Still making progress, not back up to the 3 chapter buffer yet but getting closer. Some more combat in this chapter.
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated.
Standard copyright disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any associated media, characters, or settings which are properties of 343 or Bungie. This is a work of fanfiction written purely for entertainment and not for monetary gain.
1110 Local, 15 August 2549
UNSC Camp Teton
Arka Region, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
"Sir, Governor Dolonu acknowledges, he's starting evac protocols and calling the militia."
"Good, good. What are our total forces on the ground?"
One of Captain Timo Korhonen's many responsibilities as commander of the Levosia system was coordinating between the UNSC Navy, Marines, Army, local forces, and any other military in the system. Back in the early 26th century Levosia had heavy insurrectionist sympathies, so Korhonen had been worried that the civilian administration would be hard to work with. While there had been some friction, Korhonen had been pleasantly surprised that Governor Michael Dolonu was competent and an effective mediator between the UNSC and locals. The man's easygoing and calm personality had earned him acceptance in the remote outer colony, despite being born and educated on Earth.
"We've got a battalion and a half of Marines, an Army mechanized regiment at about 60% strength with scattered garrisons, an air defense detachment, plus ballpark of a platoon of ODSTs still planetside. Two regiment's worth of militia, too, not counting the small units scattered across random settlements."
"Smitson, how many of them have combat experience?"
"The Marines, ODSTs, a few cadre in the Army regiment. Most of them are new guys after that unit got tore up real bad last year. Guess there miight be a couple old innies in the militia too, sir." Left unsaid was that an even larger part of the militia was old, out of shape, or both. With their backs against the wall defending their homes, at least some of them might put up a fight.
"I'll take it." Korhonen quickly ran through scenarios in his head. The most critical location was obviously Collins, home to a third of a million people and by far the largest population center on the planet. It was also only 50 kilometers from the base station of the planet's space elevator, another critical point.
"Deploy a battalion of Marines and ODSTs to defend the elevator, Army will hold the city and the road leading to the elevator. I'll keep a platoon of Marines to defend our HQ in the city." Some civilians could be evacuated from atmosphere-capable ships, but having the elevator would massively speed things up."
"Still leaves the two Marine companies here and the militia, sir."
The Captain paused. "Militia's best used in the city. Honest assessment; do you think we can strip one of the Marine companies from guard duty here without shit going sideways?"
"Sir, I have an idea, but you probably won't like it."
Korhonen sighed. "I think I know what you're going to say, Eric."
"Let the jackals fight, or at least the grunts. Not only does it free up the Marines, but they've got some combat experience, and -"
"That sounds like a great idea!" Chac Lon strode into the room, an excited grin plastered on his face.
Korhonen pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "How long have you been eavesdropping, jackal?"
"You know sound goes through walls, right?" The T'vaoan's face took on an intense look. "You want us to prove we're trustworthy, that we can work with you? Put some weapons in my crew's hands and let us kill some damn Covenant. At least something besides sitting around here!"
Korhonen nearly asked how he could trust Chac Lon to be willing to kill other kig-yar, before remembering that he'd been a pirate before coming here. He'd probably killed more jackals than most Spartans at this point.
"I pray to God I don't regret this." He pointed at Chac Lon. "Go tell your people, and make damn well sure you keep them in line. If I hear about some militia guy being shot by one of your jackals I'm putting a bullet in your head myself." Korhonen sighed again. "God, this is going to be a pain in the ass. Smitson! This was your idea, you handle the details. IFF transponders, comms, all that shit."
"Sir, I think you're going to want to talk to the governor, too. Those militia guys see a jackal they're going to shoot first, ask questions later."
"Get me on his schedule in an hour. You're coming with too, jackal."
"Got it. Now, before I head out, could you have your people unlock the armory? Can't do much unarmed and dressed like this." Chac Lon gestured to the light cloth garments he was wearing, a far cry from his body armor.
1200 Local, 15 August 2549
Near Collins, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
Although it wasn't the most comfortable flight he'd ever been on, Chac Lon appreciated that the humans had decided to use a Pelican dropship to transport him to the governor's office instead of one of the smaller 'Falcon' things he'd seen around Camp Teton. Korhonen and his assistant (Smitson?) were at the back of the bay, with him and Shaon Tol in the middle surrounded by six Marines ensuring they were on best behavior.
