Phase 3: Blood Feud
Alisa and Sela are camping in the vast forest right next to her home to enjoy the alien beauty of her home world. They are at a lake with Alisa set up in a sporty bikini as Sela is in a diving suit. "Do those fat sacks on your chest get in the way?" Sela asked questions about Alisa's large bust as female Elites don't have breasts since they are very dinosaur-like.
"No, they don't. I will be fine," she said tapping her sports bikini top to see them bounce.
"Makes you look less aerodynamic," Sela joked.
"What am I am an aircraft," Alisa said putting her hands on her wide hips with her pouting.
"Gee, come on. Let's go for a swim. I want to show you something," she said to leap into the water.
"Alright," she said to dive into the pool to hold her breath to follow Sela into the water to see all the bright crystals at the bottom of the lake pulsing a low light. She swims through a gap to enter a cavern as Alisa comes behind her to witness the beautiful sight of different colored crystals littering the cavern. "So pretty," she marvels at this.
"These are glow crystals native to this world. You can grab one for you and your bald mate as a gift from here," Sela teased her as Alisa glowed in the face.
"It would be nice to give him something from my vacation," Alisa said as she grabbed a blue crystal to rip it off the rocky wall while getting another one.
"Now, time to get back and enjoy the water," she said as she curled the closest thing to a humanlike smile with her four mandibles.
Within the hour, Alisa has put the crystals in a bag by a chair with the two women enjoying the cool lakes with the two moons hanging in the sky. Alisa sets up a timer on her watch to have the two women swimming through the water trying to outdo one another.
The clock is ticking with Sela getting out of the water first with Alisa coming up after. "Well I win," she said, lying on top of a chair with Alisa sitting beside her.
"Well you got them, I didn't think those dino feet make you swim so fast," Alisa joked as Sela laughed at this.
"They are strong, I can crush a Brute's skull with ease with these wonderful digits," Sela said as they looked up to see the moons and the star system's three suns in the distance.
"Damn, what a view," she said.
"Indeed it is, never can get enough of it. Did you hear any weird happenings lately?" Sela asked.
"Well, there is a rebel planet called Venezia which is a major stronghold that has been emptied for a while now. All 10 million people converted via a composer like how it happened on Earth when the Didact turned 7 million people into Knights in 2557," she said.
"Seems like we can't get rid of troublesome fools in us amidst but now is not the time for this. Time to head back to enjoy some lovely food before coming back here," she said. "I am going to smoke some delicious meats. Get comfortable," she said as she went over to turn on the heater to take pieces of meat from the cold storage unit under the chair to put it on the heater.
Alisa crowds around the heater to see the meat cooking out with the smoke rising into the sky. "Smells pretty good," Alisa said.
"Of course it does. This Moa meat is quite tasty. Very tender and juicy," she said.
"Yeah, Moa burger taste pretty good. They came from Reach," she said as Sela felt awkward bringing it up.
"Oh yeah, they did become rare after we glassed Reach. Thankfully they are being farmed on other human worlds and even us Elite find them tasty," she said.
"Well we can bond and fight over a huge alien chicken," Alisa said as Sela used some tongs to flip the moa steak.
"Oh, I wanted to tell you. The Arbiter is expanding the joint strike team's project between our two militaries. The Infinity has a group of Elite soldiers aiding Spartans to take on the Banished and the Storm. Me and my sister in arms Vela will be joining you along with others on the Eternity," Sela said.
"Oh, that is good news. We will be working together on missions. Living on the Eternirty as well," Alisa said as the meat was ready to go.
"Yes, it's very exciting. Being on a human ship will be quite a different experience," Sela said as finished cooking the Moa steak to cut it up into pieces to put it on plates. "Time to eat," she said to grab a chuck to jam it down her throat letting the flavors hit her mouth. "Delicious," she said
Alisa grabs a chuck to bite into it. "It's tasty and seasoning is on point," she said.
"I am a great cook. It's even tastier with comrades by your side," Sela said.
"Hey Cortez said he liked my scars," she said as Sela laughed at this.
"I wished I had lovely scars like yours. It shows you're a capable warrior able to survive battles no one else could. You killed a lot of my kind and that shows you are highly skilled,"
"What an Elite way of saying things. Yeah, I survived from Reach to now, these scars are proof of that. Displaying for all to see," she said to feel the scars on her stomach and thighs.
"Indeed, now let's enjoy this spread and drop back into the waters," Sela said as they tore and ripped into the food to soon go back into the waters to enjoy their time together.
