Dust and Echoes

by trestwho

After a successful mission, a UNSC fleet makes a random slipspace jump only to come across an uncharted system containing a sliver of humanity, one with seemingly no connection to Earth and whose natural abilities defy reason. In a galaxy full of terrifying dangers, the UNSC and Remnant must work together to defend all they know from annihilation.

30. From Hell's Heart

Dust and Echoes (RWBY/Halo)

Chapter 29: From Hell's Heart

[~][~]

Standing inside the Shadow's troop bay to shelter from the rain, Atriox fumed. His fists were clenched tightly, and his brow was furrowed in a deep scowl. The storm raging inside his mind was just as intense as the monsoon outside, yet despite just how utterly enraged he was, he refused to let himself succumb to his anger. Instead, he remembered the teachings of his daskalo, Escharum, who guided him when Atriox was young and still lived on Doisac before joining the Covenant.

'Do not let your rage control you, Atriox,' Escharum had taught him. 'Let it guide you, but never dictate your actions. Your rage is but a tool. Nothing more, and nothing less.'

With those words in mind, Atriox kept himself as composed as possible, his mind focused on what they were going to do next. Decimus, on the other hand, had instead opted to vent his rage on the nearby foliage, tearing apart nearby trees as well as a few native animals that had the misfortune of getting in his way. At least the two Jiralhanae were able to eat those, even if Atriox would've preferred his meat at least a little cooked. But like all Jiralhanae, they were survivors, so they made do.

Hearing his subordinate snarl in frustration, Atriox released a sigh then stepped back out into the rain. Walking over to the cockpit, he saw Decimus toiling away at the control panel, its face ripped off and exposing the machinery underneath. Struts and panels were ripped out, allowing Decimus' oversized hands to reach his actual objective.

"Any luck on boosting our signal?" Atriox asked, and Decimus, without even bothering to look at his chieftain, shook his head.

"Not yet, no," Decimus revealed through a deep growl. "This damn machine… We were barely able to get a signal to those Phantoms. Anything further than that is nearly impossible. Damn those Sangheili…."

"They'll get what's coming to them, Decimus, but for now you need to focus," Atriox advised his last remaining subordinate.

Atriox briefly shifted his gaze to the storm above just as a large bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a loud crack of thunder. In his mind's eye, he imagined the Phantoms Ir 'Haramai and his lance of Zealots were in, making their way to the Valorous Penance and leaving the two of them behind to die. Even if the pilots hadn't explicitly said who gave the order, Atriox would have known it was solely the Blademaster's decision. Ever since Atriox had put him in his place, Ir had been itching for a chance to get some payback. He was likely hoping the humans would've done it for him, but when that didn't happen he took the first chance he could to get his revenge.

'So much for Sangheili honor,' Atriox sarcastically thought to himself. He had long since learned that such a thing didn't actually exist, despite whatever its adherents told themselves. Far too often the notion of 'honor' was simply an excuse to do whatever they wanted, particularly to those they saw as lesser than them. Other times the pursuit of 'honor' was used to instead control those who sought it, turning them into blind followers who would do anything to claim it.

Such was the case with the War of Annihilation, Atriox figured. He had fought against the humans ever since the war began on the world Harvest, and during that time he had slowly come to a realization. There was nothing righteous or honorable about what they were doing. The humans were so far beneath the capabilities of the Covenant that the war was simply a never-ending crusade of them punching down. There was no honor in that, merely slaughter that only got more and more people killed on both sides. If anything, the only ones who actually displayed or gained any honor at all, if such a pointless thing existed, were the humans for refusing to roll over and submit like his commanders wanted. He genuinely respected them for that, even if many of his brethren, including his daskalo, had come to despise humanity for killing so many of them. What else were the humans supposed to do when faced with extinction?

But as Atriox shook his head, he pushed those thoughts to the side. Even if he acknowledged the realities of this war like few did, he wasn't in a position to do anything about it. He and his pack served the Covenant, and they did as they were told even if he didn't like it. The best thing he could do was ensure that as many of his packmates as possible survived to live another day, and to make this war finally end. If that meant he had to continue killing humans, he would do so without question.

Returning his attention to Decimus, Atriox suggested, "Try rerouting all remaining power to the communicator. That might get our signal strong enough to reach the Valorous Penance."

Decimus looked at him over his shoulder for a moment, clearly wondering if that would even work. Truth be told, Atriox wasn't sure himself. But even if it was a long shot, it was better than nothing. Decimus seemed to realize it as well, then grunted in acknowledgement before turning back to the control panel. Atriox was unable to see exactly what Decimus was doing beyond his broad shoulders, but he could hear panels being pulled, wires being snapped and tied together, and feel the Shadow's anti-gravity thrusters shut down along with all remaining lights.

A moment later, Decimus moved to the side and motioned for Atriox to take the comm, saying, "If this doesn't work, we're on our own."

"Perhaps," Atriox said, then leaned his face forward to the microphone. "Valorous Penance, this is Chieftain Atriox. Are you receiving me?"

All he received was static at first. Furrowing his brow, Atriox continued, "Repeat, Valorous Penance, this is Chieftain Atriox. We are wounded and are in need of extraction. Do you hear me?"

Once again, the only response he got was static. Atriox was about to snarl and try again, but then to his relief a barely understandable voice cut through the static and said, "Chieftain, this is the Valorous Penance. We are receiving you."

Both Jiralhanae sighed in relief, and with a smile gracing his lips Atriox replied, "Finally. Be warned, the connection is weak. We're talking to you through a Shadow that barely works."

"Acknowledged, standby," the communications officer plainly stated with no hint of care in his voice for their plight. Based off the voice itself, Atriox assumed it was a Sangheili he was talking to.

After a brief moment, the officer announced, "We're patching you through to the Minister of Veracity. He wants to speak with you."

That revelation caught Atriox legitimately off-guard, but he took the welcome surprise as it was. Besides, he wanted to talk to the Minister anyway and inform him of what the Zealots did. Had this been at the beginning of the operation, Atriox doubted that the Minister of Veracity would've cared about two Jiralhanae warriors being left for dead. But after everything that had happened with the Cartographer, Ir was standing on thin ice as it was. This just might prove to be the final push to justify Ir's execution, and Atriox was going to request to be the executioner.

When the battlenet came back online, Atriox heard a new voice all-too-calmly proclaim, "This is the Minister of Veracity."

Atriox nodded to himself then respectfully replied, "Your Holiness, this is Chieftain Atriox. I actually wanted to speak with you. I regret to inform you that—"

"I do not care about what you wanted to speak to me about, for I have more pressing issues at the moment," the Minister interrupted, his silky, song-like voice twisted into an enraged tone and catching Atriox off-guard once again.

"What do you mean?" Atriox asked, and the Minister let out a growl.

"The Phantom carrying Ir 'Haramai and some of his Zealots abruptly diverted course on its approach to the Valorous Penance," the Minister revealed. "When we reached out and attempted to correct this error, our words were ignored. It appears that he has abandoned his oath to the Covenant."

Atriox's eyes widened, and he briefly glanced at the just as surprised Decimus. Turning his attention back to the communicator, Atriox then asked, "What of the memory block? Was it with him?"

"Fortunately, no. It was on the lead Phantom and it is continuing its approach unimpeded," the Minister answered. "But that no longer concerns you. Whatever Blademaster 'Haramai desired, his Phantom crashed shortly after it changed course. We believe the humans may have been responsible, but luckily our sensors tell us that they landed not too far from your current position. You are to investigate the crash site, find any survivors, and eliminate them as the heretics they are."

Atriox narrowed his eyes, then nodded in agreement while thanking Ir for his stupidity. The fool had just given him all the justification he needed. Beside him, he saw Decimus gleefully nod while rubbing his hand over the side of his spiker.

But that was when Atriox saw the many wounds that covered Decimus' body, and was reminded of his own. Turning back to the communicator, Atriox then said, "Of course, Minister. We'll see it done. But we are wounded, and it is just two of us. If what you say is true and the humans were responsible, we may need reinforcements."

"All of my remaining forces are cleaning the former Blademaster's mess. You will make do," the Minister replied in a dismissive tone.

"But, Minister—" Atriox tried to say, only for the Minister to angrily interrupt.

"Remember your place, Chieftain," the Minister of Veracity told him. "I may have afforded you greater autonomy than your previous overseers, but you are still a tool to be used at my discretion and however I see fit. You are to complete your assigned task with what you have on hand, and nothing more. Do not contact me again until the heretics are dead."

With that, the battlenet shut off once again, and all Atriox could hear was the rain falling on the cockpit and the crack of thunder overhead. Decimus was silent, looking at his chieftain as Atriox barely contained his rage. Despite his best efforts, he was gripping the controls hard enough to dent the metal.

After a moment, Atriox took a deep breath then ordered, "Restore power to the Shadow. I'm going to climb up and get a better vantage point. See where they might've crashed."

Without saying another word, Atriox hopped out of the cockpit and walked away to a tall, large, and bulky tree nearby that looked sturdy enough to support his weight. Using his spiker as a makeshift climbing axe, he began to scale the tree, feeling the wood crack and splinter under his weight as he continued upwards. His mind was racing and filled with fury, but he kept his attention squarely on finding the right handholds to continue his ascent.

When he finally breached the canopy, he immediately was forced to squint his eyes tightly and raise his hand to shield himself from the heavy wind and rain. He looked around, trying to spot any sign of where the Phantom might've crashed, assuming that the Minister was correct in his assessment as to its approximate location. Luckily, he was able to find it quickly as, through the flash of lightning, he was able to see a large smoke plume rising out of the jungle roughly several dozen units away from them. Pulling out a scavenged human compass, he determined that it was southwest of their location.

Knowing that their original flightpath was taking them southward over the southern ocean, Atriox tried to figure out where Ir 'Haramai was possibly going. After a moment, the revelation came to him as he realized that the only thing of importance in that general direction was the Cartographer.

"Of course, the fool would try…," Atriox muttered to himself, then jumped down through the canopy back to the forest floor. Mud splashed up onto his feet and lower legs from the force of the impact, but he ignored it as he walked back to the Shadow just as it roared back to life.

"Just in time, I managed to get this thing running again," Decimus declared. "Do you know where they are?"

"They were heading southwest to the Cartographer when they crashed," Atriox revealed, taking the driver's seat in Decimus' place. "I'll take us there."

"Of course, Chieftain. But why would they go there? The humans still control it," Decimus pointed out as he hung off the side of the cockpit, and Atriox released a grunt.

"Ir must've realized the humans plan to destroy the Cartographer entirely, just as I thought they would," Atriox answered as he drove the Shadow through the jungle. "In his hubris, he likely believed he and his Zealots alone could avert its demolition, or at least die trying."

"Emphasis on the 'die' part," Decimus growled, and Atriox nodded.

At the same time, as they continued to make their way through the jungle, Atriox weighed the odds of what laid ahead of them. Had they been at one-hundred percent, he and Decimus would have had good chances of killing a handful of Sangheili with the advantage of an ambush, Zealots or not. Having more pack mates at his side would have made it even more of a sure thing.

But not only were there only two of them, he and Decimus had quite literally just been thrown off the side of a mountain, their injuries only barely tended to. His muscles and bones ached with each movement, and he knew the same applied to Decimus. The only upside was that undoubtedly Ir and his Zealots would be in a similar state following a Phantom crash, but they were still Zealots. Some of the best warriors the Covenant had to offer. If they survived the crash, they would put up a tenacious fight. Honestly, if it weren't for the risk of the Blademaster getting away first, he'd be glad to wait for the humans to find the Phantom and do the hard work of killing the Zealots for him, while he and his second watched and confirmed the kill from the shadows.