Shaon Tol had gotten roped into this since all the other ship captains were lucky enough to be on rotation on their ships when the Covenant showed up, and she was the most important kig-yar planetside other than Chac Lon. Plus, he had convinced Korhonen that she might be useful to have around to talk about the artifact. Considering it was what led to this whole situation.
The back ramp was left down, so Chac Lon could see the human city they were flying over. He was struck by how organized it was. Even on the outer edge of the, it looked like it was laid out in a rough grid pattern. In Rham'not Settlement, where'd he'd grown up on T'vao, the outskirts were haphazardly laid out, a confusing web of avenues and dead ends nearly impossible to navigate without experience. This human city (and most of the others he'd seen) also looked less 'vertical', in Rham'not a kig-yar could cross the entire city without touching the ground, moving across small walkways and bridges between buildings and over alleyways. Or, if the gap was narrow enough, you could just jump across. Well, he supposed this planet had been settled for only a few years compared to T'vao. The big cities on Erde-Tyrene might be just as chaotic for all he knew.
The Pelican started to gain altitude as they approached the city center. Chac Lon realized they must be landing on one of the skyscrapers in the city center. Big cities on T'vao and Eayn had those too; corporate offices owned by kig-yar who could pay enough to buy out the land around them and keep it clear of the rabble. Made sense that a local official would rent out some space in one of those buildings; the higher your office, the more prestigious.
The Pelican slowed and came to a stop, touching down roughly on a landing pad near the top of one of the largest buildings. Captain Korhonen pointed at Chac Lon and Shaon Tol, "You two stay here. Lieutenant Command Smitson and I will get the meeting started and prepare the ground." The two officers stepped out the back of the Pelican and purposefully strode inside, leaving the two kig-yar with their guards.
They sat awkwardly with the human guards, nobody willing to try and start up a conversation between the two species. After a few minutes, Chac Lon spoke to Shaon Tol, in kig-yar.
"How are the humans doing on studying the artifact."
"It's awful! None of them know anything, half of our unggoy probably know more about the Forerunners! And most of them are still stuck on working with a 'goddamn jackal'."
"Gods willing after this they'll be ready to listen."
"There's a few that are starting to pay attention the last few days. I pray whatever team the humans are sending from their main colony has some humans who know what I'm talking about. Even with the ones that are willing to work it's painful starting from zero."
"Would it kill you chickens to speak English? Fucking creeps me out hearing turkey language." One of the human soldiers evidently objected to their ongoing conversation.
"Now you're talkative." Chac Lon replied, smiling.
"Don't get why the captain trusts you freaks at all. I heard about what you did back on Draco. Fucked up shit."
"Hey man, I'd rather have them shooting at the Covies than us. It'll be worth it if I get to see that guy scramble an elite's brains." One of the other troopers gestured at Chac Lon.
The kig-yar laughed. "Hah! Not sure if I'll be doing it personally, but I'll pass the message along. A lot of us have good reasons to dislike the Covenant."
The first soldier looked like he was about to say something when one at the front of the Pelican's troop bay spoke. "Captain wants us to bring them in, ready for the big reveal. Reminds everyone to control themselves."
As Chac Lon, Shaon Tol, and their escorts proceeded inside, Chac Lon noticed that this floor was entirely empty of humans. There were offices that looked like they had been used, even a few cups of coffee and tea left cooling, but nobody was actually there. Likely Korhonen had cleared them out to keep the humans from being surprised at seeing kig-yar walking around.
After only a few moments they arrived at their destination; Governor Dolonu's office. One of the human soldiers knocked, and a few seconds later Captain Korhonen cracked the door and looked outside. "Alright, send them in."
"Sir, do you want us to wait outside?"
"Yes, this office doesn't have room enough for all ten of us. You'll know if anything happens that needs you to come in."
At that, the two kig-yar entered the office. As they did, the governor the governor, who had been making small talk with Smitson, turned and saw them. His eyes went wide in shock, and he physically recoiled as he pointed at the two kig-yar. "What the fuck is that?!"
