• Covenant

    Ch. 1 Major Vet

    Major vet looked down the dark, blinking, purple hallway with his plasma pistol clenched in his hand. Several grunts were behind him, sniveling and crying. “Idiotic targets,” he spat. The grunts were deathly afraid of the ship they were aboard. The flagship Blinding Retribution had crash-landed after being engrossed in Flood. The chaotic Elite-Brute space battle above the second Holy Ring still raged on.

    Almost all of the battle group: Prophet’s Light had been destroyed by Brute ships or engulfed in Flood, as the Retribution was. Sangheili do not feel many emotions because of their strict warrior regiment, yet Vet felt something near grief.

    As the Major was pondering this, a human bullet screamed past his head and struck one of his grunts. The round tore into the large, bulbous methane tank on its back and exploded in a fiery balloon. The blast took out the remaining grunts and completely drained Vet’s overshield. The Elite’s instinct kicked in. He dove for cover behind an ammunition crate while firing into the darkness. One after the other, green bolts of plasma from Vet’s pistol shot into the inky-black. As his gun cooled down, a combat form jumped from the hallway and slashed out with its tentacles. Vet primed one of his plasma grenades and threw it on to the feted creature. The grenade stuck to the thing’s ‘face’, and glowed a blazing-hot blue. The Flood let out a muffled cry and exploded into green, slimy bits. Vet shielded his face as the remains of the creature splattered about the room.

    The seasoned major turned to prioritize the next target when he realized the rest had retreated. “There must be some reason for their cowering,” he thought. “Flood do not simply run away…”

    He continued down the hallway using the pistol’s charge function as a light. The charge cast an eerie green glow on the rounded walls. The Major switched to low power, as to not waste battery. The lights around him flickered red-purple; the signal for evasive maneuvers. Vet knew they were grounded, which meant the Flood must be tampering with the inter-computer on the ship. As he neared a silver-hued blast door, a transmission from the Retribution’s Ship Master blared through the speakers in his helmet. Amongst crackling, screaming, and the occasional plasma explosion, Vet could hear a discernable message.

    “This is Ship Master Nalsom Vasenee to any surviving Elites. We must cleanse this ship of the parasite. I am in hanger bay 1A. Join our fight my brothers!” The message finished. Vet continued through the corridor, glancing over his shoulder periodically to check for movement. At the end of the hallway was a silver blast door. The door itself was scarred with burn marks and dents. As he moved to it, it rattled with the concussive blast of a human fragmentation grenade. He slowly typed the entrance key code and the blast shield swished open.
    //----

    It was chaos. Rockets and bolts of plasma crisscrossed hanger 1A. Ship Master Nalsom was tending to his wounds behind two massive Hunters. The muscular creatures’ orange skin was covered by thick, blue armor. Nalsom was shouting orders to other Elites, pilots of the Retribution by their silver-blue armor and full-face helmets, who were holding off a steady Flood advance on their position. Major Vet saw this scene from the door across the room and started to fight his way to them. Jumping from ammo crates to the burnt remains of ships, he advanced across the hanger. When he got within range, he pinged the Ship Master on his Nav-link. “Ship Master, it is reassuring to see you,” he sent.

    “As is you Major…Vet,” Nalsom replied. “My flight crew can only hold off so many Flood. We must find a working transport in the next Bay.” Vet acknowledged the request from the Ship Master. He took a Covenant Carbine from a blue-hued ammo crate and made sure it was loaded. The small screen on the top of the barrel of the rifle showed the magazine was full and there were two other mags for spare. He then crept out from behind the crate and slowly moved to a Wrath in the south corner of the hanger. As he got closer, a combat form Flood resembling an Elite ran toward him brandishing an energy sword in a peculiar manner. Vet tensed his leg muscles as he prepared to leap out of its path. The feted Elite never struck down upon Vet. It was instead blasted into smoldering bits by one of the two Hunters protecting Nalsom. The Major used this distraction to board the Wrath’s plasma turret on its hull.

