For the first time in over two decades, Hakan found himself overlooking the Holy City of High Charity. The monolithic floating citadel was in orbit over a Blue Gas Giant, and Hakan would have still been reminiscing of its beauty, if he had not been stunned into silence by the glory of a sacred ring. In front of his very eyes, a Halo Ring held its position in the same orbit as High Charity. His crew had been dumbstruck, some leaving their stations to kneel before its majesty. Never in his life had Hakan thought he would be where he is now, staring at the device that would transcend himself and those faithful to the Covenant.
The communications projection on the bridge lit up and made noise for what seemed like an eternity before the Master of Communications and Navigation was pulled from his stupor. Lumbering over to the floating symbols, his still quivering voice rattled out cross the otherwise silent bridge. "Shipmaster, we have been granted permission to approach the Holy City."
Hakan let out a throaty hiss, slowly rousing the rest of his bridge crew from their various states of prayer. A deep breath filled his broad chest, and finally he found the words to speak. "Take us to it then, Tahel. Gojun, broadcast a recording of the Holy Ring to the rest of the crew, and let them know that the Journey is nigh." Tahel slowly bowed his head and began moving the symbols on his communication projection. Only moments after did he feel the shudder of his Battle Cruiser, as it began its movement. His previous ship, a Destroyer, had been wrought asunder by humanity years before.
Gojun however, boldly approached his shipmaster and placed a hand on Hakan's large shoulder. His voice was barely audible, s it past his mandibles. "Shipmaster. If I may speak to you alone." The raw urgency in his tone made Hakan's mandibles twitch in interest. Jerking his head to the side in recognition, the two made their way from the Bridge in the general direction of Hakan's personal quarters.
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Hakan's fist struck the wall so hard he could feel the delicate decorative paneling warp around it. "And they blame us?" His throat ached with rage and his saliva frothed in the spaces between his mandibles. What he had just heard scorched any holy conviction from his hearts, which now beat in a fluttered cadence. The Holy Hierarch, the Prophet of Regret had been struck down by a demon on the very Ring he had just witnessed. Far worse than this, the San 'Shyuum had directed their holy rage toward the Sangheili, accusing them of failing to protect them.
Gojun nodded solemnly, flexing his mandibles in careful thought as he waited for Hakan to calm down. After a minute of silence between the two, the Sub-Commander spoke once more. "They have changed the guard... replacing us with Jiralhanae." The words left his sub-commanders throat like acid, and Hakan flinched back, as if he had been struck.
"It is not so." His voice dripped with disbelief as he swayed his head from side to side. He couldn't believe the words coming from his sub-commanders maw. The Sangheili had protected the San 'Shyuum for thousands of years, they could not be tossed way so easily. Almost on instinct, the shipmaster gripped the hilt of his energy sword.
"It is." Garjun responded, his voice far firmer, even though he himself had heard it moments before. "The Councilors have threatened to leave their posts over it."
Not even the craftiest liar could orchestrate such heresy, which made Hakan pause. He could tell from the glint in Gojun's yellow eyes that this was the truth, and it made his hearts beat even faster. "Cycle a phantom. I shall leave for the Holy City at once. Keep our crew under the grace of the ring, as I investigate this... this absurdity." Without another word, Hakan brushed past Gojun and left the room.
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Hakan Je'ketai 'Xar 'Hidohee
Shipmaster of the CCS-Faith's Harbinger
The Holy City of High Charity
Berth CXCIX
The 9th Age of Reclamation
November 2nd, 2552
There had been enough room aboard the Phantom to fill it with thrice times the number he had taken with him, though he had left in such a state of rage he only ordered those he found along the way to follow him. His contingency consisted of his Master of Security, Coan ‘Feraoee, two Mgalekgolo whose names he had not yet learned, and two Minor Domo Sangheili that had been in Coan's presence at the time. None asked questions, they knew it was not their place.
