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Chapter One: Call To Arms

Planet Limisha Tango

Sika' Swashim stood in the early morning light of the desert covered world. His black armor glinted from the red sun and he could feel the warm sun rays on his face. He felt his bottom jaws open up as he felt the warmth move its way up his mandibles, his flesh tingled as the cold from the night was driven out and replaced with the warmth of the day. His jaws moved back into position and formed into a smile. Today is going to be a good day, he thought to himself taking in the a few more moment of sun before turning away.

He started to walk down the sand dune he had been standing on as the sun rose. His huge long legs strode easily down the sand dune, he felt the sand crumpling and cascading down around his feet. It was working its way inside all the crevices of his black armor and rubbing against his skin. Sika' frowned slighty at the slight irritation of the sand. He felt his darkened energy sword swaying as he walked down the hill.

Sika' was a Sangheili who was in charge of the special forces detachment on this small world. He had been in the service of the Covenant for most of his adult life and had not been to Sanghelois since he was just a child. He stood at eight feet seven inches tall and had the usual large upper body of the Covenant Sangheili.

The sand continued to fall around his feet as he reached the base of the sand dune and walked back towards the base several hundred feet away. He gazed at the shade turrets which were occupied by several small groups of Unggoy.

Their large triangular shaped backs stuck out of the shade turrets seats, he could also see the large methane tanks slung over there backs. The small creatures didn't breathe air like all the other alien species of the Covenant. They were required to breathe the thick soup like atmosphere of their homeworld. Each Unggoy carried with them a small methane tank and apparatus for breathing in the oxygen rich atmosphere of this planet.

Sika' whinced at the memories of the methane tanks getting hit by enemy fire and causing a large explosion that engulfed anything and everything around the small creatures. The tanks were secure and usually safe to use in combat. But when the Covenant had started fighting the Humans so long ago they had descovered that the tanks were extremely vunerable to the primitive projectiles the humans used as weapons. When the tank took a hit it would explode and decimate any troops around it.

Sika' knew this and he encouraged his men to stay away from them during battle with humans. But even though he knew this, he still didn't like leaving the small creatures to die against the terrible weapons the humans used. Unlike most other Covenant, Sika' actually enjoyed being around the small Unggoy. They were more simple then the larger Sangheili, they didn't have constant thoughts going through there heads about everything else thats happening in this war.

The war was beginning to heat up, Sika' could feel the war coming to a close soon. The Prophet of Regret had just discovered a planet with the largest population ever seen of any human controled world. It was completely by accident and the humans had been preparing to fight the Covenant off for so long. The humans had fought the escort fleet of the Prophet off with a fierceness never before seen. The holy Prophet had just barely escaped with his life, he had fled to the Holy Ring they had just recently been discovered.

Sika' smiled again as he thought about how the war would come to a close now that the human threat was about to be annihilated. The bulk of the fleet was to meet at the ring world with High Charity and prepare for an all out assualt on the Human homeworld. It would be glassed like every other world they had ever found in the galaxy.

Sika' felt a slight sadness come over him as he thought about the annihilation of the human race. They had proved to be formidible warriors when they fought, even more than the small Unggoy. Like most other Sangheili, he wondered why the Prophets hadn't offered them into the Covenant. They could obviously handle themselves and they would have been a great addition to the already huge armada of the Covenant army. Sika' had fought against them only once before, it had been a small warship that had strayed away from a large battle. He and several other Sangheili squads had boarded the ship in the hopes of finding the homeworld in the ships navigation computer. The creatures had fought with a blood lust and Sika' had lost a large portion of his men. The humans had held the Elite warriors off just long enough to delete their entire memory core and set their own reactor core to overload. Sika' had just barely escaped with his own life that day.

Sika' now approached the outside of the base, he passed three shade turrets that watched the sand dune for any sign of movement. Even though their was no chance of any humans ever coming out this far. Sika' passed several groups of Small Unggoy and heard their high pitched barks and growls as they talked amongst themselves. He walked past two large buildings that were painted a shiny purple color, it stood out extremely obviously for being in the desert. Sika' thought about the large base he was at, it held almost one thousand Sangheili warroirs. There was almost five thousand Unggoy, and nearly four thousand Jiralhanae.

Sika' disliked the large Jiralhanae with a huge passion just like most other Sangheili. His species had been in an unspoken feud with the large leather skinned creatures for a long time. Both creatures would do anything to keep there own place in the social order. Sika' smiled at the thought that his people were higher then the Jiralhanae. They were much more sophisticated then the Jiralhanae, they were just Brutes who didn't have any sense of being civilzed. They used tribes as part of their social order, Sika' just shook his head at the thought of the primative order of leadership.

Sika' passed another Sangheili and gave the other Elite soldier a nod. They both continued on their way without any words to each other. Sika' entered a small building and walked down a long purple hallway, lights and the paint gave the corridor a slight glistening appearance. He walked through a large door which swooshed open and he walked into a large command room. Consoles flashed and there was several screens displaying information about various things around the base. Sika' looked around until he spotted another Sangheili in golden armor watching a large pulsing holographic display. Sika' recognized his superior officer, and walked over to him.

"Any news from High Charity yet? Have they activated the sacred ring?"

The large golden warrior turned and looked down slightly at Sika', he looked around the control room at the other Sangheili. "Our brothers have failed to protect the Prophit Of Regret. He was slain by the Demon, today is a day of mourning for the Covenants loss."

Zuki' Jasheem had a sad look cross his face as he gazed around the room from one hurt face to another. The other Sangheili all felt bad for the loss of their leader. They felt even worse when they considered that their brothers had failed to protect him for the evil demon the humans had released against them. The older Sangheili continued to frown as the men still were with their thoughts.

Sika' took his gaze off of the text scrolling on the commanders screen and looked at Zuki'. "Is that the only message?"

"Yes, they promised another transmission soon," said Zuki'.

The other Sangheili returned to their tasks at hand and began to do their jobs again. Sika' looked at the commander then around at the other consoles. Some showed orbital sensor scans of the space around the planet, several Covenant warships approached and departed away from the planet. Identification numbers and information was displayed next to the large dots on the screen. He gazed to console a few feet away being maned by a red armored Sangheili. It displayed the information of several vehicle platoons around base, he smiled as he read something about several Scarab walkers.

