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Forced Betrayal (Chapter 1: Early Retreat)
Posted By: CoLd BlooDed<sk8_4life7_@hotmail.com>
Date: 27 December 2003, 6:53 AM


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Forced Betrayal (Chapter 1: Early Retreat)
Eighth Cycle, 12 Units (Covenant Battle Calendar)/Protah Hills, on retreat from Human city in Phantom.


      They were retreating; news had it that the Orbiter above the primitive race's city was destroyed by the green devil. Field Commander Polo 'Ralamee had already given orders to a Rallit a Grunt who had been told to order a strike on the human airdrome. He had successfully done so, but 'Ralamee's troops had almost been completely wiped out until he had to extract them from the dangerous premises.

      "Excellency, you should be glad we survived the assault on the Infidel municipality." came the voice of a Grunt who was seated in the Phantom beside him.

      "No, Joyop, I shouldn't be glad. We failed miserably and it'll be my head their after, it's just a matter of time once we arrive to the cruiser." the Grunt sighed and stopped trying to cheer up the superior officer.
      'Ralamee had a tight knot in his stomach, would the Council punish his doings? The base of his fears elevated from this one question, the Prophets of the Council were known for extremely rash penalties. Several other rookie Elites, two Jackals and a Grunt were seated in the Phantom along with 'Ralamee.

      "Excellency," 'Ralamee once again heard the Grunt's voice and decided to ignore it, "Excellency, excuse me but I have a suggestion."
      Polo turned around in annoyed rage, "What?!" The Grunt shriveled back into his seat. The burnished metal of his golden armor was still clean; he hadn't been in many fire fights with the infidels. Most of the troops under his command were dead or missing in action, the survivors were either on other Phantoms returning to the Cruiser, Implorer, or some were already there, admitting the horrible job that 'Ralamee did at commanding his people.
      He could see the already setting sun of New Tatley; they had been attacking the city for days, ever since the beginning of the Eighth Cycle. It had seemed like it was day for a few hours because of the explosion which lit up the city. But that had died off, and the damaged sky had already shown stars before the sun had started to set.
      When the Covenant were arriving to this planet, 'Ralamee saw the beauty of what the humans called "Erth". Then they landed on the planet and practically destroyed all of the infidels physical features, along with some historical man made ones, they had nearly wiped out the planets exquisiteness.
      In some way 'Ralamee felt sorry for the humans, but in others he didn't, he had been taught to hate the human race. They were primitive, he had been told, they are not worth living. He had somewhat doubted these words, but was still considered enemy to the humans.
      The Phantom shifted and then slowly the hills below them started to fade away, and soon the drop ship came to a halt. They had arrived at the Implorer, the deployment doors opened and 'Ralamee singled out of the Phantom with the other aliens. He was to go to the Council Chambers immediately, his presence was requested as soon as he arrived; the Prophets had contacted 'Ralamee as he was waiting for extraction.
      Polo 'Ralamee left for the Council room with a tight knot mixed of fear and tension in the bottom of his stomach.



Eighth Cycle, 13 Units (Covenant Battle Calendar)/In Council Chambers of the Implorer, discussing events of New Tatley.

      Raga 'Qoyalamee sat on the pedestal on the other side of the room from the Prophet.

      "Why do you personally think we were not able to penetrate the human defenses and annihilate the city afterwards?" this was a sort of a trick question asked by the Prophet.
      'Qoyalamee stuttered for a second, he was one of the rookies that was under Polo 'Ralamee's command. "I know that we were able to breach the human defenses, but we weren't able to annihilate the city because there was information that we needed there."

      "Correct, but we could have done some permanent damage or better yet, taken the city, could we not?" asked the Prophet, Raga knew he was going to keep on firing questions at him until he failed to answer one correctly and then get punished, he was hated by this Prophet.

      "We did do damage, Excellency, it's just that the green devil appeared and destroyed our every attempts to try to obtain the information about the human world." replied 'Qoyalamee confidently, the Prophet sighed.

      "That is not true." lied the Prophet, "Do you even know what kind of information we were attempting to acquire?"

      "Yes," said Raga with hate, the Prophet was toying with him, "We were trying to obtain information about the locations of all the human covert military facilities."
      The Prophet's face went grim, there was only one thing that he could do, so the alien adjudicator ended the Council.

