Halo Deeper We Go Chapter 6

Chapter 6: All for SPARTAN, SPARTAN for all 1643 HOURS, MARS 9, 2535 (MILITARY CALENDAR)/COVENANT SYSTEM “ULOOR”, ON PLANET ILOOM SURFACE

Randal kicked off the wall from the container. Finally free. Having been trapped into a container two times in the same week felt like a little too much punishment. Randal turned around as the other containers got kicked open from the inside by their respective Spartan. There was no need for him to make a strategy speech; everyone already knew what they had to do. After the freighter had successfully fooled the planet’s security and was allowed to unload the ‘cargo’, the Spartans had allowed themselves to be trapped inside each container. The containers had then been unloaded as if it was normal cargo onto the planet’s harbor. Then, when they knew nothing was around, the Spartans would split up into three teams; the first, under Thomas, would secretly plant explosives around the harbor to create a distraction. The second team, under Randal, would make sure that Lavernius reached the central bank mainframe in order to pull off the large transaction to the freighter captain’s account, which they had managed to get the password to and therefore could use (seeing as Ped or any of his followers wasn’t fortunate enough to have an account on the bank). The third and final team, under Joshua (who would have to do with ODSTs instead of Spartans), would move for the Relic Research Center, where ‘relics’, as Ped and his followers had referred to, were kept for study. They would then try to take as many of the relics as possible. The Spartans and ODSTs scattered, each team moving in a different direction. Randal took point for his team, with Lavernius and Michael tagging along behind him. ___________________________________________________________________________

Thomas moved quietly, but fast, through the slim alleyways of the port. The buildings in this place was huge and purple-glowing, something that made Thomas dizzy. But he continued, knowing that Randal and Joshua relied on him. He halted at something looking similar to a gas cable. Whatever it was, he presumed it would blow up well. “Set some charges here ASAP” he spoke into the COM. Eve and David’s acknowledgment lights blinked green on his HUD. As the two planted the explosives, Thomas wondered if it’d be enough to cover for his comrades. Or would they be struck with bad luck before the end? Had they wasted their supply of good luck already? ___________________________________________________________________________

Joshua looked back. The ODSTs were slow compared to him. He felt an urge to shout at them to hurry up, but he didn’t want to blow their cover. And the ODSTs were probably uneasy enough with having to work with a Spartan. But despite their differences, they had to fulfill their role in this mission. The team halted as they heard the sound of a patrol. They took cover behind what appeared to be trash cans and watched as the elite leader and its grunt and jackal subordinates passed by. The last soldier in the line, a jackal, started to sniff in the air, as if it had tracked something, but it then lowered its head and followed its teammates. Relieved, the team continued on, until they stood in a small alleyway in front of a large structure. It was their target; the relic research center. Now it was just the question of how to enter undetected; there were many elite guards at the front door, and the streets were patrolled by jackals and grunts. The only thing they could do now was wait until Thomas triggered the explosives, and hope that the destruction caused would gain the attention of most of the guards. Joshua could hear the ODSTs whispering in their COMs to each other; without a doubt they wanted to jump straight into the battle. But for this mission, stealth was of the essence. Preferably, it would’ve been like they were never there. Of course, a Spartan’s mission rarely took any good turns; they had to create their own luck. He asked himself how much luck they’d have to make for themselves this time. ___________________________________________________________________________

Randal gave the two Grunt guards two quick strikes with his fists. As they fell down with bleeding skulls, the three Spartans entered the small, cubical room. The mainframe was easily visible; the computer was pretty large for such a small room. As Lavernius picked up his hacking equipment and started pressing buttons on the computer, Michael walked quietly down the corridor and retrieved the other four corpses of guards they had to kill. He then shoved them down into a side passage in the corridor, along with the two recently killed grunts. He then took firing position at the entrance. Randal walked up to Lavernius, who had just linked his hacking software to the mainframe. “Got it” he said without looking away from the screen. “I’ve logged in with the freighter captain’s account. Now that we’re inside the system, I just need to trigger the ‘virus worms’ provided by Ped, and the other accounts will slowly, but steadily, move all credits stored on them to this account.” “If you can,” Randal interjected “Hurry! We don’t have much time; they could find us any…” “Randal!” Michael shouted from his position. “They found us.” Randal rushed to Michael’s position. He stared through the entrance down the corridor, and he was awed by what he saw. Two giant orange creatures in thick armor jogged down the hallway towards the mainframe room. The creatures each had one arm with a large shield attached to it, and one arm with

something looking like a cannon integrated to it. Randal could barely make out several elites in black armor behind the creatures, armed with Needlers and Plasma Rifles. “Aw Shite…” ___________________________________________________________________________