Sika' brought his gaze back to Zuki' and smiled, "May I take my special forces detachment out for simulated combat manuavers in the Bashinkim Desert?"

Zuki's face turned thoughtful as he considered the question he was asked. He looked back at Sika' and nodded, "You may."

Sika' smiled and turned, he began to walk out of the room. He continued to walk even when he heard the sounds of an incoming transmission. It beeped and made a liquid sounding electronic buzz. The sounds of consoles buttons being pressed echoed as he the door opened. "Sika' wait!"

Sika' turned and looked back into the room at Zuki'. Zuki' stood with his right hand outstretched behind him as he read the text the message had. He turned and had a look of pure shock on his face.

Sika' watched the commander stutter then close his mouth. He was at a complete loss for words. "What is it base master?" Sika' strode towards the base commander and gazed down at the scrolling text on the monitor. Sika' felt his jaws drop open as he read the important message. He was shocked as he continud to read it.

Priority Message:

URGENT!! CODE 331 ALPHA GAMMA

To all Sangheili ships and soldiers in Covenant territoral space. The Sangheili have been caste aside as the most loyal of all troops to the Covenant. The Jiralhanae are attempting to commit a genocide against our brothers across the galaxy as you read this. It is the will of the Prophets, that the Sangheili be exterminated. We must rise up brothers, and fight for our right to live. We have the right to live and we will not go without a fight into the dark night of space.

As you read this, any of the Jiralhanae commanders may be recieving orders to exterminate you. You are authorized to take the fight to the Jiralhanae with lethal force. This is Civil war my brothers. As I write this message, my ship and many of our brothers ships are engaging the enemy over High Charity. I hope that this message does not reach you to late my brothers.

Aquire any ships you can and proceed at maximum slipspace speed to Sanghelios. The Prophits surely will not let us go unpunished for our actions. We must defend our brothers and sisters there, we will not let them erase our existance from covenant history.

I pray to the Forerunners that we will succeed in defeating the Prophets. Good luck brothers.

Ship Master Gilik Jaseshim of the Ever Lasting Courage.

Sika' read the message again to be sure. He looked over at the commander, he was watching Sikas' reaction to the message. Sika' closed his jaws and turned around to the other Sangheili in the control room. Sika' growled and grabbed his energy sword which still hung from his right leg. He activated it and spoke, "our brothers are being murdered by the Jiralhanae. They are massacring us. Arm yourselves, we must defend our way of life!"


Chapter Two: Rise up

Planet Limisha Tango

Jiralhanae Cheiftain Kriktus gripped his gravity hammer tighter as he approached the control room. Seven other members of his tribe trotted beside him through the sand towards the command building. They're heavy footsteps pushed the sand out and to the side under their massive form. They're breathing was heavy and becoming quicker everytime their adreneline pumped throughout their bodies. Kirktus snarled slightly as he saw several Banshees fly over the base and twist off towards the ship yard facilities on this planet. He could barely make out what species the pilots were as they sped off into the distance. Each purple fighter was flown by a Sangheili warrior in red armor.

Kirktus adjusted his tribal helmet armor slightly then continued up the small sand dune and towards the purple building sticking out of the sand. Kirktus was nine feet tall and was the largest of his entire tribe, which wasn't surprising since he was the cheiftain. His thick hide was coarse with age and he had several scars which ran up and down his body from his years of being a cheiftain. He wore large thick gold armor over his hairy body. The protective gold armor was heavy and made of several advanced peices of technology. The cheiftain before him had worn the suit just as the one before him had aswell. It was passed from each cheiftain to the next as he was replaced by his successor.

Beside him walked seven of his packs warriors, each had on their own versons of powered armor. The ablative armor on each of the warriors was clinking and glinting brightly in the yellow sunlight. They approached the front entrance of the building and the light changed to a green then swooshed open as the large warriors ducked inside the building. They walked down a long glowing purple hallway and towards the control room where the Sangheili base master was. Kirktus stopped several feet away from the door and looked to the two warriors to his left and right. They both stepped forward and loaded their spikers. Kirktus growled and the two Jiralhanae walked forward causing the door to swoosh open.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sika' Swashim stepped back as the door to the control room swooshed open and revealed eight Jiralhanae dressed in full armor that Sika' had never seen before. It was black and seemed to cover their bodies with black metal plates. Sika' only had a moment to gaze in wonder at the Jiralhanae before the first two large black armor clad warriors unleashed a volly of deadly spikes through the air at the closest Sangheili in blue armor. His armor's shield flared and glowed a bright yellow color as several of the large spikes slammed into the shield and disintigrated. The shield collapsed and the spikes tore through the hard blue armor of the Sangheili. Purple blood splattered out of the holes the large spikes made as they tore out of his back and stuck into the floor.
Two of the red armored Sangheili opened fire on the two Jiralhanae as they began to spray the room with spikes in a back and forth motion. Consoles and holographic monitors took hits and exploded throwing sparks and debris around the room. The black armor of the Jiralhanae sparked and bounced as it took the hits from the two Sangheili plasma pistols. Several more plasma blasts rang out and slammed into the armor of one of the Jiralhanae. It howled as the plasma burnt through and scorched its way inside the massive body of the creature. The black armored creature fell with a loud crash and another Jiralhanae ran in to take its place.

One of the red Sangheili took several spikes and they passed easily through his large body and stuck into the wall behind him. They glowed and glinted with purple blood from the Sangheili who clattered to the floor. The second Sangheili straffed to the side and dodged several bursts of spikes which lodged themselves into the wall behind him. It fired another shot which burnt into the huge armored creature it was closest to. The nine foot warrror didn't utter a sound as it turned and tracked the red armored Sangheili with its spiker.

Sika' ran forward as the creature turned exposing its back to him. He gripped his energy sword tighter and slammed it into the side of the black lumbering warrior. It easily drove through and cut the leathery hide of the creature open spilling its blue and red mixed blood onto the floor. Sika' pulled the blade up and tore up the Jiralhanaes thick muscular body, it gave a howl of pain as several critical organs sliced in half and spilled out and onto the floor. Sika' pulled the energy sword out and let the large Jiralhanae fall to its knees. He spun and gave the sword a swing cutting its armored head clean off and throwing it down to the floor. Its large black armored body crashed to the floor spilling out more blood.