No matter what awaited them at the Phantom crash site, Atriox knew that, if he and Decimus were to survive, they would have to do this carefully.

[~]

Rteda 'Vasovee ran as fast as he could through the jungle, kicking up mud and water with each step. Behind him, he could hear the angry shouts and screams of his pursuers along with the occasional crack of plasma fire.

"Face your judgement, coward!" Blademaster 'Haramai roared, Rteda hearing his energy sword cleave away any vegetation that got in his path. "You and your entire keep will suffer for your heresy! I swear it!"

Part of Rteda wanted to shout a retort, but instead he continued to run. He had been running as soon as the Phantom had crashed back onto the planet surface, knocking him and his now former comrades into a daze. It was by the grace of the Gods that Rteda shook it off first, allowing him to flee before the others regained their senses.

As Rteda continued to run, his mind tried to take stock of his situation. His once pristine and ornate Zealot battle harness was now almost completely destroyed. The only piece that still functioned was the wrist-mounted energy dagger held in his left gauntlet. Everything else, including his weapons, had been rendered useless in the crash, forcing him to discard everything as he ran except for that lone gauntlet. It and his undersuit was the only thing that protected him from the outside elements, making him feel naked.

The same could not be said for Ir, Tul, and Xesan. They had sustained damage to their weapons and armor just as Rteda did, but theirs had been less total. Their energy shields and weapons still functioned, which was why Rteda wasn't able to kill them when he had the chance. Despite having only fired at Ir, Tul and Xesan wanted him dead just as equally. After all, Rteda was the reason they had crashed in the first place, far from any Covenant line including their destination, the Cartographer. It didn't matter that Rteda had only fired on Ir because he was going to kill him just for speaking his mind and pointing out the folly in his suicidal, pointless plan.

He sincerely regretted killing the pilots. That wasn't his intention, for they were simply doing as ordered. They didn't deserve to die. But he didn't regret defending himself. It was obvious to him now that any admiration he once held for Ir 'Haramai had been severely misplaced. He wasn't a grand, honorable commander. Ir was nothing more than a selfish glory hound, willing to throw away anyone's life if it advanced his position. He wasn't going to the Cartographer to try and save it, he was trying to save himself.

Rteda had thought and hoped that the other Zealots might've joined him in voicing their objections. After all, they all swore to serve the Covenant first and foremost. But much to Rteda's disappointment, after years of following Ir 'Haramai as his Zealots, they had become mindlessly obedient. Not just to their commander, but perhaps to their entire order.

His mind went back to his conversation with Atriox, who told him that the Zealots didn't like free-thinkers. Was this what he meant? Had he known something like this would happen? After all, the Jiralhanae Chieftain seemed to have a greater understanding of things than one would otherwise expect. But Rteda doubted that even he would've expected Ir to take such a drastic course of action, one that was going to doom them all.

The Minister was coming for them, Rteda knew. He would not take Ir's dereliction of duty lying down. The only question was who the Minister would send to bring back their heads. That was why Rteda kept running, fighting through the pain of his injuries not just to avoid his pursuers but to find whoever the Minister sent to kill them. The only way, Rteda realized, that he was going to survive this was if he found them first and convinced them that he had tried to stay true to the Covenant, that he was not part of Ir's heresy. It was a long shot, but trying to fight all three Zealots by himself was suicide no matter which way it went.

So, as a bolt of blue plasma whisked by his head, Rteda ducked, pushed aside a large leaf that had a burning hole through its center, and kept running.

[~]

Inside the captured Phantom, Clover Ebi tried not to rub the enamel off of his charm. They had long since left Peponi's atmosphere, an experience that was one of the most harrowing in his life. The heavily damaged Phantom shook and vibrated with such an intensity that he was legitimately afraid they were going to break apart. Luckily the structure held, and he didn't really want to know how much of a hand his Semblance might have had in that.

Around him, the rest of the Ace-Ops and Task Force 141 made final preparations of their gear. Weapons were chambered, magazines refilled, grenades counted. All in anticipation of them being put into the fight of their lives once they boarded the Covenant stealth corvette.

From the Phantom's cockpit, Clover heard Price's voice as he spoke into a secure comm-channel and said, "Bravo-Six to Control. We are entering sight of the Covenant stealth corvette. Transmitting coordinates now. Converge on our location, over."

As the two pilots followed his instructions, Gaz remarked, "At least now, if this doesn't work out, we got a backup plan."

"A single hijacked Phantom boarding a Covenant corvette by itself isn't much of a plan," Ghost pointed out.

"I agree," Farah added. After a moment, she asked, "Have the Covenant reached out to us?"

"Only flight plans, nothing else," Gaz answered, and Farah nodded. "I did pick up a lot of chatter when that other Phantom changed course for some reason before it crashed. No idea why, but the other is still going so I'm assuming that's the one that has the data drive on it."

"Right, right," Clover said to himself, idly wondering why the second Phantom had changed its course so suddenly. Judging by its flightpath, they assumed it was heading to the Cartographer, but the bigger question was why it suddenly lost power and crashed. There weren't any UNSC forces nearby. Perhaps it was more damaged during the convoy attack than they thought and only now did the problem reveal itself? It was hard to say for certain, but regardless of the reason Clover was simply happy it happened at all. It was one less Phantom they would have to worry about.

"How much do you want to bet they suspect we're on here?" Farah asked, causing the others to look at her.

"It seems likely that they suspect our presence, yes," Vine answered after a moment. "The only real question is why they haven't shot us down."

"Maybe there's a bit of uncertainty. No one wants to shoot down their own men if they can help it," Elm suggested.

"That or typical Covie arrogance making them think they can handle just one hijacked dropship no matter who's in it," Soap countered. "My money's on the second."

The other ODSTs nodded in agreement, then Price got up from his seat, joined them in the troop bay, and said, "It doesn't matter why they haven't shot us down yet. What does matter is that they haven't yet. That's a mistake and one we're going to exploit, understood?"

"Yes, captain," everyone inside the troop bay said at once, causing Captain Price to nod.

Price then pointed at the bay doors and continued, "Let's assume the Covenant are preparing a welcome party for us once we get inside the hangar. As soon as those doors open and they see us, they're going to start shooting."

"We'll be like fish in a barrel," Elm remarked. "Assuming we get through that, – speaking of, you guys get behind us when we approach; our Auras can take a few hits – how are we going to destroy the ship? My rockets pack a punch but not that big."

Price nodded to himself, then he looked at Clover and asked, "You still have that octa I gave you?"

Clover nodded and pulled out the explosive, causing the other ODSTs to gawk from behind their depolarized helmets. Ghost then asked, "Captain, where the hell did you get one of those?"

"Borrowed it from the demolition team just in case we needed it. Insurance, really," Price nonchalantly revealed. "This isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I'm glad I did."

"No kidding. That'll do the job," Gaz remarked, only for Elm to tilt her head inquisitively.

"That 'octa' thing's the size of a griffball, how will that destroy an entire ship?" Elm asked.

"It has a hundred kiloton yield," Clover answered, causing Elm and Vine to look at him with wide eyes.

After a moment, Elm squeaked out, "Yeah, that'll do it."

"So we have an explosive, now we just need to plant it," Vine continued, rolling with the new information immediately. "I'm assuming it has a timer?"

"Yes, and once it starts counting down there is nothing the Covenant can do to stop it, save throwing it out the airlock," Price revealed. "Which means we've either got to set as short a fuse as possible, or put it somewhere the Covenant won't find it."

Vine nodded, then went silent as he thought to himself and rubbed his chin with his fingers. After a moment, he then said, "Truth be told, Captain…our survival is not necessary for the mission. The longer that explosive charge is on that corvette, the greater the chance the Covenant will find it. It needs to detonate inside the ship, no matter what."

Everyone went silent as they pondered his words, then one by one they nodded in complete agreement. Clover nodded as well, knowing that letting the Covenant escape with that data drive was unacceptable. If they did, dozens of colonies, including Remnant, would be exposed to the Covenant war machine. Billions of people would be slaughtered. If he had to die to ensure that didn't happen, that was a sacrifice he would make without a second thought. He couldn't imagine a more noble death.

"Well said, Zeki. But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather get out of this alive if at all possible," Price remarked, to which Vine nodded.

"As do I, Captain," Vine replied. "I suggest that we set the fuse to the minimum needed for us to reach safe distance without giving the Covenant time to interfere."

"Sounds good to me, but how the hell are we going to do that?" Ghost asked. "As soon as those doors open, the Covenant will start shooting at us. We're good, don't get me wrong, and you lot can pull off some inhuman shit, but those aren't good odds. If we had that Marigold lady with us, we could maybe just sneak in, plant the octa, then hijack an escape pod, but that isn't an option."

The lieutenant was right, Clover knew. Assuming the Covenant did have a security detail waiting for them, they would be surrounded on all sides as soon as the Phantom got inside the hangar. No cover, no avenues for escape, just open sightlines. But as the Phantom shook and rattled once again, Clover looked up at the ceiling and began to form an idea.

"We don't…necessarily have to steal a ride off the ship. Not when we already have one," Clover pointed out.

"You mean escape on this thing? It's barely holding together as it is. Their point defense systems will shoot us down well before we can get away. And if they don't, their Seraphs certainly will," Gaz pointed out. "We already know we can't just land, so what would you have us do? Go in full speed, do a drive by, and toss the bomb out the door?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Clover answered, "That…isn't a bad idea, actually."

"…I was kidding, you crazy bastard."

"Do you have a better plan that isn't detonating the octa inside the Phantom itself?" Price asked, and Gaz went quiet once again.

"…No, sir."

"That's what I thought. Sure, your plan is crazy, but in my experience the best plans often are," Price declared. "Farah, set the timer to thirty seconds. That should give us enough time to retreat. Ebi, we're going to need as much distance as possible when you throw that thing. Can you handle that?"

Clover was already pulling out and extending Kingfisher as he answered with a smirk, "I have just the thing."

[~]

Inside the Valorous Penance's hangar bay, Dapyap held his plasma pistol at the ready, its barrel pointed down at the ground. He wasn't entirely certain what exactly was going on. Unggoy like him weren't given the full picture of anything. All he knew was that he and everyone else in the ship's security legion was gathering inside the hangar bay, waiting for three Phantoms to arrive. One had a memory block containing some very important information that the Minister of Veracity wanted above all else, while the others held some evacuating troops. Or at least, one of them did. A few of the other Unggoy Minors mentioned how some humans might've hijacked one of the Phantoms and were trying to board, so they were setting up an ambush just in case.

Dapyap hadn't fought against a lot of humans. In fact, he had fought none directly so far. He was only seven annual cycles old, and served onboard the Valorous Penance for only a few monthly cycles. That didn't create a whole lot of opportunities to do so. Not that he was regretful of that fact. In anything, he was grateful to not be thrown into combat. That was the last thing he wanted.

But, if there were actually humans on one of the Phantoms, thankfully he had hundreds of other Unggoy and Sangheili warriors backing him up. There were rumors that Demons were among them, which was a terrifying thought, but Dapyap doubted that even they could withstand such an assault. Hopefully, though, it was just rumors. The hijacking was far from confirmed. If it was, Dapyap imagined that even he would've been told.

So, for now, he just maintained his position on one of the many control platforms inside the hangar and let his eyes wander. He both gazed out through the energy shield keeping the air inside the ship to the black void of space, and to the many spacecraft attached to the ceiling above. Kai-pattern Seraphs and Elsedda-pattern Banshees were attached to specifically designed mounts, allowing the Penance's compartment of Huragok to repair any damage they might've sustained during the operation. The humans had been persistent in their pursuit, and there had been a few close calls.