Though they did not speak, he could see the way his men's muscles tensed, as their Phantom glided ever closer to their designated berth within High Charity's massive docks. By now, the insolent voice of an Unggoy should have sounded over the communication suites housed within the curved alcoves of the dropships troop bay, asking for their intent. The silence only made them all uneasy, the younger Sangheili especially.
Eventually, their dropship entered through the force field that kept the atmosphere within the berth, and the right side of the Phantom unsealed itself. The noise of several hundred chanting Unggoy assaulted Hakan's hearing as the right side of the Phantom folded itself completely and revealed to him a riot below. In the midst of the Unggoy throng stood the occasional Kig-Yar, and beyond that, nothing. Above the crowd shown the image of the High Prophet of Truth, his voice preached calming words, but Hakan could not listen. The only thing his single eye could look at was the Jiralhanae in Honor Guard Armor standing to the Prophet's side.
The Phantom took a slow turn over the crowd before hovering into one of the magnetic docks within the berth. Hakan emerged from the dropship with Coan and his minions behind him, the two Mgalekgolo keeping the rear. Though they were now above the chaos of the crowd, most Unggoy fell quiet at the sight of the Mgalekgolo.
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The Bond Brother's blue armor glowed iridescently in the light of the Holy City as their platform ferry finally came to a stop. The ride from the hangars had been longer than Hakan had remembered, but that thought quickly drifted from his mind as he took in the view of the city. From his position, high above it all, the Holy City looked relatively unchanged. The Forerunner Dreadnought stood at the center of the Holy City as the foundation of their Covenant, and that too, remained unchanged. A small group of Jiralhanae tended to a phantom at the far side of the ferry dock, though the two groups ignored the others existence as was customary.
After a few moments of reflection, Hakan gestured toward another platform ferry. His men had heard the words of the Hierarch, and now little had to be said. They followed closely behind him, and soon enough, all were once again aboard and ready for departure. Hakan raised his right hand and let it fall down ontop of the simple pedestal at the front of the ferry, sending them toward the heart of the city.
As the ferry lurched on its path, the shipmaster pulled a communicator from his hip and raised it toward his maw. "Gojun, what of the councilors? Have they retired to their chambers?" A phantom whirred to life somewhere off in the distance.
"No, they have departed for the Ring." His Sub-Commander's voice was distant. Hakan could not discern if it was due to the interference of the phantom now passing them or the lack of volume in his words.
"Te-"
Shipmaster! The vibrations of one of the Mgalekgolo resounded throughout his body, causing the whole of the platform to shiver. All Sangheili turned toward the source of the vibration in various states of shock. The rarity of a Mgalekgolo speaking was quickly overshadowed by the Phantom at their side. It's side gunner was fully exposed, a Jiralhanae, and began to open fire on their platform. Hakan roared with rage as plasma lanced past him, and tore a plasma pistol from his side. At the same time, the two Mgalekgolo on the platform began returning fire toward the Phantom with their assault canons.
The Jiralhanae side gunner was reduced to a molten heap of flesh, bone, and fur, but not before an engine on the platform itself had erupted in a plasma fire. The platform listed toward the left as the Phantom, now guttering deep black smoke, listed right and directly into it. The metal of the platform shrieked and spit sparks as it carved into the lower side of the phantom, locking in place. The crash jarred Hakan's bones, and sent him stumbling toward the Phantom.
One of the Minor Domo's had been tossed from the platform during the collision, and was tumbling into the city below as Hakan and the rest of his men barreled into the bay. The Phantom seemed to stabilize slightly as the Mgalekgolo thundered into the center, one collapsing a Jiralhanae's chest with a single blow from its shield. While the rest of the Jiralhanae in the bay were slaughtered, Coan and Hakan rushed the control room. The two pilots were not yet aware of their presence, as the door slid open, and Hakan used this moment of respite to activate his energy sword and punch it through the back of the pilots chair. As his blade scorched the organs of the pilot, Coan reduced the other's skull into fragments with a close range blast from his own overcharged plasma pistol.