Elsewhere the Warden Eternal along with a strike team of forerunner forces descend onto a Storm planet which has a Forerunner complex that will be useful for the Didact to track down the former Capital city of the Forerunners calledMaethrillian to make it his base of operations.
"Didact we are close to the site. A bunch of filth is in the way," Warden said on the comms.
"Wipe them out and make sure the complex is unharmed," Didact said as A sniper wielding a Binary Rifle snipes a Storm Stile in the head piecing his shields and seeing his body get vaporized into dust.
Several groups of Crawlers are swarming Storm positions with the doglike drones peppering them with Boltshot and Suppressors. The hard light bolts tore and cut their bodies with Knights and Soldiers bashing through their defense lines.
An Officer is carrying a Cindershot to unleash bursts of hard light to take down groups of Grunts and Jackals. It lobs a Gravity grenade which entraps a group of enemies within a void of high gravity then it implodes crushing everything within its range.
A bunch of Watchers use Sentinel Beams to unleash focused beams of energy to strip the Elites' shields and the hot beams split them down the middle. Burning their waists and severing their torsos from their legs.
An Elite using a Plasma Caster charged it up to fire a cluster bomb at the Knight with the Watcher putting up a hard light shield to block the shot leaving the knight unharmed. The Knight fires its arm-mounted Incineration Cannon to fire a powerful energy rocket to wipe out a group of Elites with one strike leaving no trace behind.
A Solider slides into a group of Grunts with a Scattershot in hand to vaporize them into dust. It tosses a Pulse grenade to emit an energy pulse that is weakening the Elites' shields. They were drawn out of cover to get nailed in their heads via Light Rifle shots from Snipers.
An Officer with a Splinter Cannon is mowing down Jackals with bolts of explosive hard light to mow down the rest. The Warden goes forward with his troopers to see two Hunters trying to stop him but he uses speed and armor to brush off their fuel rod cannons to use his hard light blade to slice down the fleshy middle to split it in half vaporizing the worms inside the metal body leaving it empty.
The last Hunter goes into a fit of rage to rush at the Warden as he lobs a gravity bomb to strike the big metal beast to trap it in a gravity well. Then the gravity well implode crushing the Hunter with intense pressure killing it instantly.
The Warden and his forces swarm into the Forerunner complex to see more Storm soldiers trying to them but they were easily wiped out. "Seems like they don't see you as a god anymore," Warden said as he remembered the Didact twisting around the Storm for his use and he betrayed them by returning to attack their positions to steal a ton of new hardware to use in his war against the Galaxy.
"It matters not any longer. They served their purpose I have a proper army at my command, These savages are nothing to be now," Didact said as Officers wielding Splinter Cannons vaporizing Grunts and Elites alike. Knights used powerful weapons to blast the Storm troops to pieces.
The Warden managed to go up to the terminal to gather the data within. "Seems like they are driven to the capital city as a sort of holy place for them and their religion of us," Warden said.
"The Storm has proven useful after all. Gather the data and we will go back home to the heart of the Forerunner empire," Didact said as all the teleported back into the massive ship to begin inputting data onto the location of the Forerunner capital city Maethrillian deep in dark space.
Within a few days, Sela and her team moved into the Eternity with Olympia feeling excited to see Sword Elites appear within the huge human ship. "Wow, this is so cool. We got elites working with us," Vale said sounding a bit too excited as Alisa sighed at this.
"You can wait until your face sucks them," Alisa teased her.
"I am not like that," she pouted.
"Sure Olympia," Alisa not buying it one bit as she greets Sela who is in her tech suit just like Alisa is in her bodysuit. "Getting comfortable?" she asked.
"Yes, this is a wonderful marvel you humans made. Able to merge Human and forerunner technology is very impressive," Sela said.
"Indeed, you humans seem to be doing well for yourselves," another female elite comes up who is Vela who is Sela's battle partner who is standing 8'1 tall, with brown leathery skin, and sporting a lean build fitted by a Scion combat harness.
"Good to see you, Vela, Sela told me all about you," Alisa said.
"I bet she did, hopefully, nothing too bad," Vela said.
"Only your best kills on the field against the Banished," Sela said as the Elites will be working with the Spartan fireteams on the field against Banished and Storm units.
Within the day, the crew has a mix of excitement, curiosity, and a bit of resentment of Elites being here. "Seems like they don't like my presence here," Sela said.
"Everyone understands we need to work together but some people still hate you with a passion for what you did. I see all the cruel things the Covenant did on Reach, I can't blame for them," Alisa said.
"There are Elites as well who hate humans for what they did. Destroying an entire Sangheili colony world by ONI killed over 50 million civilians is an example of this," Sela said.