Sika' felt his shields flare as three spikes slammed into his back, he felt the intense pressure as it pressed down on the shield. Sika' dived to the side and saw one of the several other red armored Sangheili get cut down by several spikes. His head was lodged with five spikes and his jaws fell off his body falling with a splat to the floor. Sika' landed on the floor and quickly rolled over to see the second Jiralhanae bring his bladed spiker down towards him. The metal sparked and made a loud clang as the two weapons met. The hairy creature swung back up and started to bring its bladed weapon down again for another stike on the sword. Sika' swung quickly and sliced the large thick legs of the Jiralhanae with his sword. They cut apart the thick flesh and bone, it was then replaced by bloody torn flesh and splintered bones. It tumbled backward screaming in agony, it thrashed wildly until it was silenced by a charged up shot from a plasma pistol.

Sika' pulled himself to his feet as sparks exploded outward from a console causing a red armored Sangheilis sheilds to flare. He got up to see three more Jiralhanae ran into the room, the one in the lead was the packs cheiftain with his large gravity hammer. It was wearing golden armor which made it stand out against its subordinates. It glinted brightly against the artificial lights of the control room, several darkened scorch marks and large metal slices were visible from past battles.

The cheiftain swung down with his hammer and one of the three surviving red armored Sangheili was hit. His shields collapsed and the large hammer smashed down on its red armored head. Purple blood splattered and metal armor splintered off of it in several directions as the elites head was crushed. Its brain was decimated and reduced to mush as the hammer crushed his skull inward. The Sangheili fell to the floor with a squishing sound and purple blood began to pool out around it.

Sika' waited for his moment to strike, the cheiftain moved forward and took another swing at a Sangheili. It dodged the swing and the hammer slammed into a console causing debris to shatter up and into the air. The Sangheili dived backwards and fired its plasma pistol continously sending several super heated plasma energy blasts into the cheiftains armor. It lunged forward and swung down again. This time the hammer landed flat into the stomach of the Sangheili, it squeeled in pain as its inards were ejected out of large tears in the sides of its body. Purple blood and organs splattered across the floor.

A golden blur zoomed past Sika' and he watched as the base master ran forward. Zuki' had his own enrgy sword charged and drove it into the cheiftains spine. The nine foot tall creature wailed as Zuki' twisted it and tore it out of the side of the chieftain. Its red and blue blood splashed out and to the floor from the chieftains torn in half body.

The large golden armored creature slammed to the floor, Zuki' didn't wait for the creature to fall before moving on to the next Jiralhanae. He crouched low as he sprinted towards the two other Jiralhanae who had taken up postion behind his pack. Spikes smashed into his shield and deflected off at random angles, they slammed into the walls around the room. Zuki' sprinted forward and brought his sword up and stabbed it through his lower grey skinned jaw. The blade errupted out of the top of his head spraying blood out, it splattered down his face. The Jiralhanae's eyes rolled back into its head and it collapsed under its own weight.

Zuki' pulled the sword out and began to swing it around towards the other Jiralhanae. His shields flared bright yellow as more spikes slammed into it. Just as the energy sword was about to hit the Jiralhanae, it side stepped the blades up and down motion and moved around to Zuki's left side. Zuki' was taken by surprise at the large creatures agility, it smashed its spikers large sharp blades down on Zuki's personal shield. It flared and Zuki' quickly recovered and moved away from the Jiralhanae. He began to move away when the Jiralhanae pointed his spiker and fired it point blank into Zuki's chest. A huge barrage of spikes slammed into his golden armor and splintered it open exposing his ribs and internal organs. Purple blood flowed out and over the wounds as he tumbled backward landing with a roll on the floor.

Sika' howled with anger and ran forward swinging his energy sword. He sliced the Jiralhanae's right arm off and the spiker in its hand skittered across the ground. Sika' brought the blade in another sweeping motion and sliced it across his chest. His armor fell apart and clattered to the blood slicked floor. The Jiralhanae let out a gasp of surprise and fell to the ground.

Sika' turned looking at the door once again, the last two Jiralhanae stood just outside watching as their brethern were struck down by the last three living Sangheili. Sika' could feel his chest heaving as he took in large breaths of air, his hearts beated quickly inside his chest. He could feel his anger building up again towards the Jiralhanae, they both looked at each other, then back to the enraged Sangheili. They both slowly moved forward and began to fire their large spikers towards Sika'.

The spikes slammed into the ground and into Sika's shield. He dived to the side and grabbed a spiker from one of the splayed open Jiralhanae. He gripped the weapon tightly and took aim at the Jiralhanae on the left side of the doorway. He let the spiker blast to life and spikes slammed into its armor. The spikes dug in and stabbed into the chest of the Jiralhanae, its blood flowed out of the wounds and down its black armor. The Jiralhanae screamed in pain and fell with more then two dozen spikes shoved deep inside of its chest and died.

Sika' moved his aim to the other large black armored creature. He was taking aim at the creatures chest when two charged up glowing balls of plasma slammed into the Jiralhanae's chest. It clutched the wounds as the green heated plasma melted inside of its body. The armor sizzled and popped as the metal melted away and dipped down his body. It fell and began to convulse on the ground as red and blue blood leaked out around the shaking body. Sika' got to his feet then walked over and quickly sliced at the shaking Jiralhanaes throat, it split open and the creature stopped moving as its blood drained from its body.

The sounds of two growls from behind Sika' made him turn and smile at his surviving brothers. We survived, thought Sika' slightly surprised. It was common knowledge that a Jiralhanae was far stronger then a Sangheili in one on one fights, but it was also known that Sangheili were far more intelligent then Jiralhanae. Sika' gazed at the two surviving warriors, one in red armor was clutching his plasma rifle and gazing at Sika' waiting for further orders. The other was injured and wore the standard armor of an inexpeirenced new recruit. His blue armor was split open and a large silver spike was drove through his left shoulder, purple blood leaked out and around the wound.

Sika' gazed at the floor and saw the bodies of his fallen brothers, they were splayed and rittled with large spikes that stuck out of their bodies at random angles. Their was also several large puddles of bright purple blood on the floor around them. Sika' quickly moved to the fatally wounded base master who layed in a pool of his own blood. Sika' knelt down and rolled the commander over so his face was towards the ceiling. He gazed at the commanders eyes and they blinked slightly, but the blinking was laboured and obviously painful.

