Chapter 1
"Drake. Drake!" A voice yelled out. A young soldier, tall and well built with short black hair and piercing green eyes, donned with his MARINE armour walked over to the long chamber with a lone occupant. The chamber was one of many firing ranges available within Forward Operating Base (FOB) Destiny. The occupant was another soldier, slightly taller and older with deep brown hair and hazel eyes, the ODST, Drake, ignored his name being called and focused on his targets.
Down the range several targets were fading in and out of sight. Holograms of Jackals and Brutes, Grunts and Drones. He fired at the targets with his BR55, hitting every shot he could until a final target in the sequence appeared. A tall elite donned with maroon armour. He lowered his BR slightly at the sight of the Elite before turning to his comrade.
"Jay? What is it?" Drake asked a hint of annoyance in his voice. The other Marines and ODSTs knew he didn't like to be disturbed during training. He needed to keep sharp.
"Shap wants to speak to you in his office." Jay replied quietly as he looked down the range seeing the lone target. Drake sighed and glanced down, he should have known it was something important. They wouldn't disturb him otherwise.
"Cheers. I'll make my way there now." Drake replied softly as he slung his BR over his shoulder, the magnetic holster locking the BR in place on his back as he walked towards the door.
"No problem. You've missed one by the way." Jay began. Drake spun on the spot drawing his M6C magnum from its holster on his right thigh. There was a soft pop from the integrated suppressor as Drake fired a single round. He grinned as he slowly put the weapon away and turned back around.
"Range is all yours." He said as he grabbed his helmet from where it hung and placed it over his head before leaving the range. Jay turned on the spot, removing his MA5B assault rifle from his back bringing it to his eye as he prepared to fire at new targets. He smiled as he slowly watched the figure of the Elite slowly fade away, a single red dot flashing on it's head, above the left eye, a single kill shot.
Drake made his way through the metal interior halls of FOB Destiny. Every few yards he would glance out of the viewing windows of the halls, looking out to the snow and ice covered hills and plains of the planet Merentia. He could stop and take it all in, it was quite a beautiful planet. He wasn't one for heat. He never thought of going to places like Arcadia. Blistering heats all the time. He would much prefer to stay somewhere cold and enjoy the calmness of it all. Watching a few flakes of snow fall to the ground his mind traveled back a few months to Reach. His mind lingered for only a few moments before he heard the hiss of a door sliding open before him. He shook his thoughts from his head and stood to attention, saluting the man before him. He was shorter than Drake, short grey hair atop his head with commanding Brown eyes, dressed smartly in his deep black officers suit, his combat and valour ribbons pinned to his chest and his silver bars of his rank pinned to his shoulders.
"Shap. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Drake asked with a chuckle as his superior returned the salute.
"Sergeant Taylor, please come in. There is something we need to discuss." Shapiro said quietly as he gestured Drake into the room. Drake nodded slowly as he looked at his Commanding officer questioningly. Shap had made it clear he didn't like speaking to his soldiers so formally, so why the use of rank now?
"Of course Commander. What's going on?" Drake asked as he entered the room. It was a large room, lit with a soft golden glow from the lighting units that ran across the floor. A deep red rug placed in the middle of the room adorned with the sigil of Destiny. A large desk with black leather chair which Shapiro moved towards and sat down in, which was all before a large placard of the sigil of the UNSC.
"Sergeant. This is Agent Fang." Shapiro began once he was comfortable in his seat. He raised his hand to the back of the room, one of the dark corners where a long figure stood, his arms crossed while donned with an M/R5 Recon helmet. "Naval Intelligence." Shapiro finished as Drake turned to the new figure in the corner.
"What's N.I doing here?" Drake asked Shapiro glancing away from Fang.
"I'm here to discuss your report from the events a few months back. Before we lost Reach." Fang announced as he stepped forwards out of the darkness. His voice was scrambled. Drake could tell he was indeed a he, his voice clearing through the interference every few moments.
"Then read the report. Everything that happened to me is detailed there." Drake said getting louder.
"Sergeant please calm yourself. I know it's not something you want to go back to but the Agent has something he needs to go over with you. This is serious." Shapiro interjected before Drake could say or do anything else.
