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Honor Fleet by Logan Nickel
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Part 1: Departing
Date: 14 March 2005, 11:29 PM
The bridge of the Slayer of Incompetence fell silent as Kuza Kamanok strode in bearing his shinning gold armor. He walked straight to his top officer. When he realized that everyone was paying more attention to him than their jobs he shot a glance at them. They quickly continued.
"Greetings, Excellency," Said the officer.
"Listen up, Naxu. When I give my speech I want this bridge perfect. And I want every leading Sangheili in here," He said with a harsh tone.
"Yes, Excellency," Naxu responded.
"Good, I shall return in thirty units," He said.
Kuza walked out of the bridge and it returned to life. The Unggoy (or Grunts) continued chattering in their strange language, and the Sangheili (or Elites) went back to discussing docking procedures. This continued until the many leading Elites walked into the blue room.
They stood in perfect lines and focused all attention to were their new leader would soon stand. But he didn't come. They waited half the night and he never walked into the room. His quarters were locked up and he excepted no transmissions. Soon the Elites began to grow worried. Naxu gathered a team of three other Elites and five Grunts to break open the fleetmaster's door.
Naxu and his squad went up to the door and set plasma charges all over it.
"Activate the charges," Naxu said.
It didn't take much time for the charges to burn through the door. When they had weakened it enough they exploded sending one of the Grunts running down the hall the other four stood their ground. When the smoke was clear Naxu ran in with his plasma rifle. At a desk sat Kuza. He seemed to be fine.
"What in name of Regret is going on!" He shouted.
"Excellency, y-your speech," Naxu stammered.
"Come," Kuza said walking back into the bridge.
When he arrived there the Elites remained but many of the Grunts and Kig-yar (or Jackals) were gone. Kuza stood at the point where he should have been many units ago. Naxu and the others that had gone to bust the door open stood behind him.
"Those in front of me now have reached success in our first mission," He said. "Those behind me, and all others that left have failed."
"Me no understand," one of the remaining Grunts said.
"You followed orders," Kuza continued, "I specifically ordered all crewmembers not to disturb me no matter what." He turned to Naxu, "You have failed."
Kuza walked into the audience and took a Carbine from one of the Elites. He put it up to Naxu's head and shot. Then he killed the other Elites. The Grunts began to panic. One ran and jumped off the podium he was brought down by Kuza before he reached the ground. He killed two more. But the last one refused to die and shot Kuza with his plasma pistol.
He took the Grunt's weapon and threw it aside, "Well done. You have redeemed yourself. What is your name?"
"Raray," the Grunt said as he shook cowardly.
"You may return to the audience, Raray," Kuza said.
One Elite was brave enough to speak, "I do not understand, Excellency. You spared a Grunt that shot you!"
"You are brave to talk to me in such a way," Kuza said. "The Grunt did not defy any orders. I never told it not to shoot me."
"Oh, of course, Excellency," The Elite said with a hint of confusion.
Kuza cleared his throat, "But I tell you all now, from this moment forth the laws of the Covenant are here. If any of you break them like Raray just did you shall die. You are the ones that obeyed my orders. You are the ones that shall continue my orders. And the ones that didn't shall be punished.
"This ship is not mine. This fleet is not mine. All of this belongs to our lords and the Covenant. But I have been ordered to look over it. And part of looking over something is creating rules. When we go out to conquer I want no less than perfection from all of you. Those who are less then perfect, leave now!"
No one moved or spoke.
"What I just did to Naxu was but a sample of what I will do to any of you that break my laws. My laws are also the laws of the Prophets. Therefore by breaking them you are a heretic. And heretics are not worthy of death."
Kuza went over his basic rules and then sent the Elites off. All but one. The one that had spoken to him so bravely was ordered to stay.
"I see you are female," He said. "Most would have killed you for what you did."
She bowed on one knee and lifted her head to the ceiling, "Kill me now."
"What is your name?" He asked.
She lowered her head, "Raku Rumanezu."
"You are now my right hand. Therefore you are the right hand of this ship, this fleet, and this part of the Covenant," He said. "Are you ready to take on this responsibility?"