At the same time, though, Dapyap was careful to make sure that First Blade 'Tuvumee didn't notice his wandering eyes. More than anyone else on the ship, 'Tuvumee terrified him. After all, he was a member of the Silent Shadow along with the rest of his lance. Wearing their dark red armor that completely encased their heads and bodies, and with red energy swords, the Silent Shadow were the left hands of the Prophets themselves. Dapyap counted it among his short blessings that they hadn't interacted much so far during this operation. Until now, the Silent Shadow were content to remain on the bridge. But the fact that they were here waiting for the Phantoms to arrive meant nothing good.

His thoughts were broken when the first Phantom finally arrived, announced over the ship's speakers. Much to his relief, when the dropship landed and opened its doors he saw three Sangheili Zealots descend the gravity lift. Borne on their shoulders was a memory block, which they immediately gave to dockworkers to carry away. But rather than leave with them, the Zealots immediately fell to one knee as 'Tuvumee and the rest of the Silent Shadow wordlessly made their way towards them.

"Forgive us, First Blade," one of the Sangheili said as he angled his neck down as much as possible. "We were not aware of Blademaster 'Haramai's intent. Had we known, we would've—"

The only response the Zealots received was the igniting of energy swords, followed by all three being executed on the spot, much to Dapyap's surprise and horror. Their heads were cleaved off their necks, leaving a scorched stump in their wake. As their lifeless, twitching bodies collapsed to the ground, the Silent Shadow deactivated their energy swords then walked away. Without even needing to say anything, the bodies were already being carried away by nearby Unggoy, undoubtedly to dispose of them in the incinerator.

Dapyap gulped to himself, not quite certain what exactly the Zealots had done to warrant such an on-the-spot execution. But he also didn't really want to know lest he turn the First Blade's eyes onto himself. So instead he did what all other Unggoy knew worked best: he kept his head down and did his job.

With the hangar completely silent, everyone waited for the next Phantom to arrive while the first was moved to a maintenance port. Eventually, Dapyap was finally able to see it approach. Unlike the first, this one was barely able to fly, clouds of smoke and sparks visibly trailing it. The Sangheili commanders then barked out orders, prompting everyone to aim their weapons in its direction.

It must've been the Phantom that was possibly hijacked, Dapyap figured, and despite his earlier confidence he felt a twinge of fear rise from his gut. He tried to force himself to push it down and be a good Minor, but then he noticed that the Phantom wasn't slowing down. In fact, if he didn't know any better, it was speeding up.

That was when the Phantom, right before entering the hangar, turned sharply to the side while maintaining its momentum. Carried forward on its remaining engine through the atmosphere shield, the Phantom flew in a flat, curved arc around the interior circumference of the hangar, slamming into platforms and docked Banshees alike as it continued its path. As debris rained down on everyone, crushing some and forcing others to take cover, including Dapyap, he saw one of the doors open. There, much to his surprise, he saw a human wearing a white uniform and holding a pole with a line attached to it. While keeping his grip on the pole, he threw it forward, causing the line to whip out and launch something into the hangar. With all the chaos and debris, Dapyap quickly lost track of it, particularly when he was forced to dive away from a dislodged Banshee.

Within a few moments, the Phantom's doors sealed shut and it sped off as fast as it could right back out of the hangar just as the warriors scattered everywhere recovered and began to fire. Bolts of blue and green plasma struck the outer hull of the fleeing dropship, but soon it was well beyond the bounds of the energy field. As the First Blade angrily ordered any Seraphs from other hangars or had escaped being crushed in their cradles to pursue, Dapyap watched as the Valorous Penance's pulse lasers attempted to shoot it down, causing purple streaks of light to break the darkness of space.

Unable to do anything else, Dapyap turned around and watched as Unggoy and Sangheili attempted to dislodge the wreckage and free anyone trapped underneath. Hearing a Sangheili angrily order him to get to work, he waddled his way towards a bit of debris that was well away from anyone else. The last thing he wanted was to have an angry Sangheili take his frustrations out on him, so working by himself was ideal.

It was here as Dapyap was carrying away what used to be the wing of a Banshee that he heard a strange ticking noise. Perplexed, he tried to ignore it, but when the noise kept coming he decided to satiate his curiosity and investigate. Following the noise, he tracked it to a corner where a crushed comm tower had collapsed. He thought about asking for a Sangheili to help him lift it, but thought better of the idea and decided to do it himself.

As he exerted himself and lifted one end of the comm tower off the ground, Dapyap was finally able to see what was making the noise. It wasn't very large, merely the size of one of those human footballs that he had seen once from one of his friends. He was prepared to dismiss it entirely when he noticed a red light rapidly blinking alongside the ticks. In fact, the blinking seemed to be getting faster and faster as time went on.

After a moment, Dapyap's eyes widened in horrified realization, and he was barely able to let out a terrified scream when the world exploded into noise and light.

[~]

"Gaz, get us out of here!"

"Damnit, I'm trying!"

"Try harder!"

Everyone inside the Phantom was doing everything they could to stay on their feet as they fled as fast as they could away from the stealth corvette. Although their tactic had created some confusion in the Covenant – after all, why would they fly in, nearly crash themselves, then immediately flee without even landing? – as soon as the aliens got over their shock, they were on them immediately. Covenant pulse lasers, acting as point defense, had begun firing on them once they escaped the hangar. Gaz and Price were doing their best to avoid the AA fire, but there was only so much they could do.

They then felt a massive shudder reverberate through the Phantom, followed by Gaz yelling, "We've lost all power to the engine!"

Realizing they were practically dead in the water, Clover simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath, resigning himself to the inevitable. But, to his surprise, that didn't come. In fact, the AA fire suddenly stopped. As he opened his eyes, Clover tried to figure out what had happened. Then, as the Phantom's momentum caused it to complete a full rotation, he got his answer.

What once was a Covenant stealth corvette was now nothing more than a cloud of debris. Their plan had worked, he realized as a smile spread across his face and the other occupants of the Phantom let out victorious cheers. It took all his strength to prevent himself from collapsing, particularly when a jubilant Elm smacked him on the shoulders.

"Uh oh," Gaz suddenly said, cutting everyone's celebrations short. "Guys, LIDAR's picking up a flight of Seraphs heading our way."

As Clover rapidly shot his head towards the ODST, Price asked, "Do our guns work?"

"No, it got knocked off when we sped through the hangar," Gaz revealed, "and I can't restore power to the engine."

"Damn it. Ebi, think you can work your magic again?" Price asked in a hopeful tone, but Clover sadly shook his head.

"Luck doesn't strike the same way twice. I don't think it's going to work like that."

A heavy silence fell over everyone as they realized what was about to happen. Releasing a sigh of his own, Price took off his helmet then looked at the others before saying, "Everyone…it's been an honor."

Speaking for the Ace-Ops, Vine replied, "As with us, Captain."

Slowly, the other ODSTs followed their captain's example and took off their helmets, resigned to their fate. Part of Clover felt a panicked helplessness at what was about to happen, but the rest calmly accepted it. They had accomplished their mission. Remnant was safe. That was all that mattered. With this in mind, he kept his eyes focused entirely on the approaching Seraphs, refusing to look away.

That was when a large shadow seemed to grow over the Phantom, blocking out Nyame's light. A moment later, the Seraphs were destroyed from multiple volleys of pinpoint accurate pulse-cannon fire.

When the dust settled, Clover struggled to figure out what had just happened, only for a large Sahara-class heavy prowler to emerge from the void. A moment later, a voice came from the cockpit which announced, "This is Captain Lucius Jiron of the UNSC Namib. Welcome aboard, boys. Job well done."

As the ODSTs and Specialists once again let out victorious cheers, Clover finally let himself relax and sit down against the wall, letting cool relief course through his veins.

[~]

It was getting harder to run now. Rteda's lungs ached with each raspy breath, and his legs burned with every step. His pursuers were getting closer, their angry shouts louder and their shots more accurate. Earlier, a plasma bolt had skimmed just over the side of his torso, leaving an intense burn across his scaly skin but luckily nothing else. The rain seemed to be coming down harder now, the storm intensifying. Every few moments, a bolt of lightning would break across the sky, illuminating the jungle just enough to let him know where he was going. Unfortunately, it was also letting Ir 'Haramai and the other Zealots know where Rteda was at the same time, allowing them to continue their pursuit unimpeded.

"The Gods are against you, Rteda!" Ir claimed, his energy sword cutting through the darkness and the jungle itself. "They demand your destruction, and I am their instrument!"

Tul and Xesan didn't say anything to add to Ir's claim, but they did fire another volley from their plasma rifles in his general direction. Rteda was forced to duck then run behind a large tree to shield himself. The wood cracked and burst under the intense heat, a few of the bolts managing to burrow their way completely through the trunk. But the tree held just long enough for Rteda to avoid getting hit directly.

As he ran, mud and water was violently kicked up behind him. The back of his legs were completely covered by now, but he didn't care. Instead, he just kept running.

"Face us, you coward!" Tul demanded, his voice filled with indignation and rage.

But as before, Rteda refused to give an answer, to give them what they wanted. Because not only would doing so surely lead to his death, it would give his pursuers the validation they desperately craved. They needed to confront Rteda, to hear him either beg for mercy or angrily spit in their faces before driving their swords through his chest. Not just because they wanted vengeance, but because they needed the affirmation killing him would bring. By killing Rteda, Ir and the other Zealots would take it as divine proof that they remained on the path and that Rteda was the true heretic, not them.

Rteda knew better. Part of him wondered if the others understood that, too, deep down. But the rest dismissed that futile hope. If there was one thing the Zealots were good at, it was brainwashing their members into pushing aside any semblance of doubt or self-reflection from their minds. To think he almost went down that same path. His odds of surviving this would be no better once exhaustion finally overtook him and he would be forced to confront the Zealots.

But he did know this: If he was to die, he would do so with his honor intact, and his mind his own.

When another volley of plasma bolts shot over his head, Rteda dove to the side in order to avoid them. But due to the darkness, he didn't realize until it was too late that he was diving head first into a steep ravine. He let out a yelp of surprise as he fell down the slope, tumbling head over foot through the mud and branches. He could feel every impact, and despite his best efforts to stop himself, the mud was too slick for him to grab ahold of. So he kept going, curling into a ball in order to reduce the impact as much as possible while shielding his head.

When he finally came to a stop at the bottom of the ravine, Rteda laid motionlessly on his back. Idly, he looked around to try and get a sense of his bearings. But he was finding it hard to concentrate, and what little he could see appeared blurry. He most likely had a concussion, he had to imagine. Rteda couldn't hear Ir and the others anymore, so at least he had that going for him.

After a few moments, he began to move his limbs in an effort to see and feel if anything was off. Nothing felt broken, but there was an omnipresent aching pain that overshadowed everything. Figuring that was good enough for now, Rteda turned himself over and forced himself to push off the ground and get back onto his feet. He nearly stumbled and fell back into the small creek he found himself in, but like any true Sangheili he fought through the pain.

When he finally managed to stand fully upright, Rteda looked over his body and winced. Several sections of his already damaged undersuit had torn during the fall, exposing his skin to the elements. Small cuts were leaking purple blood out of his body, getting washed away by the intense rain as soon as it was exposed. A few sticks and stones were embedded in his scales, but Rteda quickly pulled them out as best he could without making his wounds worse. All in all, he counted himself lucky. His injuries could've been far more deadly.

