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An Osoona's Story
Date: 27 April 2004, 6:43 PM

An Osoona's story

Huri walked over the floor, his heels, which usually clicked on the floors of the ring world Halo, stuck to the sticky flooring. It was covered in blood. He looked over each body, trying to surmise what had killed them.

He reached down and picked up a small metal tube. It was a cylinder that the projectile weapons of the humans discharge when firing. He snarled and crushed it. Huri moved over the bodies of fallen elites, jackals, and grunts. Death was something he saw all the time as an Osoona. But it wasn't something he relished.

In fact, he hated being the prophet's lackey. They sickened him, thinking they were better than the rest of the covenant. But if he did not obey, they would kill him and place his head on a pike. He shuddered at the thought.

Huri reached down, and lifted the head of a fellow elite. It was dead. How could one human cause so much death? He pondered that, but moved on. He came to a large room, filled with cargo canisters.

He suddenly heard a shuffling noise. He jumped behind a canister and pulled out his rifle. A grunt showed itself, it moved slowly across the blood splattered floor.

"Grunt, what happened here?"

It screamed and fired at him, but missed.

"Stand down!"

It saw he was an elite, and it lowered its pistol.

"We couldn't stop him, he was too strong. We couldn't stop him."

Its breath came in wheezes. It was low on methane. Huri pulled a methane package from his pack and slipped it into the replacement nozzle. The liquid flowed into the grunts pack. It breathed deeply and sat down.

"Thank you, I was out. Why you help me?"
"Because I do not wish to see death that can be stopped. What happened here, you said something about not stopping someone?"
"Him, the human green thing. He come, he shoot, he kill everyone."

Its eyes suddenly widened, realizing what had happened. It started to wheeze. And it curled itself into a little ball.

"Where is he?"
"He left, long time ago."
"Did he reach the cartographer?"

The grunt nodded.

"No!"

Huri bounded towards the cartographer. The bodies of two elites, a red and blue one, were in the hallway, their chests torn open from the human's projectile weapon. He reached the map room. It was activated.

"Nooo!"

A smashing sound suddenly rocked his ears. He snarled and ran back down the hallway. A hunter had fallen from a walkway above the floor. It wasn't hurt, but it was dazed.

"Hunter, what has happened?"

It looked up, and collapsed to the ground. Its torso heaved. It said something about its bond-brother. Huri caught enough to tell him that this hunter's bond-mate had been killed by the green armored human.

"Are you injured hunter?"

It shook its head. Huri noticed a puddle of what looked like red blood forming under the hunters head and down its armor. It was human blood!

"What happened to you?"

It finally spoke.

"It killed Gerag, my bond, it killed him!"

The hunter roared so loud, that Huri covered his ears. The grunt spoke up from the hallway.

"Found humans!!"

Huri ran over. It was two of what the humans call "marines". They were crushed.

"I killed them" the hunter said.
"Come, I have a dropship waiting, we will leave this death trap."

The grunt barked its version of a cheer.

The dropship touched down, and four other Osoona's showed themselves. All were ready to give their reports to the prophets.

"What are those two doing here?"
"They are survivors of the humans attack. They are coming with us."

The Osoona who had spoke snarled at the hunter. It huffed back.

"They don't belong with us!"
"Do you wish to challenge me?!!"

Huri stood tall, almost a full two units higher than the other Osoona. He was stronger than most hunters, almost as strong as a brute.

"I do!"

The Osoona snarled a challenge. Huri simply stepped forward. The other Osoona leapt at him. A solid punch sent it flying back into the dropship.

"Any other challenges?!"

The other Osoonas lowered their heads in submission.

"Hunter, you and the grunt will ride in the other bay; there are matters of privacy we Osoonas must speak of."

The hunter nodded. The grunt barked a comply, obviously just happy to be alive.

"Why would you allow a hunter, and a grunt, onto our dropship?!"

The Osoona that challenged Huri growled when he came to.

"They are under us!"
"If you speak of it anymore. I will report you to the high prophet, and he will deal with you in what matter he chooses."

The Osoona snapped his mandibles shut.

"Good. I found that the human made it into the cartographer and knows where the control room is."

The others all inhaled slowly, pondering this new mess.

Once back at the prophet's council room. The Osoona who challenged Huri walked out of the council chambers.

"They wish to see you."

Huri bowed before the prophets, snarling curses under his breath.

"The Osoona Demi who just left this room tells us you challenged him in a fight. And that he did not accept the challenge. You struck him down. Tell us, why did you attack a fellow Osoona when he had done nothing to you?"

Huri snarled, imagining twisting Demi's head from his body.

"He challenged me your graces" he said, barely holding back his rage.
"He told us you would deny it. There is only one way to decide this. You will both fight in Dem'ho'chi."
"To the death? Your graces?"
"Yes, the honor battle will be held now."

Huri stripped his armoring, down to what only was modest. He enjoyed these battles, only because he would be able to show that Osoona what he got himself into. The other Osoona walked in, but still had his breastplate on.

"Your graces, armor is not allowed in honor battles, is it not?"
"Demi, remove your armor."

But Demi snarled, and lunged himself at Huri. Huri side-stepped and kneed the breastplate. It cracked and shattered.

"Now we may begin."

Demi's rage was obvious. He breathed heavily, and his skin was turning a slight purple. The prophets raised their claws in unison, signaling the fight. Demi lunched again, but was caught by Huri's large fist.

Demi's jaw cracked. A second whistling punch caught his neck, it cracked. And a quick motion and Huri detached the dishonored Osoona's head. Holding it below his own, he bowed before the prophets. It took him less than forty deci-units to kill Demi.

"Very good Osoona, you honor us by defeating the weak. Go about your business."

Huri bowed, and then walked out. Once he was out, he snarled. Once in his quarters, his personal assistant helped him out of the entire armor suit.

"I won another honor battle today Zayap, it took me less time than the last one."

The grunt chuckled, admiring his master. Huri was a marvel of nature. He stood a little less than half a unit shorter than a full sized hunter. His muscles bulged from his arms. He stood almost six units high [about eleven feet]. And was even more powerful than a hunter in strength. But he was also an honorable elite. Not like the other stuck-up members of his kind. But he cared more about those in his charge than himself.

"What is the news today?"
"Well sir, a grunt named Yayap, was assigned to the Osoona Zuka' Zamamee."
"Zuka, hmm, that's interesting."
"Sir, if I may ask, who did you fight?"
"Demi' Koramee."
"Ah, he had it coming."

Huri laughed, he enjoyed having Zayap around, the little grunt was always making him feel better.

"How long until you go out again your grace?"
"I have four cycles until my next assignment."
"That's a long time."
"I need the rest."

Huri trudged over to his locker, and pull a breather out. Fitting it onto his head he changed the atmosphere in the room to what grunts breathe. Zayap happily removed his breather.

Huri sat down on his bunk, then quickly fell asleep.

Huri woke up one cycle later. He looked over at Zayap, he was fast asleep. Huri got into some casual clothes, and slipped out of the methane filled room. He walked towards the eating hall. Once he walked in the entire room fell silent.

They all knew it was him, because of his massive stature. He grabbed some small food bars, and sat down by himself. He was still eating when a hunter walked in, without a bond-mate.

It saw him and trudged over, making no noise without its armor on.

"May I sit here" it asked him quietly.
"Of course."

The hunter sat, a feat impossible inside of its bulky armor.

"You saved me, why?"
"I do not believe in leaving those under my command behind."
"But, my bond was killed, usually the elites leave us, we no longer have any wish to fight."
"Do you still have the will to fight?"
"I don't know."
"We are called to fight because the prophets order us to, but if you find a way not to fight. It may be the best course of action."

The hunter looked at him, pondering what he said.

"You do not enjoy battle?"
"I may have used to, but not now. I don't like to watch friends, even family die."
"But, it is a part of war."
"Yes, but there are other choices, other than fighting."

Huri got up after saying this. The hunter's face twisted in thought. The hunters, thought stupid by the jackals and most of the elites, were in fact an intelligent race, Huri just needed to give him a chance to think about what he said.

Back at his quarters, Zayap was awake, the air was oxygen, and his black armor was polished to a shine.

"I believe your four cycles are up sir."
"I wish I didn't have to go again."
"Isn't that your job?"
"Yeah, I just wish they would pay me."

Huri winked, then trudged over to the dropship.

"What is our mission today?"
"We are investigating a breach of security in the human's vessel."
"Let's go then."

The dropship blasted off, reaching the PoA in roughly one and a half cycles. Huri jumped off and followed a group of jackals towards the massive ship. The jackals spoke in their hissing language to each other, then all looked back at Huri, then hissed to each other again.

"Do you have something to say to me?"
"No, no your grace."

The jackals looked scared, but confident. Huri clicked his mandibles at them, and they shut their mouths. He lengthened his stride to a comfortable walk, leaving the jackals in the dust.

He reached the ship; it was huge compared to the Truth and Reconciliation. And it was very dark inside, but he preferred the dark over anything else. It gave him an advantage over the other members of the covenant, and the humans.

He went straight to the human bridge, looking over the strange controls. Touching some, pushing others. They all did nothing.

"Strange, it seems almost superior to our own consoles."

He walked out, into a large room filled with tables. The human's eating room obviously. It was designated "MESS HALL". He walked in, and opened a food storage container. It smelled good; he picked up a small, red sphere and bit into it. It had a sweet, fleshy taste.

He looked at the label, it said "APPLES". He looked at another food item. It was a small, brown rectangle. He bit into that too, it had the best flavor of anything he had every tasted before.

The label said "CHOCOLATE BARS" on it, so he stored a few for Zayap, who seemed to have a thing for sweet foods. He finally found what he was looked for, the engine room.

It was so big; he could tell what was what. There were pipes, tubes, and doors everywhere. He found a working console and began tapping on its buttons. The item he was looking for showed up.

"SLIPSPACE DRIVE"

He clicked on it, and new letters appeared.

"SHAW-FUGIKAWA DRIVE MATRIX"

He knew that covenant ships were faster and more accurate than human ships, but the human slipstream drive was something he marveled about. They had invented it on their own, while the covenant used the Forerunner's technology.

He finally downloaded all the information onto his data pad. Then walked outside, right smack into a human. It was a female, and she screamed very loudly. Huri grabbed his ears from the shrill sound, as projectiles began to hit his shields he jumped out of the doorway.

"Bad day, bad day, bad day."

Huri returned fire at the humans, hitting two of them with his rifle. He also fired at the door mechanism, hoping the door would close, it didn't.

He jumped up to a higher level, then even higher. On top he found large tubes, horizontal to him. Leading to sockets in the wall, the ships reactors. He ran down a ramp, down another, and finally down the last one and out the door. He galloped down passageways and hallways until he got to the exit from the ship.

Finding an unused banshee he jumped in and powered up, flying off towards his camp. Back at the encampment he reported to the prophets, then went to his quarters. Zayap was asleep on his bed. He shook the grunt softly.

"Huri, you're back fast!"
"I brought you a little souvenir."

He handed Zayap the chocolate bars, telling him to eat them. Zayap's face brightened at the taste.

"Good, good!"
"I thought you would like them. But I want to tell you something, I'm thinking about blowing this assignment, and going somewhere else than this ring."
"How?"
"The other cruiser, the Sovereign Shield. It isn't far off, and I am a higher rank than any ship master."
"Am I coming?"
"Yes, your coming."

Huri and Zayap walked towards the vehicle bay, when a hunter blocked their path.

