telepathic presence coming in at low orbit.

However, due to the fact that today marked the day when The Covenant unleashed their assault on Cicirnius IV, Griffin felt that the battle was going to happen today. With the infiltration attack vector now clear to the foes of mankind that this would not be a possible mission…

The reply The Covenant made caused Griffin and many others to witness the sheer, ungodly size of The Covenant fleet that slipspaced into Cicirnius IV's distant perimeter. He could see their masses of Corvettes, Battlecruisers, Destroyers, Capital Ships, and a few CAS Assault Carriers just barely in the range of the Orbital station's effective radius. In total, Griffin saw twenty-five CCS-Battlecruisers, three CAS Assault Carriers, five Destroyers, and fifty Corvettes with an unknown amount of boarding craft that he knew would come to take out the space stations.

"You really had to stir the hornet's nest." Mack spoke to Griffin in his helmet comms.

"Only way we could get Tartarus to come after us. He still needs to pay for Syf." Griffin replied, soon looking over to the Covenant fleet. "There might be more figures in this attack, so the more, the merrier." The man voiced, before he would notice the enemy was not moving.

"The fleet is not moving into effective range." Mack and an additional Tactical Droid pointed out.

"Don't you see Mack? This is an open invitation." Griffin smirked, turning around to look at the incoming Covenant fleet. "Hail one of the Assault Carriers, scramble location tracking to make it seem we are contacting the fleet from the other side of the planet."

In moments, one of the tactical droids spoke up.

"We have made contact. Smart AI cyber-attack suite has been countered."

"Good, then patch me through."

With a nod, the tactical unit would put Griffin through the communication relays with his figure being displayed on whichever Covenant comm platform he would be on. He could see a few of the cyber suites activating, the protocols engaging, but with nothing serious happening as he waited. However, when the young man was patched through…

A familiar image formed up on his holographic terminal.

All Griffin could do was smirk.

"Ripa 'Moramee. I had expected Truth's lapdog… not an Arbiter of The False Journey."

"I shall have your tongue ripped out from your mouth for that insult, Heretic."

"There will be enough time for our battle, Arbiter. I merely wish to see who I am fighting." Griffin implied, leaning into the holographic platform. "I know you enjoy what you were born to do, so I shall indulge you in your honor, but I seek to know those who I face."

"Speak your final request, or die like the rest of your kind." Ripa growled.

"Is there a San'Shyuum in the room with you? I merely wish to know if your chains are loosened or tightened by The Hierarchs."

"There is…" Ripa growled.

"I wish to know who this San'Shyuum is." Griffin implied, waiting for the Sangheili to growl out the name like a puppy. However, the Sangheili backed away and a Prophet showed himself.

"I am the Prophet of Clarity. My name need not serve you, human."

All the prophet would see, would be Griffin's demeanor shrinking slightly when he heard the name. The young man's composure would break at that moment, a shock of familiarity that The Prophet could see, but did not comment on it…

Yet.

"Now you have the duty to die, there is also a duty to serve… lay down your arms and give yourself to The Hierarchs, or die with the rest of your race." The Prophet spoke.

"I will not accept that offer for the honor of being with my people." Griffin mocked, crossing his arms and looking disinterested in the offer provided.

"As you wish." The Prophet of Clarity replied, looking rather displeased by the stance Griffin took.

"I shall be seeing you soon… Zo Resken." Griffin replied in turn, giving the prophet an expression that was of a higher honor, before cutting the transmission completely. As he awaited the incoming attack, three Tactical Droids walked by his side.

"What are your orders, Phoenix?"

The young man turned to the droids and simply smiled within his helmet. "Send a coded message to all assets, the attack is imminent. However, try to identify the source of the transmission and keep track of the enemy ship, do not obliterate that ship at all, but cripple it. If there are any signs of The Prophet, do not kill him." Griffin ordered, soon turning his attention to the holographic battlespace.

"Activate Ion Cannons and power up our defense grid. This battle has just begun."

The writer, seeing Christmas on the horizon, would stop writing. As this happens, the rip in space and time would open again. This time, when Griffin puts his head forward to get in, he would see the end of a Glock pointed at him.

"It's Christmas motherfucker!"

With that, Griffin tilts his hat and merely moves back into Chaos.

"Merry Christmas."

Once the ripple is closed, the writer would simply open his book and write in the final notes to the chapter.

Aaaaand another chapter complete!

I hope you didn't mind the 4th and possibly 5th walls being broken, but I just could not help providing extra entertainment for myself and others! However, jokes aside, I hope everyone is enjoying a safe, warm, and special holiday! I know a majority of y'all are experiencing a fucking blizzard, but I hope this chapter may prove to help you pass the time this wintery season!

And look, I know everyone is expecting some God of War level combat, but hey, I want to get the environment layered out before I start nerding out with this battle!

As you can see, there is tension with the fact that Griffin needs to tame his bloodthirst in order to save Zo Resken and possibly his Sangheili bodyguards from the plot of Halo. If anyone doesn't know who he is, the San'Shyuum/Prophet is a critical character of Halo: Broken Circle. As someone who loves this book that is of the 343 Halo's, this is one that is pretty good and doesn't make me regret future plot points.

However, if no one knows about Ripa 'Moramee, he is The Arbiter from Halo Wars. 'nuff said about him.

With this being said, if anyone has not noticed yet by the ships that were declared as Unknown, have Ion Cannons, and were made from Mobile Shipyards...

If you thought I was making Homeworld references, then yes, you are right! There are a lot of outcomes in which things will get wild in the fight for humanity. Now that we are going to engage The Covenant with the tech we have, the fight will get intense as now there will be more avenues in which The Covenant will have to adapt. Yet, while we will get to the battle in the next chapter, pay a special note for the dragons in this chapter, that is one clue I will give you in how twisted next chapter is going to be.

Stay tuned!

Please leave a fav, follow, or review for the chapter,

-TF

PS: This chapter is now the longest one of te record as of now. Weee!

PPS: Edit