"Sika'...," said Zuki' quietly. His purple blood was smeared onto a portion of his face, "you must leave before more Jiralha...," Zuki' trailed off and went limp as Sika' knelt beside him. Sika' looked down at the seventeen spikes drove into his friends chest, the blood was thick in the air and Sika' almost gagged at seeing his close friend die.

"Sir," said the red armored Sangheili walking up to him. "We must leave. The Jiralhanae will start killing the rest of our bothers soon, we must try to save as many as we can before its too late."

Sika' looked up at the younger warrior, his face was serious and focused. It was strange to see someone so young being as focused as his face looked. Sika' stood up and looked at the slighty smaller warrior, he was only a few inches shorter then Sika'. "We will mourn our brothers later. For now, we will defend our honor and save as many of our brethern as we can," said Sika' saying it loud enough to convince himself.

The building shook as the sounds of explosions tore through the air. The sounds of weapons fire and screaming could be heard from outside the purple walls. Sika' frowned and began to jog to the exit of the building.

Chapter Three: The Spilling Of Blood

Planet Limisha Tango

Sika' ran out of the purple dome shaped building that was the bases command building and gazed at the carnage around him. His eyes darted from one event to another, the ground shook as an explosion errupted to his left. Above him a purple banshee flew over, it trailed smoke and fire from its left wing. The steady whine of the anti gravity unit was now sputtering as the Banshee was loosing altitude. Another Banshee whized over and fired its plasma cannons, the blue lasers tore through the air towards their targets. The smoking Banshee's body tore apart with each hit and metal spiralled off into all directions. Fire errupted from the fighters body and it careened into the ground, the fighter smashed into the ground and through parts and peices into the air. Fire exploded out of the already smashed body and the fighters debris smashed into a group of Unggoy manning a shade turret. Several of the small creatures were impaled by sharp shards of metal.

Sika' watched as three Unggoy stood to his right and looked around with puzzled looks. They each held plasma pistols as they watched the confusion around them. Sika' quickly called to them, "Unggoy! Follow us!"

They looked at each other then ran towards Sika' and his two surviving Sangheili brothers behind him. Sika' continued to look around, sixty five feet away a gigantic Wraith tank fired its motar cannon. The bubbling plasma smashed into a group of Jiralhanae who were leading a group of Unggoy towards them. The ground scorched and several of the bodies were incinerated from the bioling plasma, the ones who weren't vaporized by the initial hit were thrown into the air by the huge explosion that followed. Body parts landed in the dirty sand and blood flew through the air around the area.

Sika' began to run towards the Wraith with his energy sword in hand. The Wraith turned again and fired its cannon just over their heads, the plasma popped and sizzled as it flew over their head. It landed behind them with loud whump followed by a chorus of pained screaming. Sika' glanced backward as he ran to the tank, a group of Jiralhanae body parts were scattered around the area. Black colored blood was sprayed around the area, several body parts still had their ablative armor on them.

A small Unggoy beside Sika' looked up at him puzzled, "Why we killing each other?"

Sika' looked down at the Unggoy, he could feel his annoyance at hearing the small creatures question. "Unggoy, you are here to follow me and only me. I will do the thinking, you will do the fighting," snapped Sika' to the small Unggoy who cringed with fear to the large Sangheili's response.

A yell came from behind Sika', "Incoming!"

Sika' looked over to the blue armored Sangheili who was gazing up into the sky and pointing with his uninjured arm at a purple Banshee diving towards them. Sika' dived to the sand just as blue energy lasers slammed into the sand, the sand popped and sizzled as it was scorched black. He heard a scream and Sika' quickly rolled over to see the blue armored Sangheili get hit as it dived to the ground. Sika' gazed at his brother as more lasers tore through the blue armored Sangheili, his skin popped and his flesh bubbled as it melted off. Several lasers tore through him and smashed into the ground behind him. The Sangheili's skull shattered apart as a laser smashed into his face, it tumbled to the sand.

Sika' looked up and watched as the Banshee finished its straffing run and tried to climb back into the sky. Lasers whizzed up at it, but the Jiralhanae pilot easily dodged the lasers being shot up at him. The pilot banked his Banshee and started to come down towards them again. He started to fire at the Unggoy and Sangheili taking cover down on the base. Sika' watched as laser skipped up the ground, towards him and his men. The Banshee was suddenly hit with a green fuel rod laser and burst apart in the air. The body of the pilot fell from the sky and landed with a loud thud in the sand. Parts and peices thudded into the sand around the corpse of the Jiralhanae pilot.

The whine of the Wraiths anti gravity generator sounded from just ahead. Sika' quickly got to his feet and watched as the Wraith fired on a Spectre filled with Jiralhanae. The two large black armored creatures on the sides fired their spikers off at any Sangheili who they passed by. The gunner on the back was firing randomly at a group of Sangheili taking cover around the debris of a crashed Banshee. The Spectres driver attempted to dodge the pulsating plasma round but it was to late to avoid the hit. The plasma slammed into the ground in front of the transport. The anit grav units on the Spectre whined as they tried to compensate for the upward motion the vehicle was sent into. The Spectre flipped and rolled twice, parts of the purple vehicle shattered off and spiraled into the air. The large black armored Jiralhanae was crushed by the Spectre as it rolled over and over.

The Spectre slowed to a stop as it finally stopped flipping over. The three surviving Jiralhanae slowly began to get back to their feet, they swayed slightly as they regained they're composure. Sika' waved his hand for the three Unggoy and one surviving red armored Sangheili to follow. Sika' ran towards the closest Jiralhanae and lunged forward driving his sword into its armored chest with a loud sound of buzzing electricity. The Jiralhanae let loose a scream from its large razor sharp tooth filled mouth. Sika' pulled the sword out of his stomach and stepped back.

The creature clutched at its wound then looked up at him with rage in its eyes. It threw its spiker away and began to run towards him with its fists balled up. Sika' got ready as the creature ran towards him at full speed, it was now swinging its fists. Sika' side stepped as the Jiralhanae lunged forward, he brought his sword down and swiped it through the angered creatures leg. The leg lopped off like a flowers top and the black armored creature roared in pain as it fell to the ground landing with a loud thump in the sand. It flailed and its leg sprayed out black colored blood that splashed and was quickly absorbed into the white sand. Sika' lunged forward and dodged one of its swinging arms with a quick jump. He brought the sword up and slammed it down with his full force, cutting his head off with a loud chorus of energy discharge. Blood sprayed out and into the sand, it soaked in quickly to the thick white sand.