Their deaths had been swift, but not before the main pilot had sent the Phantom into an even swifter descent toward the ground level of High Charity. The two Sangheili grabbed the body of the beast and hefted it from its chair, allowing Coan to take its place. Coan had a history with the flying of smaller craft that Hakan had never been privileged too. The shipmaster began to loose faith, though, when his Master of Security began beating his right fist on the arm rest of the pilots chair. "We have lost power to the engines shipmaster."
A small hiss escaped Hakan's throat as he called back into the trooper bay for his men to secure themselves. "Then glide us into a landing."
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Hakan's eyes slowly slid open, and immediately welled with liquid in response to the archid smoke within the cockpit of the mangle phantom. The thick black smoke burnt his lungs as he sucked in a breath, quickly sending the warrior into a coughing fit. "Shipmaster." Coan croaked from his seat next to Hakan. From what he could tell, through his limited vision, the two seemed relatively unscathed.
"With me." Hakan croaked back, his voice just as ragged as he grasped onto Coan's battle harness and yanked him up from his seat. The Master of Security quickly found his own footing, and the two Sangheili made their way through the hole that use to be the entrance to the trooper bay. Cut open, much like a kernel of Irukan grain, the other half of the gutted Pelican rested on its side, around twenty feet away. Both Mgalekgolo were trying their best to lift a portion of the phantom, and as Hakan's gaze focused in, he could see the torn torso of the other Minor Domo struggling underneath.
As Hakan approached, he glanced down toward the struggling Sangheili who called out in a thick, pleading voice, "Shipmaster...". Coan did not look away as Hakan activated his energy sword and crouched. Firmly grasping one of the fallen warrior's hands, he assisted the Minor Domo in sliding the Energy sword into his ruined torso. It had not been the first time Hakan had given one of his men a warrior's death, and he knew where to enter to puncture both hearts at once. The Minor shuttered only once, before he became limp.
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The streets were almost empty, and the thundering of the Sangheili and Mgalekgolo's footsteps echoed as they made their way toward the nearest gravity lift. The Holy City had been thrown into chaos, and Hakan had lost his communicator during the crash. He was responsible to his men, and he would not leave them abandoned on some dock as the Jiralhanae revolted against the Covenant.
"I knew they were low born animals, but to act in such heresy..." Coan began, as the four stepped into the purple pull of the beam. The master of security fell into silent rumination, as the group quickly gained a new view of the battle raging through the city. Explosions peppered the city, and became more numerous and focused as Hakan's gazed turned toward the center of the city. "Such heresy.." Coan murmured quietly to himself.
Hakan tugged himself from the gentle pull of the gravity lift, his boots thudding against the metal flooring of a platform station as he landed. The two massive thuds behind him signaled the end of the Mgalekgolo's use of the gravity lift, and Hakan knew that Coan would not be far behind them. The shock wave of an explosion sent the Shipmaster to his knees as a human ship exited slipspace
inside of High charity and crashed into one of the far walls. Almost instantly, a small swarm of smaller human drop ships exited the larger's wrecked hull and began to pepper the city. The gravity lift blinked out of existence just as Coan's feet landed on the metal flooring. None of them chose to comment on how severe the situation could have just been, as they boarded a platform that would take them back to their phantom.
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The entrance to the berth slid open, allowing the small group to enter the silent hangar. Their phantom hovered in the same magnetic dock they had left it in. Coan and the Mgalekgolo moved toward the dropship to secure it as Hakan made his way toward the edge of the upper floor. Peering over, Hakan's eyes widened at the sight below. The entire crowd of Unggoy and Kig-Yar that had been there hours before, where amassed in the corner, their bodies almost appeared to be morphed together by some form of fungus. The sobering reality of that sight began to overtake the Shipmaster as Coan called from the dropship. "Shipmaster, the Jiralhanae must have taken the pilot, but the dropship is secure."