"I understand you lost your old team on Reach Sergeant. I am sorry, we've all lost people close to us in this war." Fang said quietly, his gaze dropping to the floor. Drake was taken aback by this, ONI Agents never showed compassion to people. Not from what he knew of the spooks.
"I lost a lot of good men and good friends that day Agent. If there's some issues with the report I can take a look over it and make amends if there's anything I might have missed." Drake replied as Fang looked up. The way he did, though, the way his helmet almost snapped into place as Fang raised his head was telling.
"There is something you missed, Sergeant. Something big. Not only were you dealing with a company of Insurgents who had managed to infiltrate Reach, you also had to deal with the looming threat of the Covenant. But something happened that day. Something you left out of your report and something we-" Fang began as he pointed from himself then towards Shapiro, "- now know about." He concluded as he walked over to the desk and placed a small black box upon it.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Drake said defensively as he looked down at the box, unsure of its purpose.
"Oh I think you do." Fang said coldly as he pressed a small button on the box. A moment later there was a deep voice filling the room. A recording of a voice that Drake recognised almost instantly. His head snapped from the box to Shapiro who was looking calm but concerned at his desk, then to Fang who had crossed his arms and was staring towards Drake.
"Begin recording. This is a message to the human military base located six units to my front. My name is Tz'eal N'thanalmee. I am a Sanghillian warrior, previously, of the Covenant armada. My beliefs have been torn apart, my ideals about your species changed. I have become a Heretic, an outcast if you will. I have abandoned my brothers and sisters of the Covenant and I am sending you this message in order to negotiate my surrender to you. I wish to join you. I can see now that the San'Shyuum have manipulated my people. With your aide I might be able to sway my people to help you rather than fight you. I will remain in the canyon I am residing in for one moon cycle. I will await the arrival and escort of the one named Drake Taylor, no other. If he should not arrive, or should he have perished, I will leave this place and you will never see nor hear from me again. However, until the cycle is complete I will await his arrival." The voice cut out leaving nothing but static for a few moments before Fang picked up the recording and put it away in his uniform.
"Shit." Drake whispered as he lowered his head, glancing from Fang to Shapiro quickly trying to gauge their reaction.
"So. Sergeant. Is there something you would like to add to your report?" Fang asked, a smirk clear on his face by the tone of his voice.
"I guess so. There's no denying it now is there? Damn it Tz'eal." Drake grumbled as he cast his thoughts back a few months for a moment.
"No there isn't. The Office of Naval Intelligence is quite interested in this matter. You clearly know this Elite. Something happened between the two of you, something which caused it to trust you. The only known time you have engaged the Covenant in recent times is on Reach. I will let you know now, tell me the truth and nothing will come of it. The information will leave this room and go to ONI but that is it. Nothing more will come of it. Refuse and I will charge you with treason and have you executed." Fang threatened as Drake glanced up at him.
"Typical spook. You say this but you and I know full well that regardless of what I do, i'm a dead man." Drake said quietly before Shapiro raised his hand.
"Not true Drake. This is a very interesting matter. If the Elite wants to help us, if it trusts you, you can go to it, bring it back here and we can use it to combat the Covenant." Shapiro suggested.
"In what regard? Bring him back and have him fight for us? Or will ONI take him away, torture him for information, which I doubt he'll give up under duress, then kill him?" Drake retorted looking over to Fang.
"That decision is up to the Commander here. Anything that happens within his base is his decision. If he would like it to fight for us then it will. Otherwise it'll be removed, information will be extracted and then it will die." Fang explained coldly.
"Bastard." Drake spat as he clenched his fist, ready to strike Fang before Shapiro cleared his throat.
"Before we make any hasty decisions here. Drake. Tell us what we need to know. Tell us what happened on Reach and I will make my decision once you are finished." Shapiro suggested as he gestured both Fang and Drake to sit down.
"Yes please. Tell us everything." Fang said as he put the box back on the desk, pressing another small button and leaving it there to record.
"It was just after the invasion. I had only recently lost my team during our first encounter with the Covenant." Drake began as he sat down, looking out of the Commanders viewing port, watching the snowflakes fall to the ground slowly.
