Chapter 9 – Princeps

(7th Cycle, 83 Units – Covenant Battle Calendar)

Aquilla System, Actium

In low orbit over Caerleon, Republic of Preveza

Aboard DDS Class Carrier Ascendant Justice

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Supreme Commander Thel Vadumee was reminded of his own inward frustrations every time he passed by a window with an outward view. The sight of the human city less than 10 kilometers below was one that naturally made him wish to react in a manner akin to gagging around the obscenely foul excrement of some wild animal. For the last week or more he had been forced to contain his own revulsion at the vile sights of this human world for the sake of a far greater purpose, one he hoped would prove useful to the cause of the Covenant.

Each time he came up to a window he felt both disgust and curiosity driving him to look outside. Disgust because he had to be so near something that he wished to burn. Curiosity because he wanted to see why it was that he couldn't burn it.

The human's planetary capital of Caerleon was built along the western coast. Its near infinite number of structures started out at the edge of a long-running cliff-face before expanding out across the surrounding plains in a kind of multi-layered floral pattern. That still wasn't the extent of the settlement. Many parts of the city were divided by what he understood to be ancient underwater canyons that had been dredged up by the humans to make room for more structures. In doing so, they created kilometers deep valleys of urban edifices and roadways. Large surface bridges connected over these canyons to reach other parts of the city, topping off its appearance of a cracked flower.

There were two reasons for the cause of not destroying it all. The first was easily understandable: his forces were down there. Not long after breaking through the planet's defenses he sent his warriors to descend upon the cities of the western continent of Preveza. They had swept through the lands below like a raging tide, cutting down all who stood in their path along with any left in sight that still dared to breath. Those same forces were now occupying the coastal cities along with the settlements and regions of the continent's interior, their entire purpose for being there resting on the second cause.

The second was inarguably the most important. This world called Actium was given special protection by his superiors due to what had been discovered in the east shortly after their arrival. For the discovery's sake, this whole world was being spared…for now.

Considering what was found in the east, Thel went well out of his way to have the western continent of Preveza's interior sifted like bundles of irukan in the hands of a determined farmer. For the last several days now, he had listened to reports from Covenant interior patrols that were scouring for signs of anything out of the ordinary, anything of distinguishably divine origins. In his fervor he had gone so far as to deploy a unit of Devoted Sentries to search regions of particular interest under his personal direction from the bridge of the Ascendant Justice. If anyone would find what he was seeking in the west, it would be them.

But so far no one had, and now Thel found his attention directed elsewhere.

The counteroffensive being presently undertaken by the remaining humans on this world was only mildly unexpected, not unprecedented. They had done something quite similar in scale back on the first planet they encountered them on which Covenant officers at the time had so misguidedly believed to be their only world. If only they had known how wrong they really were.

It was simply mildly unexpected due to the fact that half of the Covenant forces on the planet were not being deployed as efficiently as they otherwise could have been. That was not his own fault. However, he was careful not to lay blame on his superiors either, even in the inner counsels of his mind. Rather, he fully ascribed the blame to the other leader of the righteous throngs fighting on this world, a Sangheili who had failed to uphold his part in the duality of leadership that they had both received from on high.

From the very start the Fleet of Particular Justice had been deployed to Actium as one of two fleets sent to secure it for a reason that was initially unrelated to the most recent discovery. Thel's fleet was purposed to take the western hemisphere while the other was meant to handle the east. 'Handle the east' was the key phrase there, because for the better part of their entire time here, the other fleet had been doing anything and everything other than that simple task.

It was that growing concern that was driving him down the long passage leading back to the bridge while deluging his most efficient Fleetmaster with his well-considered contemplations of the other leader.

"He is a fool."

"Or perhaps you are wiser than he is."

"That is no excuse. One who simply lacks wisdom seeks it out. A fool does not desire any wisdom whatsoever but revels in his own ignorance."

"And you are certain that he is reveling?"

