Covenant Story Part Four (Halo)
Ugh, I'm trying to get this all on here but it won't so there'll be one more topic with this stupid story. ___________________________________________ They continued on until they saw ‘Seretulee, the Elite councilor, beating a Brute to death. A Brute came out of the door beyond ‘Seretulee and started to charge at him, one of the Elites, on ‘Putumee’s team, snapped up his Beam Rifle and shot the Brute in the head while it was still charging. The Brutes heads momentum stopped, while the rest of his body tried to continue on, making his legs go up in the air and the Brute’s corpse landed on its head, feet still in the air. If the Brute was somehow still alive from the head shot, it would have died when it landed because its neck broke with a loud cracking noise. ‘Putumee and his team reached ‘Seretulee when the Brute he was beating died and fell to the ground. “Is there something wrong with using the Brutes weapons? It would be a lot easier to kill them with weapons,” ‘Kinuramee asked while approaching ‘Seretulee. “I will not disgrace myself by using the enemies weapons,” ‘Seretulee replied. “So you would rather just beat them to death,” Kinuramee asked. “I’d prefer a weapon, but I will not use the Brutes weapons, so yes I’d rather beat them to death,” ‘Seretulee answered. ‘Putumee went to ‘Seretulee and offered him his energy sword. “Here take my weapon.” “Thanks.” ‘Putumee nodded. “Excellency, may I ask how come you are on the ship when not only a couple hours ago you were in the medical bay with me?” “Yeah,” ‘Seretulee answered, “the Brutes came to escort me to the ship after you went in the locker rooms. I came here under heavy guard and they put me in a prison cell, three of the Brutes were escorting me to another cell when I heard the explosions, I presume that those were from you and your team, and I knew that they would try to kill me soon, so I made the first move.” “I see.” They went through the next door and ‘Seretulee has been assigned two bodyguards also. As they went down the hallway, a pack of twenty Brutes ran around the corner and nearly ran into the Elites. The Brutes went back around the corner, some went on the other side of the hallway and went around that corner so they could fire from both sides. The Elites back-tracked down the hallway and went around a corner that they passed earlier and they also separated and went to the two sides. Both groups fired down the hallway at each other, plasma bolts hit the walls and melted the metal. Neither group could get an advantage over each other. They needed to flank the Brutes. “Is there another way around?” ‘Kinuramee asked. “Can we flank them?” “Yes,” ‘Seretulee, “the door at the beginning of this hall way goes a long way around the Brutes and eventually comes back to here.” “‘Putumee,” ‘Kinuramee said, “take a team of five and flank these Brutes.” “Yes, excellency.” The Elites fired down the hall and the Brutes ducked around the corner. ‘Putumee with five others went back down the hall and through a door. They eventually hit a loading bay that had two Wraiths, six Ghost and dozens of cargo boxes. There were three floors that all looked down into the loading bay. Four Brutes were on the second floor, two in the middle and three on the top floor. The Elites went stuck to the walls and tried to avoid them. They soon discovered that there were six Brutes on the same level as them. The Brutes fired and the Elites ducked behind a pillar, that was also shielded by dozens of cargo boxes, and returned fire. “Open these cargo boxes around us,” ‘Putumee ordered. The Elites opened the boxes, careful not to make themselves a target for the Brutes and they found four satchel charges, lots of weapons and one was filled with grenades. “Toss the grenades,” ‘Putumee ordered. They threw some grenades, two stuck to Brutes and killed them. Meanwhile the other Brutes that were on the other levels, have come down and assisted the Brutes that they were fighting. “Give me that sniper,” ‘Putumee told an Elite who had a beam rifle. ‘Putumee poked around the corner and took aim at the Brutes that were more scattered. He found ones head in the scope and fired, another and another. He was able to take out six Brutes before they concentrated their fire on him making him unable to snipe them out anymore. The Brutes steadily moved forward. “Move around the tank,” ‘Putumee screamed. The Elites ran for the cover of the tank and fired at the Brutes while they made their sprint. The tank looks like that it is in working order and it would easily kill the Brutes. “Get back, get back,” ‘Putumee said, waving his hand at the Elites. ‘Putumee jumped on the tank and went into the drivers seat, he activated the tank. He turned it around and saw the Brutes run for cover. ‘Putumee fired three plasma bombs that were low to the ground, after the Brutes. The plasma bombs impacted on the ground, vaporizing the Brutes immediately. Those that were still on the higher floors threw grenades onto the tank. ‘Putumee took aim at them two and fired a couple plasma bombs. The grenades did hardly anything to the tank. All the Brutes were dead so he got out of the tank. ‘Putumee saw two of the Elites run to where the Brutes laid dead, and fired at their corpses. ‘Putumee and the rest of the team went up to them. “Feel better?” he asked. The Elites just looked at him without answering. They continued on without any more conflicts until they reached where the original stalemate was. They