Elite:  Chapter Two

I could not find my squad.  Flames were everywhere on the platform and I was lost in the hallways.  The alarms kept screaming in my auditory sensors and my rifle was almost out of power.  I looked around when I came to a fork in the hallway and listened carefully; shouts came from the left side but they were not Covenant.  I slowly walked down the hallway and looked down at the floor; an odd weapon, one of the human ones, lay at my feet and I slowly picked it up.  It was about a foot long with a three inch rod on the end and a weird trigger in the middle.  A scope also rested on the top and I looked it over and tried to figure out how to use it.  
Then it fired a tri-burst and metal projectiles bounced off my shield.  I quickly flicked it so the barrel was pointing in front of me and gripped it like I saw the humans.  A little display read 38 and I thought maybe that was its “power charge” like my rifle.  My armor systems analyzed it and I slung it on my back as a backup.  
Desperate times call for desperate measures.  
I ran down the hallway towards the voices.

“Oh where is our great leader Sanghelli?”  Tillo whined and let off a few bursts from his plasma pistol.
“He’ll come for us…I hope.  But I mean, of course he would, wouldn’t he?”  Sanshek replied.
“Of course he will.”
Rifle fire pinged off the boxes they were hiding behind and another Sanghelli crouched with them.  His armor was a blue tone and he carried dual plasma rifles.
“You two, throw your grenades at the Heretics!”  He barked.
“Oh right we have those!”  Tillo grabbed one off his belt and clicked it on.  He peeked out of the cover and tossed it as hard as he could.
“Watch out, grenade!”  A human yelled and a massive blue explosion rocked the corridor.  Screams echoed afterwards and Sanshek peeked out from behind the box.
“Ooo you really blew them up this time brother!”  The Unggoy squeaked and the Sanghelli eyed them as he quickly stood.
“No time for laughing there’s Heretics to kill!”  He ran off down the hallway yelling a cry.
“You think we should follow?”
“I don’t know…I’m really hungry.  You think we can get back to the ship for a quick suck?”  Tillo whacked him over the head.
“No, we have to find our leader!  He’s still somewhere in this station!”  
“Ahh right.”  They stood and quickly ran off down the hallway.

I pressed to a wall and listened carefully to the talk of the humans in the room just beyond me.
“The Covenant are pressing us hard ma’am and the Athens has just reported they have been boarded too.”  A harsh loud voice said.
“And what is the situation here?”  This one female.
“We’ve lost a lot of marines and Cortana is still firing the MAC guns.”  This one not as harsh as the first but more calm.  
“Chief, more boarders on levels two, three and four.  And they’ve brought something with them…”  I looked out the window and I saw one of the Covenant ships leaving another one of the defense platforms.  A radio hissed in the room.
“Sir they are leaving the Athens!  I can’t believe it but we’ve won!”  My eyes narrowed but as they did the platform was ripped apart by a massive explosion.  The shockwave smashed into the one I was on and I gripped the wall to prevent myself from being knocked over.
“Oh shit man this is real bad.”
“Pull yourself together soldier!  Remember you’re a leatherneck.”
“Chief the Covenant brought a bomb with them.”
“Yes Cortana I know.  Is there one on this station?”
“Scanning…”  I slowly peeked around the corner.  “Yes there is.  You need to get to it stat!”
“Right.  Johnson, take Miranda and get out of here.”  The human nodded and ran off with the other human female.  
The demon…the demon is right there!  
I gripped my sword hilt and slowly ignited it.  I walked into the room with careful silent steps and I saw his back.  He didn’t seem to notice me and I slowly raised my sword; my heart pounded in anticipation of this kill.  
And then he turned around and we locked eyes once more.
“Elite.”
“Demon.”  I don’t know if he understood me but he must have because he raised his weapon.  I swung my sword but as I did another explosion rocked the station and I was cut off from him again.  Metal and debris smashed down on the floor before me and I roared in defiance of some god who was depriving me of vengeance.  “We will meet again.”  
And with that, he took off running.