Thel didn't know how much he appreciated Ruca's fair and balanced defense of one he deemed an inadequate invalid. He also wondered why he would defend someone like who they were discussing. After all, Thel wasn't the only one who had experience with this particular character. "Because he has yet to answer any of my hails since we reached this world. That is how I know he revels, and thereby is a fool."

Ruca, dressed in his golden combat harness, bowed his head in respect as they walked. "Then maybe he is one."

"No, not maybe. He is."

"Then why would he be given his position? Wouldn't those that bestowed it upon him know not to entrust this sacred endeavor with a…what you say that he is?"

"Because in their wisdom they sought to test me." Thel said through tight mandibles. "That is all the reason my decrepit mind can conjure as to why they, of such high understanding, would assign him to carry out something so vital to our aims."

"…What if it was not so?" Ruca asked, grasping his lower jaws in thought. "What if they, in their wisdom, decided not to test you, or at least not only you, but also sought to test him? Perhaps they wanted to see his capabilities as a leader of the faithful come into full bloom."

Thel felt his upper-right mandible twitch as he side-eyed the Fleetmaster. "You have… much faith."

"In they that are greater? Yes."

"I meant in one who does not deserve it."

"I have no affinity in me for him, Supreme Commander. You of all would know that best. That said, I do have an affinity for sanctified declarations."

"Yet by that very same affinity, even you would have to accept that there is also a chance they wished to test him knowing full-well that he would fail, and that I would be required to take up his task in his place."

"But then why would they dispatch him knowing that only you were required?"

Thel sighed as they finally reached the door at the end of the passage. "Why indeed."

The two Majors standing to the sides stood at rigid attention as the door cycled open for them. Thel's signatory purple cape was the last to cross the threshold before the door shut behind them.

The Justice' bridge abounded with the activities of half-a-dozen bridge officers reviewing the ship's various external and internal readouts as well as manipulating holographic control displays emitted over their stations. It was a full-time occupation to manage a vessel like the Justice, a flagship more than deserving of the careful and deliberate oversight that it was currently receiving. Seeing the bridge crew diligently at work would be a marvel to the eye of any untrained civilian or aspiring officer. Thel didn't even take notice.

He moved straight for the ramp of the central command platform with the Fleetmaster at his side.

On the way up, Thel called down to one of the communication's officers below. "Has he responded yet?"

"He has, Supreme Commander." The officer replied. "He is waiting for you now."

Thel winced. He glanced at Ruca who's returned expression told him he shared the same surprise as he did.

Ruca nodded and stayed back on the ramp as Thel continued up to the center pf the command platform. He stood straight, his mandibles flexing in and out in thought. "Activate the display. Bring him on."

At his order, the other communication's officer went to work tapping one of the clusters of icons gravitating above his station. A moment later the forward projection screen activated.

Standing on the other side was another Sangheili dressed in the same golden combat harness and purple cape which established him as Thel's only other equal on the planet. Equal only in rank, he thought. The other Supreme Commander stood on a kind of segmented upper-command platform within an ovular chamber that looked distinguishably different from any ship's bridge, which it likely was not.

In the split-second before the other spoke, Thel noticed the dulled ire in his eyes and realized that they were both observing each other with looks of tiredness and subdued derision.

"Supreme Commander Vadumee, for what purpose do I have the honor of receiving your hail?"

Thel hated the fact that he addressed him so calmly and officiously, as if he were the one being annoyed at his counterpart's actions. "Hails." Thel corrected. "I tried to contact you on multiple occasions before our present meeting. This is merely the first attempt to prove successful in garnering your attention, Supreme Commander Niccoramee."

Thel briefly wondered if Ruca had noticed the modicum of respect he was still willing to pay to one he declared an unrepentant fool. Perhaps it proved more so to himself that he was far more merciful than he'd ever realized.

"I have been rather busy of late." Niccoramee said. "You have my sincere apologies for not responding to…whatever it happens to be that your concerns pertain to."