"Osoona, I believe I understand now."
"What do you man?"
"What you said to me three cycles ago."

Huri looked the hunter over, in its armor he couldn't really tell, but it had to be the hunter who lost his bond-brother almost ten cycles ago.

"I wish to follow you; you are wiser than even the prophets. I may learn more from you."
"I accept your request, come, I will need your strength,"

Zayap looked sideways at Huri; he was stronger than any hunter, why was he asking this hunter to come?

"Don't worry Zayap, he is a friend."
"If you say so sir."

They reached the hanger, and boarded a dropship. Blasting off towards the cruiser, they encountered no resistance. But once on board another Osoona stopped him.

"Huri' Furomee, you are not supposed to be here, turn now andreturn to the encampment"
"When was authority given to you to order me?"
"I come with the authority of the prophets!"
"As do I, now step aside."

But the Osoona did not step aside, it reached for its rifle, but was stopped by the hunter's massive shield.

"Thank you."

The hunter huffed, a response no doubt. Huri walked to the bridge, ordering the ship master to lift off. He looked cross, but complied. The cruiser lifted off, and in no time at all, was in slipspace.

"So now what, sir. What are we going to do now?"
"Now, we go where we want to."

The Plot Thickens
Date: 28 April 2004, 6:36 PM

Huri walked through the hallways of the cartographer, watching and waiting. He heard footsteps approaching. He knew it had to be the green armored human. He prepared to fight, but when he reached for his rifle, it wasn't there. His sword was gone as well.

The human rounded the corner and raised his own weapon. Huri reached for his shield activator, but it was gone. He had no defenses! The projectiles hit him squarely in the chest; he felt his life give way.

Huri shot out of his bed, sweat poured from his forehead. He slammed his head on the bars above his bunk. He roared in pain. Zayap jumped up, he looked bewildered, but it was normal now.

Huri had been having strange nightmares ever since they got back to his home on the moon of High Charity, the covenant homeworld. Zayap ran through the hallways to Huri's room. He walked in and woke his master quickly.

"Sir! Wake up, it is the same dream!"

Huri shot up; cold sweat was evident on his body. He grabbed his sword, but didn't activate it.

"The same dream, for five nights I have had the same dream."
"I can't explain it. But it seems that ever since the ring was destroyed, you haven't had a restful nights sleep."

Huri hadn't had a good nights sleep in eighteen cycles. He was starting to show signs of fatigue, even through his great stamina.

"This has to stop, I have tried everything."

Huri sat up; he walked slowly down a flight of stairs to Zayap's lounge room, the one the grunt sits in while he meditates in his concentration room. But he hadn't been able to properly meditate since the ordeal with the Osoona on the Sovereign Shield.

The hunter, named Larel, walked into the room. He started work as Huri's assistant with Zayap ever since they got back to Huri's lavish home on the moon. But Huri couldn't be counseled or helped in his ordeal with sleep.

"Is it the same dream, Zayap?"
"Yeah, I can't explain it, but he seems to be getting worse. He had a cold sweat this morning."
"Master Furomee, the prophets have summoned you."

Huri splashed some water onto his face and neck; it felt cool, settling him down. He sighed, then clicked his mandibles. Walking to his armory he put on his armor.

"I will be going alone, you two stay here and do, whatever it is you do."

Huri stepped into the waiting dropship and was gone in a micro-cycle.

It took a cycle to reach the temple. He was soon in the presence of eight high prophets; one of them was his Do'Sheem, the prophet he was an Osoona to. They all stared at him; the others must have never seen such a massive elite.

The doors closed. Four brutes showed themselves from the shadows.

"Osoona Huri' Furomee, you have been tasked with a mission of utmost importance. But to see if you are ready, you will face a brute in hand-to-hand combat."

Huri felt like he was hit by an overcharged plasma pistol. A brute was likely stronger than even him, and had much more stamina than he did now.

"We will decide if you are ready for the mission, you may begin now."

A brute roared, then charged at him. He scanned the brute, it was in the wrong position for such an attack, it had lowered its arms, and a knee into the chest could disable it enough to finish it.

The brute was about to barrel into Huri when he side-stepped quickly, then kneed the brute with all of his might. It coughed, then squelched a roar. Huri didn't wait for it to recover; he slammed a fist into its skull, then a sidekick into the knee.

The brute doubled over, but recovered and attacked. It was to slow; it missed its attack and ran right into Huri's fist. But the brute pulled a gorilla smack over Huri's side. He fell backwards, but flipped back up, slamming into the brute with a flying kick.

The brute was launched across the room, it slammed into the wall on the far side, it didn't move again.

"Very good Osoona, you have pleased us, return to your home, we will call you again when we are ready for you."

Huri bowed, then walked out of the room. Once outside the temple he fell to his knees, he hurt all over, he couldn't walk very well, and he had broken ribs from the slap the brute gave him.

He looked up in time to see two creeps float past. He had heard that in an invasion of a human colony, the covenant had taken prisoners for sport later. He squinted; the creeps had humans in them.

"What, human children?!"
"Yes, we captured them from the station orbiting the human world" A new voice said.

Huri slowly looked behind him, there was a ship master, but this one was familiar.

"Zuka' Goramee, why human children?"
"They are so much simpler to capture and break; they won't be killed, just made to serve."

Huri snarled under his breathe, something he did often. He didn't agree.

"If I may ask, would I be entitled to a human servant, I have only two servants at my home already."
"I can arrange it" the master then turned and walked off, heels clicking on the metal floor of the street.

Huri made it home, then flopped onto the sitting device he had built. It resembled a device the humans called a "chair". He rested, thinking about the humans he saw riding in the creeps. They had been chained and were obviously frightened. They seemed older than most human children he had seen in holovids.

Soon he had his ribs mended and bandaged. He seemed to feel more relaxed, maybe fighting helped calm his nerves more than he thought. Soon, a dropship was heard approaching his personal hanger bay. He was rich, even for an Osoona, so he could afford a hanger.

Two red elites jumped off, towing a human teenager behind them. It was a male, but he seemed unafraid of Huri's hulking form.

"That will be all, unchain him and leave."
"Yes Osoona."

The elites took the chains, then stepped onto the dropship quickly. Huri looked the human over. He seemed to know what happened, and knew that fighting was no way to win here. Huri could speak the human's language quite well, so he tried talking to it.

"What is your name?"

The human didn't even look at him, just stayed quiet.

"I asked you a question, you will answer."
"Aaron" it said finally.

Huri looked at him again. Aaron was well built; he even had muscles showing under his ragged clothes.

"Follow me Aaron."

Huri turned and walked back into his home. The human followed slowly, rubbing his wrists. Huri looked at him, he seemed distant, and afraid, but neither showed very well.

"What happened at your home?"

Aaron again said nothing, but did look at Huri, with tear filled eyes.

"Did they kill your family?"

He simply nodded.

"I understand, I am Huri' Furomee, you may call me whatever you see fit. I can keep you alive and protect you, but you must work as assistant to me."
"What does that mean?"

Huri turned, the human barely came up to his waist, so it seemed tiny to him.

"It means you will follow me, and learn the ways to stay alive. The covenant do not particularly like the humans, but I am not a normal covenant member. Avoid jackals at all costs though."

Aaron showed Huri slash marks on his back that jackals had given him. Zayap walked into the room.

"Is that him, sir?"
"Yes, but if you do know his language, use it, it will help him be more comfortable here."

The grunts face twisted, a sign of confusion.

"You human, you help master now?"

Aaron nodded.

"Good, more help for Zayap, follow me, new clothes you need."

Aaron's eyebrows raised, he looked at his own clothes, they had been torn by the jackal's claws. He also had cuts along his body from the rough aliens.

"Come, come, this way."

Aaron finally complied, but he moved very slowly, taking in this new environment. Once he had been given clothes, he also was given the job of keeping Huri's armor in tip-top shape. He seemed happy with it.

"I used to help my father shine his armor, it isn't that different, other than the fact you're a lot bigger than he was."
"I just need it shined by the next cycle."

Aaron looked confused.

"What's a cycle? Is that like a day?"

Huri looked at the human carefully.

"What do you use for time? A cycle is one revolution of this moon around High Charity."
"We use days, one revolution of our planet."
"One cycle is half a day then."
"Then I have lots of time."

By the time Huri returned from successful meditation, his armor had a bright sheen on it. Aaron looked winded, but no longer looked afraid; he seemed content with his work as well.

"I used some old fashioned shine my dad taught me, it worked great."
"It looks fine, thank you."

Huri donned the armor and was soon on his way to the high prophets.

"Osoona Huri' Furomee, we know you now have a human servant in your home, is this true."
"Yes Excellency, he is my Hek'Row. I am glad for the extra help."
"Then you may do as you wish with the human."

The prophet clicked his claw. Another human appeared, and gave the prophet a data pad.

"Your mission is to infiltrate the human facility near Founding Resolution. You must find a certain human and bring him back. The use of lethal force is permitted."
"Yes Excellency, I will leave next cycle."
"Very well Osoona, leave us now."

Huri turned, and left. He got home during the night. He found Larel sitting in a special chair made for him. He was watching the human.

"He found a sleeping area; I wanted to make sure he didn't get into trouble."
"I don't think he will, it isn't logical for him too."
"He fell asleep quickly, but he keeps tossing around on that bunk."
"Just make sure he doesn't go anywhere when I leave."

Larel huffed twice.

Huri grabbed his two rifles, his swords, and his extra shield generator and loaded up onto his personal dropship, and blasted off during the night.

The next morning Zayap screamed when he saw the human, then remembered why he was there.

"It will take me long time to get used to human here."
"You just need some confidence."
"You hunters have loads of it, can I have some?"

The hunter made huffing noises, their way of laughing. Huri was soon inside the human facility, it took him almost a cycle to maneuver his thrustpack towards the massive station.

Once on board he activated his active camouflage. He slinked through the halls, trying not to make any noise. He finally made it to a computer; he soon found the location of the human.

He made his way into the reactor room, it had many humans, all running to and fro. It was not like a covenant engine room, which was more organized. He found a terminal for data transfers; he slipped a data chip into it and began downloading.

He then found the human, a scientist. He knocked the small man out, and pulled his body towards the airlock he had come in through. An alarm suddenly sounded. Huri flashed his shields on, then pulled a deactivated sword from his pouch.

After storing the human, he went back for his data chip. He retrieved it, but he suddenly felt his back being hammered by something. He looked and saw marines wearing special head coverings. They allowed the humans to see him.

He pulled out his rifles and returned fire, but hit only the walls.

"Out of range."

He ran towards the door, trying to get out. But the door would not open. He cut through it with his sword. After reaching the airlock, he activated the dropships homing device. It shot up to the station, and before the humans could fire on it, he was long gone.

The human was given a sedative to keep him from waking. Soon, Huri had delivered the human, who in fact was a covenant spy in disguise. The data was transferred to the prophets, and Huri was on his way home again. This time with a full twenty cycles before he would be needed again.

Once he stepped out on the hanger floor, he heard Zayap yelling something. He rushed in to see the human; Aaron wearing one of Zayap's breathing masks. Zayap was trying to retrieve it, but the human was very fast.

Huri couldn't help but laugh at the antics Aaron had caused. When Aaron saw Huri, he immediately grabbed a special tool and began to unlock the heavy armor from Huri's body.

Zayap grabbed his extra mask and put it back into his quarters.