Sika' looked up from his fresh kill and towards the sounds of plasma fire. He saw the second Jiralhanae kick a small Unggoy and send it flying. The small creature screamed in agony and fear until its body smashed into the side of a large purple building. Its blue blood spattered around it and left a trail as it slid down the wall to the ground below.

The Jiralhanae didn't waste a moment, it quickly grabbed its spiker from the sand and began to fire it. The Sangheili in the red armor took cover behind a part of a blown up Banshee as spikes slammed into the thick metal. The metal was peppered with spikes as the Sangheili returned fire with its plasma pistol. The green balls of energy struck the Jiralhanae in the chest armor and it continued to fire its spiker with rage filled growls.

Sika' quickly ran to the aid of his brother and lunged for the Jiralhanaes back. He brought his sword up and sliced it into its back with ease. Sika' attempted to pull it out, but the large creature spun and smashed Sika' in the face throwing him several feet through the air. Sika' landed in the soft sand and felt the air knocked out of his lungs, he cringed with pain. It felt like a Wraith had parked on his chest and he couldn't get his lungs to expand again. Sika' recovered from the minor injury and raised his head to look at the Jiralhanae. It was running for him while he was layed out on his back. Sika' quickly climbed back to his feet. The Jiralhanae roared with anger as it slammed its shoulder into Sika's chest sending him flying again until he landed with a soft thump in the dirt.

Sika' recovered quicker this time and scrambled to his feet. He watched the Jiralhanae as it began to run at him again, Sika' began to run back towards him. The two large creatures charged at each other with a fury, they both growled in anger as they approached. The Jiralhanae raised its shoulder and continued to sprint at Sika'. Sika' continued to run towards the creature until the last moment when he ducked and sidestepped around the black armored creature. He grabbed the sword in its back and pulled it out, slicing open more flesh and tearing more organs apart. It yelped and fell into the sand and began to roll with a crash. The sand was thrown up and in all directions by the Jiralhanaes roll, until it finally rolled to a stop.

Sika' quickly recovered from his previous slight injuries and looked for the pilot of the flipped Spectre. Its pilot was picking up a small Unggoy who was firing frantically at it. The larger creatures black armor bubbled and popped but did allow the shots to get through. The Jiralhanae grabbed the creatures small head and ripped with all its might. The Unggoy cried out before its head was removed squirting blue colored blood as the Jiralhanae tossed its head and body away like useless garbage.

The Jiralhanae looked to the last Unggoy and began to charge for it. The Unggoy was standing still strugling to handle his plasma pistols charge up cycle. The Pistols front began to glow and it transformed into a large ball of built up energy. The Unggoy fired and ball of green plasma slammed into the charging Jiralhanae's chest burning his armor open. The Unggoy began to waddle away from the Jiralhanae as it continued to charge for him. The Jiralhanae's chest was suddenly burst open spraying black blood into the sand. The creature fell like a stone and died with a loud thump.

Sika' looked to where the shots had come from, a second purple Spectre slammed into a Jiralhanae who was fist fighting a Sangheili a few feet away from them. The Jiralhanae bumped up and over the purple body and landed with a thud in the sand. The Spectre zoomed forward and slid to a stop from its anti gravity generators. Inside its cockpit was a red armored Sangheili who motioned for them to get in the vehicle. Sika' looked up at the gunner who was another red armored Sangheili who was peppering away a Jiralhanae a few feet from the vehicle.

Sika' ran forward and climbed up into one of the two passenger compartments of the Spectre. He felt the anit grav unit lock him in place inside the Spectre's passenger seat. He looked over and saw the surviving red armored Sangheili from the control room run and climb into the other passenger seat. The unit locked him in place aswell and he nodded to Saki'

"Wait! What about me?"

Saki' looked back down at the small Unggoy who was the last one alive of his unit. The Unggoy had a look of surprise and hurt on his face. "C'mon," said Sika' holding out his hand. The small Unggoy quickly moved forward and leaped up, their hands met. Sika' pulled the small creature up and onto the Spectre. He placed the small creature beside him, and hit a small button notifiying the pilot that they were secure. The seat was cramped when sharing it with the small Unggoy, but it seemed happy that it hadn't been left behind.

The Spectres engines roared to life and the vehicle lurched forward shooting out dust with its engines.

Chapter Four: The Barracks

Planet Limisha Tango

A large explosion ripped through the ship yard facility on the far side of the Covenant base. Flames from the blast licked their way into the sky and engulfed one of the many low flying frigates. The large purple ships shields flared as the white hot fire slammed against it, the ships engines roared to life and it slowly began to limp away and into the sky. Around the climbing wounded frigate, several other warships floated. Massive close quarters firefights were taking place inside each of these hovering dreadnoughts.

A squadron of Banshees flew out of the ship yards and towards the large barracks of the base. The barracks were many buildings that most of the Covenant forces used, it also held the large motor pool of the entire base. Smoke billowed upward and into the sky from several locations all over the barracks. The sounds of weapons fire could be heard from miles away, the sounds of screaming could only be heard from a quarter of a mile away.

The Banshees met a squadron of Jiralhanae piloted Banshees. The squadron broke apart as each banshees plasma cannons ripped to life, one of the Jiralhanae piloted ships burst apart spraying debris all over the sandy desert below. The small fighters twirled and spun as they dodged fire from each other. Several ships took hits and fell as flaming hulks which spiraled downward until they smashed into the ground below. The two squadrons continued to fight over top of the barracks as the fighting continued to rage below them.