Thel felt his hands and jaws clench in irritation. He held back the roaring fury that he had kept bottled in for days on end to keep it from creeping into his voice. "My concern is for the sake of our holy task, for the preservation of our success on this world, something you seem not to have concerned yourself with too heavily as of late." He nearly spat out the last three words.

Niccoramee mantained his vaguely unamused countenance. "Would you wish to elaborate on the contexts of those concerns that I seem to be blind too, because as far as my knowledge can discern, I have dedicated my entire time, day and night to carrying out the work we were sent to fulfill."

"Dedicated?" Thel felt his mask of respect slip, but he no longer cared to fix it back into place. "Allow me to remove the blinders from your eyes so that you can see the world as I do. I have watched as your attempts at uprooting the last human garrisons on the northern continent proved feeble. So feeble in fact that it gave them the chance to rally against you, leading to our current predicament."

"My purpose was not to wipe them out." Niccoramee protested. "Only to delay them. My fleet had achieved such great successes in the east that in the end we corralled most of their forces in the north. That had the added consequence of making it so that their defensive capacities were more concentrated and made them more difficult to flush out. If anything, this little show they are putting on now diffuses their fighting capabilities and makes their remaining elements easier to dispatch."

"But their earlier condition was nothing a well-coordinated low orbital bombardment couldn't handle well in advance."

The accusation was solid, its foundations reasoned through hours of frustrated contemplation. Niccoramee had to know exactly what he was talking about, and it showed in the manner in which his lower mandibles slightly split aside in visible indignation.

"My ships were elsewhere."

"Elsewhere from where they needed to be." It felt almost sweet to the taste in saying those words to the one he wished to address them. "Had you sent ships to support your Northern efforts then they would have easily overcome the last holdouts of filth located there. You did not. Even now the forces on the coastline of the eastern continent are under siege with no major air support in sight for them save for that which belongs to the enemy. You could send your vessels now to conquer the force in the east and push them back. You have not. I simply fail to see why. Your fleet is far larger than my own and you have yet to send out even a single battlecruiser to the aid of your own warriors."

"…You are right." Niccoramee said in a tone that Thel could discern was not true admittance. "My fleet 'is' larger than yours, isn't it? Perhaps that is why I was given the lead on this mission. They who are higher than you or I saw my discernment as the most necessary for this work. In that discernment, I have deemed it necessary for not one or two but all of my ships to attend to the duty that was set for them. I have chosen to have my fleet operate in obedience to the holy words that gave us our direction."

"You were not given any such lead." Thel growled.

"Then why am I the one carrying out the holy work while your command remains idle?"

Thel glanced back over his shoulder at Ruca who still stood on the ramp, watching the entire exchange. He remarked to himself in a low voice, "Why indeed." He turned back to see that Niccoramee's eyes had narrowed into a gaze that sparked with barely contained pride. It made his blood boil in his very veins.

"My ships are not idle. Even now they carry out their holy mandate in fighting the human invasion forces sent to the west, at their cities of New Athens and Patras. Even now we are holding over this world's capital in preparation for their final invasion. And what of the east? Who commands your captured coastal cities?"

Thel knew his fellow commander wouldn't last a moment in this arena of the conversation, and while it had its tactical benefits, he mostly just wanted to watch him squirm for an answer.

"I have my Field Marshalls in place."

He scorned that simple answer to no end. "From the reports given to me, the only thing that is happening in those territories is the construction of hovels and nests for the Unggoy, Kig-Yar and the Yanme'e. Would you like to explain to me how that aids in their defense?"

"I would, if you would humor me." Niccoramee said and gave a mocking bow of his head.

Thel withheld his scowl. "Go ahead."

"The Unggoy, the Kig-Yar and the Yanme'e all have something in common other than a shared faith. It is a shared desire to have their own homes, abodes built on warm soil rather than the cold metal of the Holy City's lower levels. While they may not wish to share the same abode, this much is certain, that when faced with an enemy, these species whose faithfulness is generally less than that of the Sangheili will fight just as hard as Sangheili to defend their new homes. They will be far more ferocious than anything we've ever witnessed before."