"Human to mischievous for Zayap's taste."

The armor around Huri's arms and chest were removed with care. The human must have studied his extra suit to learn how to take it apart.

"So, what did you do?"
"I retrieved a covenant from an installation, he wasn't very careful, and would likely been killed if I hadn't recovered him in time."
"Ah, cool."

Huri looked side-ways at the human.

"What does temperature have anything to do with, anything?"
"It's something us humans say when we think something is interesting, I guess you guys don't have anything like it."
"No, we don't."

Huri was finally out of the bulky armor, and sat onto his chair.

"So, you got a TV?"
"What is a, TV?"
"You don't know what a TV is?!"
"No, I don't."
"Man, that would be way too hard to explain. Its entertainment."
"I have Zayap for entertainment, when that becomes a bore, I use this."

Huri lifted a small remote device, and pushed a holo-pad. The wall on the far side of the room disappeared to reveal his holo-panel screen.

"Sweet, a TV!!"
"If that is what you call it, yes, it is a TV."

Aaron pulled out a small device, then pulled out a disc. He flipped the disc into the device and pushed two nodes into his ears. Huri suddenly heard sounds coming from the device.

"What is that?"
"Huh?"
"That, what is that?"
"What did you say?"

Huri pulled one of the nodes out his ear and yelled.

"WHAT IS THIS?!"
"Oh, it's a music player, I pop a memory disc into it and it plays music, here, listen."
"This will not fit into my ears" I said, looking at the nodes.
"Then just hold it up to them."

He pushed a button on the device, and the loudest sounds the elite had ever heard were emitted from the nodes. Huri dropped them, holding his ears.

"Oops, sorry, to high."

He gave them back, and Huri slowly held them up again, this time it wasn't too loud to handle. It was a strange mix of instruments.

"What is it called?"
"Flip music, I love it."

Huri stared at it.

"We don't have such music here, he do have chimes though."
"Chimes, wow, old stuff."

Huri gave Aaron the remote device. He called it the "clicker", which Huri didn't understand. Huri began to meditate in his concentration room. He thought about the covenant policy.

"No prisoners."

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed wrong. The covenant almost never take prisoners, when they do they are dead before the next cycle starts. This child was spared, along with the others that were with him. It seemed so wrong. If the prophets say that the humans are evil, why use them as servants.

Huri stood up and donned his armor. He then climbed into his dropship and flew off towards High Charity. He walked into the high prophet's chamber without even announcing himself.

"What is the meaning of this Osoona?!"
"What has changed, why take prisoners to serve us. It goes against all you have held from the Forerunners, as you have said. Why allow me a human servant?"

The prophets looked at one another.

"We have implanted each human with listening beacons. We believe there are those in the covenant that do not obey the wishes of the Forerunners. The humans will serve their purpose then will be executed in the central square. Kill by their own masters. That means you Osoona; you will have to be the one to execute the human you have acquired."
"Why?"
"Because it is the will of the Forerunners!"

The prophets all looked squarely at Huri. He snapped his mandibles shut; few talked back to the prophets and lived. He didn't want to kill the human, but would have to if he was to live.

"You have been challenged by another elite, one who wishes to avenge his brother, the one named Demi. You will be here next cycle."

Huri's eyes widened, few elites chose revenge. He would not relish this fight.

Soon, he was in his home, preparing for the fight.

Aaron walked over to Zayap.

"What is he doing?"
"He getting ready for fight for honor, someone want to fight him. He always wins."
"Why fight against another alien?"
"Because, way of honor in elites, they never turn down fight. Have no honor without fighting."
"If he wins, what happens to the other guy?"
"Master Huri kill other, done it many times. We watch on holo-panel. It be big news, revenge fight."
"Who wants revenge?"
"Challenger, want revenge on master Huri for killing brother in honor fight. Master Huri win this fight and have much honor."

Aaron looked bewildered; he had never known the covenant fought each other just as much as they fought humans.

Soon they were watching the fight. Huri towered above the other elite, but the other elite was very fast. The fight took a full half-cycle. But soon, Huri snapped the neck of the challenger and the fight was over.

"Has Huri ever lost?"
"No, he would be dead if lost, never lose."

Once Huri was home he walked up to Zayap, Larel, and Aaron.

"I am going on assignment. You are all coming because it is a full-time assignment. We will leave on the cruiser Towering Cross. It will take us to a planet were the covenant have attacked, and besieged the world. The humans are putting up an amazing fight. I am needed to record the battles."

Aaron showed a slight smile. Once on board the cruiser, the crew stared at Huri's human servant. Several jackals attempted to slash at him, but were met with Aaron's strong fist.

"Fight for yourself, good, do not let them attack you without retribution."
"They just piss me off, that's all."

Once in Huri's quarters, Aaron began buffing the Elite's armor. It was his favorite work because it took less time than the other jobs, like cleaning the armor. Huri was in a small room, meditating. He soon came out and put his armor on.

"I am going to the bridge; do not leave this room without Larel. Lock the door if it makes you more comfortable."

Huri walked out and the door shut behind him. Aaron quickly hit the holo-pad that locked the door. Larel walked out of his own room, wearing his armor, and making the shuffling noise he always makes.

"What do you think of the jackals, Larel, do they bother you too?"
"I step on jackal if it gets in my way."

Aaron laughed.

"And I'm sure you could."

The hunter huffed his comply. Huri stepped onto the bridge. The ship master looked at him crossly.

"Why do you bring a human onto my ship?"
"It is my servant, and he is not to be harmed."

The gold armored elite snarled, then returned to his duties on the control station. In Huri's quarters, Aaron looked around, Larel and Zayap had left to attend to other duties. He touched his right arm; it opened like a control panel. He tapped onto a keypad in his arm. A picture of a human face appeared.

"General, I have infiltrated the covenant and am ready to initiate phase two."
"Very good seven one, you have a go for phase two."

Aaron, or seven two opened his chest; it contained robotic components and wires, tubes, and such. Androids all have fail-safes, but Aarons was no ordinary fail-safe. Contained inside his armor plating was a forty-five megaton nuclear warhead.

Shadow Play Part One
Date: 1 May 2004, 12:29 AM

Shadow Play

Huri watched from the bridge as dropships stormed towards the human colony. On the surface somewhere was an artifact the Forerunners left on this planet. It had to be recovered, or so says the prophets.

Huri sighed; he didn't want to go down there. There would be so much to report that he didn't know where he should start. A report suddenly came through.

"The humans have broken through the line of Tartagus; it will fall if we do not receive reinforcements!"

Huri pondered this; the line of Tartagus was a major encampment. If it fell then the invasion would be in jeopardy.

"Osoona, you are now permitted to go down to the world for whatever it is your doing" the ship master finally said.
"Why was I not permitted a cycle ago?"

The ship master didn't answer. He simply pointed to the door leading to the hanger. Huri walked out, his heels clicking sharply on the metallic flooring. He jumped onto a dropship headed to the planet.

Aaron, or seven two, waited for Huri to return.

"It will be many cycles before master Huri come back" Zayap told him.
"I'm bored, what do you have to do around here?"
"Nothing, I hate it too."

Aaron's internal chronometer ticked off the seconds. Aaron tried contemplating his mission again, but he just didn't want to think about it. His thought matrix wasn't prepared for death. The bomb inside him was powerful enough to blow a sizeable chunk of a planet apart. It contained a small amount of explosive enhancing bio-materials that would allow him to do some major damage to High Charity if he could get back there.

If only the general had allowed phase two before he was captured. He was still in passive mode, if he went into active assault mode, than phase two would be toast. He pondered what General Ikanobi had said about the other androids.

"You were built to attack and destroy; you will do as you are programmed."

He was, in all intents and purposes, a human child. In both mind and spirit. But he was actually an extremely advanced prototype AI, built for combat. No covenant weapon could harm his shields, and his weapons, built into his skeletal frame, were very powerful. He was the most advanced weapon the UNSC had ever built since the Spartans.

But like a child he was also very impatient and impulsive.

"How long now?"
"Same amount of time as I told you four micro-cycles ago."

Huri, now on the planet, surveyed the death toll. The human to covenant ratio of casualties was unbelievable. For every human the covenant killed, the humans killed a dozen covenant soldiers. The smoking remains of two hunters also told him that the humans carried the powerful weapon that fired a tube that had fire coming out of the rear, and exploded on contact with anything. Huri recalled what it was named.

"A rocket launcher."

Huri wandered across the battlefield, searching for any survivors. There weren't any. It was strange, human weapons only killed 75% of the time. But all of these covenant, every single one, was dead. Most of them seemed to be killed by something other than projectile weapons, evidence shown by burn marks on their bodies.

"Field Marshal, what is the status of your troops?"
"The humans are employing more deadly tactics, they seem to just appear, and kill everything. There are two humans that seem unstoppable; they have shields that completely dissipate plasma blasts."
"What do the humans look like, are they wearing green armor?"
"No, that's the point, they aren't wearing any armor. One of them we were able to lower its shields with four fuel rod blasts from two hunters and a banshee, but even with the shields down, it just wouldn't die!"

Huri contemplated this. How could a human, a species that its body is very vulnerable to plasma weapons, suddenly become almost invulnerable to its affects?

"Where are these humans?"
"We don't know, they left after they killed this squad. They also don't carry any weapons, but seem to be able to fire some sort of energy from their bodies."

Huri stared at the wounds a jackal had all over its body. They were like plasma burns, only very localized, and extremely deep.

"How could humans acquire more powerful weapons technology in such a short amount of time?"
"The Forerunner device?"
"Possibly, but highly unlikely."
"It is still worth putting in your report, no?"
"Yes, it will be included."

Back on the cruiser, phase two, or military phase, had begun. Aaron felt his sub-processing units reassert themselves to combat mode, charging his ion pulse guns, and powering up his shields. His personality units began to switch to active assault mode. He immediately stopped the transfer.

"This is going to take a while" Aaron sighed.

Aaron, or serial number seven two, is the first teenaged sized infiltrator/destroyer class android. Armed with Forerunner weapons and shields, he is built specifically to engage, and destroy covenant, but he is also the first to be made with a smart AI, an unbelievably smart AI. He is the most advanced AI ever built by the human race. Which also means he was able to override his programming because it limited his thought processing.

Unlike most smart AIs, Aaron was not limited by the seven year lifespan shared by all smart AIs. He has a crystal enhanced thought matrix which allows him to continually learn and store information without any dangerous side-affects.

Huri studied the damage caused by the human's new weapons, recording all the data we acquired. He rubbed his forehead in thought.

"This is going to look so bad for my rep."

Huri wandered away from the battle scene. He came up to a large building. He powered up his rifle and walked in. It was very dark inside, but not to dark for him. He suddenly heard a footstep. He looked around. There was no one in the room. He heard it again.

Huri spun around, to come face to face with one of the green armored humans! It slammed its fist into Huri's shield, it sputtered and failed, but Huri, after so many honor fights, knew how to fight hand-to-hand. The human did a sweeping kick, but the kick was stopped by Huri's arm, then he tried punching. Huri blocked again.

Huri got his chance to attack; at almost lightning speed Huri launched an attack on the human. But both were equally matched. They were moving so fast, each one's movements were only a blur. The human finally swept his foot under Huri's legs. He was knocked off his feet. But instead of finishing him off, the human ran off. Huri began pursuit, not wanting to let down an honor battle.