He quickly composed himself. "Apologies, Captain Smitson told me something surprising had happened involving one of the Covenant species, but it is still a bit unsettling having a pair of jackals in my office."
Chac Lon appraised the man. He looked like a taller, darker skinned, more bald version of the Sergeant Major Johnson they'd been interacting with the past few weeks. Chac Lon briefly considered asking himself if they were related, before chastising himself. That would be like asking a random T'vaoan if they were related to him.
Chac Lon briefly thought back to the corpulent, disheveled governor of Tangier II. By the time Chac Lon met him he was a corpse, but this Dolonu fellow seemed to be more put together. His suit was tailored better, at least.
"Yes, I have been made aware that kig-yar and humans have not been the best of friends in recent years."
Dolonu squinted at him. "That is an understatement. However, this world is under threat from the Covenant, and I would be remiss in my responsibility to its people if I did not seek any possible source of aid. Captain Korhonen briefly told me of your story, about how you found some alien relic and decided to defect to humanity, but I want to hear it from you two."
Chac Lon gestured toward Shaon Tol. "If you want to hear about the relic, she can tell that story better than I can." In the next few minutes, Shaon Tol quickly explained the discovery of the Forerunner relic, their trip to Erde-Tyrene, and the basics of the Great Journey and how their heretical discovery affected it."
At the end of the story, Governor Dolonu sat back and folded his arms. "So you found this artifact randomly, buried in a mine on Tangier II."
"Yes." Shaon Tol replied.
"I have two questions. First, could there be any artifacts like this on our planet?"
"Possibly, I don't know. They're quite rare though."
"But it is possible. Second question, can the Covenant find this artifact?"
Shaon Tol took a second to think on that one. "Maybe, yes, but only from short range. If they were in orbit they could possibly. Their ships have these devices, 'luminaries' they call them. I've never used one, but supposedly they point to the location of Forerunner relics."
Korhonen pointed at Chac Lon, "You didn't mention anything about one of those on your ships."
Chac Lon replied, "We don't have any. The Covenant controls them very strictly, even more than slipspace drives. Even if you can get one, it's the death penalty if you're found with an unauthorized luminary. Still wish I could get my hands on one though – imagine the money you could make with a device that points you straight at Forerunner relics!" The T'vaoan stared off into the distance for a few seconds, lost in thought.
The governor leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk. "So, to summarize, the Covenant probably has a device that points them at Forerunner artifacts, maybe not from the outer system where they are now, but they can use it from orbit. And we just so happen to have a Forerunner artifact here that gives the location of Earth itself." He turned to the human officers. "Where is this artifact right now?"
Korhonen pointed downward. "Sub-basement four, at the bottom of the defense HQ. I have a full platoon of Marines on guard duty."
The governor was unimpressed. "Yes, yes, very good." He turned to Shaon Tol. "How durable are Forerunner artifacts? Can they be destroyed by normal explosives."
"Depends, the ones I've dealt with are fragile enough to break if you breathe on them wrong, or damn near indestructible."
Dolonu responded, addressing the two UNSC officers. "Far be it from me to dictate military matters, but it seems to me that we should have some reliable way of making sure this artifact does not fall into Covenant hands."
Korhonen looked a bit embarrassed at his apparent oversight. "With your permission, Governor Dolonu, I can transfer a warhead down from Brisbane or Thunderer and emplace it with the artifact. If the Covenant has overrun this building then Levosia is already lost."
Dolonu sighed. "Do it."
"Actually, we could use this to our advantage." Lieutenant Commander Smitson spoke up. Everyone in the room, including the kig-yar, turned to stare at him.
Smitson continued. "First, we know the Covenant won't glass the city with a Forerunner relic here. They wouldn't dare risk destroying it. Second, the way they are they'll get a ping on that artifact and head straight for it. So we know exactly where they'll be headed, and what we need to defend. Let them get overzealous and feed themselves into our defenses."
Korhonen nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, that's a good point. I'll have to reconsider the force allotments, but we can take advantage of this."
"How long do we have until the Covenant makes orbit?" Asked Dolonu.
"About 18 hours, give or take." Answered Korhonen.
