1359 hours, 13th December, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Unidentified outpost, formerly held by Loyalist forces
Forest Canopy, Sector 167-4, The Ark

The Loyalists died where they stood, at the door of the tower. It was a poor choice of ground. The two Jackals stood upon a narrow bridge between the courtyard and the tower, and when N'tho threw a grenade into their midst, there was nowhere to dodge. The blast threw their scorched bodies over the edge and into the darkness below.

"Stay here, hold the courtyard!" N'tho ordered the Grunts behind him.

He sprinted into the tower, plasma rifle up and blazing, but the bolts only struck wood and the sacred metal of the Forerunner. The lower level was empty of defenders. N'tho only saw stacked casks of carrier fluid and reactor fuel, and as he listened, he only heard the approach of thruster packs.

An Elite in white Ranger armor alighted on a window that faced the fortress. He raised a carbine, and quickly made room for another Ranger.

"N'tho 'Sroam!" the first Ranger called out. "It is I, Orva 'Kandonom! I beg forgiveness for the absence of our men!"

"No forgiveness is necessary, Prij 'Kandonom," N'tho replied (1). "Doubtlessly there will be more skirmishes er' the day is over. Where are the rest of your warriors?"

"Scattered. On their way," Orva proclaimed as he stalked around the room, searching for enemies who may yet survive. "The drop pods were perhaps the worst way to insert us into a forest."

"Wish I that it were different," N'tho said. In fact, he'd hoped for another Phantom dropship, or perhaps an Erlking. But there had been no such luck.

The Elite warrior surveyed the room, studying the walls of brassy metal and the piles of supplies. There was no ramp to the upper level, but there was an alcove in the back of the room, illuminated by a golden light. N'tho stepped into the light. He felt a moment of weightlessness as he ascended and was deposited on the second level of the tower.

This was clearly where the Brute Major had intended to establish his headquarters. Here there was comms equipment and generators and a pile of shield projectors, stowed and ready for use. Lying on the floor were five dead bodies, three Jackal warriors and a pair of Grunt technical specialists. All five of them had died before they'd even drawn their weapons.

At the center of the communication center, Usze 'Teham stood by a pedestal.

"Commander," Usze greeted him as the two rangers arrived behind N'tho. "How fared the fight?"

N'tho's mandibles pressed together grimly. "I made a mistake, and it cost six of the Unggoy their lives."(2)

"Mourn them when the time comes," Usze said. "If the time comes."

The red-armored Ascetic touched a control on the pedestal, and a holographic image crackled into existence. It was the High Prophet of Truth, formerly one of the three spiritual leaders of the Covenant empire, and instigator of the Great Schism that had pitched the Elites against the Brutes.

"My Dreadnought cannot rise. Even now it is engaged; in turning death into war for this new world. Do not relent until the heretic ships are smashed!"

"Now that he has been chased into a corner," Orva remarked as he circled the pedestal. "He has turned to sermons to save his hide."

"I saw plenty of these sermons at the Arbiter's side, as we fought through the land of Africa," Usze said. "Perhaps power has gone to the Hierarch's head, now that the High Prophets of Mercy and Regret are no longer there to check his ambition."

"The Forerunner built this station as a refuge for the contemplation of the holiest of holies. A land of solace where they could complete their most holy work. The heretics besmirch this land with their feet."

"Endless prattle. We have nothing to learn from it," N'tho declared. "Where did the Major-

The hologram shifted. No longer did it show an old San'shyuum in a gravity throne. Instead, it depicted an Elite wearing the armor of the Honor Guard that had once stood guard around the Hierarchs. N'tho was amazed. He had thought that all of the old honor guard had been stripped of their rank, and the position turned over to the Brutes. That Changing of the Guard had been the incident that sparked the Great Schism, throwing the Covenant civilization into civil war.

The Elite stood with head bowed. He breathed in, and then he spoke.

"So full of hate were our eyes

That none of us could see

Our war would yield countless dead

But never victory

So let us cast arms aside

And like discard our wrath"

The Elite lifted his head, and even though it was a holographic broadcast, N'tho could swear that the figure was looking at him.

"Brothers," the Elite said. "High Charity has fallen. All that we have held sacred, all that we have sworn to defend, is gone. Swallowed by the Parasite. Do we think we can keep the Flood contained? No. Doubtlessly, the Flood has already broken through the blockade. It will spread unchecked throughout the galaxy, devouring all in its path."

A prickling sensation ran through N'tho's mandibles. There was a conviction in the Honor Guard's voice, a conviction that was infectious.

"The heart of our civilization is gone. High Charity, the shining light of our civilization, is nevermore! Think of your homeworlds, brothers! Now that the Parasite runs rampant, how long until your homeworlds go dark?"

"But it may yet be stopped. The Forerunner had the key. My name is K'huto 'Varlamee, and I ask for your help."

The Honor Guard cut the transmission, and the image of the High Prophet of Truth returned, only to be dismissed as Usze powered down the pedestal. Through the space once occupied by a hologram, N'tho saw a Human Odee-Estee staring back at him.

"Well, he talked a big game," Gunnery Sergeant Buck Reynolds mused as he strolled up to Usze's position. N'tho had not seen him enter the room, but now he noticed another door that opened out into the courtyard.