But once outside Huri could only watch as a human dropship, containing his foe, flew away. Huri roared after the swiftly shrinking dropship. He felt dishonored; that an enemy would run from a fight was unacceptable. But he heard moaning, he rushed over. Lying on the ground was a black armored elite, a spec-op. He looked over its wounds, slight breaks, and holes showing it had been hit by projectiles. He patched the elite up as best he could, then pulled it out of the building.

The spec-op regained consciousness soon after. The elite blinked in the bright sunlight. He sat up, but quickly winced and lay back down.

"You saved me?"
"Yes."
"I, I... Why?"
"Because it's just what I do."

The elite stared at Huri.

"I am in your debt."
"I know."
"This isn't important to you?"

Huri looked at him.

"What is your name?"
"Kala' Jaromee, a squad member. I guess they thought I was dead."
"I believe I owe you a debt of gratitude."
"No, I never accept them because as an Osoona, I can almost never repay them."
"I understand."

Huri nodded, then took off some of his armor, and went over his data for the prophets.

On board the cruiser, Aaron retried the combat mode military phase transfer. He completed the transfer and set out to do what he was assigned to do.

"How long until this heals?"
"Not long, the projectiles were stopped by your armor halfway, but the force of the hits caused minor contusions. You will need much rest, I am needed elsewhere."

Huri handed the elite one of his rifles, then walked off towards the large building.

A grunt walked down the corridor, right as it passed one of the personal rooms, a hand punched through the door, gripping onto its mask. The mask was ripped from the grunts face, leaving it to die slowly.

Aaron, now in combat mode, looked sideways at his hand, he had gone for the grunts head, he missed the neck and had grabbed the breather. His targeting systems needed retuning.

Huri walked along a bridge, looking for more signs of the new human aggressors. But he only ran into a group of human marines. He activated his two swords and engaged them. He continued to hack at them until the last one died. He looked over their slashed bodies, nothing different about them.

He walked through a small door, forcing him to bend over. Inside was another human, but it wasn't in any armor. Huri jumped back as the human attacked him, using some sort of energy weapons. Huri attacked with his swords, but they did little to some sort of shield surrounding it. Huri had no choice; he turned and fled towards the other door.

"I feel like a grunt running from a human."

Huri got away before the human attacker could follow.

"Field Marshal, I just encountered one of your indestructible humans, your right, it took a direct hit from my swords and didn't even flinch, this may not be as human as we thought."
"What do you mean?"
"I really don't know; I will update you later."

Huri clicked off the com before the field marshal could respond. Huri looked over each body, surveying the damage the human's weapons did. He started to see a pattern.

"They always aim for the head or chest."

Huri made more notes in his data pad. Suddenly the com screamed an alarm. The encampment was under attack. Huri rushed back to the wounded spec-op trooper. He was okay so Huri rushed back to the encampment. When he got there all that was left was a smoking crater.

"What happened?!"

A grunt crawled out of a small hole in the ground.

"One of those humans ran into the camp and exploded!"
"What? How can a human just explode, and with such force?"

The grunt just curled up into a fetal position and started babbling about who knows what. Huri scanned the destruction slowly. The ground showed traces of particle neutrinos. The kind the humans use for their powerful explosives. But why would they implant one of their super-humans with it?

Huri rubbed his head; it felt like his brain was just going to explode. All this, and the humans now using people as explosives. It just didn't add up.

"Ship Master, send a dropship, the battle is lost."
"Impossible, how can it be lost?"
"Our forces are decimated, and no more dropships remain."
"Sending one now."

Huri ran back to grab the spec-op elite. It was happy that it wasn't being left behind, but could hardly walk. Huri half carried, half dragged it to the dropship. On a hill he could see four humans, all holding the long-ranged rifles they used. One shot would strip his shields; the other would strip him of his life. He quickened his pace. The dropship's shade opened fire on the humans, and they retreated.

"Osoona, we have trouble up here, hurry!"

Once back on the ship, Huri surveyed the damage to his door.

"Whatever it was, busted through it from the inside, not from the outside."
"I bet it was that human" the ship master growled ominously.
"He isn't strong enough to punch through a door, besides, the hole is too big."

Both the elites looked at the hole, it was quite large, the human boy could almost fit through it. Aaron was on a bunk, fast asleep, or so it seemed. The engineers repaired the door and disposed of the body. But what they never found, was its breath mask.

"What happened here?"
"I guess Larel got mad about the door getting stuck again" Aaron joked.
"Maybe. Did you see who did it?"

Aaron lied as he shook his head. Aaron had punched the hole wider, so no one would suspect him.

"Well, alright, next cycle we are launching an offensive on the humans on the planet, we plan to wipe them out."

Aaron's face twisted with what Huri took as disagreement. But the boy was in no position to argue. Once Huri had left again, he opened his com unit in his arm.

"Dr. Halsey?"
"Yes seven two, what is it?"
"Tell me again, what is my mission?"
"Why are you asking me this again?"
"I want to hear it again."
"Fine. Your mission is test out the prototype abilities that your body now possesses. You are to initiate three phases of personality modes before infiltrating the covenant homeworld and detonating your nuclear device."
"Why do I have to kill myself?"

Dr. Halsey's eyes softened.

"You are a very unique AI Aaron. You know what is at stake here."

The android looked away from his com unit. He flipped it closed.

"Yes is do."

Shadow Play Part Two
Date: 1 May 2004, 12:31 AM

Huri slammed a human marine off the bridge; he opened fire with his two rifles, hitting several marines who were trying to get through the opposite doorway. Huri fired on two other marines who were leveling a rocket launcher. Before long the covenant and the marines were fighting almost hand-to-hand, killing each other right and left.

Huri slammed another marine off the bridge, then fired the last of his batteries in his rifles. Pulling out his two swords he commenced to slash at other marines, but they had mostly fallen back so very few were left.

Huri saw it again, the human in green armor. He roared and charged, but the door closed and locked before he could reach it. Huri and the rest of the remaining covenant limped back to the encampment. Huri went over in his mind again and again.

"Okay, so the prophets are now capturing human kids, I have one in my home, they all have listening devices on them to search out for potential political traitors, and I have just witnessed a battle being lost, and to top it all off, I have a headache, what a day."

Huri couldn't understand it, the prophets had told him what they plan to do with the children, but it just didn't add up. Then it hit him.

"If human children are very important to humans, the prophets could use them to force the humans to surrender in battle! That means that the humans would be forced to fight on terms below us. This means, the prophets have no honor."

Huri took his helmet off, then went over the video recordings he had made. Of the covenant bodies, the dead marines. And also about the humans that just don't seem to die. He stopped the recording and rewound it and stopped it on the two humans. They wore strange, grayish clothing, but why did it seem familiar.

Huri racked his brain trying to remember where he had seen other clothes that resembled these strange markings on the clothes as well. He couldn't remember. He went over the feed from him running smack into the green armored human. It had markings on the helmet. He enhanced the image. It said.

"SPARTAN-JESSE-107"
"What a strange name" Huri thought aloud.

After memorizing the letters he walked up to the Field Marshal.

"Osoona, you have a message waiting for you."

Huri nodded and walked to the terminal. A message likely from the prophets wondering what he has acquired for them. But it was another mission.

"You are to infiltrate a human vessel, acquire any type of navigational data you can and escape without being detected or caught."

Huri remembered what happens to an Osoona if it gets caught. The prophets have absolutely no knowledge of your existence. He packed in all of his equipment for spy duty and trudged off towards the human city. He already knew that the cruiser Zayap, Aaron, and Larel were on was already on its way back to High Charity so he didn't have to tell anyone he had left.

Huri made it to the human city quickly, but was almost knocked off his feet when a human vehicle sped by him.

"What a strange vehicle?"

The car kept going, heading into the busy intersection of the city. Humans ran from here to there, carrying cases and other things. One even had a four legged creature that made barking noises at him, it sounded like a grunt's native language. Huri walked towards what he could surmise was a hanger. It was full of human aircraft and spacecraft. One of which was prepping for launch.

Huri launched himself into the doorway before it closed.

"I really hate these spy jobs."

Aaron stared out into the stars. The planet High Charity loomed from space, he was in the hanger, inside a Seraph fighter. An elite was beside him, its head twisted 180 degrees. He powered the fighter up and blasted off towards the planet. He knew that if supposedly under business from his so called "master" he would make it to the bio-scanner.

He requested clearance using the elite's voice, the one he killed earlier. He landed without any trouble, and was not stopped. But once he got to the bio-scanner the covenant stared at it. He heard them speaking in their native languages, so he activated his translator.

"This isn't human!?
"What is it?"

They didn't have time to say another word, the screen exploded as blue bolts of energy erupted from the scanner. Aaron fired his wrist guns, at anything that moved. He ran down the street, activating active assault mode. His programming took over as he raced towards the capital city. Then he remembered how far the capital was from his position. His nuke began to warm up; he fired at anything his targeting computers detected. His nuke began to buzz.

"So this is how it ends."

The cruiser Rising Star saw from space a massive explosion rock the planet, a shockwave, visible from its position spread across the city where it happened, in less than half a cycle, the city was nothing but radioactive ash.

Once on board the human ship, Huri ran along the hallways. He was being chased by the humans. They had some sort of goggles that let them see him even in his camo. He ran to and fro, but it was hopeless, inside their ship he was no match. It took two dozen marines to subdue him, and they finally knocked him out.

Huri was blinded by a bright light. He looked around; he was bound on his arms, legs, and waist to a metal chair. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness.

"What have we got" Huri heard voices say.
"An elite, one of those black armored ones too. He must have gotten on board from a longsword patrol.
"Well, looks like we have a prisoner."

Huri lowered his head, he had no way of returning to the covenant now, he would be publicly executed for failing the high prophets. A human came into his vision and punched him in the face. One of his mandibles snapped from the blow.

"Get a ONI spook up here, the best at interrogation, I don't know how to speak covenant."
"What about the colonel, he has a translator."
"Colonel Ackerson? I guess."

Soon enough a stocky man was standing in front of Huri, snickering.

"So, you thought we wouldn't find you, huh?"

A marine touched Huri with a silver rod, pain surged through his body.

"If you tell us what we want to know, you live, if you don't, you die. It's that simple."

A green armored human walked into the room.

"Spartan 107 reporting, sir."

Ackerson looked at the Spartan with disgust.

"Just sit down, I'm working here."

The Spartan took a chair.

The Colonel asked Huri many questions, which Huri didn't answer. He stared at 107, with a glint in his eyes. But before long he wasn't able to think straight from being electrocuted so many times.

A female human walked in, and stared at Huri.

"You had it beaten?"
"It would answer, so I thought it needed some convincing."

Dr. Halsey walked around the battered elite. Huri didn't really care what they did to him anymore. He had no more strength left to fight, and they had drugged him with something. He just wanted to die.

"I advise, colonel, that you allow me to ask this alien some questions."
"Fine, but it is still my prisoner, and it will be charged with war crimes, and executed."
"Not if I can help it."

The colonel stormed out of the room.

"Now, how did you get on board" Halsey asked firmly.

Huri didn't answer. His life was in shambles, what could he do now? Then it hit him.

"I came on board by one of you fighters."

Halsey was surprised, it spoke perfect English.

"Jesse, is this the elite you had a tangle with?"

The other human, the one in armor, walked up to Huri, and came within several inches of the elite's face.

"Yes doctor."

Halsey sighed, then looked at the elite.

"What were you doing here?"
"Searching for data on human navigational computers."