Still, when he tried to take a step he almost immediately collapsed onto a knee. Reminded of every crash and battle he'd been through since he'd first awoken this cycle, Rteda took a few deep, raspy breaths then forced himself back up. Slowly and steadily, he began to move down the creek, knowing that this momentary respite wouldn't last for long. Soon Ir, Tul, and Xesan would make their way down the ravine and join him, and if he was caught out in the open he was as good as dead. His undersuit may have offered some protection against the elements, but against small arms fire it was practically nothing. Human ballistic plating would've offered more protection.

While his initial strides were shaky and sent shots of pain through his body, each one proved to be somewhat easier than the last. Rteda didn't know if that was simply his body starting to heal or if his mind was beginning to ignore the pain, but he didn't really care. Instead he just kept going, moving into the jungle in a bid to get more cover. His right arm felt harder to move than the other as the adrenaline began to wear off, and if he moved it too much too rapidly it burned like fire, but he couldn't tell if it was actually broken or just sprained and bruised. Either way, he figured it would be best not to move it too much if he didn't have to, so he held it firmly close to his chest while using his left arm to push aside any foliage in his way.

As he continued to traverse the jungle, his pace now much slower than the sprint he started off with, he began to get the sense that something was watching him. Every so often, he would see a native animal watching him go, their eyes shining through the dark, but this felt different. The animals were looking at him in curiosity, not quite knowing what he was. But this new sensation…it felt far more predatory and intelligent, like it knew who he was and was hunting him down.

Rteda didn't know if his instincts were actually telling him something, or if he was simply being paranoid. Either way, he continued to move, limping through the jungle. Occasionally he would slip and almost fall, but he would manage to pick himself up shortly after and keep moving forward. He didn't have a destination in mind. So long as he got away from the others, he would be fine.

Then, much to Rteda's surprise, he saw a small clearing through the trees ahead of him. Cautiously making his way towards it, he pushed aside a large, flat leaf to see what was in it, if anything. The darkness made it difficult to see anything, but a flash of lightning illuminated a Shadow transport, much to his shock. It was heavily beat up, but it was lying in the middle of the clearing, completely unattended.

Letting out a small smile, Rteda thought that he had finally found salvation. All he had to do was get in the vehicle and drive off, or at least tap into the battlenet and request aid while explaining the situation. He almost ran towards it, but then he stopped. A single Shadow all by itself, completely unattended and in the open, and in the general area where he and the other Zealots had crashed? After a few moments, he began to get the sense that the Shadow was left there deliberately, as though the former occupants wanted it to be found.

'This is a trap,' he realized, and Rteda narrowed his eyes as he began trying to find whoever laid it. But it was nearly impossible to see anything through the heavy storm and darkness, and the storm masked any scent that would've provided more clues.

At first he worried that it was humans who had laid the trap. But then, after another bolt of lightning illuminated the clearing, Rteda was able to notice that the Shadow had pieces of human armor welded onto its hull. Most had been ripped off, but there were still a few remaining. This was one of the Shadows from the convoy, Rteda realized. Perhaps even the one that Atriox had been riding when he and Decimus were thrown off the side of a mountain, then used to contact their Phantom in a bid for extraction.

Rteda already figured that the Minister of Veracity had sent soldiers to eliminate them for the Blademaster's blatant insubordination. Had he decided to send Atriox and Decimus after them? It was certainly possible, and Ir had given Atriox more than enough reason to want him dead even before his outright desertion. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It also relieved him somewhat. If the Minister had sent the Valorous Penance's compliment of the Silent Shadow, they wouldn't care that he had tried to stop Ir at all. He'd be guilty by association.

He debated himself on what to do next. Although Rteda liked to think that he had built something of a rapport with Atriox, there was no guarantee that would be enough for the Jiralhanae to hear him out. Assuming it was, actually, Atriox and not someone else. He doubted it was humans, though. There was no reason for them to hunt Rteda and any other strays down, not when they were completely focused on the Cartographer. The logical part of Rteda's mind was telling him to turn around and keep going.

But the rest remembered what his original plan was, the only true way he was going to survive this. With that in mind, Rteda took a deep breath, forced himself to stand up straight, then began to make his way out into the open towards the Shadow. With every step, he could feel eyes boring into his back, but he didn't care as he continued moving towards the transport. When he got to it, instead of getting in the driver's seat he turned around, pressed his back to the armor plating, and sat down. He let out a relieved sigh as his tired legs no longer had to support his weight, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

When a crack of lightning sounded overhead, Rteda slowly opened his eyes and looked upward. There, standing before him, was Chieftain Atriox, gravity hammer in hand and staring down at him with a blank expression on his face.

"Chieftain," Rteda said, keeping his voice as calm as possible. Atriox didn't say anything, instead continuing to stare at him while tightening his grip on his gravity hammer.

Deciding to continue, Rteda continued, "I take it the Minister sent you to kill us? I'm not surprised. It's what I would do if I was him."

Again, Atriox said nothing, but now Rteda could sense Decimus standing beside him. Sparing the Jiralhanae warrior a quick glance, Rteda kept his attention squarely on the Chieftain and said, "I know you have no reason to believe me when I say this, but know it is the truth. I am not part of Ir's heresy. He attempted to divert our course towards the Cartographer in an effort to be seen defending it and, more importantly, protect his pride and honor. But I suspect you already figured that out."

Rteda paused for a moment, giving Atriox or Decimus a chance to respond. But, once again, the Jiralhanae remained quiet. They also weren't moving to kill him, which Rteda took as a positive sign that they were at least hearing him out. Figuring that was as good as he could get, Rteda took a deep breath and continued his explanation.

"You and the Minister probably think that humans shot us down, but they didn't," Rteda revealed. "There aren't any humans here. I'm the reason we crashed. When I voiced opposition to Ir's plans, he called me a heretic and expelled me from the Zealots. He was going to execute me, banish me from the Covenant for the crime of trying to stay true to our oaths…so I shot him to protect myself. His armor and shield protected him, but the pilots were killed in the crossfire. We crashed immediately afterwards."

Taking another deep breath, Rteda claimed, "Ir, Tul, and Xesan still survive. They blame me for their predicament and have been hunting me down since we crash-landed in the jungle. I lost them not too long ago, but I guarantee they'll track me down soon enough. They've been…relentless. Chieftain, once again I know you have no reason to believe me, but I speak only the truth. Do with me as you wish."

With that, Rteda closed his mandibles together, knowing that he had done all he could. He kept his eyes on Atriox, refusing to cower away from his fate, whatever it may be. Atriox remained as stoic as ever, his eyes burning with both rage and contemplation. Decimus openly snorted, clearly not believing a word of what Rteda was saying. But at least Atriox was considering it. Whether it would be enough was impossible to say.

Still, when Atriox shifted his hammer in his hands, Rteda felt his hearts sink. He released another, resigned sigh, but then he noticed a light coming out of the jungle. His eyes widened in recognition, and without even thinking, he acted.

"Look out!" Rteda yelled as he extended his legs forward and swept them under Atriox' feet, catching the Chieftain off guard.

As he fell to the ground, Decimus let out a roar and prepared to crush Rteda's head underneath the weight of his gravity hammer, but then a volley of plasma bolts cut through the air right where he and Atriox were. Some of the bolts grazed Decimus, but his hide and armor protected him from the scorching heat as he scrambled for cover. At the same time, Rteda and Atriox scrambled to their feet and ran around to the other side of the Shadow, its hull protecting them from the plasma fire.

"There's nowhere for you to run, coward!" Ir shouted as he, Tul, and Xesan emerged from the jungle. "And I see the Jiralhanae are with you! Perfect, now I can cut both of you down myself!"

"Damn it, I thought I had more time!" Rteda cursed as he pinned himself to the back of the Shadow.

"So, you were telling the truth," Atriox calmly said, seemingly ignoring the firefight they now found themselves in while Decimus had swapped his gravity hammer for a spiker and was now exchanging fire with the Zealots.

"Yes!" Rteda answered. "All of it!"

"Hmm," Atriox hummed, then pulled out a spiker of his own and handed it to Rteda. He then asked, "Do you know how to use this?"

Rteda looked at the offered Jiralhanae weapon, knowing that any true Sangheili would steadfastly refuse to even touch it. Instead, he looked Atriox in the eye, nodded, then took the weapon for his own. Atriox grunted in satisfaction, then looked at Decimus.

"Decimus, how many are there?" Atriox asked.

"As he said, three!" Decimus announced, getting back into cover to reload his spiker. "Two of them are trying to flank us while their Blademaster is coming in from the front!"

"Hmm," Atriox grunted once again, then ordered, "We need to cut Tul and Xesan down first, eliminate their suppressive fire."

"I can distract Ir. He wants me dead the most," Rteda offered, and Atriox nodded. Beckoning for Rteda to step back, Atriox took his place then grabbed one of the edges of the welded, supplemental armor fashioned to the side of the Shadow.

"As soon as I open this, you charge through. Got it?" Atriox asked, and Rteda nodded. Atriox nodded back, then immediately pried the armor apart at the seams.

When the opening was big enough, Rteda ran through with his spiker extended outward. He fired a few superheated spikes towards Ir, finding that the weight and recoil made it somewhat unwieldy for him to use. Most went wide, but some managed to hit Ir only to be deflected by his energy shield.

"You're using Jiralhanae weapons?! Have you no shame or honor?!" Ir demanded, his voice filled with disgust as he charged towards his former subordinate.

"I should ask you the same thing!" Rteda countered, continuing his charge. In the back of his mind, he was worried that either Tul or Xesan would fire upon him, but he quickly noticed that they were now preoccupied with Atriox and Decimus, respectively. The Jiralhanae's roars and cracks of their gravity hammers were cutting through the sound of plasma fire, clearly putting the Zealots on the backfoot for a change even if Rteda could only see passing glimpses of their combat.

Firing another trio of shots, Rteda swung his weapon's bayonet towards his former commander. But the skilled Blademaster expertly dodged the attack then retaliated with a stab from his energy sword. Rteda barely managed to deflect it with his energy dagger, and the pair of Sangheili began to circle one another.

"It was a mistake accepting you into our order," Ir growled, swinging his energy sword a few times at Rteda who either dodged or deflected it with his energy dagger. "Being a Zealot requires absolute dedication. Unquestioning loyalty and conviction towards our righteous cause. Qualities you've never exhibited."

"Loyalty to the Covenant, or yourself?" Rteda shot back, firing a pair of spikes and making a stab attempt with his dagger, both of which Ir either shrugged off or avoided. Rteda then kicked Ir back when the Blademaster made another attempt to attack. "My only crime was questioning your decisions. My only regret was not doing so earlier, heretic."

Ir's nostrils flared with rage, then he launched a flurry of attacks that Rteda was only barely able to avoid. As the Blademaster continued his assault, he roared, "Do not accuse me of heresy! I have served the Covenant since you were but a worthless whelp! Thousands have died by my hand alone to further our righteous cause and bring us closer to the Great Journey. What have you done?! Nothing!"

Tackling the former Zealot with a roar, Ir slammed Rteda into the Shadow and pressed his energy sword up to his throat. It took all of Rteda's strength to keep the blade from making contact, but he could feel the intense heat burning his skin. At the same time, he locked eyes with Ir 'Haramai, matching his furious gaze with his own.

"When you are gone, no one will remember your name," Ir claimed, pressing the blade further towards Rteda's neck. "You and your keep will be wiped from the annals of the Covenant's history, cleansed from existence itself! You will join the humans you admire so much in oblivion!"