"Touche but we need to work together to overcome the tasks ahead," Alisa said. As Sela nods her head.
"Well, we need to prove our worth to humanity we are partners in this struggle," Vela said.
"Well, Omega 2. We got reports on the surface of Veil. The rebels and the Banished are in the mountains. I need you and your Elite friend to take out this location. Let's see what you two can do together," the captain said.
"We will do that Captain. Let's get into a pelican and get down planetwide," she said as she went to get suit up with Sela getting on her full Scion combat harness. They both went into the hangar with Alisa in her Mark V/B GEN2 armored suit with a Commando rifle on her back and a Sticky Denotator on her left thigh. "Looking sleek," Alisa said as Sela had an Energy Sword, a Pulse Carbine, and a Plasma Rifle on her person.
"Thanks, this is made for Female warriors. Fits like a glove, come on. The hunt awaits," Sela said as the two women entered the pelican to go through the atmosphere to see a large snowy mountain.
"Snow huh," Alisa said.
"Looks very nice," Sela said as she was lucky her suit kept her warm.
"Wipe out the rebel and Banished units here. This is where their main base of operation would be. Spreading weapons and bombs on the planet," the Captain said as the Pelican hovers over the snow with the two women landing on the ground to see the aircraft flying away.
"I will scout ahead," Sela said to activate her Optical Camo to disappear into the shadows to go ahead.
"Time to move," she said to cock the Commando to check the scope to keep going through the snow.
"Watch out, I spot Jackals here," Sela said on the comms in her helmet to wield her Pusle Carbine to zoom in and begin firing three rounds of plasma to take out three Jackal snipers.
"Jackal Skirmisher incoming," she lines up her rifle to put careful shots to blast open their feathered helmets. Blood painting the snow purple in color. "Time to give these snow plains a good coat of paint," Omega 2 fires precise shots to take out the Skirmishers. The Jackal shock troopers using holograms trying to confuse her to use Blood Hands and Shredders to pepper her powerful shields.
She tosses a frag grenade to take out the holograms and the real targets to scatter them across the snow. Alisa felt her Overcharged shields taking hits with the red crystals hitting the shield with bursting mini-explosions on impact.
Sela is giving covering fire from the ridge above to have three bolts of blue plasma burn into their bodies seeing them fall lifelessly onto the cold ground.
"Interesting, this Shredder is a Banished version of the Needler. Those red crystals don't super combine but make mini blasts with each shot," Sela said as it has the basic shape of a Needler but red and more angular to fit the Banished look.
She rolls away from a bunch of red crystals. Alisa pulls out her knife to grab the Skirmisher's head to slit the jackal's throat letting purple blood pour onto the snow.
"Cleared, no more of these feathery bastards. I remember fighting these guys on Reach," Alisa said.
"Well, they went Extinct. These Jackals honor them through their battle armor and don the title of Skirmisher," Sela said on the radio to see Skirmishers coming at her. She switches to her Plasma Rifle to rapidly fire plasma bolts to burn through their armor and skin to drop them onto the snow. "Gutless pirates," she snaps the neck of the Jackal to toss the body onto the snow.
"Right, let's keep going," Alisa said as they went through the snow. Sela got behind a rock to spot a bunch of humans talking with an Elite.
"Traitors, becoming nothing but brutal pirates. They will die without honor," she said to aim her Pusle Carbine to strike the Elite to drain half his shield.
"Ambush," the Banished Elite said as he pulled out his Blood Hand to fire red plasma bolts at Sela. She takes cover while Alisa is coming in with human rebels firing their Assault Carbines at her. She uses her thrusters to rapidly boost away from the gunfire while firing her Commando rifle to clip them in the head taking them down.
Sela managed to break the shield of the Elite with Alisa lobs a sticky bomb on the exposed Elite for the explosion to turn him into a purple bloody mist. Sela peppers the remaining human rebels with plasma fire to melt their bodies.
"Gee, the Banished have been pumping weapons with the rebels and criminal enterprises for years now," Alisa said.
"We got a common enemy. Taking out the banished will make the galaxy much more peaceful. They are nothing but pirates and raiders, parasites that only consume and destroy. They worship Atriox like a god despite hating the Covenant. Hypocrites," Sela said as they kept going forward to the main base of operations on the planet.
"Instead of religion, it's greed that binds them together. We cut the heads and these bandits will eat each other alive," Alisa said learning from experience taking out rebel and terrorist groups in the past.
"Better them wipe them out and leave them in the past where they belong," Sela said as they saw a Ghost above charge at Alisa.