came out to where they had a clear shot of the Brutes, they were on both sides of the hall that they were firing down. The hall that they were firing down was to the right, ninety-degrees, where the rest of the Elites are. Every once in a while a stray plasma bolt, from the Elites weapons, would hit the wall behind the Brutes, completely missing them. The Brutes didn’t notice ‘Putumee and his team yet so they got into a formation that they all could fire at once. As soon as they were in formation, they fired. The hellish fire of plasma went toward the Brutes like a solid wall of fire, five Brutes went down and the rest ran across the hallway, that they were firing down where the rest of the Elites were, to get back with the other half of group although ‘Putumee and his team still had a clear shot at them. The Elites that were out of view, fired wave of plasma as the Brutes tried to cross the hall. The rest Brutes fell before they could get across, to regroup with the other Brutes. There are ten Brutes left. ‘Putumee and the team continued to fire and Brutes fell, the survivors ran down the hall directly away from ‘Putumee and his team, trying to get around a corner where they wouldn’t be in the open. ‘Putumee’s team advanced to where there are more than fifteen Brutes lying down dead, the Brutes side of the original stalemate. The rest of the Elites joined them. Only two Brutes are still alive and they were trapped because the corner that they went around was a dead end. The Elites went up to them and fired, bunkering them, only a few Elites were hit but no personal damages. “Thanks,” said ‘Kinuramee. ‘Putumee nodded to him. “Well lets continue on,” ‘Seretulee said, “shall we?” They went back, out of the dead end and to where the battle took place where the eight-teen Brutes lied, dead. In the four-way intersection, they were coming out of the dead end hallway, straight ahead was where ‘Putumee and hist team came out of, to the left was where the Elites held their side of the stalemate and to the right was where they have not been yet. That’s where they wanted to go so they turned right. But before they left the intersection, they stopped because they heard, over the radios of the dead Brutes, that the Brute’s chieftain, Tartarus, is under attack. “Alright, we may be able to defeat the Brutes,” one of the Elites said. “Yeah,” another responded. The rest of they way to the control room was a more pleasant trip, until they reached the control room where they met dozens of Brutes. The Brutes fired and the Elites stepped back and let the door close on plasma bolts. “How many have energy swords?” ‘Seretulee asked. “One . . . two . . . three,” ‘Kinuramee said, counting, “oh do you have one? Four . . .” He continued to count and said. “No more than ten.” “That will have to do,” ‘Seretulee responded, “‘Putumee go find one. You got one? Alright, good. Everyone activate camouflage systems. Swords go in first and take out as many as you can, the rest follow and shoot at the Brutes that are a bit further away.” They all activated their camouflage systems and went back through the door. ‘Putumee along with eight others, which included ‘Kinuramee and ‘Seretulee, and they went behind the closest Brutes. They all activated their swords and struck them down, ‘Putumee went from Brute to Brute killing them. He saw a few floating swords go up the raised platform, where the ship master would stand. The Elites that went up there, killed the Brutes. The Brutes fired randomly, meanwhile the other Elite came in and shot at the surviving Brutes. Soon all of the Brutes were dead or going to die real soon. Over the radio of the Brute captain’s radio they heard that Tartarus is dead. “Alright,” an Elite said with glee. “No,” ‘Seretulee said, “although their chieftain is dead, they still have great numbers and the civil war will not be over.” “Civil war? This has become a war?” an Elite asked. “Who’s on what side?” “Yes, this is obviously a war,” ‘Seretulee said, “although we tried to prevent it from going out of control, but the Brutes were too stubborn. And the members on our side include the Hunters and the Grunts. The Brutes have the Prophets aid, the Drones and the Jackals. This war will not be over until the Prophets are dead.” “Heresy,” many of the Elites said. “Is it?” ‘Seretulee asked, “who has committed the first acts of heresy? Was it not us who protected the Prophets for many, many years? Who attacked us first? Who changed the royal guards? Who did not help us against the Brutes after all that we have done for them? Was it not the Prophets, yes it was. The Prophets have committed the first acts of heresy, and they abandoned us. No, we will show them that we cannot be easily set aside with nothing, after all that we have done for them, we cannot be used up and thrown away, we will form our own government and attack back.” “We risked our lives for their protection,” ‘Seretulee continued. “They don’t even offer the simplest protection for us, they even authorized the Brutes to kill our kind. Many Elites lay dead on High Charity and many more on Halos surface, the Prophets could have prevented this but they didn’t, instead they let it by. They have betrayed us, we will not take it lightly, we will fight back and we will kill what we had protected before. They will regret this day where they betrayed us. We shall hunt all the Brutes left on this ship and kill them. If there are any minor Prophets on this ship, make an example of them, don’t