Covenant Light Cruiser Seeker of Transcendence
Outer 26 Draconis System
Shipmaster Orna 'Leromee was overjoyed. Not only had his small scouting fleet found a human world, but the luminary detected the presence of a Forerunner relic! Truly a momentous day. He had only to sweep aside the pitiful human defenses, and the world (and the relic) would be ripe for the taking.
Long range sensors had detected seven human ships in orbit around the second planet of the system, the same one the luminary pointed to. Two larger ships, and five smaller ones. He was outnumbered more than two to one, but 'Leromee knew that his ships' technical superiority and the prowess of their sangheili commanders would lead them to victory.
More concerning was the quartet of ships detected in the outer reaches of the system. Scans showed them to be Covenant in design, but they displayed no transponder signals and had not responded to his queries. Instead, they had merely hid themselves behind the rings of one of the gas giants in the outer system. An unusual development. 'Leromee had brooded on it for some time.
Kig-yar, he concluded. 'Leromee knew them to be a greedy, untrustworthy race; many of them showed no interest for anything beyond immediate personal gain, let alone the Great Journey. The last campaign, 'Leromee personally executed three he caught trying to sell supplies for his ships on the black market. Working with the humans would be a new low for them, but entirely within character. The humans were getting even more desperate, and now they were finally willing to pay whatever the kig-yar asked. The shipmaster made a note to report this development at the conclusion of the battle here.
'Leromee's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Zealot Jarro 'Zufamee. "Shipmaster, I have received your summons."
'Leromee nodded respectfully. Though he was in command of the fleet, a Zealot demanded reverence no matter his own rank. "Surely you have heard by now of the detection of a relic on the human planet."
"Yes, a fortuitous omen. The Forerunners smile upon us this day. Every effort must be made to secure it from the humans."
"Indeed, which is why you will lead a team to the surface." 'Leromee smiled ruefully. "Though my ship is capable in combat, it carries few troops. You will transfer to the Magnificent Lightning, and take it to the surface. I will clear the way for you in space." 'Leromee lowered his voice. "The recovery of the artifact is paramount. The Truthful Allegiance, my ship's combat capability, the unggoy and kig-yar your command, even the sangheili, all are expendable as long as the relic is retrieved."
'Zufamee smiled. "I am grateful for your support. Though I doubt we shall have need to sacrifice our own forces. The human force opposing us is small, and when we make planetfall they will no doubt flee to the hills rather than face our might."
"True, though I would advise caution." 'Loramee explained the matter of the unknown ships. "These kig-yar, or whoever they are, they are doubtless cowards and will abandon the humans rather than risk their own skins. Still, keep a watchful eye. The humans are nothing if not resourceful."
0600 Local, 16 August 2549
Collins, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
A dozen missiles shot skyward, in two clusters of six. Accelerating to more than three times the speed of sound, they screamed the Covenant frigate hovering outside Collins. Firing wildly, the pulse laser batteries on the frigate reached out toward the incoming missiles, shooting down five of their number. The seven survivors impacted the ventral surface of the corvette, blowing holes in its armor. Plasma began leaking from a few holes, but the frigate was very much still in the fight.
"Battery Bravo, Winchester."
"Copy that Bravo, good shooting."
The UNSC forces defending Levosia acquitted themselves well against the Covenant ships. Thunderer was gone, vaporized by the energy projectors of the Covenant light cruiser. But before dying she destroyed nine in ten of the cruiser's fighters, and tore a massive gash in the Covenant ship's side with her MAC. All but one of the UNSC corvettes was also destroyed. Though they let one of the Covenant frigates make it into the atmosphere almost unmolested, the other was barely in one piece. Its back broken and slipspace drive wrecked, the Covenant ship crawled from Levosia in the hope of evacuating survivors before it completely broke apart. It would eventually be scuttled by damage control parties after anything salvageable was removed. The damaged Brisbane, with empty Archer batteries and half her armor boiled away, had retreated to a safe distance along with the last UNSC corvette, Shinden. Captain Korhonen ordered them to record the ground battle, and be ready to step in to evacuate high value assets if needed.