All Rteda could do was grunt and groan as he tried to push Ir off of him. But his injuries, coupled with Ir's superior strength, was making that impossible. So he did the only thing he could think of to get some space, and kicked as hard as he could between Ir's legs. At the same time, he heard another spiker fire, followed by a line of spikes embedding themselves into the Shadow's hull and into the back of Ir's energy shield. With its strength weakened, the shield finally broke under the strain of Rteda's blow.

He watched Ir's eyes bulge as he doubled over in pain, allowing Rteda to push him off. As Ir stumbled back, he instinctively covered his groin with his left hand, then he roared in anger as he recovered. Charging back towards Rteda with his energy sword raised high, he attempted to cut the former Zealot in two.

Acting on instinct and desperation, Rteda raised his energy dagger high and caught the sword with it. As the pair of Sangheili locked blades, Rteda stabbed forward with his spiker's bayonet towards Ir's chest. Ir's eyes widened as he felt the twin blades pierce his armor and into his chest. As he gurgled in surprise, Rteda pulled the trigger and emptied the rest of the spiker's magazine, drilling a larger and larger hole with each shot. By the time the magazine clicked empty, the bloody spikes were now shooting into the trees behind them.

Ir tried to say something while shakily reaching for Rteda's neck, but soon his entire body fell limp. With a heavy push, Rteda shoved Ir off of him, causing his body to fall into the mud. Breathing heavily, Rteda stood over the corpse of his former commander, his eyes wide as he realized what he just did. He shakily raised his hands upward to see them covered in purple, and he felt the world begin to spin.

"Well done," Atriox announced, knocking Rteda out of his stupor. Looking over to the side, Rteda say that Atriox was now standing beside him. There were several burns on his black fur, but the head of his gravity hammer was now covered in purple and gore, telling Rteda all he needed to know. Decimus was in a similar state, although he was carrying Xesan's head and the blades of his spiker were bloodstained.

Decimus, noticing Ir's body, smirked towards Rteda then congratulated him, "Heh-heh. Nice one."

Rteda looked at the pair, then lowered his hands, released a sigh, and replied, "Thank you. I know he deserved it. He betrayed the Covenant, and I had no choice. But, part of me can't help but feel remorseful. Before this planet, before the Cartographer…he was a good leader."

"It will pass in time," Atriox bluntly advised Rteda. "Best to close your heart to it. All that's important is that he would've killed you. Nothing else matters."

"I suppose you're right," Rteda admitted, then turned towards Atriox and asked, "So then…what happens now?"

Atriox was silent at first, then he answered, "I was ordered by the Minister to kill Ir 'Haramai and his Zealots… I believe that mission has been fulfilled."

Rteda couldn't help but release a sigh of relief as he said, "Thank you, Chieftain."

Atriox released a grunt, then ordered, "Decimus, reestablish contact with the Valorous Penance. We need to let the Minister know the heretics are dead."

"Of course, Chieftain," Decimus replied, already working to boost the Shadow's signal strength as they did before.

The clearing fell into silence, and Rteda allowed himself to sit down inside the troop bay. As he did, he gingerly clutched his sides, wincing with practically every breath.

"You're injured," Atriox noted, and Rteda nodded. The Chieftain nodded back, then pulled out a human-made canister and tossed it to the Sangheili who deftly caught it.

"What is this?" Rteda asked.

"Biofoam," Atriox answered. "Humans use it to seal wounds sustained in combat. Decimus and I used most of it ourselves, but there should be enough to dress some of yours."

Rteda nodded then looked at the alien canister. He knew any proper Sangheili would refuse to use such a thing, but he decided it was better not to bleed to death and began to apply the biofoam to himself. As this was the first time he had ever used the device, he wasted the initial applications. But soon he was able to figure out how to make it work, and although he winced in slight pain as the biofoam filled his wounds, it was soon replaced by cool relief.

"Thank you," Rteda said as he tossed the canister aside, to which Atriox gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

The clearing fell silent once again, with only the sounds of thunder and Decimus' work being heard. Eventually, they heard Decimus bang twice on the hull, letting Atriox and Rteda know that he was done. Atriox left the troop bay first, Rteda following him back out into the rain as they rounded the transport towards the driver's seat. Atriox, hopping inside, leaned towards the microphone and began to speak.

"Valorous Penance, this is Chieftain Atriox. Ir and his heretics are dead," Atriox reported. "Requesting extraction."

All they received in response was silence and static. Letting out a grunt of annoyance, Atriox repeated, "This is Chieftain Atriox. I repeat, the heretics are dead. Requesting immediate extraction."

When they still didn't get a response, Rteda asked, "Why aren't they answering?"

"They did this last time," Decimus reported with a shrug. "The signal strength on the Shadow was barely able to reach them at all, so this isn't a surprise."

Rteda nodded in acknowledgement as Atriox continued to try and establish contact with their ship. But after several more attempts, Rteda narrowed his eyes and asked, "Did it take this long last time?"

Decimus, now thoroughly annoyed, replied, "No, it didn't."

"Gah!" Atriox hissed in frustration. "Why aren't they answering our hails?"

Rteda clicked his mandibles together as he thought, then wondered aloud, "They…wouldn't have left us already, would they?"

Atriox released a grunt and answered, "Knowing the Minister, it would not surprise me in the slightest. Especially when you consider the Cartographer data and the humans relentlessly hunting it."

"Great, just perfect," Decimus growled, running his hands over his head as he let his exhausted frustration boil over.

Rteda nodded in agreement, knowing that simply leaving with the data as soon as they got it was well within the Minister's rights. Even if it left a sour taste in his mouth, Rteda likely would've done the same thing. But then he remembered what else was heading towards the Valorous Penance, and his eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" Atriox asked, noticing the shift in Rteda's expression.

Rteda was silent at first, then he answered, "Before Ir shifted our course, we noticed the third Phantom from our convoy, the one that the humans shot down, had rejoined us. Ir thought the crew had managed to repair it enough to get it airborne, and that their communication gear was too damaged to answer our hails."

Decimus and Atriox looked at each other, then the Chieftain pointed out, "You do realize humans were piloting that Phantom, yes?"

"That's what I said. I told the Blademaster we should shoot it down," Rteda revealed. "But all Ir did was issue a warning to the Penance about a possible boarding party. He figured a single Phantom possibly being boarded wasn't enough of a concern to warrant anything else."

"That damn fool…," Atriox released another growl.

"You don't…you don't think the humans destroyed the Penance, do you?" Rteda asked, alarm filling his voice. "It was just a single Phantom."

"And depending on who was in it, that may be enough. The humans have done it before throughout this war," Atriox claimed, then released a sigh. "In any case, we don't have enough information to come to a conclusion. What we do know is that the Penance, for whatever reason, is not in a position to pick us up. That means it's up to us to get out of here ourselves."

Rteda figured that made sense, then backed up alongside Atriox as the Jiralhanae Chieftain got out of the driver's seat and ordered, "Decimus, reroute power to the engines. We're going to drive straight towards the Covenant line as far as we can, find a base, and figure out what happened."

"Yes, Chieftain," Decimus sighed at having to reconfigure the wiring yet again, but went to work regardless.

[~]

"Setting the charge now!" the engineer shouted, his voice barely able to be heard over the constant barrage of gunfire, explosions, and screams.

"Good, hurry up!" Qrow yelled back, decapitating an Elite who had foolishly attempted to run him down with his energy sword. In the same motion, he fired three shots from his backup magnum, killing three Grunts who fell lifelessly to the ground with holes in their faces.

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?!" the engineer shouted back, but Qrow merely rolled his eyes and continued to engage the Covenant.

As they all had expected, once the Covenant reinforcements made landfall they immediately attempted to retake the Cartographer. Scores of Banshees, Phantoms, Spirits, and even Scarabs were dropped from orbit, depositing a large army that engaged the UNSC forces from nearly all sides. The air became filled with plasma mortars that rained down on human defenders, followed by Banshee air raids that did everything they could to clear a path to the Cartographer.

But if they had expected the humans to just roll over and let them pass, the Covenant were sorely mistaken as they ran headfirst into the UNSC's defenses. There was no intention to hold the Cartographer forever. That was impossible for more reasons than Qrow cared to count. Instead, all the UNSC cared about was delaying the Covenant long enough for the engineers to finish prepping the demolition charges. They had done wonderfully so far. Hastily placed LOTUS anti-tank mines, hidden beneath the jungle floor, had decimated much of the Covenant's armor when they carelessly passed over them in their haste to purge the humans from the facility. Kodiak mobile artillery batteries further inflicted heavy casualties among the Covenant army, concentrating on the walkers first as they were the biggest threat. It helped that the Kodiaks were able to fire their cannons well out of range of the Covenant's retaliation. Wolverines and Warthogs armed with anti-air rockets shot down dozens of Banshees whenever they made a pass, preventing the Covenant from having complete air superiority.

The Covenant were still advancing further and further towards the Cartographer. With their numerical and technological superiority, that was inevitable. But so long as they delayed the Covenant long enough for the engineers to finish laying and priming the charges, Qrow didn't care. Speaking of the charges, they weren't using a HAVOK nuke like he expected. Apparently, using a tactical nuke would make extraction nearly impossible and would threaten to destroy New Timbuktu which would've been in the blast radius. Instead the UNSC were incorporating dozens of non-nuclear shaped charges of octanitrocubane, or octas as the engineers liked to call them. Each one had an explosive yield of a hundred kilotons, which made Qrow question just what the hell the UNSC put in those things.

But that wasn't really his concern. His only concern was protecting the team of engineers as they continued prepping the charges and depositing them into excavated holes that exposed pieces of Forerunner machinery. After seeing nearly a dozen of these holes spread over miles, Qrow only now fully understood the scope of the Forerunner facility they were trying to destroy. The fact that it remained undetected for all these years was mind-boggling, and the idea of it lasting this long and in such perfect condition was awe-inspiring. It was a shame they had to destroy it. Qrow knew several people who would've loved to study the Cartographer and discern its secrets.

With this in mind, Qrow mentally apologized to those people as he continued fighting off the Covenant. He and several squads of marines, supported by Warthogs and Scorpions, were holding off the attackers further up the river from the Cartographer itself. They had earlier used mining explosives to drill a horizontal hole in the cliffside to expose the outer wall of the Cartographer, one of only a handful left that needed to be primed. Johnson was further up, and Qrow could hear his Warthog's machinegun firing nonstop.

"Branwen, octa is primed!" Johnson revealed, shouting over TEAMCOM.

"Fantastic!" Qrow replied as he fired his captured needler at a charging Brute, the embedded blamite crystals causing a pink, supercombine explosion that reduced the Brute to a cloud of red gore. "We're still setting up over here!"

As Qrow reloaded his alien weapon by slotting in a new crystal into the opened back of the weapon, then pressing a button which caused several split shards to emerge out of holes in the top, he flinched as a Scorpion was destroyed by a pair of Hunters. Letting out a curse, he shifted Harbinger into its scythe configuration then charged the walking behemoths, spring-boarding off one's shield to flip over the other, hooking his blade around it as he passed to slice it in half from the waist. As the Hunter collapsed into two heaps of mangled worms and metal, its twin let out an enraged roar and focused all of its attention onto Qrow, its thirst for vengeance exposing its back long enough for a marine armed with a rocket launcher to fire both tubes into its back. The first rocket destroyed the protective plate, while the second detonated inside the orange flesh, killing the creature.

"Hell yeah!" the marine shouted victoriously. Qrow couldn't help but smirk, only for it to be dashed when a bright, needle-thin beam cut right through the man's neck.

"Sniper!" someone else yelled as another shot reached out, this one aimed at Qrow who was barely able to deflect it with Harbinger. As the marines and soldiers scrambled for cover in their foxholes, Qrow dove behind the wrecked remains of a Locust walker he had previously destroyed.