show mercy.” During the speech, many Elites lowered their heads, feeling shame and when they looked back up they agreed. “Good, now I need volunteers to hunt down the Brutes,” ‘Seretulee said. “I’ll do it,” ‘Putumee said. “I’ll help,” said an Elite that’s behind ‘Putumee. “So will I.” “Count me in.” Several more Elites volunteered. “Good, thank you, all of you,” ‘Seretulee said. “Any idea where most of the Brutes are?” ‘Putumee asked. ‘Seretulee turned to the view screens and used the ships camera to scan the ship. “Hmm,” ‘Seretulee said, “we met a lot of Brutes already, there’s a lot of Jackals left, around three-hundred. And there’s one hundred and twenty Brutes left. There are a lot of Brutes in cargo bay eight, they’re trying to get as many supplies they can to the bay. I’m not sure what they’re doing with them. Maybe planning an attack or planning to get off the ship with as many supplies that they can steal.” ‘Seretulee and ‘Kinuramee along with four others stayed in the control room to defend it, although they didn’t expect any attacks. They gave ‘Putumee and his team extra weapons and grenades. ‘Putumee and the strike-team headed for the cargo bay. They moved at a steady pace, checking rooms and going slow. One of the rooms had five Jackals in it. The strike team fired at the Jackals and killed two before they could get the shields up. The Jackals returned fire, but with several Elites firing at the Jackals, the shields quickly collapsed and the Jackals were killed. They continued on down a near hallway and every once in awhile they would find a small group of Jackals. Some of the groups looked like that they had no clue on what to do while others seemed to be looking for a way off the ship. “Shouldn’t we also check the docking bays,” one Elites said to another, “I mean, we’re going to pick up survivors and we don’t want them to walk into a trap as soon as they get onboard.” “Yeah, I agree,” the other Elite responded, “but most of the Brutes are in this cargo bay and we will kill them all there, then we can separate and go to different parts of the ship.” “Hey, ‘Putumee,” an Elite said, “shouldn’t we go into the brigs to see if they’re any prisoners?” “Good idea,” ‘Putumee replied, “but I don’t know where the brigs are.” “I know,” the Elite said, “one’s at the end of this hall, the door to the right.” “Alright,” ‘Putumee said, “we’ll go check it out.” They continued down the hall and when they entered the brig, they ran into two Brutes who opened fire. “Back!” ‘Putumee screamed. They went back around the corner. “Needlers.” The two Elites with the needlers got close to the corner and fired blindly down the hall. Since they had a homing system, they really didn’t need to aim. As the needlers emptied they heard an explosion with some dying screams. ‘Putumee looked around the corner and saw that one of the Brutes were blown in half and the other was clutching its neck where a needler round hit its neck and detonated. Blood was gushing out from between the Brutes fingers and it flailed around. “Let him bleed to death,” ‘Putumee said, “he doesn’t deserve a quick death.” They passed the dying Brute and searched the holding cells. They found two pairs of Hunters in four different cells. They released them. “Hunters are not for offense,” ‘Putumee said to the other Elites, then he turned to the Hunters, “Hunters, make your way to the control room and help defend it.” The Hunters went out the doors and turned right, back to the control room. While the Elites continued straight down the hallway heading toward the cargo bay. They continued to check the rooms as they went and they killed over thirty-five Jackals while doing so. They stopped when they were close to the cargo bay. “The cargo bay has two floors, most of the Brutes in that room should be on the first floor,” ‘Putumee said, “so we will go up one floor and enter the bay from there, so we can have a better position to fire down on them.” They soon found a lift and went up a floor. They stopped outside of the doors of the cargo bay. “Okay,” ‘Putumee whispered, “five Elites go camouflage and unsheathe a combat knife and kill the Brutes on the upper floor, if there are any while The rest of us will hide. Someone hack into the door system and open these doors and keep them open, While you’re at it lock all the other doors down on the first level so the Brutes can’t escape.” Five Elites activated their camouflage systems and a sixth started to hack into the system. The Elites that are now nearly invisible got near the wall so if the Brutes opened fire when the door opens, they won’t be hit. The doors opened and the Elite who hacked it open ran back and hid, ‘Putumee looked out from his hiding spot and he saw six Brutes on the upper level, evenly spaced out. The Brutes were only on a catwalk that was basically the entire second level, to the right there was no more floor, there is just a drop-off into the first floor, where the other Brutes were most likely at. It was a perfect spot to fire down into the first floor, if all the Elites lined up against the edge and faced down into the main bay. ‘Putumee saw the air waver and the camouflaged Elites went in and to the farthest five Brutes, and took position behind them. The air stopped wavering behind the Brutes as the Elites stopped moving. The five Brute’s, that are the farthest away, necks sprayed blood, they started to fall but the camouflaged Elites carefully set them down on the ground so there would be no noise. The