"If it is your will then I shall, Excellency," Raku said.
"Welcome to the Slayer of Incompetence, Raku."
The next day his fleet departed for High Charity. They all bore the once personal insignia of Kuza Kamanok. It was the shield of a Hunter that represented his toughness. Two swords that represented his will to fight. And the skull of an Elite to represent that many lives that he had taken.
Most fleets were controlled by a minor Prophet. Kuza was going to have to take orders from the Prophet of Death. But a heretic recently assassinated him. It was the first assassination attempt that didn't end in defeat. The heretics were usually not active. But since the discovery of Halo things had been different. The heretics wanted to take Halo for reasons unknown.
But these thoughts did not bother Kuza. For his fleet was ready to serve the Covenant. And it would not fail. Every world along the path would be destroyed or conquered. And it would be done with honor.
Kuza Kamanok put on his armor. It was gold and had boosted shields compared to most Elite's armor. On its belt he had ammunition for the carbine and needler. He also had a plasma rifle and a plasma pistol, as well as an energy sword. He also had four plasma grenades.
His four carbines hovered in a containment tube, along with two needlers, a plasma rifle, three plasma pistols, two beam rifles, a fuel rod cannon, an energy sword, and a brute plasma rifle, as well as many plasma grenades and a few ion grenades. On his table he also had a brute shot and a 52 AM Human Sniper Rifle that he had taken from a human he once killed. He also had the human's four fragmentation grenades in a human bucket. He was always cautious.
After he finished putting on his armor he headed for the bridge. Outside of his room waited Raku Rumanezu, his right hand Elite. He saw she was now outfitted with the white, upgraded armor and weapons he had given her. He always heavily loaded his right hand creature. But he never let them have more than him.
"The first system should be coming into visual soon, Excellency," She said with a slight bow.
"How long ago was it that we left slip space?" He asked as they walked to the control room.
"Twenty minor units ago," She said.
When they reached the bridge all stood at attention for a few seconds then went back to work. Raku took him to a control panel. He looked at the screen, as tiny dots soon became planets.
"We are now entering orbit of the habitable planet, Excellency," The secondary shipmaster said.
"Good," Kuza replied.
"Your honor a grace had been proven time after time, Kuza. It is time you are truly rewarded," The Prophet of Regret had said not so long ago.
"Thank you, Excellency. I am sure you will make the right choice," Kuza said.
"Good, because this path will not be an easy one," The Prophet of Truth said bluntly
"The dangers of a fleetmaster are second only to the Arbiter," The Prophet of Mercy said.
"Fleetmaster, Excellencies?" Kuza asked.
"You excel at all that you attempt. I am sure this is the right choice," Truth said.
The Prophet of Death stepped up now; "I shall be the Prophet that oversees your progress."
"Death is the only remaining prophet. If something were to have happened to him on his last negotiation you would not be before us at this moment," Truth said.
"What human colony shall I attack first, Excellencies?" Kuza asked.
"You will not be campaigning against the humans," Mercy said.
"We already have enough fleets sent out to destroy the foul things," Truth said.
"There are many other worlds to conquer. You shall travel beyond the Dialect System," Mercy said.
"Those areas are much unexplored, and vast," Death said, "It will be a challenge."
"I am ready to fulfill the Prophets' will," Kuza said.
"You are no Arbiter, Kuza," Truth said.
"I understand. I was just stating that I am ready," Kuza said.
"Do not cross your line, Fleetmaster," Truth said with a hint of anger in his tone.
"Forgive me, Excellency," Kuza said with a full bow.
"The planet is indeed inhabited," Raku said looking at the planetary biosigns.
"I want a team down there as soon as possible. It will be composed of Elites and a few Grunts. Give the team camouflage. And make their descent silent," Kuza said.
"Yes, Excellency," the shipmaster said.
"According to the log that was created for me this planet has a small civilization among it," Kuza said. "The Prophets say the place is unholy. So it will be destroyed."
"The death of a Prophet has occurred!" The Elite Council Member smashed his fist upon the table; "We can ignore a small human colony for a few days to strike back!"