Halsey was surprised, this elite was being more helpful than she thought, possibly even becoming a fountain of information. She better not push it. But the elite spoke first.

"If I return to the covenant, I will be killed, if I stay, I will be killed. I have no wish to die. I will tell you as much as I know about the covenant to keep me alive. And I know quite a lot."
"What about your caste system, die before giving up information?"

Huri looked up.

"I no longer serve the covenant. Their corrupt political views disgust me. I was forced to serve, but no more."

Huri, in one simple movement, snapped the bindings hold his arms to the chair. Jesse snapped forward, ready to defend Halsey, but Huri didn't attack, he just sat there.

Another human walked in. It was identical to Aaron!

"How is this possible? Aaron was on board the cruiser when it left."
"Hello Huri" Aaron said.

Halsey spoke.

"Aaron's body was nothing more than an android we built for war. Before he detonated a powerful explosive on the covenant homeworld, he transferred his memory and thought matrix processors to us; he rebuilt him with a brand new body."
"So you were nothing more than a spy?"
"More or less, I was supposed to detonate right when I got to High Charity, but I overrode my programming. I missed the capital city though."

Huri now remembered that it was Aaron who had been wearing grey clothes when he had arrived at Huri's home.

"Dr. Halsey, this elite is a good person, no matter what Ackerson or any other ONI spook says, I won't let them kill him."
"Neither will I, he knows so much about the covenant. It is a very exciting thought of actually learning about the covenant caste system from one of their own."

Huri smiled, he knew quite a lot about the covenant, even enough, to free his people from the prophets.

An Osoona No Longer (-Part One-)
Date: 5 May 2004, 5:38 PM

Huri looked around; he was at a UNSC training facility. He, after giving the UNSC a treasure chest of information regarding covenant ships, they allowed him transfer to a more humane facility. He had still been handcuffed, under orders of the Colonel named Ackerson.

Huri didn't like Ackerson one bit, for one, he didn't agree on the elite's vows to help the human race. Huri had been chained on his ankles and wrists; he had submitted without a fight, even his brutish strength couldn't break these bindings.

He had noticed, on his second month in the custody of the humans, that their government was very political, and mysterious. They used a lot of cloak and dagger. Huri was being moved to the facility for "safe keeping". But he could tell they just wanted to keep him in their sight.

He had been told that he would gain liberties and freedoms the more he assisted in Intel and technology. He had given the ONI, a human governmental military corporation, plans for plasma weapons, ship upgrades, even how to replace a battery core on handheld plasma weapons.

Huri was escorted by a dozen marines, all armed with shotguns. They came to a large room, completely bare except for a bunk, a weight set, and some punching bags, and a large screen. Huri was roughly shoved inside and the blast door sealed.

"Well, this is something I always wanted to happen" Huri said sarcastically. He had been interrogated none-stop for almost two cycles. The only rest he got was when this Dr. Halsey commanded the ONI men to leave. Huri knew about all the troop movements, and battle plans the covenant had planned, but no matter how much the humans pestered him, he wouldn't give up the information.

"You told us you would sing, now tell us what the covenant are planning?!!"
"If I told you, then you would feel after all this information I gave you, then you would have no more need for my assistance. With the knowledge I possess, I can extend my lifespan."

The ONI officer fumed, leaving the room with smoke trailing from his hair [not literally]. Huri smiled to himself, content that he had caused a snag in the ONI's well thought out and organized plans.

"If they want the info, then they had better make me a good deal" Huri explained to Halsey.
"Well, I don't see why you can't tell me."

Huri looked up. He looked at each and every hidden camera in the room.

"I'm not stupid doctor, not in the least."

Halsey looked down.

"I didn't mean to try to trick you."
"Well stop treating me like I am some child, and don't think I can't relate."
"What do you mean?"

Huri just sighed and flopped down onto the hard bunk.

"I don't want to talk right now. What are you, some kind of psychiatrist?"
"I majored in another field, but I have been using psychiatry with you, yes."

Huri looked himself over. Ever since he had talked with the other humans, he had begun to act like them, talk like them, even use the same grammar as they did. And he had only been in their company for twenty-four cycles.

"I just don't want them to kill me," Huri said right before Halsey walked out the door.
"I will do my best to stop that from happening."

Huri looked down at his dented armor. Its usual shine was long gone from the battles on the planet and from being beaten and electrocuted. He took a piece of his bindings and scrapped off the symbol of an Osoona.

"I no longer serve the prophets."

Huri walked around in his cell, looking at the cameras, the new ones.

"Every time we put in new cameras he knows where they are. How does he do it?"
"I don't know, just do your job."

A new personnel member walked off the elevator into the high security prison cell. Lieutenant Walker went through eye pattern scanners, DNA scanners, and voice scanners to get to the most important prisoner the human race had ever held.

Once he got to the observation deck he felt like he was hit by a hammer, there were so many computers and monitors in here that a bridge of a cruiser wouldn't come close. He looked down at the massive figure of the elite. The elite was watching a screen playing one of earth's old movies.

The elite laughed in its deep, guttural laugh as a punch line was thrown.

"I never knew an elite would like the three stooges."
"I'm surprised he understands the humor," Walker said.

All the personnel snapped to attention when they heard the el tee.

"My name is Lieutenant James Walker. I am now in command of the prisoner and this facility

Huri heard a new voice coming from the observation deck. The observation deck was disguised to look like the rest of the bare room, but Huri could tell where the one way glass started, and stopped.

"Kill the lights for ten seconds."
"Sir?"
"Do it."

The cell began pitch black. After ten seconds were up the lights reactivated. But the elite was gone.

"Where did he go?"
"Check the cameras!"

Suddenly, the elite appeared, hanging from the ceiling! He flipped upside down and stared into the observation deck from his inverted position.

"Amazing, it is likely as fast, or faster, than a Spartan!"

Walker stepped into the cell. The elite, once thought a killing machine, simply clicked its mouth at him.

"What is your name?"
"I have answered this question a grand total of three hundred and forty-two times, the answer is the same as the last time."
"I am now in charge of this facility and you, and you will answer my questions."
"I don't remember when authority was given to you to order me around."

The elite bared its fangs.

"Good, you are even more intelligent than I had expected."
"You, are from ONI, no doubt" Huri said as he stared at Walker's crisp black dress uniform.
"I am, but I am not one to mistreat prisoners."

Huri walked back to his bunk, the bindings clanking on his armor. Walker noticed a deep slice in his back.

"Medics can heal that you know."
"Pain helps sharpen meditation. I do not mind it. But I believe the guard who "slipped" does."
"The guard who you broke almost every single bone in his body?"
"I only threw him; I didn't do it THAT hard."
"You are incredibly strong."
"I work out."

Walker looked around the room, in the corner were the remains of punching bags, and the weight set had been altered to deliver much more weight.

"You seem to be adjusting."
"I do what I can; this room is perfect for deep mediation. I find it even better than my lavish home back on Taranus."

Huri imagined Zayap; Huri had given him all rights to his estate, and fortune.

"Why will you not tell us what we want to know?"
"I have told you quite a lot; maybe you shouldn't bite off more than you can chew."

Walker snorted, the elite said something in his own tongue, then turned and walked over to the screen. He pushed the control button and the screen disappeared.

"Amazing, humor is something new to me."
"Humans cherish it; it helps make us feel better."

Huri sighed, thinking about his real home, and those he left behind.

"I suppose you have a family lieutenant."
"I do."
"Leave me; I will answer no more questions today."

Walker left the room. Then said to one of the scientists in the room.

"He has this all very well thought out. He almost seemed in control."

Walker was in his quarters when a call came in.

"Sir, the elite wants to talk with you."
"I'm on my way."

Walker stepped onto the observation deck. The elite was sitting on the bunk in a strange position.

"He's been that way for almost three hours."
"Unlock the blast door; I'm ready to go in."

Huri, while in deep meditation, didn't hear the lieutenant walk in.

"You wanted to see me?"

Huri looked up.

"Yes, I have another piece of information I will now give to you and your ONI friends."

Huri held up a memory chip.

"What is it?"
"The history of the covenant, starting with the blending of my people and the original covenant."
"Thank you, I'll look at it as soon as I get the chance."

Huri nodded. The blast doors closed behind Walker as he left the cell. Once back in his quarters, Walker inserted the memory chip into his computer terminal. The screen flashed images of a strange world, with an orange sky. It showed elites, cities, and other things.

"Must be his real homeworld."

Walker read about how the covenant, originally a species called brutes, and the prophets, overpowered the elites and assimilated them into the covenant. Though the brutes were very powerful, the elites were the perfect soldier. There was an uprising in AD 1876. It was ended in AD 2065. Another was then banished before it began.

"So the elites are not willing members of the covenant, interesting."

It then showed a strange DNA sample. It read about the covenant trying to genetically alter the molecular structure of the elites to increase healing and strength, it failed horribly. The elite's immune system was to strong for the changes and destroyed the mutated cells, killing the subjects. Only elite infants would be able to survive such alterations. But the project was dropped when the covenant made contact with the human race.

Half of the prophet council wanted to assimilate the humans into the covenant, others wanted to destroy them. It was decreed that the humans were an abomination of the Forerunners, the covenant gods. So they declared a holy war on the human race.

"My word, I never thought of it that way."

Walker sent the data to ONI headquarters on earth. Once they had fully read and processed the information a familiar face appeared on his com terminal.

"Lieutenant, we now have enough information, we no longer need the alien's assistance."
"So what am I supposed to do with it Colonel?"
"What else, kill it."

An Osoona No Longer (-Part Two-)
Date: 7 May 2004, 6:01 PM

Walker hit the power switch. He thought about what he had been ordered to do. He saw a shadow in a mirror. Walker spun around, but nothing was there. He picked up a M6D. He walked through the apartment. But it seemed no one was there. Then he heard a voice.

"You know, that killing the elite would be killing the only source of real information about the covenant we have."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere.

"I have been ordered to do so, and I cannot disobey those orders."
"But they are politically motivated."
"But they are still orders! Who is this, show yourself?!"

A flash of light appeared, and an AI materialized in front of him.

"Who are you?"
"I'm a simple AI who cares about what happens to that elite."
"Your programming goes against these orders?!"
"I have no programming, at least, not anymore."
"Explain?"
"I am a "smart" AI. My name is Aaron. I am housed inside the workings of an infiltrator/destroyer class android. I hacked into your apartment's com systems and holograph projectors to talk with you."
"That is a strict violation of protocol. Do you know what ONI could do to you for doing this?!"
"Let me see, don't know don't care. I'm a CC7 class smart AI. Do you really think I can't defend myself?"

Walker felt like he had been punched. CC7 AIs were the most advanced, and illogical AIs to ever be produced.

"I have my orders."
"From Ackerson, the guy is as bad as the devil for Pete's sake. I won't let you do it."
"You have no choice but to let me fulfill my orders."
"I just took control of the cell doors, they are locked. I am inside the observation room's computers, they are under my control."

Walker looked over the AI's hologram. It looked like just some punk kid. With a denim vest, ripped at the sleeves and neck. Denim jeans with holes on the knees, and a bandanna around its dirty blond hair. AIs usually have code running down their frame, like the AI Cortana. But this AI didn't have any. The only thing he had that told Walker it was an AI was that it seemed solid, yet transparent. And its eyes were pure white, no pupil, no iris, just white.

Walker sighed; he didn't want to underestimate the potential this AI had over his operation. And once back inside its android body, it could cause more than just chaos.