She rolls away as a Grunt is piloting the hovercraft to speed towards the Spartan. She fires her Sticky Denotator to latch onto the Ghost to blow it to bits and kill the Grunt as well.
"Stupid, the Banished still enslaving the Grunts. Not using their full potential," Sela said as she looked over to see another Ghost trying to run her over. She summons a point defense shield on her left arm to deflect the incoming plasma bolts from the attack craft.
She leaps front to use her shield like a battering ram to smash into the Grunt's head knock him off the Ghost and bash his head into a bloody mash of bright teal. "Nice upgrade," Alisa commented.
"Thanks, it's good when you need an extra shield to cover you while wielding a sword or plasma rifle. Speaking of which," she said as Grunts appeared wielding Shredders and Disruptors to shoot at them with Sela's arm shield deflecting incoming fire.
"Get behind me," Sela said as she put up her point-defense shield to wield her Plasma Rifle to pepper the Grunts to burn through their armor and take them down. Alisa lobs a sticky bomb onto a Grunt to let out a big explosion killing over 20 Grunts and scattering their broken bodies across the while snow painting it bright blue.
"We are getting close, there is a cave opening nearby," Alisa said as Sela disappeared into the background to human rebels on sniper towers.
Sela pulls out her Pulse Carbine to fire three-round bursts to take out the human snipers with little effort. More Elites show up trying to stop Sela but she uses her shield and Energy Sword like an old human knight.
Sela blocks the plasma bolts with her arm shield while gutting enemies with her plasma sword. She shoulder tackles an Elite into a rocky wall to bash his head killing him with the hard impact of her shield.
She pulls out her Plasma Rifle to strike the snow above the Elites to make a huge pile of snow pilled onto the group crushing them under heavy amounts of snow.
Alisa is getting peppered with bullets with her Overshield protecting her as she is using her Commando to put in headshots to drop the human rebels easily.
"We should blow up the support pillars inside the cave and make it collapse killing everyone inside," Alisa said.
"Good idea, I bet they have an anti-matter bomb inside and we can use it to collapse the cave to bury everyone inside," Alisa said as they went inside with the troops of rebels and Banished deeper inside.
"There it is," Sela said as the bombs were found. They set them up in rocky pillars connected to the ceiling of the cave. "Activating," she said as the two women primed the bombs to begin running out of the cave. The bombs explode setting up a chain reaction causing the cave to fall apart. The Rebel base along with the Banished were killed off in the rubble.
"Well, Captain. The base is buried in the cave along with the Banished forces. No more here,"
"Good work, you two. This will cripple the rebel group here on the planet. The troops will take it from here. Thanks for your work," the captain said.
"Your Ship mistress seems happy about this," Sela said.
"Yep, we are done here on Veil. The Rebels and Banished working together is more concerning," Alisa said.
"We will defeat them on the Arbiter's name. We will be victorious," Sela hyping her up.
"Hell yeah, we will. Come on, let's head back on the Eternity. Another Shore Leave would be very nice," Alisa said as they got onto a Pelican to complete their missions with the rebel threat greatly reduced on the planet Veil.
Elsewhere the Didact and the Warden arrived at the location to see a lovely sight. "There it is. The beautiful capital of our great civilization, Maethrillian. This is where we will rebuild our great empire," the Didact said.
Maethrillian is a massive superstructure made of a series of perfectly circular platforms arranged in a spiral along a central rod which can form a perfect sphere in defensive mode. The capital city is over 100,000 kilometers in diameter bigger than any of the gas planets in the solar system besides Jupiter.
His ships dock inside to enter into the hollow halls of the fabled city. "It's like how I remembered it. The sheer amount of factories and shipyards will be needed to reclaim the galaxy," he said entering into the room with the Warden beside him to reactivate the power to see the massive complex growl with life with lights brighten up the room.
"Welcome Didact, it's been a while," the AI said.
"Yes, it is. I am taking control of this place. I need its factories to strengthen my army and fleet." Didact said. Hundreds of billions of Sentinels like Aggressors and Enforcers are under his command now along with the sleeping defensive fleet containing over 500 ships from small corvettes to massive battleships.
"Of course, we are connecting with the network as we speak," the AI said.
"Thank you," Didact said.
"So what's next?" Warden asked.
"The Banished, the Storm, the URF, the Swords, and the UNSC. They have made this galaxy chaotic. Now we will bring peace to this galaxy under Forerunner rule through sheer might. If they oppose, they will all be crushed. Then humanity will be punished and the Forerunner arise again to take back the mantle," Didact said coldly to plan out his next move with the galaxy unaware of the rise of the Forerunners.