"This is no 'small human colony'. It is a human supply depot for their nearest fortress world;" The other Council Member countered.
The first Elite snarled then turned to face Kuza, "Kuza Kamanok," He said, lightening up. "It is good to see you again. I did not think you would have survived long enough to reach this point in your carrier."
Kuza bowed to his elder; "I am here in response to your call."
The Elite cleared his throat, "Yes, I regret to inform you that the Prophet of Death has been taken by his own element."
Kuza's eyes widened.
"I am sorry but it seems your fleet cannot be formed," The council member said regretfully.
"Understood," Kuza said trying to keep straight. He began to leave when the council member called to him.
"But, Kuza, but I have called you here for another reason. The hierarchs have a mission for you. They want you to lead a team into the only known heretic base and destroy it."
"Our scouts just reported in and there is most defiantly life on the planet," Raku said.
Kuza looked up from his work, "Good. What further intelligence is there on the race?"
"They call themselves the Odu. It seems that they are at a great disadvantage to our technology. Most of their cities are built into cliffs. But one third of them are built in large, flat areas. They seemed to want to blend in with their surroundings so they don't chop down their plants," Raku reported.
"What about their military strength? And give me specifics on their technology," Kuza said.
"It seems that they were once in war with each other. The hill people against the valley people. During that time they used mostly close hand combat weapons like iron clubs and maces. But they did have an energy source for a beam rifle of sorts. It seems, though, that source has long since been exhausted.
"Their military remains and they seem to be on loose ends with each other at the time. The hill people prefer quality over quantity. They have elite troopers that could probably take out a standard squad of six grunts and an elite. The valley people are the other way around. They have numbers but their troopers are weak."
"Good job, Raku," Kuza said, "Send my thanks to the scout team and bring them back to the ships."
"Yes, Excellency."
Kuza stood proud. He had killed the only known heretics. Every last one of them. Their numbers were few and they were easy to kill. The base was full of fuel for their only capital ship so it was easy to blow up.
The Prophets wanted to talk to Kuza. He was confident they would give him something good to do until another prophet became available for a fleet. When he entered their chambers he was greeted by five elite council members, two prophet council members, Truth, and Regret. He bowed in their presence.
"Rise, Kuza," Truth said. "You have grounded the heresy. You have been on your knees long enough."
Regret floated closer in his hover chair, "With much debate, the leading members of the council, Truth, and I have decided that you shall have your fleet. Without a prophet."
"But Excellency, I thought all fleets were required to have a minor prophet aboard," Kuza said trying to hide the surprise from his voice.
"Yes, well you have proven to always stay with your honor and faith. And we have always thought about letting you onto the council. This will prove if you are worth," Truth said.
"But remember, as soon as a prophet is off of a mission he shall be sent to your fleet," Regret reminded him.
"Thank you, Excellencies."
"I want drone squads here... here... and here," Kuza said pointing out a few vantage points on the map.
"We should also have a few wraiths set up on the ridge," Raku said.
"Yes put them at the highest point possible. Since the enemy has no air force this should be easy," Kuza said. "Speaking of air force I want two banshees for every dropship and phantom."
"And what about additional vehicles?" Hazu (Kuza's military advisor) asked.
"Yes, I want three squads of ghosts. Each squad should have five ghosts and a shadow for support. As well as two scepters," Kuza said hoping he wasn't over doing it, not that it would matter. "Concentrate the majority of ground forces on their military barracks."
"Yes, Excellency," Hazu said.
"And, Hazu. Get me a special force team that I will be leading," Kuza said.
"Y-yes, Excellency," Hazu said.
It was uncommon for a fleetmaster to join a battle personally. But Kuza Kamanok was no normal fleetmaster. This would be interesting.
The ride down to the unholy planet was surprisingly bumpy. As if the air was thicker than it should have been. This worried Kuza only until his phantom landed in the small meadow. He jumped out with two plasma rifles in hand. The strange, bug-like aliens went down easily. Raku had said the valley people would be.