Click. Everything seemed to slow as Hakan turned his body toward the door they had exited from. Mutated forms stood at the entrance, pausing momentarily as they themselves took in the Shipmaster. "Infection!" Roared Hakan in response as he ignited his energy sword. The closest of the flood forms, a badly mangled Kig-Yar, lept toward him. The thing was sliced in half far before it got to Hakan, sending both pieces flying past him.
A massive club of tissue appeared behind the bloody haze left by the kig-yar and connected firmly with Hakan's torso, popping his energy shielding and sending him flying off of the berth and onto the floor below. To the god's grace, no flood where there to meet him as his back connected with the floor. The creature that had sent him flying now seemed ready to pounce from its perch and finish the job, but if it had intended to do so Hakan would never know. A steady beam of green plasma carved into the creature and tore it apart, while a second stream purified the others pouring out from the door.
Go!The vibrations of that very same Mgalekgolo resounded throughout the hangar, as their assault canons began to overheat. Hakan slowly rose to his feet as the Phantom un-docked and quickly hovered down to the lower level. The Shipmaster charged onto the Phantom and before he could even pull in another breath, the Phantom had passed the force field and gone back into the void.
Hakan lurched toward the control center of the small dropship, and dropped into a chair next to Coan. Ragged breaths came in and out of the Warrior in odd fits, before he finally vomited the contents of his stomach onto the floor beside him. The club had been swung hard. The two both knew there was no weakness in what had just occurred. In the Phantoms viewscreen , several ships of the Covenant fleet were engaged in combat with one another.
The Shipmaster busied himself opening up a comms line to
Faith's Harbinger. "Gojun, do you hear my words? The Jiralhanae have revolted against the Covenant and the infection has forced itself onto High Charity."
"Those beasts where never to be trusted! They have killed the councilors upon the sacred ring!" Responded the Sub-commander, and once again Hakan's blood boiled.
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A map of the Covenant Fleet above High Charity projected itself in the middle of the bridge. The Prophets had announced a Jiralhanae as Supreme Commander of the Covenant Navy only moments before the full force of the Jiralhanae led ships opened fire on their Sangheili counterparts. Though some had been caught by surprise, the CCS-
Faith's Harbinger had quickly responded with a full salvo of its energy torpedoes. A Jiralhanae destroyer had its shields consumed by the first, and was quickly crippled as the second Torpedo struck the front of the ship, setting off its energy projector in a massive explosion.
"Direct hit Shipmaster!" Called out Haiga, the Master of Weapons, as he began spinning up the energy projector while the plasma torpedoes recharged.
"Sangheili!" Hakan cried, as he slammed his right fist down on his chair's respective armrest. "Today we take back our place as the rightful defenders of the San 'Shyuum! The rightful defenders of our Prophets!" His bridge roared in response, as Haiga let his energy projector loose on a Jiralhanae Corvette that had drifted into range. The shields were no match for their cleansing fire, and quickly popped, allowing the hull to be scorched and gutted.
"Shipmaster, the ring!" Gojun cried. Within minutes, all fighting in the fleet ground to a halt a a single orb began to glow in the middle of the sacred ring. A few minutes after that, a single ball of energy shot up toward the middle of of the ring. As soon as they connected, the Halo ring flashed, and after that, nothing.
The crew of the bridge was stunned into a general silence and confusion. Time would not prove to wait for them though, as the Jiralhanae ships opened fire once more. An energy torpedo glanced their shielding, forcing Hakan from the sparkling after effects of whatever had just happened within the ring. "Haiga! Let out energy projector cleave into that Battle Cruiser while its shields are down!" Soon enough, the massive thrumming of the energy projector shook the bridge once more, and a line of destruction was carved into the almost equally sized ship.
In the midst of the resurrected chaos, the Forerunner Dreadnought held at the center of the Holt City streaked out from it, quickly entering the void. Hakan's mandibles twitched as Brute ships began to follow in pursuit. High Charity was lost, the Great Journey had not happened, and once again the communications projection was blinking and making noise.
"Shipmaster. The Arbiter is sending a fleet wide announcement."