I would have liked, no loved, to say that the Covenant were victorious that day on the defense platform.  I would have loved to say that I killed the demon that day.  And I would have loved to have returned to my home world, not in disgrace, but in great honor this time.  
But I knew my time would come.  
Earth awaited.

I stood in the bay of the Phantom with one hand on a rope that ran above the seats.  The dark interior was silent and even the Unggoy didn’t make a sound as the ship traveled.  The engines hummed gently in the back and I stroked the human weapon on my hip slowly.  It didn’t feel right being on me, this piece of Heretic filth, but then again if my sword got damaged somehow I would have to rely on it.  I sat in the seat behind me and I set it on my lap.  Despite who made it, it was a very interesting weapon and I had managed to figure out how it worked.  The trigger fired metallic projectiles which, if aimed correctly, could kill an organic target in one hit.  The scope had a 3x zoom function and it could be used as a poor man’s sniper rifle.  Also, a button would eject the clip in the back and a new one would have to be slammed into the empty slot.  The projectiles were fired at such a velocity, that if you aimed correctly on one spot, you could take down the shield systems of the Sanghelli very easily.  And with its three burst, one good pull could easily splatter the head.
I was jerked back to reality by the bay door opening.  We passed over a smoking city; buildings on fire, fighting in the streets and other ships flying overhead.  It was a beautiful sight.
“Attention Covenant!  We’re landing in a Heretic city, take no prisoners, have no mercy and all glory to the Prophets and the Great Journey!”  A voice shouted over the PA in the bay.  I slung the rifle over my back and gripped my sword.  
“Great Sanghelli, use this.”  I looked down and an Unggoy handed me a long purplish rifle.  “It was given to me but I can’t seem to hit anything with it.”  I nodded and then we were beamed down to the surface.  My shields immediately screamed at me and I rolled behind a broken wall.  Apparently having gold armor makes you the target of every human with a weapon.  More projectiles, bullets as I would hear them call later, whizzed by me and I pulled the beam rifle up.  With careful quick movements I zoomed in and took out a human who had peeked out from behind a barrier.  The rifle hissed and hot steam flowed out of it as the power core cooled off.  
More Covenant rushed out from the Phantom and then it took off, its three plasma launchers firing down at the humans behind the barriers.  Two Lekgolo stomped into the blizzard fire and raised their shields to ward off most of the bullets as their modded fuel rods ignited in a sticky stream of green.  I tossed the beam rifle to a Kig-yar and took out the human rifle.  I eyed down the scope and with a gentle pull the rifle exhaled a burst of three.  I heard several surprised shouts from the humans and aimed again; I took out another human standing on a turret and provided more cover fire for the Lekgolo as they finally reached the group standing in our way.  
“Great Sanghelli!”  I looked over and two very familiar Unggoy trotted over to me.  “Sanshek and I have found you at last!”  Tillo squeaked and I didn’t know whether to be joyous or suicidal.  “Why are you using that weapon Great Sanghelli?”
“To experiment.”  I replied and slung it on my back.  “Come on you two.”  I ducked out from behind the barrier and ignited my sword in a hand as we ran.  The Unggoy actually kept up with me and I pressed my back to a wall and peeked over a corner.  More humans were mobilizing and Phantoms screamed over us as the two little ones trotted over.  
“What do you plan on doing great Sanghelli?”  I scanned the humans and narrowed my eyes.  It seemed as though they had vehicles of some sort; an odd sort of one with a turret on the back and another heavily armored one with a long barreled weapon on the top.  
And then I saw him again.  The pale green demon ran over to one of the vehicles and he pulled himself into the turret on the back as a few more humans mounted up on the massive armored one.  It raised its gun and fired, the recoil pushing the thing back a little, and the massive shell crashed into the side of a Phantom.  The Phantom wheeled in the air and then another shot hit it in the side.  I watched as it smoked and a blue explosion meant the fusion core inside had gone critical.  
“Yeah good shot man!”  I heard one of the humans cry out.  I gripped my blade tightly and looked at the two Unggoy.
“You two, go with the rest of the Covenant.”
“But what of you?”
“I’ll be fine…just go now.”  They nodded and trotted off.  This would be the moment right here that I take my revenge against the humans and the demon.  I waited a moment, the turret swing away from my direction and started firing on another target.  Then I dashed out and leapt into the air at the demon in the turret.  I could almost feel the resistance as the blade would have slashed through the neck of the armor he was wearing and the pride that would have come from it.  
But that is not what happened.  At the last second I looked over straight into the barrel of the armored vehicle and then my vision went black.

