- soulguard
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Vasmeola stood from the floor. “For the past eighty cycles I have been in charge of my kin. Rebuilding our race at first, and then preparing to free us from the Covenant. I have fought many battles, High Elder, and I will not stand aside and let the Council dictate what they feel is the better option. If we leave Earth now we run the risk of dieing in Slip Space when the Halo’s are activated. We will do what we can… here! If the Keeper brought us here then we can not force ourselves to turn back. I understand that the Council wishes to do what is best for the civilians, but we can take the chance. We fight here.”
Yalsmadee finished his meal and stood. “I will begin organizing the fleet. High Elder, please make contact with the Supreme Commander… with Timnaldee. I wish to speak with him and understand the battle at Earth.”
“What are you talking about?” Vornaldea steamed. “We must first put this decision before the Council. I know time is crucial, but we must have discipline.” Yalsmadee smirked as he knew his mother would not respond well to that statement.
Sure enough, Vasmeola began to vent. “Discipline? Honor? In my youth, I loved these words. I prided myself in hopefully one day becoming a soldier like my father, but your discipline denied me this for fear of jeopardizing your precious Mirratord Secrets. It was hard enough to be a female watchman, but to also be under the House of Vas was painful within itself. All of my life I have struggle to be different, High elder, and now that I am the Queen I am going to change things. We are at war, and getting together to talk Politics with a bunch of wrinkled elders is not how I intend to fight. You tell the Elders that those who are still able to lift their swords will be welcome in my campaign. Anyone who wishes to spill Brute blood should not be denied that glory.”
Meyala coughed, interrupting Vasmeola’s rant. “The young may take your words too directly, my Queen.” She smirked.
Vasmeola sighed. “Aside from the young and elderly, High Elder.” She respected Meyala’s wisdom and level headedness.
Vornaldea stood from his seat, finished his wine and knelt before the Queen. “Thank you. It will be an honor to fight by your side, my Queen. Not sense the days before the Covenant have we had a ruler with your passion for combat.” Vornaldea stood and glared at the Queen’s eyes. “Lead us, and we will follow without question.”
- - - - - - - -
Hammer of God
Sangheili-Human controlled ship
Camp Eden, Earth
Nora’k Binyalda. The name sounded in Simyaldee’s head constantly over the past few hours. The brute Chieftain, Grimleon, knew of his father and this angered Simyaldee to no end. How was it that a brute knew of his father and perhaps even knew how he died? Simyaldee rubbed his head in thought, but found that there was no use struggling to understand it.
“Lieutneant!” Screamed a human crewman. “Proximity alarms are sounding. Fast movers inbound!”
Simyaldee stepped to the edge of the command podium and powered on his display. The image showed six seraph fighters streaking toward the ship.
Siren commented over the com. “Ground forces are also on the move, Lieutenant. One full regiment, perhaps more. I’m raising shields and alerting our ground defense units.”
“Siren, watch for Anti-Aircraft bombardments.” Simyaldee ordered.
“Understood… uh oh, too late.” Siren sulked. “Incoming plasma volley from … six-kilo-west.”
An Elite weapons controller shouted. “Bringing up plasma turrets. Tracking volley and locking onto their position. Blast, they are too far away. We do not have an angle.”
“What about those Seraphs?” Simyaldee questioned.
“Human air defense is preparing to engage.” Another elite replied.
Siren cut into the comment. “Jammers! The Seraph’s are dropping Jammers on us and around the region! I’m losing visual and radar!”
A voice cut in from the back of the command deck. “Weapons, track the Seraphs! Helm, move the ship two-kilo-south. We have to get away from Eden and draw their fire!” Simyaldee turned and watched as a human female ran to the top of the command podium and she continued to bark orders. “Siren, fire a blind shot in front of the Seraph’s projected flight path. Give them a scare!”
“Eye-eye Captain! It’s good to see you, ma’am!”
“Better late then never, I always wanted to say.” The human female decorated in full Navy Captain dress, white’s and greys, turned to Simyaldee. “I don’t think we’ve had a chance to actually speak, Lieutenant.” She extended her hand and said, “Captain Megan Monroe, I heard that you needed an able bodied ship master.”
Simyaldee smirked. “Indeed.” Simyaldee took her hand, dwarfing it in his palm, and gave it a solid shake. Human customs were awkward, but he managed to do it with a straight face.