Rkod entered his private quarters. He proceeded down the short hallway up to an image projector. He bowed down and triggered it with a simple touch of his finger. He continued to bow as three images appeared above him: the three Hierarchs, Truth, Mercy and Regret. “Your report is late” Mercy started. He was clearly annoyed, but so were the other prophets as well. Rkod swallowed once. “We made a discovery that couldn’t wait and-“ “You do not make decisions on your own unless we permit it!” Regret angrily replied. “You are the Arbiter, the representative of our will. Do not forget your place!” Regret prepared to continue, but Truth held up a hand signaling him to be quiet. “Now,” Truth calmly said “what important discovery did you make?” Rkod rose to his feet. His hearts beat once before he started. “We have reason to believe that the Kig-yar Heretics have allied with the humans.” The three prophets stared at each other, all of them confused. After a bit of silent exchanges, Truth signaled for Rkod to continue. “We just learned that the human vessel and the Heretic ships made a simultaneous jump to the Uloor system. We therefore believe they want something on the planet Iloom, the only special world in that area. We are ready to make the jump on your command, mighty Hierarchs.” “So” Regret replied “now you choose caution? Before, you were rash, now you’re overly careful. Do you choose when to obey and when not to obey our orders? Do you choose whether you want to be our servant or not?” “Of course not mighty Hierarch! My rash acts were an accident, I let my rage get the best of me-“ “And that is something we cannot abide!” Regret spat out with anger. He appeared to calm down and relax in his throne, but suddenly he returned to his serious look. “Order the jump to Iloom. Then, during the travel, you’ll burn the Mark of Disobedience onto your skin” Rkod was in shock. The Prophet had sounded so calm when he said it; like it wasn’t a great deal. But on the contrary, The Marks of the Covenant were always a great shame towards their wearers, in one way or another. The Mark of Disobedience was the worst, except for the Mark of Shame and the Mark of Desecration; the mark one had to burn into the skin when one had desecrated holy relics. Rkod had been respected by his men. Would the mark now mean that he’d lose all his subordinates’ respect? “My Hierarch, please reconsider-“

“My decision is final!” Regret said with calm sharpness. The prophet holograms disappeared and left the elite alone to stand with a low head in front of the projector. He had disobeyed the will of the prophets, the will of the Gods; and now he had paid the price. “Arbiter?” Nryta ‘Lejgolee’s voice echoed in Rkod’s ear. “What did the Prophets say? Should we make the jump?” “Yes, go on and make the jump.” Rkod replied quietly. “I’ll be on the bridge again soon.” ___________________________________________________________________________

Tartarus looked intensely at his gold-armored opponent. The Chieftain held the same battle position as Tartarus; standing with the hands up in mid-air in an offensive fashion, with his ceremonial hammer and Spiker lying on the ground behind him, just like Tartarus’ Fist of Rukt and Spiker. The two combatants were watched by a crowd of lower ranked Jiralhanae; they were from both Tartarus’ and his opponent’s, Hirakus’, pack. They roared their cheers for their respective Chieftains and their pheromones left off a smell of anxiousness. Tartarus decided to grin a little. The situation reminded him of how he had challenged and defeated his uncle almost ten years ago, therefore claiming control of his uncle’s pack. After the mission to the human colony world Harvest, his pack had almost been wiped out. To regain its strength, Tartarus had revived an ancient tradition and started to challenge other Chieftains for control of their packs. This tradition hadn’t been used for almost twenty years, but Tartarus deemed it necessary. Unlike his uncle, he longed for true greatness. He wouldn’t end as a Chieftain of a small pack; he would be so much more. For almost ten years, Tartarus had defeated Chieftains and taken their packs as his own. He now controlled 99 packs, amounting a total of 5500 Jiralhanae under his command. All he had to do was defeat Hirakus, and he’d have 100 packs and a total of 5600 Jiralhanae. Adding to this, he also controlled many ships and subordinates from other races, as when a Chieftain defeated another one, they could claim the deceased leader’s properties, rights and titles for themselves. To many, Tartarus was currently the most powerful Jiralhanae in Covenant service. Hirakus was the only difficult opponent left. When he fell, the other packs would fall like nothing.

One of the Jiralhanae from the crowd made the signal, and the two combatants moved. Tartarus was the first hit his target. A powerful fist in the stomach caused Hirakus to fly back a few steps. The Chieftain countered with a kick on Tartarus’ knee. Tartarus lost his balance and fell to the purple-glowing metal ground. He rolled away as Hirakus tried to stomp him. He got up to his feet and jumped on Hirakus, biting him in the shoulder. Despite roaring in pain, Hirakus managed to knee Tartarus in the stomach, making him fly backwards and land on his back. He watched from his position as Hirakus picked up his hammer. The gray-haired Chieftain lifted the hammer’s head over his shoulder, preparing to swing it. But Tartarus was faster.

Tartarus drew his Spiker from the ground around him and pressed the trigger. The energy shields of their armors hadn’t been activated during this battle, so the superheated spikes hit the roaring Chieftain in the mouth. Dropping the hammer and holding his face in pain, Hirakus backed away. Tartarus rose to his feet and fired three more spikes into his enemy’s chest. The pain now forced Hirakus to fall to his knees, while Tartarus dropped his Spiker and picked up the Fist of Rukt. Hirakus stared into Tartarus’ eyes, apparently looking for sympathy. Tartarus showed none. He lifted the mighty hammer above his head, and swung it with all his might. The hammer’s head made contact with Hirakus’ head and caused it to follow to the ground, where it exploded into bits of brain, flesh and blood. The helmet split into three pieces that spread around the room. It was quiet for a few moments, until every Jiralhanae in the crowd started to cheer and roar their approval. Even Hirakus’ pack members cheered and roared for their new Chieftain, ignoring the headless corpse on the ground that they once had been recruited and raised by. Only their new Chieftain mattered. It was Jiralhanae tradition. It was law.