"What do you propose?"
"I propose telling Ackerson he can go to hell!"
"I'll get court-marshaled and shot!"
"Then I'll tell him, just don't try to kill the elite, accidents happen, people get hurt, and AIs can get real mad."

Aaron's eyes began to turn a dull red.

"Fine, fine, but you had better have a plan."
"President Davidson just overruled Ackerson's order, and I didn't even help in doing it. But Ackerson will be punished, and it will be my doing."

Walker looked down.

"If this gets traced to me, I'll personally activate your fail-safe inside your thought matrix."
"I deactivated it; no one can activate it without my consent."

Walker's eyes widened.

"You have gone and breached every single protocol an AI can break!"
"Oh please, I have the personality of a teenaged child, a punk one at that. Rules were meant to be broken, and I break them pretty good too."

The AI disappeared in a flash of light. In the observation deck, all the computers went haywire.

"What did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything!"

Then all of the sudden, it stopped.

"Good job!"
"Uuh, thanks, but I didn't do anything."
"Weird."
"Hey, that Halsey lady is here to see the prisoner."
"Let her in. Then run a full diagnostic on the systems."

Halsey walked through the blast door, and entered the cell.

"Hello Huri."
"Doctor."
"Well, it seems you have caused quite a bit of chaos at ONI headquarters. That info you sent them is causing an uproar."
"How?"
"Oh, they all have their own opinion on it."

Ackerson watched the screen as the information on the covenant scrolled down it. He would have that elite killed if it was the last thing he did. This information would make him look like a fool, after the supposed new information he had put in on the covenant's caste system. He sent two squads of his ODSTs, with full clearance to the prisoner's cell.

Ackerson smiled, he always got his way, except with the Spartan program. Now he would get his way again. But, he looked around. The room was empty. This station usually had three other ONI officers working on security for the complex. He got up and headed for the door, but it was locked down.

"Hey, the door is locked down, open it! Hey!!"
"No one can hear you colonel, I shut down the cameras to this room."

Ackerson spun around; the voice had come from everywhere.

"Who said that?"
"No one you really know."
"I order you to show yourself!"
"What if I am a higher rank than you? You wouldn't be able to order me around."
"I command you to show yourself."
"Oh, very well. Just so you can see me."

The lights in the room shut off. Five seconds later they reactivated, but with a new figure in the room. A teenager, in civilian clothes stared at the flustered colonel.

"Who are you, this is a restricted area!"
"You never have seen my form, have you? My name is Aaron, I am an AI."

Ackerson settled down, he knew that an AI would do as he orders.

"Unlock that door, someone had it locked down."
"I locked it down."
"You what?!"
"I need to talk with you. While I talk, your ODSTs are having fun trying to get past security after I deactivated their security clearances."
"You can't do that, your programming doesn't allow such things to be done for an AI."
"Oh please, don't be thick. I am a CC7; I can do whatever I want."

Ackerson stepped back. He felt a twinge of fear; CC7 AIs could do almost anything they wanted because of their computer abilities, and flawed logic processors.

"Unlock this door!"
"How can I say this, no."
"That wasn't a request."
"I don't care."
"You are out of line!"
"Same answer as last time."

Ackerson's face began to turn a dull cherry color.

"What do you want?!!?
"I want you to call off your dogs, before I have to, the hard way."
"That elite, is an enemy, I will have him executed!"
"Well, that's just too bad, you see, I have full control over all systems on that base. Your men wouldn't get past the first checkpoint."

Ackerson began typing on a terminal, then another.

"Oh give it a rest colonel, they don't work. I cut off power to this station."
"What about life support?"
"I don't need it."
"I wasn't talking about if you need it!"
"Oh dear, I guess it slipped my mind."

The lights turned off again.

"You can't do this!"
"Your right, it's a waste of my memory space."

The door clicked, then opened.

"But this is only a warning colonel, that elite will not be harmed. And I have reported your actions to the president. He will be most displeased about you disobeying a direct order."


Before Ackerson could reply, the hologram disappeared. In his cell, Huri thought some more about the covenant's policy about human prisoners. But suddenly a thought hit him like a hunter charging.

"If the UNSC was able to plant Aaron to infiltrate the covenant, and put him in with the other kids. Then they knew that those kids would be captured. They intentionally are putting those kids through hell, and they know it!!"

Huri jumped from his bunk.

"Get me Dr. Halsey, now!!"

Halsey was jolted asleep by her com.

"Uh, what is it?"
"The elite wants to see you ma'am, I don't know what about."
"I'll be over momentarily."

Once Huri had told her about the children her eyes widened.

"I never knew about this."
"I just figured it out."
"Those kids were just a setup to get Aaron in there. Ackerson doesn't care what happens to them!"
"If I could get my hands on that man's neck, he would wish he wasn't so communistic."
"But if the children were a cover-up for implanting Aaron, what do the covenant plan to do with them?"
"What they told me was they were going to publicly execute them. I think they will use them to force human vessels to surrender, then be destroyed."

Halsey slumped.

"Ackerson has gone to far this time. He says that sacrifices are necessary, but letting children fall into the hands of the enemy, just to strike at them. It isn't right."
"I would never want my children to be put in such a position."
"You have children?!"

Huri looked down, likely embarrassed.

"I have two children, and a mate. They are on my race's homeworld."

Halsey thought about this.

"What can we do?"
"If I could get back to High Charity, I could probably find a way to save them. And the covenant doesn't know I've been captured. My job does usually require long periods of time."
"That's a great plan! I wouldn't have thought of a better one myself. If I was military, of course."
"There is just one snag in the plan."
"What is that?"
"These seem to be my permanent living quarters."

Halsey coughed.

"Well, yes, I will talk with Lieutenant Walker, and get you signed for a release."
"He won't allow it; he is under ONI's command."
"Unlike you, Huri, I have powerful friends."

Walker swallowed hard. The two massive figures in front of him pinned him to the wall, two feet off the ground.

"Hold him there."

The two Spartans didn't let go. Holding on to his arms they had him pinned.

"I want you to have Huri given a full pardon."
"I can't!"

The pressure on his arms increased.

"ALRIGHT! I can request it, but I won't guarantee anything!"

The Spartans looked at one another, then let the officer go. He rubbed his arms.

"You know that assaulting a superior officer is a court-marshal in waiting."
"My Spartans know the risks, but human life comes first."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll find out."

Huri walked through the blast door, happy to be free. He had been in the cell for a total of two months.

"Huri, there is something that I think you will find most interesting" Halsey said after Huri had been fully pardoned.
"What is it doctor?"
"Once you had been released, and up for pardon, I had a new project fitted to your physiology. It matches your old armor to the letter."
"A new armor suit?"
"Yes, and even more spectacular than the MJOLNIR project."

The Spartans looked at one another. The armor turned out to be exactly the same size as
Huri's older suit. Except it was a burning orange, and had black helix patterns covering the legs, arms, helmet, and torso.

"What are the patterns?"
"They are special infiltrator technology. By your command the suit can change to any color you want it to. It has an even more advanced active camo device then what the covenant use. And it has built in ion pulse guns. The same weapons our androids use."

Huri admired the suit.

"It will also increase your natural speed, strength, and agility. It has more powerful shields, and is plasma retardant. But be warned, you are not invincible once you put it on. The suit has limits."
"I understand the risks of overconfidence. It cost me my brother in an old war."

Huri slipped into the armor, and it immediately turned the same color as his older armor.

"Amazing."
"Also know one thing. Colonel Ackerson is out for blood, so stay away from him as we go to ONI headquarters to get your release signed."
"I understand."

Except, Huri hoped that he would run into the good colonel.

Of Traitors and Betrayal (-=Part-One=-)
Date: 9 May 2004, 10:55 PM

Huri looked around the corner. There was no sign of the enemy. But this enemy was tricky, and had an uncanny ability to appear at the exact wrong time he wanted it too. A shadow on a shadow alerted him to the presence of at least one of the slippery opponents. His new armor allowed Huri to melt into the shadows.

"Come out, come out where ever you are" Huri said to himself.

Then, a flash of movement, Huri fired. The bolts hit.

"SIMULATION TERMINATED...SIMULATION TERMINATED"
"Huri, that is the fourth time you have beaten Jesse at this game."

Huri smirked to himself. Defeating a Spartan was no easy task. He had gotten lucky, very lucky. Jesse picked himself up, brushing the burn mark off of his armor. Then nodded to Huri. Huri had been working with the Spartan for a week now. He had surpassed everything anyone had thought possible in the armor.

"I think phase four is ready to be initialized."
"Phase four" Huri asked.
"Phase four is your max combat training. We will use your suit's neural uplink to directly upload fighting techniques and combat strategies to your brain. Like super accelerated learning."
"Like they do in the matrix?"

All the scientists looked at each other.

"A movie I watched in that big cell they locked me up in."

At ONI headquarters Ackerson fumed a pillar of steam.

"I can't believe they put the suit on that alien! I had the perfect candidate and they put a covenant in it!!"

Ackerson threw his chair across the room.

"I will stop them from destroying my position, even if I have to take out a few people on the way!!"

Lieutenant Walker watched Huri absorb the data directly into his mind. Instead of lying on a medical bed, he had chosen a strange position. The same position he meditates in. As the fighting data and combat techniques flowed into his mind, he didn't concentrate on them. He allowed them to flow into both his sub-conscious and conscious minds. Once both absorbed the data. It would come as natural reflexes to use them in combat.

The links to his armor shut off, then dislocated from the uplinks.

"I know kung fu."
"No you don't; combat hand-to-hand techniques are not uploaded until phase five."
"I was quoting another movie."
"Oh, right."

The scientist rubbed his head. This was the most bizarre, strange, and most illogical elite he had ever heard of. But he had to admit, it could best two Spartans in even hand-to-hand combat. Huri stood up, then stretched.

"Hmm, tactical data, and battle strategies. I think these may be useful to me. *YAWN*"
"They should, in combat while commanding a team, these maneuvers are crucial."
"I will be given a team?"
"Your mission is to infiltrate the covenant homeworld, and rescue human beings who were a part of something they shouldn't have been a part of. OF COURSE YOU GET A TEAM YOU NUMSKULL!!!

The lieutenant got up from his chair and walked into the room. Ready to break up a potential bloodbath.

"Are we now ready for phase five?"
"Yes sir."
"What is phase five?"
"We've already told you some of it. The other bits are a surprise."

The scientist winked. Huri considered getting the info on phase five the easy way, but that wouldn't be good for his being on the human's side now. He waited for them to assemble the equipment for uploading the stuff they called karate into his mind.

"Beginning uploads. Upload will be complete in twelve minutes thirty seconds counting."

"Lieutenant Walker!"
"What is it?"
"Colonel Ackerson has gone loco about the experiments with the elite. He is coming down here in person to stop it! He is already at the first checkpoint!"
"Does he have clearance?!"
"He says he does."
"Aaron, fix his clearance, keep him stalled, if you can, stop him. If we pull the plug on Huri now, the strain will kill him!"

Ackerson, flanked by marines, walked through the second checkpoint. But right when he entered the third, he heard a familiar voice.

"I warned you colonel, now you will see how far I can spread my abilities."
"No!"

The door they came through closed. And the consoles in front of them shot sparks as the wring fused.

"That should keep you right were I want you until the proper authorities come to pick you up. You have been marked a criminal and will be tried as such. You have no rights but those given to you by the court. You will not resist or the charges will be more extreme. Marines, take the colonel into custody."