Now, the fight on the ground was about to begin. It was autumn in this part of Levosia, and the sky was still lit only by the beginnings twilight. Fortunately for Chac Lon, kig-yar have better vision than humans. Combined with the few lights that were on in this part of Collins, and even if he couldn't see perfectly in this light, he could see well enough.
His kig-yar were divided into two forces; a group of snipers and 'regular' kig-yar defending the governor's building, and four squads of skirmishers and recon forces, designated force Yankee. Chac Lon was the leader of squad Yankee 1, the other three were spread out across the city. All but one of the four T'vaoans like Chac Lon; all experienced soldiers who knew how to move quickly in an urban landscape.
Chac Lon and his eight squadmates positioned themselves on top of an eleven story apartment building on the south side of Collins. It was the tallest building within a few kilometers, and had a decent sized (if a bit unruly) garden with grasses and shrubs on the top, affording his team cover. Chac Lon quite liked it; if there wasn't an imminent Covenant invasion he could have spent a few hours up here just relaxing.
Even better, the building was shaped a bit like a pyramid, getting narrower as it got to the top. In a pinch, he and the other T'vaoans could move up or down the exterior of the building one or two floors at a time, rather than being confined to the top. (Hopefully any civilians were evacuated; they probably wouldn't react well to seeing a kig-yar on the balcony in the middle of a Covenant invasion.)
In the last 18 hours since the meeting with the governor, Chac Lon and his outfit (both kig-yar and unggoy) had been hastily kitted outwith UNSC equipment. Not weapons and armor, but the bare minimum to let them work together and try and prevent friendly fire incidents. Each squad had a pair of radios, and the humans managed to scrounge up enough IFF transponders to give each kig-yar and unggoy one. (Obviously doing a neural implant like UNSC troops had was a no-go, even if they had more than a couple hours.) One of the humans also came up with the expedient of tying distinctive strips of cloth around their left arms, in case the transponders failed. Hopefully at least the regular troops had been briefed on that.
All but three of the kig-yar were asleep. Since they were dropped off by Pelican about seven hours ago, they'd slept in shifts; even Chac Lon had squeezed in a few hours. Right now he was scanning the skies for signs of the Covenant making a landing, and nibbling on part of a leftover ration. As he did, noticed one of his squadmates also eating something, though he couldn't recognize what it was.
"Hey Zep, what's that?"
The other kig-yar glanced down at the tan colored package in her hand. "'Jalapeno cheese spread', from
'UNSC Standard Field Ration 32'."
Chac Lon had a vague sense that Zep Yan had horribly mangled the pronunciation of the first word.
"The humans have 32 different kinds of rations?"
"Human I got it from said they mix the components in different number rations." She held up the half-eaten package. "Not too bad, nice and fatty, they tried to make it spicy but didn't do a great job. Still, had worse."
"I'll stick with my citrus nut loaf for now." Chac Lon took another bite out of his food. "How much did the human charge you for that?"
"He gave me the entire ration in exchange for one of ours. Think he had a bet with one of the other humans about eating kig-yar food."
"Hah! Human's lucky Teth got commercial rations instead of surplus Covenant."
Zep Yan pantomimed gagging. "By the rings, the humans would shoot us all if we gave them a standard-issue kig-yar ration! If they weren't too busy vomiting their intestines out."
"What, don't humans love bone shards!" Chac Lon laughed. "You know, I had a sangheili ration once. Bought some off a guy who'd lifted it from a supply shipment, said I was going to make a couple ultras go hungry. Was pretty good, actually. Meal was a bit weird but they actually prepared it pretty well."
"Pff. Of course they'd get the good shit." Zep Yan said. "Least we don't have to suck on a damn nipple for food."
After a few more minutes of idle chatter, things suddenly got more exciting. Along the bottom of the hovering frigate, half a dozen points of blue light appeared, glowing into balls of plasma. The plasma streaked downward, impacting in the city to the northwest of Yankee 1's position. A ball of fire rose up, followed a few seconds later by a dull roar as the plasma split the air. Seconds later, the frigate fired again, sending another burst of plasma into the human city.
"All units, this is Echo 4, we're under plasma attack at Plaza -" The radio cut off, as the militia unit ceased to exist.
"This is Yankee 3, I see twelve, fifteen Phantoms and Spirits descending from the frigate!"