other Brute didn’t notice because he was still looking toward the door that’s hacked open. One of the Elites went behind the Brute and prepared to slice its throat, while the other four Elites made sure that the other Brutes were dead. The final Brute’s neck also sprayed blood and he was carefully set on the ground also. Blood continued to ooze out of the Brute’s necks and covered the deck with their blood. The other Elites came out of from where they were hiding and went in. ‘Putumee carefully looked over the edge down to the first level where there were a little over sixty Brutes and over eighty Jackals, they were all moving crates and opening them to check what was inside fo them. “Move those Brutes so we have more room,” ‘Putumee ordered, pointing at the dead Brutes. A few Elites went over and carried the Brute’s bodies into a corner. ‘Putumee saw crates that were stacked up against the wall and thought carefully on how to kill the Brutes and Jackals on the floor below. “Okay,” ‘Putumee said, “I want four rows all facing to towards the lower level. Prepare to throw grenades and bombard those Brutes and Jackals. Check those crates over there.” A few Elites went over to the crates that were stacked up against the wall and started to open them up. The first crate was full of Brute plasma rifles, the second was empty and the third had Jackal shields in it. Four other crates were opened only with weapons and the last crate was most useful because it was filled with grenades. The Elites arranged into four, even rows and got all their grenades off their belts. “Last row,” ‘Putumee ordered, “aim for the wall on the other end. Third row, aim for two-thirds of the way to the other side. Second row aim for one-third of the room. First row, just toss the grenades over the edge. If there’s any better suggestions, I’m listening.” No one spoke. “No? Okay then, have the grenades evenly spread out,” ‘Putumee ordered. They were all spread out evenly and each Elite had seven grenades to throw. ‘Putumee was in the second row. “Throw in three . . . two . . . Now!” All the Elites activated the grenades and threw them, ‘Putumee threw the grenade lightly and it went where it was supposed to be, one-third of the way across the room. He heard screams of the Brutes and Jackals but they were soon drowned out by explosions of the grenades. A second wave of grenades went down onto the first level, then another wave and another. A couple showers of blood blossomed up high enough for the Elites to see it and one of the showers came down on the team making them slippery with blood. The first floor might as well been glowing blue with all the grenades exploding and throwing blue light on the walls and the ceiling. In the first few waves, there would be sometimes be an extra, very large explosion as a crate that was full of grenades was started by a chain reaction making one big explosion, the crates that the Brutes were collecting for the escape or assault. After the seventh wave of grenades went over the edge, the Elites got up and lined up along the edge of the second floor where they could fire down in the first level to kill any survivors. ‘Putumee also got up and went to the edge with the other Elites, he saw many dead Brutes and Jackals, lying all over the floor that were killed from the grenades. There is also plenty of blackened areas from where the grenades went off and some darker spots where the chain reactions went off inside some crates. The surviving Brutes and Jackals were in the corners, they were trying to avoid the bombardment. The Elites fired at the corners and the Brutes and Jackals went down fast. Some returned fire but did not do much, only a few shots hit an Elite but did nothing as the shield took all the damage. ‘Putumee took aim at a Brute, that was trying to get the doors open that is hacked shut, and he fired. The Brute took many shots in the back before it stopped trying to force the doors open and died. ‘Putumee also fired at a Jackal who was firing back up at the Elites, the Jackal easily fell. Soon there was only smoking corpses of Brutes and Jackals on the floor below. “Lets get down there,” ‘Putumee said, “check for survivors.” The Elites went down to the first floor and searched the bodies. There weren’t many survivors but those who did survive were barely able to move and struggled to get away, though they were all soon killed. “All Elites, get over here,” ‘Putumee ordered. The Elite regrouped in the middle of the carnage. “There are still many Brutes left,” ‘Putumee said, “but they are scattered and should be easy to deal with.” “If that was hard then we will easily win this war,” said an Elite. “I want teams of six,” ‘Putumee continued, ignoring the interruption, “go where you think the Brutes will be at and kill them. But I want at least a team to go check the brigs and the docking bays, I’m returning to the command deck and I will keep you informed about the Brutes positions from there.” While the Elites separated into different teams and went off in different directions, ‘Putumee headed back to the control room without any incidents. “Um,” said ‘Seretulee kinda laughing in denial, looking at ‘Putumee as he came in, “where’s the rest of the team?” “Don’t worry,” ‘Putumee answered, “the mission was successful with no casualties. I split up the teams and sent them off on their own ‘hunt and kill’ missions.” “Alright, that’s fine,” ‘Seretulee said. “Speaking of which,” ‘Putumee said, “I’m supposed to monitor their progress.”