Unggoy Yapil stood in awe watching a huge Jiralhanae fight a smaller Sangheili warrior. The gigantic black armored Jiralhanae had its large hands locked with the black armored Sangheilis and both creatures tried to overpower the other. Both growled and snarled as they struggled to over power the other. The Jiralhanae slowly began to push the black armored Sangheili back growling loudly as it was being defeated. The Jiralhanae was now pushing it back easily, it growled and brought its right leg up. The Jiralhanae slammed its leg into the Sangheilis stomach sending it tumbling backwards. Its shields flared as it fell back towards the ground. The Spec Opps Sangheili scrambled to his feet and lunged back at the Jiralhanae. The massive black armored Jiralhanae side stepped the lunge and grabbed the Sangheili around the neck. It quickly twisted and a loud snap came from the Sangheilis neck, causing the creature to go limp. The Jiralhanae tossed it to the ground and looked around for another creature to kill.

Yapil backed away looking at the fighting taking place around him. He was so confused, Yapil couldn't figure out why the two giant creatures were fighting each other. A few feet from him, six Sangheili were taking cover behind a large canister and firing their plasma rifles at a group of Jiralhanae who were doing the same. Plasma racked across the position the Jiralhanae were using as cover. The Jiralhanae let out a war cry and they all fired back with their spikers.

Yapil recognized one of the Sangheili who were firing and taking cover there. One of them had been his squad leader on several missions. The Sangheili had treated him well and Yapil smiled at the fond memory. He returned to the moment and saw one of the other Sangheili take a spike in the unshielded head. Purple blood splattered out and onto the other Sangheili around him. Yapil couldn't let his friend die, he had already lost most of his squad to a Lekgolo. It had been trying to fight a Jiralhanae squad when Yapils squad had gotten in the way. The thirteen foot Lekgolo had been angered at not getting its kill, it had shot them with its large fuel rod cannon that was grafted onto its arm. Yapil had been thrown free by the blast but he had hurt his left arm slightly. It now hurt to make a fist with that arm.

Yapil ran forward activating a plasma grenade as he did. He threw the blue glowing orb and lobbed it through the air landing with an almost silent whoosh. The plasma grenade glowed a bright blue/white color as it stuck to Jiralhanaes side, the Jiralhanae screamed in fear. It grabbed it and tried to pull it off, but could not pull the weapon of painful death off. The other Jiralhanae scrambled away from their doomed comrade, the running Jiralhanae took several hits from the Sangheili warriors they were fighting. The Jiralhanae with the grenade attached errupted into a massive blue explosion causing the ground to shake under Yapils feet.

Several of the Jiralhanae who had run from cover now took several plasma rifle hits. Their black armor bubbled and sizzled as it melted away from the super heated plamsa. The creatures howled and several fell, leaking out black blood as they did. The last few other Jiralhanae tried to fight but each took several hits in the chest causing black blood to pour out and into the already blood soaked sand.

Yapil ran over to his friend, who was shooting at a large group of Jiralhanae charging towards them. Yapil thought about what to do, then decided that if the Sangheili could shoot the annoying Jiralhanae then the Unggoy could too. Yapil gripped his needler and fired at the approaching Jiralhanae. The pink colored cyrstals slowly zoomed through the air and peppered their way up the body of one of the Jiralhanae running at them. The crystals glowed and exploded throwing charred and torn flesh into the air. Black blood splattered into the sand, the Jiralhanaes entire left side was now just a bloody view of Jiralhanae anatomy. It fell to the sand and rolled to a stop being covered in white sand.

The Jiralhanae roared and continued sprinting towards them.


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Sika' held on as the driver of the Spectre activated the thrusters and pushed the vehicle much faster then it could go before. The Jiralhanae charging for the squad of black armored Spec opp elites came into view as they approached. The driver said something as they slammed into the group of Jiralhanae sending several flying over the Spectre, the rest were just sucked under the vehicle as it smashed into them. Black blood splattered up and onto the purple body of the Spectre.
"Whoa, that was fun!"

Sika' looked down at the little red armored Unggoy who was cheering about killing the Jiralhanae. It fired its plasma pistol catching a Jiralhanae who was trying to get back up. The Jiralhanae cried and fell back to the ground with a thump. The Spectre slowed to a halt and Sika' jumped off of the purple vehicle. He looked around and ran towards his men taking cover a few feet away. Several of them had spikes lodged into their bodies, but they kept on fighting regardless. The gesture made him smile, he knew his men were hardened warriors but he didn't think they would keep fighting even while badly injured.

One of the Sangheili stood up and looked at him, Sika' regonized him. It was J'ka Lushum, Sika's second in command of all the Spec opp Sangheili on the planet. J'ka tossed a small plasma rifle through the air towards Sika' who easily snatched it with his right hand and began to fire at a few Jiralhanae who emerged from the barrack building across the small sandy courtyard. The dry sand covered courtyard was what seperated the Jiralhanae side from the Sangheili side of the entire barracks. It was like a large road that ran down the middle of the two species, dividing them from each other.

Each barracks was a large rectangular building with rounded edges and a dome shaped roof. The Barracks were placed in rows and there was about twenty in a straight line seperated by the courtyard with ten on each side. The buildings were atleast two stories tall and could hold up to one hundred fifty Unggoy each. They could hold anywhere between twenty to forty Sangheili or Jiralhanae depending on the rank of each warrior. The higher the rank, the more space the Jiralhanae or Sangheili was allowed. Now most of the barracks were being empitied and the creatures inside rushed outside to join the fght.

Sika' continued spraying shots at the other building, one of his shots caught a Jiralhanae in the shoulder and sent it crashing to the ground. Sika' fired his weapon in a spraying motion, pinnng the Jiralhanae down as they exited the barrack. Sika' took cover behind the crate with his men, there were only five of his men alive at this position. The small Unggoy who had rode with him ran past Sika' and took cover as spikes peppered their position. Some of the Sangheili spec opps had several large spikes rammed through them, they continued fighting despite their own personal pain. Beside J'ka stood anoher small Unggoy who looked up at Sika' with his eyes wide open.

The Spectre they had rode on was now just hovering and cutting down Jiralhanae who had put their heads up to look around the courtyard. The gunner roared as it cut down two Jiralhanae who ran from cover to escape the certain death of a plasma grenade. He continued to fire his plasma cannon with remarkable aim, he caught another Jiralhanae in the head and it was reduced to pulsating black flesh. The gunner was smiling as he shot several more Jiralhanae, he continued to pump away with his cannon until a large stick shaped object slammed into the side of the Spectre. The spikes on the black device drove into the side of the purple vehicle and it was securely latched onto the vehicle. The spiked stick looking device errupted into an explosion, the side of the Spectre disappeared and was replaced with an orange ball of fire. The Sangheili gunners left arm was torn from its socket as the vehicle shuddered to the ground and began to spin. The anti grav unit was going hay wire and causing the Spectre to spin out of control. Its right side dug into the sand and the vehicle flipped over and landed on its cockpit crushing the pilot of the vehicle.