I awoke sometime later and as soon as I opened my eyes I wished I hadn’t; pain shot through me like the Sword and I stifled a grunt of discomfort.  I couldn’t move my hands for some reason and I smelled human all over the place.
“Hey I think this one is finally awake.”
“He took a heavy hit…I’m surprised he stood up to a 90mm round from that tank.”
“Well some of these bastards’ shields are quite powerful.  You know those silver Elites right?  Well it took a whole squad to take one of them down.”  I opened my eyes again and evil smelling smoke flowed over my face.  One of the humans was pulled an odd tube like object from his mouth and I eyed me back.  “Welcome to Alpha Camp Elite.”  I held my silence; this one had no respect for me.
“So what do we do with him sir?”  
He took a breath and I saw the end of the object glow.
“Well, first of all, I want to know if he can understand us.  Have you analyzed his armor yet?”
“Yes sir, the MOJLINIR systems can’t detect anything on or in it.  I doubt it’s calibrated right and even if it was, there’s no way it’ll detect Covenant systems.”
“Ahh I see.”  He walked over to me and tapped my head with his finger.  “Well, you understand us alien?”  I snarled at him and clenched my hands.
“If only you knew who you were talking to Heretic.”
“Well, do tell.”
“My name is Jai’do, I am the son of Kaz’an who wears the Sword; I wear it as well and my mission is to come to Earth and kill every Heretic I see and to continue on the Great Journey.”  I replied harshly and he crossed his arms.  
“Well let me tell who I am then.  I am Avery Johnson, Sergeant Major of the UNSC here on Earth and by all Hell and fire, I’ll drive your allies and friends back to Hell where you came from.”  
I looked at him and finally saw the hatred of the human race towards the Covenant.  
It made me wonder.
“Why do you hate us human?”
“I do because you come here; claim that this “Great Journey” means that you have to glass every soul on this planet and then claim all this in the name of your Prophets.”  He drew another breath and shot the smoke out near the exit of the room.  “And you’ll be staying locked to that wall if you know what’s good for you.”
“Will you kill me human?”
“You know, Elite, I have a name and I would appreciate it if you used some damn common sense and said it.”
“I would ask the same human.”  The other human chuckled and Johnson sighed.
“Alright, Jai’do.”
“No, no, say it like one word and it’s “doe” not “do”.”
He paused for a moment.  “Jai’do…I’ll remember that.”  I nodded and I heard a loud hum over to my left.  
“Pelican is here sir.  Seems something big is going out outside.”  
“Alright, I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”  Johnson turned back to me and I looked down at him.  “Well, seems we’re leaving base.  If I unlock you, will you play nice?”
“If you give me back the Sword, then yes.”
“I’m watching you so no funny business or I will seriously put the lead in your head.”
“Are you sure about this sir?”
“If he looks at you wrong, light him up.”  He unshackled me and tossed me my precious sword hilt.  I took it and strapped it to my thigh.  I followed the two humans out of the room and I thought about being with these strange creatures.  I would gain insight into the culture as well as see how they operate and maybe even be able to get back to the Covenant and tell them precious secrets of these creatures.  
Besides, Sanghelios never had this much adventure on it.