Captain Monroe turned to the display. “Siren, we’re flying blind with those jammers on top of us. Open a com to our fighter pilots. I need to know what’s happening out there.”
The ship rocked to one side, then again and again. “Plasma volley impact. Direct hit on our upper shield grid. They have some sharp shooters out there.”
“Those AA guns are well out of range of plasma cannons while we are at this altitude.” Simyaldee commented. “We could fire back if we went higher.”
“We do that and we leave Eden Defenseless to ground attack.” Monroe added. “Someone did a lot of thinking for this attack. Siren, analysis?”
“This is a Prophet like command structure. But according to intel, all the minor Prophets are station south at the Ark site. The jammer drops have blinded us from getting target locks on the fighters or from seeing the AA plasma volleys.”
“We are also blind of any ground forces that could be moving into the area!” Simyaldee protested.
Captain Monroe thumbed her chin. “With the Black Ops gone… Lieutenant, you can do a better job if you’re on the ground with the Mirratord. Keep an open COM to me and I’ll radio what I can.”
Simyaldee didn’t waste anytime. He turned and trotted into a full sprint off the Command deck.
The ship rumbled once again. “Damn. Shield strength?”
“Eighty percent, ma’am.” Shot back a human officer.
“Track the location of those impacts and shift power from the aft shields to compensate. If they begin to redirect their focus, shift on the fly.”
An elite gave an outcry. “We are clear of Eden’s interior.”
“Communcations, contact Eden Tower and tell them to power up the directional shield grid. Weapons, target the last known location of those AA cannons and return fire.”
The elite weapons controller replied back. “But we do not have a sufficient angle.”
“No matter. All I want to do is give them a little something to worry about. We don’t have any forces in their path, so full power and make as much destruction as possible!”
- - - - - - - -
Brute regiment // Red Clan
Four miles West of Camp Eden
Plasma mortars fired gigantic swells of Plasma into the air as Grimleon watched the Hammer of God move. He waved for his AA controllers to adjust the cannons as the Seraph’s dropped their jammers throughout the region.
He powered off his zoom and turned to his ground units. A sea of Brute Phantoms, Seraphs and land vehicles all sat before him. He raised his Gravity hammer and roared. “You have your orders! Today we end our quest! Bring me the head of Simyald!” He turned around, mounted his chopper and speed toward the ship.
The full regiment under his command followed. A giant dust storm swelled around as the vehicles powered ahead. The Phantom’s were the first to arrive, deploying foot soldiers throughout the area beneath the Hammer of God.
- - - - - - - -
Simyaldee descended down the gravity lift and watched as twelve Phantoms began to deploy troops. “Captain, ground units are being deployed directly below the ship!”
Captain Monroe cursed over the com. “Damn it! They slipped in while the jammers were blinding us! Lieutenant, the full ground unit is under you guard. We’ll do what we can up here.”
Simyaldee watched as the human, grunt and Sangheili troops took up defensive position against the quickly deploying opposition. The brutes were setting up fast, too fast. They were well organized. The phantoms provided covering fire, crystallizing the thin vegetation that sat outside Eden, in an attempt to lay waste to the allied troops nearby. And as the phantoms fired the troops were dropping to the ground in waves.
Simyaldee couldn’t wait any longer and he jumped the last forty feet from the gravity lift. He hit the ground, rolled and kept running. He switched his com to the nearby friendly frequency. “Focus all fire on the area beneath the phantoms.” It was a blind order as the dense vegetation growing on south side of Eden was making it hard for his troops to even see where the phantoms were, but Simyaldee was able to see them as he descended from the gravity lift.
As he ran forward he arrived at the rear lines. “Who’s in command here?”
“The little guy.” A human shot back from a rock cover. “The grunt.” Explosions sounded up ahead.
Simyaldee looked up and could see Palab attempting to rally his troops. “Sergeant. Their ground troops are attempting to flank your position. You need to watch your…”
A brute snarled as he stampeded through two humans, crushing them beneath his weight. The screams faded quickly. Simyaldee spun and dived at the beast, and it quickly fell over dead, but no one actually saw Simyaldee pull his blades from his belt. There was a quick buzz of static and then nothing. Simyaldee rolled the creature over to its back and looked at his chest armor. A brute hand print, painted blood red, sat upon the dead creature’s armor.