"Where is it?!" Qrow shouted as he pulled out his magnum and exchanged fire with some Grunts who were bravely attempting to advance on his position while he was pinned down.

"He's on that ridge, but I can't get a bead on him!" a marine sniper reported, keeping his head down as an unending volley of plasma fire kept him and the others from returning fire.

Qrow let out another curse, but before he could try to come up with a solution, he heard the dull reports of artillery cannons firing in the distance. It was followed by an increasingly loud whine, then the top of the ridge exploded as the artillery shells hit. Rocks and shattered trees rained down on the Covenant forces below, forcing them to scramble for cover and giving the UNSC soldiers enough of an opening to break cover and fire their weapons once again.

Realizing what had happened, Qrow silently thanked whoever called in the artillery then went back to engaging the Covenant. Every so often a stray bullet or plasma bolt would hit him while he cut and cleaved his way through the Covenant line, but thanks to his Aura he was mostly unaffected. He couldn't do this forever, though. Already he could feel his Aura strain, and it was beginning to flicker dangerously.

"Charge is set!" the engineer called out. "Detonation is in ten minutes!"

"Go, go!" Qrow ordered, fighting at an even more intense pace while the soldiers, their mission accomplished, scrambled for the Warthogs, Razorbacks, and Mongooses they had hidden away. While they had hoped they would've had enough time to extract to the rendezvous point through the air, that ceased being an option not long after the Covenant attacked. Part of Qrow wanted to join them, but the rest knew that, with how many Covenant forces were still attacking them, there was little chance that the marines would have enough space to actually escape.

So instead he stayed on his own two feet, firing two shells from Harbinger's barrels into an Elite's chest while yelling, "I'll cover you!"

"But—!" a marine from the Midsummer Night protested, but Qrow waved him off.

"Just go!" he yelled, firing his needler at a few Grunts which caused their plasma grenades to explode along with the supercombine.

Not needing to be told twice, the soldiers took off on their vehicles as fast as they could. Water, mud, and pebbles were kicked up by the squealing tires, and the Covenant soldiers not trying to kill Qrow attempted to cut the fleeing soldiers down. Some of the Warthogs and Mongooses succumbed to the enemy fire and exploded, taking their occupants with them, but the rest were able to break through. Marines manning the machinegun turrets mowed down the Covenant troops, breaking through even the toughest Elite's shield before disappearing further down the river.

Soon it was just Qrow taking on the Covenant, which was fine by him. Wasn't too dissimilar from how he normally operated against the Grimm. Sure, the Grimm didn't fire plasma guns at him, but a single Huntsman taking on a vastly superior force was just another Tuesday in his mind. If anything, now he could go all out without having to worry about protecting one of his comrades.

"Branwen, where are you?!" Johnson asked, but Qrow shook his head as he blocked an energy sword with Harbinger's blade, stuck the Elite with a plasma grenade, then kicked him away before the alien exploded in the middle of his lance.

"I'm fine, just go! Get out of here!" Qrow yelled, eyeing a Ghost he was planning to commandeer to make his own escape. Sure, unlike Robyn he hadn't actually driven one of them before, but if she could, why couldn't he?

But it was clear that Johnson disagreed as he angrily replied, "You sure as hell aren't! Sit tight, I'm on my way!"

"Don't, it's too hot! You'll never make it!" Qrow protested, but Johnson didn't respond.

Letting out a curse and hoping that the marine sergeant would come to his senses, Qrow continued attacking the invaders. Multicolored streams of blood flew through the air alongside severed limbs and heads as Qrow cut down anything in his path. The pilot of the Ghost seemed to realize what Qrow was trying to do as he approached, and was keeping its distance while firing its twin plasma cannons at him, but Qrow was moving too fast for the alien hovercraft to fully track.

As he got closer and closer to the Ghost, its Grunt pilot began to panic. The sight only made Qrow smirk, and as he jumped through the air and fired Harbinger at a pair of Jackals underneath him, he believed there wasn't anything the Grunt could do to stop him. That was when the Grunt, in a bid to escape getting hijacked, activated his Ghost's boost and sped away. But, as he sped off, the engine suddenly caught on fire, and the Ghost veered out of control, splattered an entire Covenant lance, then exploded against the side of a nearby cliff. Qrow could only stare slack-jawed at the sight, then he released a heavy sigh.

"Gods damn it, I hate my Semblance…," he muttered to himself.

Before he could try to figure out a new way to get out or, if he absolutely had to, transform into a crow and fly away, the Covenant forces recovered and renewed their assault. Qrow hastily deflected several bolts with Harbinger as he retreated back to cover, but caught one in the gut that made his already strained Aura flicker dangerously. Letting out a grunt of pain, Qrow dove behind a rock for cover and shielded his head as the plasma bolts began to whittle down and melt his temporary shelter away. Reloading his magnum, he prepared to shoot his way out, only to hear the roar of an engine.

Shocked, Qrow turned his head to see a single Warthog barreling down the riverbed, running over any Covenant soldier in its way while the chaingun turret fired incessantly. Sergeant Johnson was in the driver's seat, making a beeline towards Qrow that resulted in a skidding stop and the passenger seat facing Qrow himself.

"Get your ass in here, now!" Johnson yelled as he fired his magnum one-handed towards the Covenant.

Not needing to be told twice, Qrow dove into the passenger seat. Johnson didn't even give the Huntsman enough time to fully settle in before he slammed his foot on the gas pedal, causing the Warthog to momentarily spin in place before zooming off down the river. The marine gunner, whom Qrow recognized as one of Johnson's men – a Private Jenkins if he remembered correctly – continued to fire the chaingun toward the pursuing Covenant, his fingers never leaving the trigger.

"Get some! Come on, you alien sons of bitches! Get some!" Jenkins shouted at the top of his lungs as he gunned down every alien in sight, reducing a pursuing Ghost to scrap metal.

As Qrow finally settled in, Johnson slammed his elbow into his arm and yelled, "What the hell where you thinking, trying to pull that hero shit, Branwen?!"

"I could say the same to you!" Qrow shot back, leaning out the side to bisect a nearby Ghost attempting to overrun them with Harbinger. "I told you to leave!"

"Yeah, and given how that was completely stupid, I elected to ignore it!" Johnson claimed. "I made a promise to two little girls to bring you home safe and sound, and with God as my witness I do not intend to break that promise because you did something completely idiotic!"

Despite himself, Qrow couldn't help but let out a laugh, which Johnson echoed with a smile. But soon they focused entirely on their retreat, driving away on their Warthog from the Cartographer site as fast as possible. Glancing at the corner of his goggles' HUD, Qrow winced as he saw that they only had five minutes to escape the blast radius of the octas their team had planted. Given just how windy the river was, and all the Covenant forces trying to kill them, that was easier said than done.

"GAAGH!" he heard Jenkins scream in pain as a plasma bolt skimmed just over his side.

The marine was barely able to hold onto the turret, preventing him from falling off to his death. Acting on instinct, Qrow climbed over the back of the Warthog and grabbed Jenkins before placing him in the passenger seat while Johnson did his best to avoid the now uncontested plasma fire from their pursuers. He then reached for the Warthog's first aid kit, opened it, and applied an anti-burn spray onto the exposed flesh, which made Jenkins wince in pain and discomfort.

"You okay, Jenkins?" Johnson asked, glancing over at the private while continuing to drive. A few of the plasma bolts managed to hit, the titanium armor plating boiling from the intense heat.

Jenkins, with tears in his eyes, nodded slightly. Qrow nodded back, then took the marine's place on the turret. Swinging it around, he aimed at the nearest Ghost then unloaded a hail of armor penetrating bullets into its front engine. The hailstorm of metal tore through the nanolaminate armor plating of the Ghost, causing it to burst into flames and lose control. As it veered off to the side, Qrow was already moving onto the next, where he repeated the process ad nauseum.

That was when, as a Spectre zoomed towards them, they felt and heard a deafening explosion. A massive shockwave ripped through the canyon, kicking up anything caught in its path. The lighter Ghosts and dead bodies were thrown through the air, and while the three humans on the Warthog screamed as the back wheels lifted off the ground, the vehicle was luckily able to quickly regain its footing.

"Holy shit!" a terrified Jenkins screamed, and Qrow narrowed his eyes as, off in the distance, he saw a large mushroom cloud tear a hole through the storm clouds above them.

"Looks like the first octa charges are going up!" Qrow stated as yet another charge detonated. This one was further away, so the resulting shockwave wasn't as intense. But it still ruffled his hair.

Looking up at his HUD's timer, he saw that they now had three minutes to escape their octas, and they were still half a mile from the minimum safe distance. Gritting his teeth, Qrow continued to fire the chaingun at the pursuing Spectre as Johnson maneuvered the Warthog as best he could to avoid the plasma fire while keeping at top speed. Jenkins had managed to recover enough to where he was able to shoulder a SPNKr and fire its payload towards some Banshees attempting to attack them from above.

As they drove through the riverbed, Qrow could see them passing by the wrecked remains of fallen Warthogs, Mongooses, and more UNSC vehicles. Johnson was doing his best to avoid the human bodies, but occasionally there was no other option and so he was forced to run right over them. It left a sour taste in Qrow's mouth, but he knew they didn't have much of a choice. At least he was finally able to kill the Spectre following them, the hovercraft bursting into blue flames.

Already moving the turret to the next target, his attention was drawn upwards as they heard a loud, screeching wail. Thinking it was a Banshee, Qrow swiveled the turret skyward, already prepared to open fire. But what he saw gave him pause as, descending from the clouds like the specter of death, was a massive Covenant aircraft. It was shaped like a bulbous teardrop covered in purple armor plating, wide in the front and converging into an elongated tail at the end. A gravity lift could be seen on the bottom, and on the sides were two large hangar doors with plasma cannons mounted onto them.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Jenkins wailed, but Qrow had absolutely no idea. He had extensively studied all of the Covenant vehicles the UNSC had catalogued up until this point in the war, but nothing matched this super-dropship's description. He glanced at Johnson, and it was clear that the sergeant didn't know what it was either as he stared slack-jawed at the thing.

That was when the front of the super-dropship began to glow green. Acting on pure instinct, Johnson swerved to the side just as the dropship's ventral cannon fired, unleashing a massive neon-green beam that gouged a giant trench through the jungle, melting anything in its path.

"That's a goddamn flying Scarab!" Johnson declared, altering course to a side tributary as the super-dropship fired its main gun once again.

Qrow was already firing the Vulcan towards the aircraft, not particularly caring if it wasn't accomplishing anything. With his Semblance, there was always the chance the Covenant would suffer an unfortunate hit, and if nothing else it was making him feel better. A hail of smaller plasma bolts rained down towards their Warthog as the super-dropship pursued them. Johnson, in an effort to get some cover, veered out from the riverbed and into the jungle itself, letting the trees mask their presence to at least some extent.

Bullets and plasma tore through the canopy, and every so often they would hear a loud wail signaling that the dropship was about to fire its main gun. Whenever that happened, Johnson would veer off course, causing the gun to miss them. The heat washed over Qrow's skin, pushing his Aura to the limit while Johnson and Jenkins were forced to bear the pain as best they could.

Soon they began to slope downward as they descended into another ravine. Qrow's arms were beginning to rattle from the constant vibrations of the firing chaingun when they felt another series of explosions. More octas had detonated, kicking up numerous clouds of dust, smoke and debris that destroyed anything within a two-kilometer radius. Although they were outside their range, they were much closer than before. When the shockwave hit, their Warthog was kicked up into the air and only barely managed to land on its wheels and keep going. Large rocks were also launched into their path, some even hitting the pursuing super-dropship much to Qrow's surprise.