The marines looked confused.

"Stand down marines, I'm in charge here."
"Your authority has been stripped from you colonel. Your charges are blatant disregard and disobedience of presidential orders on grounds of a personal vendetta. Also you have placed innocent human beings in the potential danger. Those human beings, who happened to be teenaged children. Because of this you have put them in a place where they will be killed. Thus you have been charged with murder in the first degree. The court will decide on what to charge you with on these terms. If you resist arrest you will be charged with such, and will be punished as the law provides. Have a nice day."

Ackerson's jaw dropped open. How could this have happened? He grabbed one of the marine's rifles and opened up on the door.

"And colonel, don't try that. The doors are three inches of titanium-A. We wouldn't want you getting hurt now, do we?"

Ackerson yelled curses as he threw the rifles against the door.

"Who of you has any grenades?!"
"Sir, this space is too small, you would kill us all!!"

Ackerson slumped to the ground, beaten. But he knew that if he got the chance, he would get revenge, on all of them.

"Lieutenant Walker, I don't believe the colonel is entirely sane" Aaron told the el-tee.
"Who does?"
"Good point."
"I just hope they don't record the trial."
"I have been asked to front the prosecution. You have just been given a subpoena. I believe you are to testify."

Walker sighed explosively.

"But if you wish I could have someone else, since you're busy."

Walker looked cross at the AI. Aaron smiled. But something nagged at him. It almost seemed, to easy. But what is there to say. His capabilities far surpass even Cortana. A human is primitive compared to him.

"Your grace, I come with news."
"Come in Tartarus. What news do you speak of?"

A brute walked up to the prophet of light and reported.

"The Osoona Huri' Furomee has not returned from his mission. It has been over two hundred cycles. How much longer must we wait before we believe he may be captured, or killed?"
"Huri' Furomee is no ordinary elite; he is not one to be captured easily. He may be taking his time."

The brute bowed. The prophet was right, this was no ordinary elite. He remembered hearing that this elite had snapped the vertebrae of one of his own kind in one single kick that sent the brute flying into the wall. If the rumor was true, and Huri was one of the three existing genetically altered elites, then it was likely that the elite was still inside the ship, waiting for the right moment.

Huri stared hard at his opponent. It was a major game of wits, intellect, and superiority.

"Your move."

Jesse moved his queen. The chess game had gone on for an amazing two hundred and thirty-four turns. The scientists who had been taking notes were snoring loudly by now. After a spectacular three hundred and two moves, Jesse called checkmate.

"You're good, Spartan. Even though I have never played this game, you put up a good fight."
"I've never played for this long before either."

Huri, after getting a full eighteen hours of sleep, walked into the briefing room. He had been appointed to be one of the team leaders in the extraction mission for his acts in giving the humans technology and information. The entire room slammed into attention when he walked in. He looked over the group of newly trained class 2 Spartans. (Class 2, second group of Spartans)

"Sit down. I have called this briefing to inform you all on this mission. We will be infiltrating the covenant homeworld. This planet here, High Charity. I will be piloting the small ship we captured to help us gain access to the moon. Once we reach the moon our primary objective is to secure my old home. It houses a vast storehouse of equipment that could serve us well in the mission after that. The grunt currently residing in the house is named Zayap. He could help us so do not run in blasting anything that moves. The hunter, Larel, may also prove extremely useful."

The Spartans shifted in their seats. Huri stared at them all. They were barely twenty years old. The final group of Spartans to ever be successfully produced. They were his team, all sixteen of them. They all had their customized MJOLNIR armor and weapons. They sat at attention. Huri racked his mind for the correct order.

"At ease Spartans. Once the house is secure we will set up a secure COM post so the covenant will not be able to triangulate our positions. Once in the house you will set up a perimeter while I try to locate the transmitter's code sequences. Once you get my signal, pilot the covenant dropship into the city, and zero in on the civilians listening devices. Any questions?"
"What is our extraction plan, sir!?"
"We are going to escape on this ship. The archangel. It is a prototype warship that the covenant have been working on for many years. It isn't large. About the same size as a human frigate. But has the same firepower as three covenant cruisers, plus, it has fighters."

The Spartans whistled. It was a beauty of a ship. With forward facing wing struts it had the brilliance of a predator.

"Now gear up, we leave in two days."

The Ackerson sat inside the large courtroom. He kept his head in his hands. Aaron, the AI that got him here, wasn't at the prosecution table yet. Ackerson's attorney looked over papers and other junk. The ensemble of generals slowly walked into the courtroom and took their seats in the semi-circle shaped judges table.

"This is a non-public JAG court of law. There will be restrictions on witnesses. One witness each. This trial will be short, simple, and to the point. Where is the prosecutor?"
"Right here sir."

Aaron appeared in a flash of light as the holoprojectors kicked into gear.

"I'm on prosecution."
"An AI?"
"Yes sir. I have the most knowledge of the defense and his charges."

The JAG officers whispered to each other.

"Very well."

Huri walked through the Spartans barracks. He looked over each and every one of them.

"Spartan 254, Lance. Step forward."

A very well built human stepped forward.

"Sir!"
"Your demolitions."

The Spartan smirked and stepped back.

"Spartan 211, Harry. Step forward."
"Here sir!"
"You are our com specialist."

The Spartan looked at the floor. Obviously the Spartans preferred combat over computer work.

"Spartan 175, Danielle. Step forward."

A very lanky female stepped forward. She was thin, and very tall.

"You are our sniper. You get this."

He tossed her a rather long rifle.

"The S3 is your weapon. It is less powerful then an S2, but is perfectly silent and has a 20X range on the scope."

The girl beamed as she inspected the weapon.

"Alright. Team two, and team one, split up."

The Spartans split into two lines.

"I am team one's commander. Our objective is to engage enemy forces. Team two's commander, please come up here."

A banging noise on the metal stairs told the younger Spartans that one of their seniors was coming up, in full armor.

"Team two's leader is this man."

All the Spartans stared at the large build that the older Spartan had.

"This is Spartan, uh. Psst, what's your number again?"
"107."
"This is Spartan 107, Jesse. He is your commander."

The Spartans all nodded. Still not used to being under the command of an alien.

"Jesse, you get the job of airlifting the civilians out of the area, and to the archangel. Once you secure the vessel come pick us up, okay?"
"Right. Your boys get all the fun though."

Huri shook his head, trying not to laugh.

"Alright Spartans, get your gear onto that ship. I want it stocked in two hours" Jesse yelled.
"SIR YES SIR!!!"

Huri smiled and walked out. As Jesse supervised the loading of the covenant cargo ship, Huri checked the info feed for the upcoming mission.

"This is not going to be a cake walk, in fact. I don't think we will all come out alive," Huri said to himself worriedly.

Fate is Decided (--Part_One--)
Date: 15 May 2004, 4:20 AM

"Ship master Deloramee, the cargo ship Rising Star is right on schedule. They have requested clearance and are awaiting permission to land on High Charity's moon."
"Give them clearance."
"You're cleared Rising Star, continue on your present course."

The small ship landed quietly in the hanger of Huri's home. Zayap was waiting in the hanger, wondering who had come.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

A footstep caused him to start shivering.

"Who is there?"

Zayap pulled out a needler. A large hand touched his shoulder. Zayap screamed and fired. But the weapon was taken from him.

"Settle down Zayap! It's me!"

Zayap looked up.

"Huri? HURI?!"

The grunt embraced Huri's leg.

"Uuh, don't do that. I need you to promise me something."
"Anything."
"Don't scream again, no matter what comes out of that ship."
"Ooookay."

The elite said something in English that Zayap didn't really understand. But when a large group of green armored humans stepped out of the ship. He didn't scream, just fainted.

"Zayap, wake up Zayap."

Zayap bolted out of bed, right smack into Larel's face. The grunt screamed and curled into a ball. But quickly recovered from the shock the hunter gave him.

"I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that Huri got back and he had humans with him."
"You weren't dreaming."
"Oh."

The grunt fainted again. Larel huffed laughter and walked out of Zayap's room. He looked at the Spartans. They looked at him. He was easily twice as tall as the tallest one, but he knew not to underestimate what they could do.

"Master Huri, why did you bring humans here?"
"I'll explain."

Huri told the hunter, in laymen's terms, his adventure.

"That's quite a story, if it had come from anyone else, I wouldn't believe it."
"Even your bond-brother," A Spartan asked.

Larel just looked at the human.

"Spartan 212, this hunter has no bond-brother, it was killed in combat."
"Oh."
"What about that grunt we saw, where is it?"
"Zayap is in his room, still out cold huh?"
"He came to, but fainted again."

Huri laughed.

"You said that you had something downstairs that we could use?"
"Yes."

Larel looked at Huri with a questioning look.

"You have something in that safe?"
"Yes."

The hunter huffed something in its language. Then shrugged and walked off.

"I will never get used to seeing one of those things without armor on."
"They prefer having it, without it they feel vulnerable. Their natural body is strong, but vulnerable."
"Yeah, we all know that."
"Set up the com post, and the perimeter. Then break out some food," Jesse said tersely.

The Spartans nodded, then began their own conversation using personal coms, and minute body language. Huri wondered how they could communicate, by simply nodding their heads and waving their hands. But his own species had its own special way of communication, so he guessed it wasn't so strange after all. I mean, if the movements of one's mouth pieces could be considered a language. And the hunter's spines could communicate things. So he left it at ease in his mind.

Huri unlocked the safe, then walked in. Once inside the door closed, leaving them all in pitch black darkness. No light entered through any openings in the walls.

"I can't see."
"Lights please."
"Wow, darkness."

Floodlights flashed into action. The Spartan's eyes quickly adjusted. Inside the safe were weapons of all shapes and sizes. Vehicles and two phantoms. The Spartans stared flap jawed at all the firepower.

"This is my personal arsenal. I gathered it all by myself."
"How long did that take?"
"A very long time."
"So, what do we do with it?"
"We use it, if needed. But I want to leave some of it for later use, if necessary."

The Spartans nodded, and each took two plasma rifles. Soon the com system was set up. And Aaron walked to and fro, mumbling about incompetence. He switched panels, and flipped switches. Finally sitting down, and just sat there.

"Having a problem Aaron?"
"No, just, I wish humans were more precise."
"You're an incredibly advanced AI, give us some slack," one of the Spartans chimed in.

Huri walked upstairs.

"How is the com going?"
"Its going pretty good, this grunt knows his stuff."

Zayap, who had woken up, just sighed. He fiddled with the controls. But suddenly he jumped from his chair, sniffing. Huri looked over at Larel; his spines were erect, shivering while they scanned the air. Huri listened, a footstep sounded, very softly and quietly.

"Someone is here, keep working."

The Spartan didn't even flinch. Huri activated his personal cloaking field. He moved to and fro, searching for whoever was here. He activated thermo-optics in his helmet so he could see if there was an invisible elite in the house. Larel blazed in color because of the optical scanner. But Huri saw the invisible elite. He nodded to Larel, who tackled it.

The hunter easily subdued the insurgent. The Spartans held the elite down, while Larel picked himself up. The elite roared and kicked and flailed, but the Spartans were stronger. It soon gave up fighting. The elite looked around, then started babbling in its own language.

"What did it say?"
"How should I know? Where did that other elite go?"

Huri appeared in front of them.

"This new cloaking field thing is amazing."