They charged with their simple iron weapons. Kuza realized this would end up a close range battle so he quickly used up the batteries of his rifles and threw them on the ground. He switched to his energy sword. It had a boosted battery so he could use it most of the battle. But when it was dead he could switch to his other one or his carbine.
Kuza threw a grenade into a group of Odu. Their fragile bodies ripped into pieces as the force sent them flying. Kuza threw one more plasma grenade them went up close and personal. He slashed right through their pitiful weapons. Not a single one of them hit him.
After the first group was down he lead his elites and grunts into the city. The guards were quickly taken down. Kuza climbed up the steep wall surrounding the city and took the slightest rest at the top to wait for the others. He turned his head to the city to get a quick layout.
His eyes grew wide as he saw the thousands upon thousands of aliens running around in the city, killing the covenant forces. Kuza quickly activated his COM.
"Raku are you seeing this?" He asked.
"Yes we just got the probes pictures back. There are to many of them," She said.
"No, not for a brute," He said. "I want at least twenty brutes down here, now!"
"Yes, Excellency I shall arm them with brute shots and brute plasma rifles," She said.
"Good the brute shots' bayonet's should do the trick," He said. "Kuza, out."
Kuza jumped down the wall and into the mass of enemies. He killed them at least three at a time. With one swipe of his blade he took out all of them in front of him. He saw his elites were doing okay too. But the grunts were having trouble. There were only three out of ten from his squad left.
The enemy finally managed to scatter his group enough so they could take them out one by one. Kuza saw a dead elite on a ghost. He jumped on it and boosted right into the bugs. Their defense lines quickly faded away. He hadn't even used the plasma weapons on the ghost yet. But when he did they panicked and began to fly away.
"After them!" Kuza yelled on his COM.
The Odu were soon followed by Kuza's drones and banshees. They were no match and finally were killed. Kuza regroup his army before the brutes arrived.
Kuza Kamanok had his engineers clean up all of the bodies and burn them far away from the village. After they were done the place looked like new. He built a large base inside the walls of the city. If anymore buggers came they'd be ready. Kuza decided to wait for them to attack next. He set up ambushes all around the base and built hidden turrets in the walls. A large amount of ghosts were also ready to be piloted incase the enemy breached the outer defenses.
"Well done, Excellency," Raku said.
"It was more so the soldiers than I, loyal Raku," He said looking at his new base. But deep down he knew without him they would have lost. Perhaps more training was required...
"Excellency," Raku said franticly, "Something is wrong with the drones, they are going insane!"
to be continued....
Honor Fleet Part 2: Drone Outbreak
Date: 31 March 2005, 10:57 PM
Kuza 'Kamanok sat in the dark, violet-lit meeting room of the Slayer of Incompetence. He had been sitting on the cold seat for almost a full unit. Trying to figure out why the Drones had gone insane. It had happened only a few weeks after his first victory on the Odu planet. And only the Drones that had been on the planet were having trouble. They were sent up to the Silence and Remorse, a Covenant Destroyer, and only units later all contact with the ship had ceased.
The meeting was basically to see what his crew wanted to do. Then he would take their requests into consideration and final: choose the best course of action. It was not common among Fleet Masters to ask the opinion of anyone but a Prophet. But Kuza knew that was part of being a good leader. Even though other Elites did not think so.
After an extremely long period of time Kuza's mind was made. He decided to send a large task force over to the ship and see if they couldn't take it over. He wanted to go personally but the Odu were acting up and his attention needed to be focused on the planet.
The humid morning air of the planet filled Kuza's body. He looked at the texture of the Odu city walls. He knew if the Prophets found out that he was using an unholy city as a base he would be decommissioned. But he did a lot of things that were sacrilegious and slightly demonic. So far his crew hadn't argued. But they did seem a little on edge.
"Fleetmaster, Kuza," The top military advisor, Hazu said as he walked up to Kuza when his Phantom dropped him off. "Excellency, the Valley Odu have gathered together. Their numbers look strong enough to take out this base. I do not see why we don't glass this unholy planet once and for all."
"Are you questioning the reasoning of the Prophets!?" Kuza said using the Prophets as an excuse to get angry at the fool.