Chac Lon turned to the T'vaoan holding their pair of binoculars. "Vashk, you seeing that?"
Vashk Rom peered through the human device. "I see it too, boss. Lot of Phantoms for that kind of frigate. Couple Liches too, and some Banshees. Looks like they're headed toward where that ship is shooting at."
Chac Lon nodded. "Yankee 1 confirms, numerous Phantoms north of our position." He yelled to the rest of the kig-yar on the roof; "Wake up, idiots! Fight's starting!" Seeing one T'vaoan still asleep, he walked over and kicked him in the leg, drawing a squawk of protest. As the unfortunate victim shook himself awake, Chac Lon popped a stimulant tablet and felt himself his heartbeat speed up.
"Alright everyone, here's what's going on! Covenant's about to land over there -" He pointed to the burning area to the northwest as another volley of plasma from the frigate impacted "- and our job is to keep an eye on them and let the humans do their thing. But I say we show those split lips and methane-suckers who's really dangerous!"
"And show those humans how to fight, too!" One of his squad added.
That got another round of cheers from the kig-yar. Chac Lon pointed to the northwest, motioned for the squad to follow, and jumped off the edge of the roof. He landed two stories down, paused, and jumped again. Quickly, the group of kig-yar was on the deserted streets of the city, headed toward the expected Covenant landing site.
Meanwhile, the Covenant transports kept descending. As they got closer to the surface, UNSC forces and local militia opened up with any heavy weapons they had, from autocannons to rockets to gauss cannons. The escorting Banshees responded, peeling off to suppress any antiaircraft installations they saw. A kilometer and a half ahead of Yankee 1, a pair of Banshees atomized a militia machine gun team, only for one of them to spiral out of control as it was hit by a shoulder-fired rocket. Above, a Phantom exploded into a cloud of blue plasma after being hit by no less than six rounds from UNSC M68 gauss cannons. Another slewed out of line and descended in semi-freefall, the pilot clearly struggling to keep it from going completely out of control. Chac Lon watched as it screamed overhead at low altitude before disappearing behind a line of buildings.
Chac Lon halted the squad, hastily directing them into an abandoned storefront. "You see that Phantom went down near here?" The squad acknowledged. "Let's take a look, make sure no survivors." The T'vaoan paused. He supposed he should let the humans know. "Yankee 1, moving to recon crashed Phantom. Might be survivors."
"Copy, Yankee 1."
He turned back to the squad, speaking in hushed tones. "Through this building, up to the roof of the next one. Zep, take half and go a block or two down. If there's any sangheili left alive I want to hit them from two sides." She nodded affirmatively and pointed to three of the other kig-yar.
Slowly, they crept through the abandoned store. A single emergency light had been left on, enough to see by, but barely. As he made his way into the back rooms of the store, Chac Lon heard heavy breathing. Halting, he saw a bathroom door barely cracked open; the noise was coming from there. Slowly, he crept over and nudged the door open with his needle rifle.
He'd been expecting an injured unggoy or sangheili from the crashed Phantom, not three humans crammed into a single toilet stall. Adolescents, it looked like. They stared, eyes wide in terror. They probably think I'm Covenant. Chac Lon thought.
"Relax, I'm friendly." He said, softly. The humans did not respond, or even move. "Aren't you all supposed to have been evacuated?" No response. "Did any aliens come through here? Small ones -" Chac Lon held up his hand at about an unggoy's height "- or big ones?" Still no response, it looked like two of the humans were doing all they could to keep from breaking down and crying. "Useless." Chac Lon sighed to himself, and softly closed the door. "Sangheili would have just killed them, so they probably didn't go this way." He said to his squad. "Let's go." Heading out the back door, he saw the next row of buildings, three or four stories tall. One had most of the top floor sheared off, and he could see the faint glow of leaking plasma behind it. There was their crash site.
0617 Local, 16 August 2549
Crash Site of Phantom 965
Collins, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
Ziln 'Saromee gritted his mandibles as he limped into the cockpit of the ruined Phantom. Looking down, the sangheili major saw that the pilot, a sangheili minor, was clearly dead, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Grunting in frustration, he made his way back into the troop bay, doing his best to ignore the pain from his mangled right leg.