Ugh, I'm trying to get this all on here but it won't so there'll be one more topic with this stupid story. ___________________________________________ They continued on until they saw ‘Seretulee, the Elite councilor, beating a Brute to death. A Brute came out of the door beyond ‘Seretulee and started to charge at him, one of the Elites, on ‘Putumee’s team, snapped up his Beam Rifle and shot the Brute in the head while it was still charging. The Brutes heads momentum stopped, while the rest of his body tried to continue on, making his legs go up in the air and the Brute’s corpse landed on its head, feet still in the air. If the Brute was somehow still alive from the head shot, it would have died when it landed because its neck broke with a loud cracking noise. ‘Putumee and his team reached ‘Seretulee when the Brute he was beating died and fell to the ground. “Is there something wrong with using the Brutes weapons? It would be a lot easier to kill them with weapons,” ‘Kinuramee asked while approaching ‘Seretulee. “I will not disgrace myself by using the enemies weapons,” ‘Seretulee replied. “So you would rather just beat them to death,” Kinuramee asked. “I’d prefer a weapon, but I will not use the Brutes weapons, so yes I’d rather beat them to death,” ‘Seretulee answered. ‘Putumee went to ‘Seretulee and offered him his energy sword. “Here take my weapon.” “Thanks.” ‘Putumee nodded. “Excellency, may I ask how come you are on the ship when not only a couple hours ago you were in the medical bay with me?” “Yeah,” ‘Seretulee answered, “the Brutes came to escort me to the ship after you went in the locker rooms. I came here under heavy guard and they put me in a prison cell, three of the Brutes were escorting me to another cell when I heard the explosions, I presume that those were from you and your team, and I knew that they would try to kill me soon, so I made the first move.” “I see.” They went through the next door and ‘Seretulee has been assigned two bodyguards also. As they went down the hallway, a pack of twenty Brutes ran around the corner and nearly ran into the Elites. The Brutes went back around the corner, some went on the other side of the hallway and went around that corner so they could fire from both sides. The Elites back-tracked down the hallway and went around a corner that they passed earlier and they also separated and went to the two sides. Both groups fired down the hallway at each other, plasma bolts hit the walls and melted the metal. Neither group could get an advantage over each other. They needed to flank the Brutes. “Is there another way around?” ‘Kinuramee asked. “Can we flank them?” “Yes,” ‘Seretulee, “the door at the beginning of this hall way goes a long way around the Brutes and eventually comes back to here.” “‘Putumee,” ‘Kinuramee said, “take a team of five and flank these Brutes.” “Yes, excellency.” The Elites fired down the hall and the Brutes ducked around the corner. ‘Putumee with five others went back down the hall and through a door. They eventually hit a loading bay that had two Wraiths, six Ghost and dozens of cargo boxes. There were three floors that all looked down into the loading bay. Four Brutes were on the second floor, two in the middle and three on the top floor. The Elites went stuck to the walls and tried to avoid them. They soon discovered that there were six Brutes on the same level as them. The Brutes fired and the Elites ducked behind a pillar, that was also shielded by dozens of cargo boxes, and returned fire. “Open these cargo boxes around us,” ‘Putumee ordered. The Elites opened the boxes, careful not to make themselves a target for the Brutes and they found four satchel charges, lots of weapons and one was filled with grenades. “Toss the grenades,” ‘Putumee ordered. They threw some grenades, two stuck to Brutes and killed them. Meanwhile the other Brutes that were on the other levels, have come down and assisted the Brutes that they were fighting. “Give me that sniper,” ‘Putumee told an Elite who had a beam rifle. ‘Putumee poked around the corner and took aim at the Brutes that were more scattered. He found ones head in the scope and fired, another and another. He was able to take out six Brutes before they concentrated their fire on him making him unable to snipe them out anymore. The Brutes steadily moved forward. “Move around the tank,” ‘Putumee screamed. The Elites ran for the cover of the tank and fired at the Brutes while they made their sprint. The tank looks like that it is in working order and it would easily kill the Brutes. “Get back, get back,” ‘Putumee said, waving his hand at the Elites. ‘Putumee jumped on the tank and went into the drivers seat, he activated the tank. He turned it around and saw the Brutes run for cover. ‘Putumee fired three plasma bombs that were low to the ground, after the Brutes. The plasma bombs impacted on the ground, vaporizing the Brutes immediately. Those that were still on the higher floors threw grenades onto the tank. ‘Putumee took aim at them two and fired a couple plasma bombs. The grenades did hardly anything to the tank. All the Brutes were dead so he got out of the tank. ‘Putumee saw two of the Elites run to where the Brutes laid dead, and fired at their corpses. ‘Putumee and the rest of the team went up to them. “Feel better?” he asked. The Elites just looked at him without answering. They continued on without any more conflicts until they reached where the original stalemate was. They came out to