"Thirty seconds!" Jenkins warned as he futilely fired his last remaining rockets at the dropship above, which exploded uselessly against the bottom hull to no effect.

Part of Qrow resigned himself, seeing no way they were going to get out of this intact. They hadn't gotten out of the danger zone yet, and even if they did, that dropship was zeroing in on them fast. Soon, there would be no chance of it missing. But the rest yelled in defiance as he continued to fire the chaingun towards the Covenant, taking a morbid comfort in the fact that the aliens who were so focused on killing them were about to just get blown up along with them.

"Sarge, what the hell are you doing?!" Jenkins screamed in terror, causing Qrow to look over his shoulder to see what the marine was talking about.

"Oh, shit…," Qrow muttered as he realized that, at the end of the river they were currently traveling down, was a large waterfall.

"Hold onto your butts!" Johnson warned, making a beeline towards it.

Simply letting go of the chaingun as its magazine finally ran dry, Qrow turned around and held onto the top of the chassis as tightly as he could, his fingers digging into the titanium. Jenkins and Johnson were doing the same, belatedly fastening their seatbelts around their chests and waists. As they approached the cliff, Qrow watched as the timer ticked ever and ever closer to zero, and heard the super-dropship charging up its main cannon.

Just as their Warthog sped over the edge and into the air in a leap of faith, the timer reached zero. They immediately heard and felt the explosion as the octas they planted detonated, the resulting shockwave slamming just over their Warthog as it fell past the shielding cliff face. The human occupants let out terrified screams as the vehicle was sent into a tumble, Qrow having to use all of his strength to not fly off. At the same time, barely visible as the world spun, Qrow saw the earth underneath the river they had just traveled over lift into the sky, sending large chunks slamming into the bottom of the super-dropship just as it began to fire. The super-dropship was promptly sent pinwheeling overhead like a frisbee slapped out of the air, the beam of its cannon spinning around terrifyingly in random directions before it exploded into a massive ball of white-blue and neon-green fire, its carcass falling to the shattered jungle below.

The Warthog, meanwhile, continued to tumble through the air as it hurtled towards the ground. Realizing that, at their speed, they would die on impact, Qrow spotted a large lake that the waterfall had previously been filling. Reaching forward, he ripped off their seatbelts and grabbed the back of Johnson and Jenkins' BDUs before jumping off the Warthog, angling himself to where he would take the brunt of the impact as they slammed into the water. The blow shattered the remains of his Aura, and he instinctively let out a gasp of pain as the air was forced out of his lungs. It was only thanks to his years of experience and extensive training that he was able to close his mouth before water could enter his throat and cause him to drown.

Still, he and the two marines floated limply in the water for a few moments, then they recovered enough to start swimming to the surface. As soon as they did, they each breathed in deeply and began to tread the water, their heads bobbing up and down. Looking at each other, Qrow could see that each had massive cuts and bruises on their heads and faces, and there was no telling what laid underneath their armor. Just outside of the lake was the crashed and now burning remains of their Warthog, reduced to nothing more than scrap metal. But they were alive, which was the important thing. After a few moments, Jenkins began to laugh more than a bit hysterically, and he was soon followed by Johnson and Qrow. They remained where they were for a few moments, letting the much needed relief course through their veins as they realized they had won, particularly when they heard more octas detonate in the distance.

The Cartographer was destroyed, its data wiped from existence, and the Covenant unable to recover any of it. Not only that, but they got confirmation not too long ago that Clover's team managed to find and destroy the stealth corvette carrying the downloaded copy. Remnant, along with countless other human worlds, was safe for now. And most surprisingly of all, they got to live to tell the tale. So, with a strained smile on his face, Qrow began to swim towards the outer edge of the lake, followed by Johnson and Jenkins. After a few strokes, it became clear that Jenkins was more injured than the other two, forcing Qrow to stay back to help him swim to shore. But even with his Aura depleted, Qrow was more than strong enough to do that without much effort. Soon they managed to arrive at the beach, and as all three humans crawled up the sand, they rolled over and laid on their backs to stare at the temporary hole in the night sky that the explosions carved for them, allowing the trio to see the stars above.

"…Holy shit… I can't believe we survived that," Jenkins muttered, speaking for all three of them.

"Yeah…," Qrow replied, then he turned his head to look at Johnson and asked, "Johnson, any idea what the hell that thing was?"

"Nope…," Johnson confirmed. "Was kinda calling it a Super-Phantom, honestly…."

"'Super-Phantom,'" Qrow repeated, then frowned. "That doesn't sound right. Something that big…needs a more fitting name."

"Yeah… Forgive me for not coming up with one while it was trying to kill us," Johnson joked, and Qrow couldn't help but smirk. A moment later, Johnson held up a small device and he added, "SOS has been sent. Pelican's inbound."

"Good. That's…good," Qrow said, exhaustion beginning to overtake him. Fighting to stay awake, and realizing that Jenkins had already slipped into unconsciousness, Qrow forced himself to sit upright alongside Johnson. He then pursed his lips and asked, "Hmm, the other Covenant dropships are Spirits and Phantoms, right?"

"Yep," Johnson confirmed with a small nod.

"So, since you guys like to name Covenant vehicles after ghosts and stuff…what's more dangerous than a phantom or spirit?" Qrow requested, and Johnson hummed to himself as he rubbed his chin.

"Hmm… A lich?" the Marine sergeant suggested.

"'Lich…,'" Qrow tested the word, then nodded. "Yeah, I like the sound of that. A Lich."

"Seems fitting enough for me," Johnson agreed.

Satisfied at their erstwhile pursuer's posthumously awarded name, the pair continued to sit in silence, letting the momentary peace overtake them. After several minutes, they heard the roar of an engine, and they looked up to see a Pelican shining its nose-mounted spotlight onto them.

[~]

Atriox, Decimus, and Rteda drove the Shadow as far as they could towards what they thought was the Covenant line. The Shadow was so damaged, its navigation equipment and communication array could not function without diverting power from the engine, and Atriox didn't want to risk bleeding away any remaining power by attempting to bring them back online. So they simply headed in the general direction of the main human city using the compass Atriox had scavenged. Their journey was long, taking them through the untouched wilderness that hadn't yet seen human hands. Whether that was due to the humans not being on the planet long enough to exploit it or a deliberate choice was hard to say, but to Rteda all it meant was that they weren't getting shot at. Particularly since his adrenaline had long since faded away, causing the full extent of his injuries to make themselves known.

His entire body ached, his breathing was labored, and he kept his hand pressed to his side at all times. But like any proper Sangheili, he fought through the pain. The same could be said for Atriox and Decimus, but Jiralhanae were always more physically formidable than Sangheili, so they were able to tolerate their pain better than him.

Eventually, the Shadow broke down and rumbled to a halt deep in the jungle. Without missing a beat, the two Jiralhanae Stalkers and the former Sangheili Zealot left the vehicle behind to walk the rest of the way. Rteda had hoped and prayed that the Shadow would've lasted long enough to reach the Covenant line, but it was clear that the Gods had other plans. Unlike the minibase from earlier, they didn't bother setting any explosives to deny the humans a potential asset. The planet was going to be glassed soon, taking the entire jungle and everything in it to oblivion. There would be no point.

Despite the fact that he had nearly died in this jungle, Rteda felt it was a pity that it would be destroyed. From what he could see, it was untouched by the humans, so it felt unfair that his commanders would deem it tainted by them. If it were up to him, he'd just glass the main cities and nothing more. But he wasn't in a position to make that decision. All he could do was make sure that he wasn't in it when the cleansing began.

Several hourly cycles passed as the trio of Covenant warriors limped their way through the jungle, which eventually gave way to a battle-scarred plain. Wrecks of vehicles, both human and Covenant in origin, littered the field, along with hundreds of dead bodies. Scavengers were already picking at the remains, and although Rteda was tempted to drive them off with his spiker, Atriox's steel gaze kept him from doing so as it would've been a waste of ammunition. Better to stay his hand instead of wasting it on ultimately trivial matters and be left unprotected should they be attacked by hostile predators, human stragglers or, Gods forbid, other members of the Covenant sent by the Minister to hunt Ir 'Haramai and his Zealots down.

Atriox insisted that the Minister only sent him and Decimus, in a tone that betrayed his anger at the decision, but there was no telling if that was true. Rteda was somewhat confident that he, Atriox, and Decimus could convince the normal rank-and-file of his innocence. But if a detachment of the Silent Shadow was sent after them, they wouldn't even give Rteda the chance. They'd kill him without saying a word. He counted it among his blessings that the First Blade and his lance weren't the ones sent after Ir, otherwise he'd likely be dead before he even knew they were there.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they found the first signs of the Covenant when a flight of Banshees flew overhead. The aircraft didn't see them, or if they did they didn't care, but it was enough to let the trio know that they were going in the right direction. At the same time, they began to hear dull explosions in the distance as the Covenant legion laid siege to the human city. Using it as a beacon, they continued making their way through the wilderness, eventually seeing the spire of a citadel rising above the trees along with a swarm of Phantoms, Spirits, and Banshees flying away to battle.

"Looks like the battle's going well," Decimus couldn't help but note as they entered the camp. A few passing warriors spared the trio confused or even offended glances, but otherwise paid them no heed as they continued on with their duties.

Rteda and the two Jiralhanae with him followed their example with Atriox taking the lead. Spotting the citadel's armormaster issuing weapons and armor to those who needed it, they headed straight for him, Decimus pushing aside anyone who got in their way.

When they approached the armormaster, he gave the two Jiralhanae a brief, disdainful look, then ordered, "Place your hands in the scanner."

Gesturing to a nearby device attached to the terminal, the three warriors did as instructed. Once their hands were inserted, they winced as a tiny bit of flesh was extracted. Using its onboard DNA sequencers, their identities were confirmed, and the armormaster nodded.

"War Chieftain Atriox, Chieftain Decimus, and Zealot Rteda 'Vasovee," the armormaster read aloud, making Rteda briefly flinch in worry. "Says here that you three were attached to the Valorous Penance on an artifact retrieval mission. A…Cartographer, it seems."

"Correct," Atriox confirmed. "We were attempting to return to the corvette when the humans attacked and left us stranded with only a barely functional Shadow available for transport. I attempted to contact the Minister of Veracity and request extraction of our own, but our communications were too damaged. May we use yours? It is imperative we reach him as soon as possible."

Rteda couldn't help but notice that Atriox left out quite a few details, but he wasn't going to point those out. Particularly as the armormaster simply nodded along, making it seem that he didn't have the full picture either. Perhaps the Minister hadn't notified the rest of the fleet to what Ir 'Haramai had done? If so, there may be hope for him.

Then the armormaster shook his head and replied, "Only I and the other armorers may use this terminal. Even if I did let you, there would be no point in trying to contact the Minister. Unfortunately, the Valorous Penance was confirmed destroyed around five cycles ago."

Rteda's eyes widened, recognizing that timeline as not too long after his Phantom crashed. He then gulped and asked, "I see…may I ask how it happened?"

"We're unsure as to how, but the Fleetmaster believes it was due to human boarders," the armormaster answered while shaking his head. "As to how they've could've accomplished that, it's still a mystery."

Atriox and Rteda looked at each other but otherwise said nothing. Then the armormaster continued, "In any case, with the Valorous Penance destroyed and the Minister dead, you three have been transferred over to Shipmaster Odo 'Dramanee. He's ordered all Jiralhanae to group themselves into a pack, or whatever you call yourselves, located on the other side of the citadel. You two, restock your weapons then make your way over."