His Phantom had been almost to the ground when it was hit by human antiaircraft fire, severely damaging the repulsors. Considering the Phantom's shape and how damaged it was, the pilot had done a good job to glide as far as he had. But the landing was still incredibly hard, the building they crashed through doing little to slow them before they slammed into the street of the human city. The impact had knocked 'Saromee out for a few minutes; silently he thanked the Forerunners that no humans had arrived to take him captive while he was unconscious.
The wreckage of the Phantom sat tilted at an angle, the structure of the dropship irrevocably broken and torn nearly in two at the midsection. Lowering himself through what had been the side opening of the Phantom, he saw that a few others had survived. 'Grimotee, a minor, stood upright, plasma rifle at the ready, though he was carrying it awkwardly in his left hand as his right arm was clearly broken. The third sangheili that had been in the troop compartment of the Phantom lay dead; 'Grimotee had done his best to made the body respectable but could not hide the horrific wounds. Seven unggoy had also survived the crash.
'Grimotee approached 'Saromee, clearly in pain. "Major, do our comrades know of our crash site?"
"The pilot radioed in before we hit, but their priority is the relic. The Zealot will likely send forces to recover us only once that is secure."
"So we must protect ourselves until then." 'Grimotee responded. "I do not fear whatever rabble the humans send at us. But if I may be so bold, major, we should move into one of these structures. That will provide concealment and shelter."
A part of 'Saromee wanted to go on the offensive and push through the humans to link up with the landing sight, but he could see that was folly. Both he and 'Grimotee were injured, and they had barely a lance of unggoy to support them. 'Saromee also did not fear the humans, but he knew they would be outmatched against even a file or two of UNSC troopers.
"Sound advice, brother. Gather the unggoy, retrieve what weapons and supplies we can from the wreckage."
At that moment, 'Saromee saw a flash of movement along the roof of one of the buildings. He squinted, staring at where he had seen the movement. It was too quick to be a human. As he stared, trying to see what it was, he again saw movement, one building over. He also heard voices, not human or sangheili. Kig-yar he realized after a second, just as he finally saw what had been moving. A red-armored skirmisher, crouched behind a duct. 'Saromee could barely see its head and one of its arms.
Had a rescue force already been sent? 'Saromee hadn't seen any skirmishers on the Magnificent Lightning, only 'regular' kig-yar, but maybe it was from one of the dropships that made it off the Truthful Allegiance. 'Saromee was about to call out to the kig-yar on the roof, when the situation went very, very wrong.
Behind him, 'Saromee heard the sound of a needle rifle firing. Startled, he whipped his head around to see an unggoy toppling over with a needle embedded in its face. A fraction of a second later, another fell, and another. 'Gritomee fired his plasma rifle in the direction of the attack.
"What treachery is this?!" The minor shouted, as 'Saromee got a look at their attackers. He was shocked to see it was another group of kig-yar. Positioned on the opposite side of them from the first group he saw. We are surrounded! 'Saromee realized.
"Get inside! Get inside!" The sangheili shouted to his comrades. 'Grimotee sprinted across the street, headed for an empty human building. He made it barely halfway before his shields failed under a barrage of needles. Horrified, 'Saromee watched as two needles pierced the other sangheili's head; the minor collapsed to the ground, dead.
'Saromee scrambled back toward the wreckage of the Phantom, barely noticing as the last of the unggoy died. He was nearly inside the wreckage when a massive ball of green plasma hit him, destroying what was left of his shields. A needle pierced his chest, as a hail of plasma hit him, cooking his armor and burning his hands and face. His plasma rifle dropped to the ground, falling out of his scorched fingers.
The sangheili stumbled into the troop bay and collapsed to the ground. Purple blood spurted from his chest; one of his hearts had doubtless been pierced by the needle. 'Saromee knew he would soon die. As he struggled to prop himself up on the floor of the Phantom, he heard footsteps on top of the wreckage. Then, a single kig-yar dropped through a hole in the top of the wreckage. It was a skirmisher, clad in gold armor, and carrying a needle rifle. 'Saromee watched as it smiled and raised its weapon. Then, the briefest pink flash, and nothing.