"You're certain of that? Then who holds the reigns of those forces considering that they are faltering across the coast?"

"They are holding their ground." Niccoramee insisted. "For instance, in the eastern capital I have my greatest Field Marshall making preparations to wipe out the infestation there."

"The eastern capital? You mean the very same one where a third of the city fell back into human hands just this morning? That capital? Do keep in mind that if that city falls then your entire coastal defense will buckle."

A grimace flashed across the other Supreme Commander's face that was quickly restrained. "Why don't you allow me to take care of my affairs while you resolve yours? That way we both can focus on our own issues without getting in each other's way."

Thel formed his upper mandibles into a smirk at what was a contrivedly polite way of saying 'mind your own business'. "The reason I cannot do that, Niccoramee, is because your affairs are spilling over into mine. I already had the west under my control. However, you made the decision not to finish off the humans when you had the chance. Now their reinforcements have pushed you out of the north and in turn they are trying to retake the entire planet. Don't you see? I cannot handle my own affairs conclusively when someone else' keeps intervening."

There was silence for a moment as the two commanders gazed upon each other, as one great power stared down another. Then Niccoramee closed his eyes and shook his head, laughing. "My, how jealousy can cloud the eyes of one so adamant that they can see. So what would you do if it were you-"

"You already know my answer." Thel said, cutting him off with a tone that lacked any humor whatsoever. His eyes turned to an iron seriousness that offered room for no other emotion. "Now, what of the prophet in your care?"

"Prophet?"

"The Minister of Iconography. I know he is somewhere in the eastern capital."

Niccoramee's expression hardened but he didn't answer.

"Don't tell me you do not even know where-"

"He is safe." Niccoramee said, his own tone taking on a similar unyieldingness. "My Field Marshall protecting that city assured me as much. That is all I am willing to tell you. Does that dissatisfy you?" He leaned closer, as if daring him to say that it did.

"I would hope it satisfies the prophet." Thel retorted without a measure of sounding intimidated. "You have chosen not to send any meaningful reinforcements to protect a city where a holy one resides." His eyes narrowed. "This is my final warning to you, Beorda. It is in your best interests that you deploy your ships to the coast, to ensure his safety at the very least, unless you are so caught up with your little projects that you could care less about what happens to a Prophet."

Thel watched as Niccoramee straightened and every guise of cordiality seemingly evaporated behind a barely contained, boiling anger. "Watch your tongue, Thel. I would not call what I am doing in the east 'little', not by any measure of the mortal imagination. I would show you but your mind could not perceive it. Be careful, less that same mind should lead you to again blaspheme the work ordained by those who stand at the very feet of the Gods. Be grateful, because I will show you enough mercy not to speak of that insult to them when they review my work. And be wary, because I may very well not be so merciful the next time we speak."

Thel was not impressed, not by any measure of his mortal imagination. Still, he could tell when he was being threatened and offered one of his own. "If we speak again."

Niccoramee's grimace only deepened. However, before he could make his retort, one of the communication's officers on the Justice's bridge spoke up. "Supreme Commander, a human battlegroup has been detected approaching the western capital!"

Thel slowly turned his attention away from the display to the officer. "Numbers and distance?"

"Twelve ships. Eight of their heavy frigates and four of their destroyers at attack vectors 2-0-0 by 3-2-0, 2-0-5 by 3-1-2 and 2-2-7 by 3-7-5. The nearest ships are less than 50 kilometers away from the coast and closing."

Another communication's officer added on. "A conglomeration of 30 more ships is moving 50 kilometers into the upper-atmosphere along the coastline. It appears the vermin intend to flank us from above and behind."

Thel turned back to the display. "I believe we are done here."

"I believe we are." Niccoramee said in a tired voice. His feed winked off while the display remained active. Thel huffed at realizing that the other commander had shut off his own feed first. He turned to Ruca. "Well?"

"He is certainly reveling. I know I said I had no affinity for him before. Now I'm certain."