Atriox grunted in acknowledgement while moving to the ammunition bay to replenish his reserves. As he worked, the armormaster focused his attention on Rteda and said, "Zealot 'Vasovee, it appears that you are the last remaining member of your Zealot lance. If you don't mind, can you report what happened to them?"

Realizing that the armormaster truly didn't know what had actually occurred, Rteda nodded then answered, "Six of our number fell escorting our record of the Cartographer. Three others must have returned to the Valorous Penance with the memory block before it was destroyed. I was onboard a second Phantom with Blademaster Ir 'Haramai and the remainder of our lance when the humans shot us down. Only I survived the crash, which was when Atriox and Decimus found me."

It wasn't a complete lie, Rteda knew, but it was certainly misconstruing the truth. For a moment he feared the armormaster would see through his careful omission, but instead his eyes softened and he nodded in understanding.

He then said, "I see. You have my sympathies. Thankfully, you are in luck. There is another Zealot lance on the planet with an opening. I can transfer you over and—"

"That will not be necessary," Rteda interrupted the armormaster, causing him to shoot his head back in surprise.

"What? Why?" he asked in bafflement, for what possible reason could a Zealot refuse to return to their order? Rteda couldn't help but gulp, particularly as he felt all nearby eyes centering on him.

After a moment, he hung his head as remorsefully as he could then revealed, "With what has happened…I only served under Blademaster 'Haramai for a few monthly cycles. He was an honorable commander, one who took me under his wing directly. He was the one who inducted me into the Zealots. I am proud to have fought alongside him against the humans and those who threatened our Covenant. The same goes for the rest of my lance.

"But if what you say is true, I am the only survivor due to nothing more than luck," Rteda pointed out. "Ir, Tul, and Xesan died when the Phantom crashed, and the rest were undoubtedly slain when the Valorous Penance was destroyed. It would've been one thing for us all to have died on the battlefield together, or for any others to have survived so our lance could be reforged. But for me to carry on their memory, I cannot simply shuffle into another Zealot lance like nothing ever happened…it feels like I would be abandoning their legacy. I would be dishonoring my fallen brothers, acting as though they can be replaced as easily as a spent plasma rifle. If at all possible, I would prefer to be restored to my previous rank before I was inducted into the Zealots, and reassigned to a standard Covenant lance."

Once, Rteda would've gagged at the taste of the lies spewing from his mandibles. But right now, if anything, they tasted sweet. Truthfully, while he did have fond memories of his initial missions with the Zealots, now he wanted absolutely nothing to do with the order at all. He would like to keep his mind his own, not have it be shackled and twisted into a pale shadow of its former self.

At first, Rteda was worried that the armormaster would either see through his lies or deem his decision dishonorable. But his eyes seemed to soften as he contemplated Rteda's words, giving him hope that he was actually being believed.

That was when Atriox openly scoffed and said, "Always knew you weren't Zealot material."

"That's enough out of you, Jiralhanae!" the armormaster barked, taking Atriox' words as a surface-level insult. But Rteda knew better, and although he didn't openly acknowledge it, he was thankful for the compliment it actually was.

The armormaster then turned back towards Rteda and said, "I must admit, had I ever been given the honor of being inducted into the Zealots, I don't think I could ever willfully leave. But, at the same time…I understand completely. You honor your fallen comrades, Major Rteda 'Vasovee. Never forget that."

"I won't. Thank you, armormaster," Rteda said, giving the Sangheili a deferential bow.

The armormaster bowed his head as well, then respectfully directed Rteda to a nearby building where he would be given a new battle harness, plasma rifle, and energy sword to replace the ones he lost. Without saying another word, Rteda followed his directions. But, before he entered the armory, he spared one last look across the base towards Atriox. Decimus had already left, but Atriox was still there, watching him go. They locked eyes with one another, then after a moment, Atriox nodded. Rteda nodded back, then he turned around and entered the armory.

When he emerged, he was now wearing a pristine, maroon-colored battle harness not unlike the one he wore what felt like a lifetime ago. Given to a lance comprised of Unggoy and Kig-Yar who had lost their previous major, they were led by an Ultra towards a Spirit dropship. Taking his place along the side-mounted deployment bay, he spared one final look across the base. Then the doors closed, and he felt the ship lift off, taking them to the human city to continue the battle.

In the back of his mind, Rteda couldn't help but feel a sense of anger alongside the relief. All the trials, all the tribulations. The death and sacrifice. In the end, none of it mattered. The wider Covenant had no idea what had actually happened, that Ir 'Haramai had let his pride and arrogance doom them all. He likely would be remembered as a perfect embodiment of what an honorable Sangheili warrior should strive to be.

Rteda knew the truth, but he would have to perpetuate that fiction because, should the truth be revealed, he would most likely be struck down. There was no justice or honor there, just lies built upon deceptions. But what choice did he have? If he had learned anything during this entire fiasco, it was that trying to bind yourself to false ideals of 'honor' only led you astray. The best way to survive the battlefield and achieve victory was to think with your head instead of your sword arm, and to spend lives as though they're actually worth something.

[~]

On the bridge of the UNSC Midsummer Night, Qrow, Johnson, Commander Keyes, Lieutenant Dare and the other surviving Huntsmen stared out the window as the Covenant laid siege to Peponi. Massive fires visible from orbit were burning across the continent, filling the atmosphere with black smoke. The few remaining UNSC vessels of Peponi's defense fleet were defiantly fighting to the end, but they were no match for the Covenant armada. Several destroyers were already glassing the planet, shooting white-hot beams of plasma that burned several thousand-kilometer-wide glyphs into the crust and boiled away the oceans.

The sense of victory that Qrow felt earlier was long gone as he was once again reminded of the true scale of the war. They might've prevented the Covenant from obtaining the Cartographer and, through it, the locations of dozens of human worlds including Remnant, but that meant little to the people still trapped on Peponi.

"Shakespeare, how many people were able to get out?" Commander Keyes asked, his voice grim as he stood completely straight and with his arms folded behind his back.

"Thanks to the early warning, and the efforts of our screen and rescue forces during the evacuation, approximately half of the colony was saved, which makes Peponi one of our more successful evacuations," Shakespeare revealed. "Out of the population of roughly 350 million citizens, around 175 million were able to evacuate."

Qrow wasn't entirely certain how to feel about that. Saving that many people was a tremendous achievement in its own right, but how could he call that a victory in the face of so much death? Looking around at the others on the bridge, it was clear that they were facing the same dilemma.

Seeing this, Dare softly met his gaze and said, "You all did the best you could, but in this war…straight victories are few and far between. This is probably the best we were going to get. You should feel proud of what you've accomplished today, and know that, with your help, we might have a chance to turn this war around. To prevent more colonies from falling completely like Vyraj and Peponi. In time, we might even be able to stop it entirely."

That was a sentiment Qrow could agree with, and he nodded towards the ONI agent. That was when Commander Keyes ordered, "Shakespeare, helm, initiate Cole Protocol Article 1, Subsection 4 before taking us to Reach. Crew, report to cryo-bays. We're done here."

Without saying another word, everyone on the bridge nodded at the Commander's orders, then after finishing whatever tasks they were currently working on, left the bridge behind. Only Keyes remained, his attention focused on the holographic image of Peponi as long as possible. Only once the Midsummer Night disappeared into the void of slipspace did he leave his post and make his way to the cryobay.

As he walked through the now empty hallways, he thought to himself over the nearly disastrous mission and how it unfolded. They say that plans never survive first contact with the enemy, and that statement was proven true a hundred-times over during the mission. He had no idea what was going to happen when they finally returned to Reach. He was likely going to be punished for stepping over the bounds of his mission, that much was certain. What that punishment would entail was anyone's guess, aside from it likely being harsher than simply having an ONI liaison watching over his shoulder. He might lose command of the Midsummer Night, perhaps even be discharged entirely. Keyes hoped that didn't happen, but he wouldn't be surprised if it did.

He also thought about how Remnant would react to the news. That was even more of an unknown. Although the Huntsmen he was transporting were now more than aware of the threat that the Covenant posed, the rest of their people might not see it that way. They might argue for sitting it out entirely. He wouldn't blame them for wanting that.

But if there was one thing he had learned during the mission, through all the trials and sacrifice, it was this: if humanity was to survive, Earth and Remnant had to come together as one. United, they could achieve a victory that, even just a year ago, was beginning to look impossible. With that last thought in mind, Keyes stepped into the cryobay, then closed his eyes as the world froze.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the next chapter and finale to the Covenant Arc for Dust and Echoes! Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life.

The Cartographer has been destroyed, the Valourous Penance reduced to scrap, and our heroes victorious as they leave Peponi. Yet despite their accomplishments, it's somewhat hollow as Peponi still falls, taking with it millions of innocent lives. But at least Remnant and more human colonies are safe from the Covenant, for now.

Now our heroes return to Reach, with the next chapter serving as both the epilogue to the Covenant Arc and the prologue to the Integration Arc. I've really been looking forward to the Integration Arc, as have all of you guys. I hope you all enjoy it.

Now then, to answer a few important questions:

It'll be a mixed bag as to whether all canon characters, both from Halo and RWBY, will be in the same states as they are in canon by the time of the Beacon Arc. Some absolutely will, whereas others will have their status' change due to the changes in the setting. You'll just have to wait and see. All I will say is that, even with these changes, the characters themselves will still be the characters you all know and love/hate.

I cannot state as to whether characters will remain alive throughout the story or will die during it. All I will say is that there will be character deaths, some minor and others major. It all depends on the needs of the story.

Deathwing, please stop submitting all these reviews saying your wishes and hopes/requests for the story. Just give one per chapter, otherwise you'll drown out everyone else and it'll be harder for me to respond to them.

Remnant's Dust energy shields will be brought up in the Integration Arc. As will a lot of how things change for both sides as technologies and cultures mix/clash. It's the entire point of the Integration Arc. Don't expect a lot of action during it. Rather, it'll be a bunch of world-building and character set up.

You guys will have to wait and see how Huntsmen interact with UNSC personnel. All I will say is that it'll be a mixed back. Yes, the Huntsmen are much more in touch with their humanity/emotion, but this can and will lead to UNSC people having to deal with Huntsmen that are, frankly, jackasses. SPARTANs, particularly the IIs, are highly professional so you can get along with them on the mission. See Gron as an example of how a Huntsman's personal problems can lead to issues.

Yeah, Gron's death was a long-time coming. It was always the endpoint for his character arc, and it'll be very important for the White Fang going forward. You guys will just have to wait and see how that all turns out. Glad you guys liked it.

Also, for those who are saying that the Covenant only killed Gron because he was openly fighting against the Covenant, you missed the entire point. They didn't care that he was fighting against them, nor that he was a faunus. To them, he was human, and that was reason enough to kill him. Gron realized that too at the very end, hence why he decided to take them with him. If he hadn't fought the Covenant at all, it wouldn't have made a difference. And are you seriously complaining about the use of "kilotons"? Not only does that not even matter as it's a major nitpick, you're forgetting that the story already set up that the Remnantians are using AI translators to understand UNSC personnel. If it really bothers you that much, just pretend that Remnant has a different term that means the same thing. Otherwise, it is not worth complaining about as it is insanely trivial.

Yep, these chapters can be seen as a prologue to Atriox' personal arc. He is, aside from the Hierarchs and Salem, one of the main antagonists of the story. I'm very excited to show you guys what we have planned with him in the future.

That's it for now. Let us know what you think. If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the TV Tropes page would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy and see you all next time!