"No, Excellency. Of course not," Hazu said quickly.
"Good, I would not like to remove you from my fleet, or worse," Kuza said trying to sound menacing.
Hazu cleared his throat, "Yes, well, according to our spies the bugs are going to attack in three units. Their lines have began to form."
"How many Brutes are down here?" Kuza asked, knowing (and hating) the potential of the beasts.
"I believe we have around thirty," Hazu said.
"That should be enough if we have suppressive fire. I also want a few squads of Ghosts so we can exploit their devoid of vehicles," Kuza said as he walked to the command room of the base.
"Perfect planning, Excellency," Hazu said highly over exaggerated.
Kuza grumbled something about Hazu's attitude and walked into the command room. Everyone bowed, low and then went back to work. Kuza walked up to the holovid of Mercy and switched it to show the base and surrounding areas. He tirelessly studied the map, looking for weaknesses in the defenses.
After standing in front of the map for a long time he headed for his Phantom. On the way a Grunt ran past him screaming something in his hard to understand language. Kuza looked in the direction the Grunt had come from. He saw whale-like Covenant Destroyer gallantly slid through the thick cloud. It was the Silence and Remorse. It halted abruptly in midair and activated its purple, beam-like Gravity Lift. Kuza ran back to the control room, his hooves pounded upon the ground as he ran, his head slightly bobbed, and his arms waved back and forth.
"Hazu! Get ground forces to the Grav Lift!" He yelled upon entering the control room.
"Grav lift, Excellency?" Hazu asked indicating in his voice that he thought Kuza was crazy.
"Yes, grav lift, fool! The Silence and Remorse has just entered the atmosphere and has turned on its grav lift due east!" Kuza yelled extremely annoyed.
"Right away, Excellency!"
Aboard the Silence Kuza's Special Ops team ran through the glowing blue blood stained halls. To an observer they were just a blur, a smudge in the air. With their active camouflage they could sneak almost anywhere. The leader of the team (Faza 'Faymunee) took his team closer and closer to the bridge.
They had seen a few Drones so far. And they all appeared normal. They seemed to operate the ship fine and they were not killing each other. But since they were working with the ship they would be able to trace all transmissions to the starting point so Faza couldn't send any Intel back to the Slayer.
The squad wisped through many hallways, rooms, and hangers. They passed rooms filled with the bodies of their fallen brothers. Faza cursed the Drones and vowed to avenge the deaths of his comrades. He felt a deep sadness as he saw the bodies upon bodies laid in perfect piles at the corners of each room.
Though Kuza was his commanding officer Faza felt great hatred toward him. He did not obey the Prophets and it was said that he collected unholy relics, and worshiped demons. Faza knew this was somehow his fault, and he would seek vengeance. But for now he had to get to the bridge.
They finally reached the entrance to the bridge. Drones were everywhere. The hall was so filled with them that Faza and his squad could not walk through. He decided they could no longer keep the element of surprise. He tossed a plasma grenade into the swarm.
Body parts and dull yellow blood splattered all over the squad. Faza awaited a second swarm to fly into the hall and attack him. But it did not come. He cloaked again and walked into the bridge. The drones had built hundreds of hives on the walls of the bridge. Drones flew everywhere. A few stood at the controls of the bridge.
"We must plant the bomb here," Faza whispered.
"But that will render the ship useless and it will fall to the ground," An Elite said.
"Repairs can be made, Brother," Faza said preparing to arm the bomb.
Before they could make another move the swarm began to fly around the room as fast as they could as if they were irritated. Faza assumed it was because they discovered him. But soon the great majority of them left the room and went buzzing down the halls.
"Has Kuza sent another strike team up?" A third Elite asked.
"Possibly," Faza said. "Whatever it was it serious enough so that the Drones had to send most of their swarm. Now only a few are left. Let us seal off the bridge."
The seven Elites shot their Plasma Rifles at the remaining ten Drones. They took them out in seconds. Faza ran up to the control panel and sealed all of the doors with Plasma Screens. Then he felt safe enough to send out a message.
"Excellency, we have a message from the team," Raku said.
"Good, put it through," Kuza said, pleased.