"Is he still serving the Hierarch Truth?" N'tho asked. "Even after all that traitorous Prophet has done?"

"The Honor Guards were loyal even unto death," one of the Rangers said. "But I did not know they were that loyal!"

"Of course," Usze 'Teham said. "'Varalumee was the best of them."

All eyes turned to the Ascetic.

"You've met him before?" N'tho asked.

"Did I not tell you?" the Elite in red armor countered. "Twice I was tested, and the Honor Guard of the Hierarchs sought to recruit me. The second time, K'huto came. For days, we sparred in the dueling circle, and in the lulls between combat, we spoke of scripture. I believe I know him quite well."

"So, then, why does he still serve Truth?"

"Did he not say?" Orva demanded. The white-armored captain of the Rangers gestured toward the holographic pedestal. "He saw what we all saw! The Mendicant City, the heart of our civilization, swallowed by the Flood! He thinks that Truth will turn the Forerunners' weapons against our common enemy!"

"Hold on," Buck said. "I wasn't at this High Charity, but doesn't Truth plan to wipe the whole galaxy clean? Isn't that a little, uh, overkill?"

Silence reigned in the room as the Elites looked at each other.

"Do not be so certain, Human," N'tho's voice took on a somber tone. "The Parasite corrupts all that it touches, and Scriptures say even a single spore can pronounce the devastation of a world."

Buck cocked his head. "Are we talking about a plague or a myth?"

N'tho's mandibles flared in a rare moment of anger. "The Parasite is-

"Dammit," Dutch entered the room, his SMG in hand and braced against his shoulder. "Rook, it looks like we're late to the party."

The other ODST simply shrugged before glancing around the room and making a circular motion with his hand.

"Right," Dutch nodded. "We'll secure the area, make sure that there aren't any stragglers."

As the two men broke off and began checking the rest of the tower for the enemy, the two specialists entered the room. The first one, Hockensmith, was carrying a large case under one arm. He looked around the room and then set it down on a table by a large Covenant-designed comm relay. The case opened to reveal a portable computer and a bunch of neatly-packed cables and tools.

"Human, what is this?" Usze asked.

"A care package from the intel boys," the other Marine, Lance Corporal Frank Castillo said as he matched the Elite's glare. Usze was at least a half-meter taller than him, but Frank Castillo was a big man himself. His standard-issue fatigues were stretched tight over his shoulders and biceps. "We jack that into an access point, and it should locate what we need to find."

"And I got your access point right here," Hawk said as he unplugged the comm relay from a Forerunner machine and plugged in his computer. "We'll set up here and narrow down areas to search."

N'tho's mandibles took a hard set as his gaze shifted from one Marine to the other. Once upon a time, as short as a few weeks ago, Forerunner relics had been sacrosanct, and only the Prophets could examine their inner workings. Even if the Prophets had abandoned their station, and even if Humans weren't the unclean beasts that the Hierarchs had claimed they were, this 'jacking in' rankled the warrior's sensibilities. After all, the relics of the Forerunner might still be holy.

But they were short of time.

"Very well," N'tho said, as he turned to the rangers. "Orva, go with the other Odee-Estees and secure this platform."

The ranger clapped a plasma rifle to his chest and strode out of the room.

"Kadem," N'tho ordered the other Elite ranger. "Check that comm node. The Brutes came here in search of a weapon. They may be talking to each other about it. And Usze-"

The Ascetic had been carefully studying the vacant holo-pedestal. When he turned to receive the order, his expression was utterly unreadable behind his full-faced mask.

"Will K'huto be a problem?" N'tho wondered.

"He certainly will," Usze replied. "As are all those who still consider the False Prophet's words worth consideration."


Footnotes: 1: Prij (Which can be pronounced as a contraction of 'prestige') is an honorific usually adopted by a Sangheili officer who commands other Sangheili in service of High Charity. While its use was controversial during the Great Schism and afterward, it largely seems to have escaped the ideological suppression that forced many Sangheili warriors to drop the 'ee' suffix from their name.

2: Unggoy is the Covenant name for the Grunts. Whereas "Elite" is a reasonably good translation of the Covenant word for Sangheili (Lit. 'High-Caste) and "Brute" is a near direct translation of the Covenant slur for the Jiralhanae, "Grunt" is an entirely Human nickname.

"Jackal" is similarly a Human invention for the Kig-Yar, as the variety of epithets and slurs that the Covenant reserve for their mercenaries do not lend themselves to easy translation


A/N: The last chapter was nothing but action, so here's some jaw-jacking and plot development to make up for it.

N'tho and Usze are the co-op elites from Halo 3. When Markwarrior and I were casting about for plot ideas, we wanted to use established characters. I mean, we were definitely going to introduce new characters, Human and alien, but the core cast needed to be familiar enough that new readers could go to Halopedia and look up a bio.

And though the co-op elites appear in every level of Halo 3 where you play with three other players, they're otherwise missing. The Arbiter himself is missing for most of Crow's Nest, The Ark, Cortana, and The Covenant, so we thought we could play fast and loose with what N'tho and Usze were doing on the Ark.