Sika' gazed out into the courtyard, bodies were scattered and splayed across the ground. Purple, black, and blue blood was smeared into the sand. Blue colored lasers whized back and forth between the large buildings, several Jiralhanae took hits and fell two barracks over to their left. Sika' watched as both sides of the courtyard were filled with Sangheili and Jiralhanae, both fired and took cover as they blasted each other.

A spike whized and smashed into the front of Sika's shield tearing him back to the moment. Sika' brought his head down as several spikes whizzed over him and slammed into the wall of the barracks behind him. Sika' stood and sprayed off a large burst of plasma energy rounds at the Jiralhanae. A Jiralhanae took several hits in the chest and his armor popped and sizzled as the plasma burnt inside. Sika' fired another burst and the lasers burnt inside of his armor and black blood flowed out of the wounds. It clutched its chest and breathed in loudly before falling to the ground throwing up sand as he landed.

The sounds of explosions from above made everyone look up, a banshee took several hits and burst into flaming wreckage that fell from the sky. The flaming peices of the banshee slammed into the ground where the Jiralhanae were standing across the courtyard. Flaming parts and debris flew into the airas the hulk smashed into the ground rigt ontop of them. Several Jiralhanae were impaled with sharp peices of metal spilling out blood and bodily organs onto the ground. The surviving Jiralhanae were confused until they were shot by several bursts of plasma fire, searing inside of their bodies and splattering their blood to the ground.

Sika' looked around and saw several more groups of Jiralhanae moving their direction, they were coming from the purple barracks next door. Sika' looked over at J'ka, "we need to move or they'll over run us."

J'ka barked an order to the lower class Sangheili and two Unggoy around Sika' and they all began to follow Sika'. Sika' felt the slight drop of sweat bead down his back and looked to each of the faces of the Sangheili quickly. Each was covered in a mix of blood and dirt, they each gazed at him with hope. They hoped their leader would find a way to save them and not let them all die. "Follow me," he ordered over the sound of chattering spikers.

Sika' gripped his plasma rifle tighter as he sprinted from the cover towards the left side of the barracks they had taken cover in front of. Spikes smashed into the wall behind him and a spike hit his shield causing it to flare and glow a bright yellowish color. Behind Sika' he could hear the thundering steps of the large Sangheili following him. Sika' ducked just as another barrage of spikes tore past his head and thumped into the wall. Sika' looked back for only a second, but in that short moment he saw one of his already wounded black armored warriors take several spikes. One of the spikes slammed through his right leg spraying out purple blood and causing him to stumble. The other spikes smashed into his torso, tearing through one of his hearts and two of his lungs spraying purple blood onto the wall before he tumbled to the sand.

Sika' rounded a corner and began to sprint down the length of the barracks. His black armored Sangheili continued to follow him despite being fired at by Jiralhanae warriors who were chasing them. Explosions split through the air followed by screams and the sounds of buildings collapsing. Sika' shook off his curiosity and continued running from the enemy warriors nearly seventy feet behind them. Spikes smashed into the wall and sand as they sprinted, Sika' rounded the end of the barracks and stopped dead in his tracks.

Chapter Five: A Third Faction

Limisha Tango System

October 21st, 2552

Captain Chris Al-hadir stood on the bridge of the UNSC frigate Boldly Into The Night. The hull vibrated slightly under his scuffed black shoes as the large 4000 ton warship dropped out of slipspace and into the dark cold vaccum of real space. Chris exhalled quietly as he stood gazing out of the large windows of the bridge. He hated the transition back into real space from slipspace, he always got nervous and broke out in a cold sweat when they started the transition. He ran a hand through his black hair and felt a slight chill go up his spine. Chris was nearly fifty years old and he felt as old as he was. He had a medium build and his skin was slightly tinted brown. His eyes were dark brown and his black hair was starting to grey in some spots.

He could remember when this war started twenty seven years ago, he had just been an ensign when they had attacked Harvest. He could remember his excitement at the news of Vice Admiral Cole beating the covenant in the very first battle. He could remember his own anger once he had found out the truth about that battle. Sure Cole had won, but he had lost two thirds of his fleet doing it. He could remember every battle he had been in since then, all those years ago. He could remember all his friends and comrades dying in horrific ways that made him almost cringe in pain at the thought. This war had ran for far too long and humanities spirit to fight for its right to live was almost gone. The Covenant had torched and burned every world they had come across in this war and millions upon billions of lives had been lost in this war. Chris felt a slight saddness come across him as he thought of all the friends and the countless lives lost.

"Jump complete. Cole protical observed," stated the calm voice of Edward. Edward was the Boldly Into The Nights smart AI, he was one of many serving on many ships in the UNSC fleet. His voice came through the ships intercom in a thick british accent, his personality was based on King Edward III. Chris felt a twinge of annoyance with the AIs voice. The accent it had, drove him nuts. If he could change the programs accent, he would. But he wasn't that good with computers and Chris smiled slightly at his own lack of skill.

"Scan for Covenant Ships. Maybe we finally lost those damn blood hounds," said Chris even more annoyed with the Covenant. Him and his ship had been playing cat and mouse with a task force of three destroyers since the battle at Reach. They had fought with the Reach fleet and had just barely escaped that bloody battle with their lives. So many had died there, Chris felt a wave of shame for not dying valiantly with his comrades at Reach. But he had a duty to his crew and he had left the battle after the orbital MAC guns were taken out. They had just barely escaped only to be chased by those destroyers for what seemed like forever. The last jump they had taken resulted in them coming out too close to a stars gravity well, the three destroyers had arrived and stayed at a short distance to watch their pray die in a horrible manner. Edward had figured out an escape velocity and vector at the last moment and the resulting wake from the their engines had caused a massive solar flare to rip upwards and engulf one of the destroyers.