where they had a clear shot of the Brutes, they were on both sides of the hall that they were firing down. The hall that they were firing down was to the right, ninety-degrees, where the rest of the Elites are. Every once in a while a stray plasma bolt, from the Elites weapons, would hit the wall behind the Brutes, completely missing them. The Brutes didn’t notice ‘Putumee and his team yet so they got into a formation that they all could fire at once. As soon as they were in formation, they fired. The hellish fire of plasma went toward the Brutes like a solid wall of fire, five Brutes went down and the rest ran across the hallway, that they were firing down where the rest of the Elites were, to get back with the other half of group although ‘Putumee and his team still had a clear shot at them. The Elites that were out of view, fired wave of plasma as the Brutes tried to cross the hall. The rest Brutes fell before they could get across, to regroup with the other Brutes. There are ten Brutes left. ‘Putumee and the team continued to fire and Brutes fell, the survivors ran down the hall directly away from ‘Putumee and his team, trying to get around a corner where they wouldn’t be in the open. ‘Putumee’s team advanced to where there are more than fifteen Brutes lying down dead, the Brutes side of the original stalemate. The rest of the Elites joined them. Only two Brutes are still alive and they were trapped because the corner that they went around was a dead end. The Elites went up to them and fired, bunkering them, only a few Elites were hit but no personal damages. “Thanks,” said ‘Kinuramee. ‘Putumee nodded to him. “Well lets continue on,” ‘Seretulee said, “shall we?” They went back, out of the dead end and to where the battle took place where the eight-teen Brutes lied, dead. In the four-way intersection, they were coming out of the dead end hallway, straight ahead was where ‘Putumee and hist team came out of, to the left was where the Elites held their side of the stalemate and to the right was where they have not been yet. That’s where they wanted to go so they turned right. But before they left the intersection, they stopped because they heard, over the radios of the dead Brutes, that the Brute’s chieftain, Tartarus, is under attack. “Alright, we may be able to defeat the Brutes,” one of the Elites said. “Yeah,” another responded. The rest of they way to the control room was a more pleasant trip, until they reached the control room where they met dozens of Brutes. The Brutes fired and the Elites stepped back and let the door close on plasma bolts. “How many have energy swords?” ‘Seretulee asked. “One . . . two . . . three,” ‘Kinuramee said, counting, “oh do you have one? Four . . .” He continued to count and said. “No more than ten.” “That will have to do,” ‘Seretulee responded, “‘Putumee go find one. You got one? Alright, good. Everyone activate camouflage systems. Swords go in first and take out as many as you can, the rest follow and shoot at the Brutes that are a bit further away.” They all activated their camouflage systems and went back through the door. ‘Putumee along with eight others, which included ‘Kinuramee and ‘Seretulee, and they went behind the closest Brutes. They all activated their swords and struck them down, ‘Putumee went from Brute to Brute killing them. He saw a few floating swords go up the raised platform, where the ship master would stand. The Elites that went up there, killed the Brutes. The Brutes fired randomly, meanwhile the other Elite came in and shot at the surviving Brutes. Soon all of the Brutes were dead or going to die real soon. Over the radio of the Brute captain’s radio they heard that Tartarus is dead. “Alright,” an Elite said with glee. “No,” ‘Seretulee said, “although their chieftain is dead, they still have great numbers and the civil war will not be over.” “Civil war? This has become a war?” an Elite asked. “Who’s on what side?” “Yes, this is obviously a war,” ‘Seretulee said, “although we tried to prevent it from going out of control, but the Brutes were too stubborn. And the members on our side include the Hunters and the Grunts. The Brutes have the Prophets aid, the Drones and the Jackals. This war will not be over until the Prophets are dead.” “Heresy,” many of the Elites said. “Is it?” ‘Seretulee asked, “who has committed the first acts of heresy? Was it not us who protected the Prophets for many, many years? Who attacked us first? Who changed the royal guards? Who did not help us against the Brutes after all that we have done for them? Was it not the Prophets, yes it was. The Prophets have committed the first acts of heresy, and they abandoned us. No, we will show them that we cannot be easily set aside with nothing, after all that we have done for them, we cannot be used up and thrown away, we will form our own government and attack back.” “We risked our lives for their protection,” ‘Seretulee continued. “They don’t even offer the simplest protection for us, they even authorized the Brutes to kill our kind. Many Elites lay dead on High Charity and many more on Halos surface, the Prophets could have prevented this but they didn’t, instead they let it by. They have betrayed us, we will not take it lightly, we will fight back and we will kill what we had protected before. They will regret this day where they betrayed us. We shall hunt all the Brutes left on this ship and kill them. If there are any minor Prophets on this ship, make an example of them, don’t show mercy.” During