"Excellency, we have infiltrated the Silence. The Drones have created a hive in the bridge. It seems they have returned to the primitive state they were before we trained them. But they still have kept their knowledge of operating the ship," Faza said.
"Faza, they have activated the Gravity Lift and are attacking our base. We need you to close the doors and seal off the ship. I want you to slay every last one of them on that destroyer," Kuza ordered.
"Yes, Excellency," Faza said.
Hazu walked to the outer walls of the base. Recon was his only excuse to get away from the unholy city, Kuza was mad for making it a base. As soon as his report reached the hierarchs ears Kuza would be killed. Plus, he liked to recon things himself. He didn't trust the Jackal scouts that worked for Kuza. In fact, he hadn't seen them since they went on their third recon mission. They were probably busy harassing the Grunts.
The Elite casually walked around until he stumbled upon something. Purple Jackal blood and three bodies littered a small outcropping. Hazu looked around for the killer. He suspected the Odu or maybe another Jackal so he was very surprised to see five dead Drones.
The Drones were preparing to invade the base! Hazu grabbed his COM. He began to speak when he felt an intense burning feeling on his hand. He cried out and dropping his COM. The angered Elite looked up to see the sky filled with Drones. Every Drone in the fleet was there. A small group of them were flying to him and shooting their Plasma Pistols.
Hazu drew his Plasma Rifle and fired at top speed. He took out a few of the Drones but they kept coming. Hazu's Plasma Rifle overheated and he didn't have time to vent. So he caste it down and reached for his Carbine that was hanging around his back. He pulled it out and threw in the ammunition clip. But it was to late.
Drones came at him from every direction. They bit and clawed at him like wild animals. He grabbed one and threw it into two others with all his might. Then he punched ones head through and swatted another out of the air. He grabbed a bug's arm and kicked its body off. With the arm he smacked two more and then threw it in the air. After a series of melee attacks he had killed nearly twenty. But more just came. Until finally he was over taken.
Kuza 'Kamanok tapped his foot at the Phantom lifted into the air. He had lost all communication with the Special Operations Team a unit ago. He was personally going up there. Raku could control the base. The Phantom was cloaked so that the Drones would not attack it.
It seemed that every time Kuza was in a Phantom he began to think deeply. And it seemed that every time he thought deeply he began to question the way the Covenant worked. He no longer believed the words of the Prophets. For some reason, even he didn't know, their inspiration was gone. He no longer believed that the Humans were as unholy as the Prophets made them seem. But it was hard to let go. He wanted to cry out a prayer of forgiveness to the Gods whenever he walked into his room and saw the Human weapons. But he knew it was all a lie.
The Phantom shook, interrupting the Elite's thoughts.
"Excellency, the Drones are running right into us! There are to many our camouflage will no last!" The pilot yelled.
"Drop us off now!" Kuza yelled.
"The Silence is firing upon us!"
"Bring us into the hanger, now!"
"By the Prophets this is to much!"
"Evacuate, now! NOW!"
The Phantom's armor blew off. Blue smoke spurted out of the engines as the dropship fell to the ground. As it fell it was ripped apart by tree branches and cliff rocks. When it reached the ground it was in two pieces.
Kuza slowly reoriented. Then he realized that the dropship's stabilization coupling was most likely destroyed, "Run!"
The Phantom blew up in a fantastic blue explosion. Kuza felt the plasma heat upon his back. He dropped down and let the explosion blow over him, for the most part. But he was still thrown into the air like a rag doll and slammed into the ground by the force of the blast.
After laying on the ground for a good time Kuza sat up. He weakly stood up and began looking for survivors. After he found that there were none he checked himself. His headpiece was cracked and no longer of any use to him. So he threw it down along with his left shoulder pad, and his right knee pad.
Kuza 'Kamanok walked, to the best of his ability, to the grav lift. But he realized he was of no use and began to make his way back to the base. Along the way he grew weaker and weaker. Soon his legs gave out and he tumbled to the ground. The Elite turned his head and saw the foot of a Drone, no not a Drone, it was an Odu. And it had friends.
to be continued
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