Chris smiled at their luck, they had quickly jumped away from the system and ended up here. The small holo pad lit to life next to him and the image of Edward sparked to life. He smiled as he spoke, "no sign of any covenant-," he trailed off as his eyes grew wide. "Thats a negative," he stated quickly. "We have ten meduim tonniage Covenant vessels in the system. I suggest we move out of this system immediately, before they spot us."

Chris's smile turned into a grim frown and he looked over at the helm station infront of the bridge. "Lieutenant Monroe, charge up the Shaw-Fujikawa drive and plot a random exit vector away from this system." The lieutenant nodded quickly and began to work the controls as fast as he could. Monroe was a young man of almost twenty three years, he had been serving on the Night for almost five years of his life. His hair was blond and slightly longer then regulations dictated but Chris wasn't a complete hardass and he let it pass for now. His eyes were a light shade of blue and he had a medium build.

"Charging sir," he said with a slight hint of nervousness. "Slipspace capacitors at forty two percent and climbing," reported the lieutenant impatiently.

"Lieutenant Watson," said Chris looking over at his weapons officer. He was around twenty nine years old and his face showed the horrors he had seen in his brief lifetime. Watson had short brown hair and the brown eyes to match. He had a large build and he was easily the biggest officer on the bridge. He had been on the Night for almost eleven years now, the ship had been in countless battles over that time period and his face had a look of what almost looked like a case of shell shock. But Chris knew better of his officer, he was one of the coolest officers in the heat of battle and he took orders extremely well. He had saved the ship in atleast a dozen battles with his skill for clear thinking. "Watch those ships, I don't want them rushing up on-."

He was cut off mid sentence by Edward from the intercom, "Captain. One of the contacts just disappeared. I'm showing only nine contacts, and alot of smaller contacts scattered across the system."

Chris felt his desire to run leave, at this very unusal news. What had happened to the covenant ship? "Scan the smaller contacts, what are they? Seraphs?"

Numbers scrolled across the holographic image of Edward beside him. He looked ahead intently while he did the complex scans of the enemy contacts. "Negative, if these scans are correct, then those contacts are thousands of peices of debris from Covenant ships. The ships in this system appear to be in battle with either each other or some other unknown contact that we can't detect," said Edward looking up to him with a perplexed look on his face.

Across the bridge the voice of Lieutenant Monroe broke in. "Why would they do that?"

The image of Edward looked off in his direction, his white robes that he wore cascading with his movement. "I do not know. Perhaps the latter of my suggestions is true."

Chris took in this information and thougtht about it for a moment. Why would they attack one another? Who could be attacking them? Perhaps some other alien race, they would be a great ally in this war if they could completely destroy a covenant ship. He looked over at Monroe aswell, "if they are some other alien ship, then we need to get a look at them. Helm bring us to vector three five eight and hold course."

"Three five eight, aye." Monroe punched the controls quickly and the computer told him that they began to align to the new course. The ship quietly hummed as the reactors roared to life and moved the ship to the new vector. Monroe checked the controls and monitors before answering his superior officer. "Were holding steady for those covenant ships, sir."

Chris turned and looked over at lieutenant Watson who was busily checking sensor readings with his left hand and keeping his right hand on the MAC activation button. "What are those destroyers doing Mr.Watson?"

Watson checked his monitor then his controls and looked back at Chris, "they're-," he stammered off as he took a double look at his monitor. His eyes widened in disbelief as he read the data that scrolled across his screen from the two large monitors at his station. "It appears that they're firing...at each other," he finished.


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Ship Master Lakim Raduumu fell to the hard deck plates from his command chair as the Faith Of Heart shook violently from a plasma torpedo impact. He quickly scrambled to his feet and growled orders to his weapons officer, "Target that cowards ship and melt it from existance!"
The Sangheili manning the weapons station nodded before punching the glowing holographic controls quickly. He checked his calculations and double checked to make sure the weapon would hit the target with as little interference from the guided controls as possible. He pressed the fire button and the control gave a liquid sounding chime and the monitor had letters and numbers scroll across it.

The plasma turrets lining the left side of the Destroyer lit to life and glowed bright red with crackling energy. The turrets blazed as they fired there weapons of sizzling death. The balls of plasma glowed green as they travelled through space and towards their target, a large Jiralhanae controlled Destroyer that they had lost contact with a few minutes ago. The ship attempted to break hard up and to the right of its course in an evasive maneuver, but it was far to large and heavy to avoid the two massive blobs of crackling plasma heading towards their amidship. The first green blob washed over the enemy ship and caused their shields to flare with rippling energy, the second impacted the shields aswell and sent sizzling energy mashing over their shields with lethal force. The flickering shields held for a moment then collapsed under the heavy abuse.

"Bring us hard to starboard and prepare to fire our starboard turrets," barked Lakim to the lower Sangheili around him. The helm officers hands moved like shots from a beam rifle over the controls and he quickly pushed the ships reactors and engines to well over their safety limits. The Faith quickly moved forward and to the right as the Jiralhanae ship attempted to limp away from their losing battle.

The Sangheili manning the weapons station smiled as he pressed the fire button again, the chime sounded and he gazed at the main holographic screen on the far wall of the bridge that Lakim watched. The plasma turrets on the right side of the ship glowed to life and began to charge up for their own shot. The energy glowed and crackled as they rotated slightly so they could fire their plasma turrets. The weapons roared to life and streaked off towards their target several hundred kilometers away, the green blobs silently tracked through space towards their target who continued to limp away.

The plasma blobs slammed into the heavily armored hull and began to boil and melt their ways inside of the thick metal. The armor didn't do much against the plasma and it melted through several decks at its midship, causing massive decompression wherever the boiling plasma melted. Crewmembers and debris tumbled out of the ruptured decks and spiraled in circles and arcs as they were blown into the vaccum. One of the plasma torpedoes ripped through the enemy bridge and melted all of the contents in an instant,while the other melted into the engine room and ruptured one of the reactors. The sides glowed red before bursting into billowing fireballs that ejected into space. The ships armor and hull split apart before exploding in a massive blast of yellow light and debris.

"Yes," growled Lakim looking at the holographic image of the exploding Jiralhanae vessel. He quickly looked over at the weapons station again, "charge the turrets, they'res still a few Jiralhanae controlled ships left out there. We can't let them escape, nor can we let them get to the surface," stated Lakim as he moved his gaze to the helm. "Move us toward the next known Jiralhanae controlled ship."

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