the speech, many Elites lowered their heads, feeling shame and when they looked back up they agreed. “Good, now I need volunteers to hunt down the Brutes,” ‘Seretulee said. “I’ll do it,” ‘Putumee said. “I’ll help,” said an Elite that’s behind ‘Putumee. “So will I.” “Count me in.” Several more Elites volunteered. “Good, thank you, all of you,” ‘Seretulee said. “Any idea where most of the Brutes are?” ‘Putumee asked. ‘Seretulee turned to the view screens and used the ships camera to scan the ship. “Hmm,” ‘Seretulee said, “we met a lot of Brutes already, there’s a lot of Jackals left, around three-hundred. And there’s one hundred and twenty Brutes left. There are a lot of Brutes in cargo bay eight, they’re trying to get as many supplies they can to the bay. I’m not sure what they’re doing with them. Maybe planning an attack or planning to get off the ship with as many supplies that they can steal.” ‘Seretulee and ‘Kinuramee along with four others stayed in the control room to defend it, although they didn’t expect any attacks. They gave ‘Putumee and his team extra weapons and grenades. ‘Putumee and the strike-team headed for the cargo bay. They moved at a steady pace, checking rooms and going slow. One of the rooms had five Jackals in it. The strike team fired at the Jackals and killed two before they could get the shields up. The Jackals returned fire, but with several Elites firing at the Jackals, the shields quickly collapsed and the Jackals were killed. They continued on down a near hallway and every once in awhile they would find a small group of Jackals. Some of the groups looked like that they had no clue on what to do while others seemed to be looking for a way off the ship. “Shouldn’t we also check the docking bays,” one Elites said to another, “I mean, we’re going to pick up survivors and we don’t want them to walk into a trap as soon as they get onboard.” “Yeah, I agree,” the other Elite responded, “but most of the Brutes are in this cargo bay and we will kill them all there, then we can separate and go to different parts of the ship.” “Hey, ‘Putumee,” an Elite said, “shouldn’t we go into the brigs to see if they’re any prisoners?” “Good idea,” ‘Putumee replied, “but I don’t know where the brigs are.” “I know,” the Elite said, “one’s at the end of this hall, the door to the right.” “Alright,” ‘Putumee said, “we’ll go check it out.” They continued down the hall and when they entered the brig, they ran into two Brutes who opened fire. “Back!” ‘Putumee screamed. They went back around the corner. “Needlers.” The two Elites with the needlers got close to the corner and fired blindly down the hall. Since they had a homing system, they really didn’t need to aim. As the needlers emptied they heard an explosion with some dying screams. ‘Putumee looked around the corner and saw that one of the Brutes were blown in half and the other was clutching its neck where a needler round hit its neck and detonated. Blood was gushing out from between the Brutes fingers and it flailed around. “Let him bleed to death,” ‘Putumee said, “he doesn’t deserve a quick death.” They passed the dying Brute and searched the holding cells. They found two pairs of Hunters in four different cells. They released them. “Hunters are not for offense,” ‘Putumee said to the other Elites, then he turned to the Hunters, “Hunters, make your way to the control room and help defend it.” The Hunters went out the doors and turned right, back to the control room. While the Elites continued straight down the hallway heading toward the cargo bay. They continued to check the rooms as they went and they killed over thirty-five Jackals while doing so. They stopped when they were close to the cargo bay. “The cargo bay has two floors, most of the Brutes in that room should be on the first floor,” ‘Putumee said, “so we will go up one floor and enter the bay from there, so we can have a better position to fire down on them.” They soon found a lift and went up a floor. They stopped outside of the doors of the cargo bay. “Okay,” ‘Putumee whispered, “five Elites go camouflage and unsheathe a combat knife and kill the Brutes on the upper floor, if there are any while The rest of us will hide. Someone hack into the door system and open these doors and keep them open, While you’re at it lock all the other doors down on the first level so the Brutes can’t escape.” Five Elites activated their camouflage systems and a sixth started to hack into the system. The Elites that are now nearly invisible got near the wall so if the Brutes opened fire when the door opens, they won’t be hit. The doors opened and the Elite who hacked it open ran back and hid, ‘Putumee looked out from his hiding spot and he saw six Brutes on the upper level, evenly spaced out. The Brutes were only on a catwalk that was basically the entire second level, to the right there was no more floor, there is just a drop-off into the first floor, where the other Brutes were most likely at. It was a perfect spot to fire down into the first floor, if all the Elites lined up against the edge and faced down into the main bay. ‘Putumee saw the air waver and the camouflaged Elites went in and to the farthest five Brutes, and took position behind them. The air stopped wavering behind the Brutes as the Elites stopped moving. The five Brute’s, that are the farthest away, necks sprayed blood, they started to fall but the camouflaged Elites carefully set them down on the ground so there would be no noise. The other Brute