    A steady staccato of plasma bolts streamed from the turret as Vet moved from one target to another. Soon there were only a few combat forms and infection forms left. Vet used short bursts from the turret to dispatch those remaining. When he was sure there were no more, he disengaged the turret and left the Wrath. As he started towards the flight crew, the Major heard Nalsom give a stifled cry of agony. Vet turned to him and saw him trying to remove an Infection form from his head. The Major was sure he had cleansed the area of Flood before he left the gun. The forms tentacles were reaching around to the back of the Ship Master’s neck, putting him on the losing side of the struggle. His two Hunters were desperately swinging about their cannons on their hands, not sure of what to do. They had been trained to kill, and protect superior officers. It was a dangerous calamity. The Major ran to the Ship Master. Nalsom turned to Vet and stopped his struggle while his eyes pleaded an escape from his fight. Vet felt an enormous amount of shame for causing this situation and had to redeem his honor. As Vet drew his plasma pistol from its holster, the Flood started its way into the Elite’s spinal cord. Ship Master Nalsom needed an honorable death; not one like this. The plasma pistol fired.


    Ch. 2 Transport

    The group of survivors Vet was with was preparing to leave. They had two of the pilots who carried plasma rifles, an orange-clad Tech Master with a Needler, three purple Elite Minors with Carbines, and a light blue Scout carrying a beam rifle. Major Vet walked up to Commander Saltu, who was now in charge due to the Ship Master’s absence, and showed him the assembled strike team.

    “Good Vet, very good. I shall keep the remaining Elites here in case the parasite tries another attack. The Hunters will stay to cover your descent as you bring the dropship from the other hanger.” Vet nodded and motioned for the strike team to move out.

    The group ran to the north end of the hanger and gathered in a semicircle around the blast door. The Tech Master typed a ten symbol entrance code and opened the blast door to check for movement in the hallway ahead. When he did not see anything, he waved a hand. Vet went first into the hall followed by the scout and two Minors. The pilots, one Minor, and the Tech covered their six. Vet made sure his Carbine was loaded and checked his supply of plasma grenades. He needed all he could carry. He had a gut feeling the infestation would be waiting for them in the next Hanger Bay.

    The team reached the end of the dimly lit hallway and the motion-activated door at the end blinked twice and swished open. The team carefully emerged into another hallway with several wires and blinking holopads jutting haphazardly from the walls. The hall was rounded at the edges, giving the impression of walking through a cylindrical cave. About twenty yards ahead, there was a brightly lit hexagonal door with windows on both sides. The Tech pointed to the lit door.

    “Through that door lies the Gravity lift room. Beyond that is the second hanger. I suggest we move with caution. The parasite may be coming in through that room.” Vet nodded to the rest of his team and set up a breaching formation. The formation was a triangular one, with each Elite covering its’ comrades’ back. The scout took point and engaged his active camouflage. He was flanked by the Minors and Vet. The pilots protected the Tech from the back of the formation.

    //----

    The scout pushed the door panel and it hissed open. The team moved in and drank in the view of the room. There was not much light, save the glow of the plasma batteries in the far corner. In the very center a large, light blue, lit circle covered the floor. It was the central gravity lift. Around the circle were shadows of small points and rounded surfaces, distorting the view of the lift. Vet signaled for the Tech Master to activate the emergency spotlights adorning the room’s walls. The orange Elite pushed several pulsing shapes on a control panel next to an inoperable wrath and the room slowly became brighter.

    The Elites stared in awe as they saw what the distortions around the lift came to be. Seven light-blue Scout Elites were scattered about the floor clutching their chests with their mandibles in a snarl. They were dead. A pool of purple blood collected around the bodies and dripped onto the grav lift.

    The Scout from Vet’s team moved to one of the nearest carcasses. “Our brothers…what has this parasite done?”
    The Tech moved to an Elite who seemed be missing a piece from his chest armor. “They are missing the light-inhibiting chip…it is what keeps the scouts invisible to the naked eye,” he said. Vet clicked his mandibles; a nervous habit he had always had. One of the pilots noticed this gesture and approached him.

    “We should move on Major,” he whispered. “The Commander is expecting us.” Vet gave a barely perceptible nod and strode to the edge of the grav lift to address his team.

    “Let us move to the second hanger bay and find a transport.” Vet ordered. It was followed by guttural grunts and the soft hum of activating plasma weapons. A stack was formed on the next door with Vet third in the line. As the scout moved a mixture of cubes, pyramids, and spheres around on a door panel to match the entrance code, the room was filled with the sound of an energy sword powering up. “Stand Down!” hissed Major Vet to the rest in line.

    Every Elite in the stack gave him a quizzical look. All of them showed no signs of drawing a sword. One of the two pilots in the back gave a slightly different look to Vet…one of pain. The major moved his gaze to the Elite’s midsection, which showed two neat inch-wide, inch-apart holes in its armor. The pilot jerked as the invisible energy sword was pulled out of its chest.