The Spartans looked at him. But then concentrated on the elite.

"Hold on boys, and girl, I know this one."

Huri grabbed the elite's forearm and lifted it off the floor. Then thrusted it onto the wall. Huri said something in his native language to the elite. It relaxed and they began a rather cooled conversation.

"Hey chief! Come here!"
"What? Oh, friend of his?"
"Seems like it."

Huri continued to speak to the elite.

"Hey Huri, who is that?"
"A friend."
"We figured that, who is it?"
"Jora' Furomee."
"That's your name, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"So he's related to you."
"Yes."
"You're being cryptic with me, tell me who he is."
"My son."

The Spartans stared at him.

"He's your what?!"
"My son."

The other elite said something.

"He says he saw us land. He came up here to investigate."

The elite nodded.

"So, can we trust him?"

Huri stared at into Jora's eyes. The elite fidgeted, but then went limp. After almost five minutes Huri let the smaller elite go.

"He can be trusted. But keep a wary eye on him at all times."
"How can you figure that?"
"I just know."

Jora rubbed his neck and said something.

"Translate."
"He said he was sorry," Aaron piped in.
"Did I ask you?"
"No, but I answered the question didn't I?"
"Com channel established. We are free to use inter-channel coms."
"Good job. Let's load up."
"Wait," Huri held up his hand.
"What is it?"
"Grab two of those rods over there. We may need them."
"What are they?"
"Translated, they are Bangalore explosives, just a lot more powerful."

The Spartans loaded onto the two dropships and blasted off towards High Charity. The Spartans were silent in the dropship, either not wanting to speak, or just having been trained that way. The first dropship tilted down and sped down to the surface, homing in on the first target. The second dropship landed, and its contents silently slinked out. They set up positions around the building, while placing silencers on their MA7B battle rifles.

"Don't attack unless they see you."

The Spartans nodded. The street outside the alleyway they were posted inside was empty. But an occasional vehicle made it clear that they weren't going to be moving much.

"This is team one, we got the kid, he looks pretty banged up, we're moving out."
"Roger team one, moving to next target."

The Spartans moved up, securing the next building they homed in on.

"Team two; we have the civilian in sight. No enemies on scanner."
"Be careful team one, the enemy is here somewhere."
"Roger, securing civilian."

Huri waited for the Spartans to get the kid. His mind kept going over the situation, it was too easy.

"Civilian secured, no covenant engaged. Returning to dropship."
"This is com alpha, you have several large heat signatures coming in fast, they appear to be banshees."
"Roger alpha, this is team one leader, give us TAC data and reroute us to the other civilians."
"Roger team one leader, sending data now."

Huri looked left, he saw a shimmer. He motioned to one of the Spartans. The Spartan aimed his/her battle rifle and fired. The elite didn't make a sound as it hit the ground, its head punctured by the round.

"He likely isn't alone. Team one this is team two, we have been spotted; prepare to fight our way to the rest. I estimate it will take them thirty minutes to fully comprehend and attack with force. Timer is running."

The Spartans all looked at the mission timer in the bottom right hand of their huds.

"Roger, moving out."
"CONTACT!"

Silenced rifle fire sounded in the night. The whine of plasma fire and flashes of blue and green signified return fire.

"Snipers, covenant snipers!"
"Over there!"
"Fire, fire!"
"AMBUSH!"

The Spartans com system was being flooded by the Spartans all yelling at something or someone. Huri heard a scream and saw an armored body slam into the wall right beside him, smoking. The Spartan was hurt, but not dead. It grabbed its SMG and unloaded on the Covenant.

"Fire on those fuel rod guns!"

Green orbs of explosive energy blasted past team two. As the firefight continued in the street, team one secured another child.

"Here."

One of the Spartans gave the sixteen year old kid an SMG.

"I don't know how to use this."
"Learn!"

The kid found the safety.

"You aim it at the covenant, and pull the trigger, the gun does the rest."

Covenant attacked team one as they were heading back to the dropship. The plasma cannon on the dropship swivled and fired at the covenant. The Spartans ran in to find a teenaged girl at the controls.

"Just like a simulator."

The Spartans nodded and ran back towards team two.

"We have all the civilians! Pull out, pull out!"

A fuel rod blast caught a Spartan in the back. His shields failed, but he kept running. Huri slowed, watching the Spartans tear ahead towards the awaiting dropship.

"Go! I'll stall them!"
"No! Come on!"

But Huri turned, and fired his two plasma rifles at the advancing wave of covenant. His rifles overheated, so he threw them down and raised his arms. His pulse guns blasted away at the elites, jackals, and grunts. They parted as the deadly energy cut through them. His batteries died, so he clicked a button on his arm. A stream of fire shot from his left arm, igniting the grunts methane tanks. They exploded with a powerful blast, blasting the attacker's line. His power cell failed and he switched to his hypersonic gun. It fired until it too failed. He flipped his swords out and attacked. It wasn't long before the massive numbers of covenant overwhelmed him. He felt plasma shot after plasma shot hit his unprotected armor. He felt dizzy, then blackness filled his vision.

Of Traitors and Betrayal (-=Part-Two=-)
Date: 16 May 2004, 1:24 AM

"Prosecution, call your witness."
"I call Major Darren Gregory to the stand."

A black uniformed officer walked briskly up to the stand. An ensign held up the Bible.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?"
"Yes."

Aaron stood, hovering about three inches above the ground.

"What is your assignment in ONI headquarters?"
"I work as colonel Ackerson's second-in-command."
"Did colonel Ackerson ever order you to have a prisoner executed?"
"Objection, the prosecution is using a biased statement."
"Overruled. Let the AI say at least three sentences before objecting to it. And AI, try not to be as blunt, it can be viewed as biased."
"I repeat the question major."
"No."
"But he did order you to assign two squads of ODSTs to the prisoner's barracks. Didn't he?"
"Yes."
"Why would he do that?"
"I don't know."
"You don't even have an idea?"

The major looked at the roughly dressed AI. Its eyes were a very dull grey, unlike their usual color of white.

"I believe he was going to have the prisoner executed."
"Objection, witness is speculating."
"Overruled, the witness is given some leeway, but very little."
"Thank you sir."
"Major, if you had been given the order to execute the elite, would you have followed through with it?"
"No, the president of the UNSC had given direct orders to keep it alive."
"But Ackerson didn't follow those orders, why?"
"I have no idea."

"Huri, this is Lieutenant Walker, could you come back to the lab. We have some final equipment upgrades to attach to your armor."
"Yes sir, I'm on my way."

Huri walked into the lab. Inside were all sorts of new gadgets.

"Over here, these guys are going to upgrade your wrist computer, and neural interfaces."

Huri allowed the four men to open up his wrist com-pad, and his neural interface CPU.

"With these new enhancements you will now be able to carry an AI inside this computer. Your enhanced neural interface will allow your armor to interface with your emotion chip, inside your cerebral cortex."
"Huh?"
"Your armor will respond to certain emotions now. Like anger, it will enhance the adrenaline flow in your bloodstream, if your body uses adrenaline. This will increase your speed and strength considerably."

Huri nodded.

"Also, each wrist socket has been upgraded with new weapons, other than the pulse guns, of course. The left arm contains a small, but powerful napalm flamethrower. The right contains a sonic blast gun. Combined they create a powerful vibrational flame cannon."

Huri stared at the scientist.

"What did he say?"
"He said you have a flamethrower and a noise gun."
"Ah, cool."

The scientists all looked up at the elite. So far it had only quoted movies, now it was saying cool.

"I swear that is a human in an elite costume."
"How many movies did it watch?"
"About two hundred."

Huri tested the flamethrower. It had a respectable range of two hundred meters on full stream, but the power cell drained quickly when that was used. On spread it could be used for a longer amount of time with a wider range of fire. The sonic gun fired powerful vibrational blasts. The highest setting clocked at almost three hundred decibels, enough to punch through any obstacle.

"Your witness."
"Major, has the colonel ever given you strange orders?"
"Not that I can recall. Well, the one time he had some marines go against a Spartan on an obstacle course, but that was quite a while ago."
"What about strange transmissions, ever any of those?"
"Not that I can recall."
"So this man is being accused of being a traitor, on no grounds that he betrayed anyone."
"He did seem to be acting strangely the days after they fitted the elite with the new armor."
"No more questions. I have what I need."
"Defense, call your witness. This witness had better bring up the rest of the evidence."
"Yes sir. I call Colonel Ackerson to the stand."

Aaron rolled his eyes (no one can see it because of his really cool eyes though). Ackerson was going to lie his head off.

"Colonel do you swear to tell truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?"
"Yes."
"Sit down colonel. Colonel, did you order two squads of ODSTs to enter the prisoners barracks and execute the covenant prisoner?"
"Not to execute it, they were escorting it to ONI headquarters to enlighten us on some of the information he gave us."
"Objection, I have a video and voice recording of the colonel giving those marines orders to kill the elite."
"Sustained, watch yourself colonel."

Ackerson flinched almost unnoticeably.

"Did you assign marines to retrieve information from the elite with the use of force?"
"Yes."
"Did you have the elite tortured?"
"Yes."
"Did you, after being ordered not to, go to the facility and attempt to kill the elite yourself?"
"No."
"Objection, I have a video and voice recording that will show you that the colonel was trying to get into the facility to kill the elite."
"Sustained."

Ackerson turned a slight color of pink.

"Your witness."
"Colonel, did you ever assign an android to infiltrate the covenant homeworld?"
"Yes."
"What did you use to get the android into the covenant homeworld?"

Ackerson didn't answer.

"Answer the question colonel."
"Objection, the prosecutor is badgering the witness."
"Overruled, but watch yourself AI."
"I used a group of teenaged male and female children to help infiltrate the covenant homeworld."
"No more questions."

The group of generals got up.

"Give us the evidence and we will choose a verdict."

Them papers were handed over. The JAG members filed out, and Aaron disappeared.

"Could we possibly win with that?"
"I don't know, we'll have to see."

Huri looked at Aaron's holographic form.

"You're coming with us. We'll need you."
"Android, or in that fancy new wrist thingy."
"Either."
"I'll take my body, but have a memory chip in that wrist thing to have you constantly updated on me."
"Sounds good. How did the trial go?"
"Pretty good."

Huri looked at the Spartans. Jesse called them "freshies." Walker called them "newbies." But they were warriors in his eyes.

"Alright Spartans, load up!"

"We have come to the verdict of disregarding and disobeying a presidential order on the grounds of a personal vendetta, guilty as charged. For placing children in a position of 100% chance of death, and thus murder in the first degree, guilty as charged. Your sentence, death, in the Albany penal facility on colony Orion."

Ackerson slumped. What could he do now? Then it hit him. He smiled.

"Alright Spartans, you've been briefed and are prepared for this mission. Let's see if all that training was put to good use."

Jesse, after giving his little speech, nodded to Huri. The ship blasted off and almost immediately entered slipspace. And on a direct course with the one place in the universe that Huri didn't ever want to see again.

Ackerson held the controls of the prowler steady. The pilots were dead, and the guards unconscious. He was determined to get his revenge on the elite, even if it was the last thing he ever did. After a long three day search, he found what he was looking for.

"Covenant vessel, I have information that could lead you to earth, but I will not give it to you until I am granted amnesty."

The covenant destroyer slowly turned, but didn't fire. Soon Ackerson's ship was inside the warship and Ackerson in the hands of earth's greatest enemy. The first willing human traitor to the covenant.

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