Thel nodded and started issuing orders to the rest of the bridge crew. At his issuances, the officers began getting to work sending out alerts to the rest of the fleet in the immediate vicinity of Caerleon including where they were to setup defensive positions in the atmosphere.

In less than a minute another feed winked onto the display, showing the face of the fully armed and fully armored Field Marshall Arzon Zotamee. It appeared that he had setup his holotank on the roof a skyscraper, granting them a wide view of the surrounding city. He bowed his head. "Supreme Commander Vadumee, you requested me?"

"Yes. Human forces are on their way to Caerleon. I want you to ready your warriors. The enemy will be arriving to your shores soon. Dispatch them on the ground while we handle them from the air. Is that understood?"

Zotamee bowed his head further. "We will fight with honor and distinction. I swear on the holiness of our cause, they will not take this city."

"Good. You're dismissed."

Once the screen had dissipated, Thel rounded on Ruca. "I swear, Sangheili like Niccoramee are a curse upon the good name of our kind. It would be easier if he perished, even if it had to be at the hands of the humans."

"But perhaps someone like him will fool us and show that he is quite competent in secret."

"False humility is not becoming of a Fleetmaster, Voramee."

"Indeed, it is not. I ask for your forgiveness. However, I am not of sufficient rank to be able to wish death upon my equals."

"No, not yet. Soon. For now, I will need you to handle the human naval forces heading directly for Caerleon. They must have been waiting until that earlier storm passed. Now they are seizing their opportunity. You must stop them in their tracks before they reach positions that can cause us further trouble."

Ruca stood at due attention. "My Subfleet is ready and able." He met Thel's gaze with his own firm countenance. "I will not fail you."

The Supreme Commander nodded. "I know you will not. Move swiftly, and may the Gods bless you with victory."

"They already have, now I have only to claim it." Ruca turned astutely and made for the door.

Thel watched it close behind him. A short while later he watched on his display as the Fleetmaster's Phantom dropship left one of the Justice' hangers. An entourage of four Seraph fighters escorted it back to the cluster of ships patrolling directly over the capital.

He knew that Ruca truly wouldn't fail him. After what had happened at Miridem, his subordinate had derived more than a few lessons from his mistakes. For some time, he had been eager to apply what he had learned. Now he had his chance to show the humans the wrath capable of a sharpened mind and an unyielding will.

He gave further orders for the Ascendant Justice and the remaining ships of the Subfleets of Ardent Admonishment and Swift Repentance to follow his lead in intercepting the human ships flanking through the mesosphere. However, as they ascended to greater heights, he found his attention drawn back to the east.

In a certain respect it didn't matter what he accomplished here. As long as Niccoramee was intent on ignoring the situation developing on the eastern coastline, there would still be a chance of disaster striking, however slim he or the other Supreme Commander believed it to be.

Niccoramee had called him blind, but throughout much of his meaningless rhetoric, Thel had observed a pattern. From it he slowly came to understand what drove him. It was easy to comprehend, mostly because it was a spiritual ailment that was sadly common in the Covenant. And of all the species comprising its glorious ranks it was most prevalent in the hearts of his people, the Sangheili. They were a species of great pride. To doubt that was akin to doubting that the stars shone light on all the universe or that gravity held everything in place. Yet by having such great pride it also left them the most vulnerable out of any species to their greatest weakness:

Hubris.

He recognized its kindling embers in Niccoramee's voice and its spark in his eyes, proving it had caught alight on the wick of his soul. It was not so hard to believe given the immensity of the task delegated to him. However, it was that same work that he found worthy of bragging, making high claims that Thel should not speak ill of him less his tongue incur the due ire of the Gods. For one to believe they were so deeply in the good graces of the divine was cause enough for worry, especially given his actions or lack thereof in defending the east.

Nevertheless, what worried him most was that Niccoramee had in fact accused him of blaspheming against the Gods. But if what Thel was imagining might happen ultimately came to pass, then perhaps he would not be the only one deserving of divine wrath.

Princeps - Leader