      "Fine, this meeting is adjourned, we will continue this some other time, you will be contacted." said the Prophet, the light that was shining on him turned off, and 'Qoyalamee was left to leave the room.
      There has to be some way I can get back at him, thought Raga nastily, he walked out of the Chambers and marched back to the Superior's Quarters.



Eighth Cycle, 14 Units (Covenant Battle Calendar)/Onboard the Implorer, heading to Council Chambers.

      He was on time, unfortunately, Polo didn't want to go to the Council, he knew something serious was going to happen. He rounded the corner and almost hit another Elite, it was Raga 'Qoyalamee, one of the recruits under that was under Polo's command.

      "What are you doing here?" questioned 'Ralamee.

      "Just had a conference with the Prophet," said Raga grimly, "that son of a bitch hates me."
      That made 'Ralamee feel worse somehow, and he continued to walk down the short hallway without saying goodbye to 'Qoyalamee. He turned to the right and entered the Chamber; the whole room was dark save some light filtering through an outlet in the roof. Underneath the concentrated luminosity hovered a Prophet, he looked angry and tired at the same time.

      "Greetings, 'Ralamee, please remain standing." the Prophet welcomed Polo, 'Ralamee didn't say anything.

      "I have a series of questions to ask you," the Prophet paused, "the first concerning your tactics of taking New Tatley."

      "What would you like to know?" replied the Elite.

      "You were unsuccessful, I do know that for an evident fact." said the Prophet unkindly. "But I would like to know what strategies you have told your troops."

      "We managed to infiltrate the city, get to some important places and held them. In a certain sector in the city we found a document regarding a secret underground military facility, but this one was important." the Elite paused for a moment, the Prophet was listening intently. "It was important because it held the locations of every single secret complex on this planet. My men were trying to hack the human computers to get this information when the Spartan showed and killed all of them."

      "Go on."

      "I lost control of that situation after one of my men reported their findings to the now-destroyed Thunderstrike. So I decided to do the next best thing, destroy the only means of an aerial assault on my men, meaning the large human airfield. I got one of the lessers into one of the human cargo trailers and once he arrived to the airdrome, he ordered an assault."

      "And you didn't manage to succeed." stated the Prophet.

      "Unfortunately, no."

      "What happened to the Grunt?" asked the councilor.

      "He was captured and is now in the hands of the humans."

      "Unacceptable. You know capture results in interrogation!" the Prophet said hotly.

      "Yes, Excellency, sorry, Excellency." 'Ralamee bowed his head, the awkward feeling in his stomach had returned, this was beginning to seem like an interrogation.

      "Also we lost control of the city, we had to pull out as soon as the Thunderstrike was destroyed, why do you think that?" asked the Prophet.

      "I don't know, but I do know that we shouldn't have been trying to bomb the city for that data!" the Elite practically yelled. "There was too much of a risk that the information could've been destroyed."

      "That's not true! If the city was bombarded by a plasma strike it wouldn't have leveled the city completely, besides, the facility was underground." the Prophet stopped to breathe, he was shouting. "There was only a twenty three point four percent chance it could've been destroyed."

      "What happened if the data had been destroyed? What would have happened then? Honestly, the idea was idiotic; a secret insertion team could have slipped into the compound at night and obtained the information." 'Ralamee was beginning to fill with anger; the pit in his stomach had left. "Why do you think we had such an early retreat?"

      "You are speaking against your superiors, I order you to stop at once or we can end this meeting now!" barked the Prophet, he was pissed.

      "I suggest that we stop." snarled the Elite, he was fuming.

      "Out now! You will be escorted to the prison cells; the only punishment that can be of use is death. That will teach you to speak properly to your superiors!" the light above him snapped off, and soon 'Ralamee could feel hands groping him and pulling him out of the Council Chamber.
      When he was pulled out into the hallway, magenta-clad Elite punched him in the face. Everything went hazy and he fainted. After an unknown amount of time passed 'Ralamee awoke, he was on the ground behind the blue force field that obstructed the prisoner from escaping.
      He always had been one to disobey rules, he had a hot temper as well, those two things combined never had got him anywhere good. 'Ralamee had only made it to the high rank of Field Commander by showing his strong ability to command people. His temper had caused him his life, and he was soon to be executed, it had all happened so fast.
      'Ralamee sighed and leaned back against the cold metal wall and dozed off, there was no point in him struggling to escape, there was no hope, or was there?





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