didn’t notice because he was still looking toward the door that’s hacked open. One of the Elites went behind the Brute and prepared to slice its throat, while the other four Elites made sure that the other Brutes were dead. The final Brute’s neck also sprayed blood and he was carefully set on the ground also. Blood continued to ooze out of the Brute’s necks and covered the deck with their blood. The other Elites came out of from where they were hiding and went in. ‘Putumee carefully looked over the edge down to the first level where there were a little over sixty Brutes and over eighty Jackals, they were all moving crates and opening them to check what was inside fo them. “Move those Brutes so we have more room,” ‘Putumee ordered, pointing at the dead Brutes. A few Elites went over and carried the Brute’s bodies into a corner. ‘Putumee saw crates that were stacked up against the wall and thought carefully on how to kill the Brutes and Jackals on the floor below. “Okay,” ‘Putumee said, “I want four rows all facing to towards the lower level. Prepare to throw grenades and bombard those Brutes and Jackals. Check those crates over there.” A few Elites went over to the crates that were stacked up against the wall and started to open them up. The first crate was full of Brute plasma rifles, the second was empty and the third had Jackal shields in it. Four other crates were opened only with weapons and the last crate was most useful because it was filled with grenades. The Elites arranged into four, even rows and got all their grenades off their belts. “Last row,” ‘Putumee ordered, “aim for the wall on the other end. Third row, aim for two-thirds of the way to the other side. Second row aim for one-third of the room. First row, just toss the grenades over the edge. If there’s any better suggestions, I’m listening.” No one spoke. “No? Okay then, have the grenades evenly spread out,” ‘Putumee ordered. They were all spread out evenly and each Elite had seven grenades to throw. ‘Putumee was in the second row. “Throw in three . . . two . . . Now!” All the Elites activated the grenades and threw them, ‘Putumee threw the grenade lightly and it went where it was supposed to be, one-third of the way across the room. He heard screams of the Brutes and Jackals but they were soon drowned out by explosions of the grenades. A second wave of grenades went down onto the first level, then another wave and another. A couple showers of blood blossomed up high enough for the Elites to see it and one of the showers came down on the team making them slippery with blood. The first floor might as well been glowing blue with all the grenades exploding and throwing blue light on the walls and the ceiling. In the first few waves, there would be sometimes be an extra, very large explosion as a crate that was full of grenades was started by a chain reaction making one big explosion, the crates that the Brutes were collecting for the escape or assault. After the seventh wave of grenades went over the edge, the Elites got up and lined up along the edge of the second floor where they could fire down in the first level to kill any survivors. ‘Putumee also got up and went to the edge with the other Elites, he saw many dead Brutes and Jackals, lying all over the floor that were killed from the grenades. There is also plenty of blackened areas from where the grenades went off and some darker spots where the chain reactions went off inside some crates. The surviving Brutes and Jackals were in the corners, they were trying to avoid the bombardment. The Elites fired at the corners and the Brutes and Jackals went down fast. Some returned fire but did not do much, only a few shots hit an Elite but did nothing as the shield took all the damage. ‘Putumee took aim at a Brute, that was trying to get the doors open that is hacked shut, and he fired. The Brute took many shots in the back before it stopped trying to force the doors open and died. ‘Putumee also fired at a Jackal who was firing back up at the Elites, the Jackal easily fell. Soon there was only smoking corpses of Brutes and Jackals on the floor below. “Lets get down there,” ‘Putumee said, “check for survivors.” The Elites went down to the first floor and searched the bodies. There weren’t many survivors but those who did survive were barely able to move and struggled to get away, though they were all soon killed. “All Elites, get over here,” ‘Putumee ordered. The Elite regrouped in the middle of the carnage. “There are still many Brutes left,” ‘Putumee said, “but they are scattered and should be easy to deal with.” “If that was hard then we will easily win this war,” said an Elite. “I want teams of six,” ‘Putumee continued, ignoring the interruption, “go where you think the Brutes will be at and kill them. But I want at least a team to go check the brigs and the docking bays, I’m returning to the command deck and I will keep you informed about the Brutes positions from there.” While the Elites separated into different teams and went off in different directions, ‘Putumee headed back to the control room without any incidents. “Um,” said ‘Seretulee kinda laughing in denial, looking at ‘Putumee as he came in, “where’s the rest of the team?” “Don’t worry,” ‘Putumee answered, “the mission was successful with no casualties. I split up the teams and sent them off on their own ‘hunt and kill’ missions.” “Alright, that’s fine,” ‘Seretulee said. “Speaking of which,” ‘Putumee said, “I’m supposed to monitor their progress.”