Haloid Chapter 4: Hospitality.

- Wildclaw debris field -

- Wildclaw command center -

- Present -

The Arbiter and Rtas Vadum replayed the moment when the space dragon bit off the head of the ShipMaster... then they watched everything that followed. They couldn't believe their eyes. They hated the Jiralhanae with every fiber of their beings, but not even they deserved a fate like this. These pirates fight without honor, only savagery. The one thing they could emphasize with the Jiralhanae is that they fought to the death; they didn't give up or surrender.

Rtas was typing in the holo panel, trying to find out what the ship was doing out here, but everything was wiped clean by the pirates, only overlooking the security camera feed. They might be able to find something if they had a construct with them, but all of the Covenant constructs were loyal to the San 'Shyuum, and they had to remove the one onboard the Shadow of Intent during the Great Schism. Half-Jaw looks at the Arbiter and spoke.

"... If we can't find out more, then lets look at we already know: The Wildclaw comes out of Slipspace out here and gets ambushed by these space pirates. They seem to come in all shapes and sizes. The Kig-Yar betray the Jiralhanae and aid the pirates, stealing everything and killing everyone. Then there's this great beast that can defeat two Mgalekgolo in melee combat and the Chieftan as well? Then they steal the information, capture all of the Huragok, and pull out two turrets and a plasma reactor... Hmm... I'm glad the Kig-Yar did not choose to support us during the Great Schism."

The Arbiter nodded while trying to process everything that happened and what they saw. "If this new enemy opposes us as well... I hate to admit it brother, but we'll be greatly pressured to defend ourselves. Once, we had the greatest fleet in the galaxy, but now we are nearly decimated. It hasn't been long enough for us to build new ships, and we are still recovering from the war...

Vtas scoffs. "The war hasn't ended brother, the humans are simply no longer a part of it."

Suddenly they both received a message from the Shadow of Intent! "Arbiter, Commander, a ship just warped in system!"

"A Brute ship?" The Arbiter asks.

"No brother. It's tiny, and shaped like nothing I've ever seen."

Vtas types in a command and a holo screen appears. Approaching the Wildclaw was a tiny ship. It was yellow, with wing-like prongs on each side, the cockpit was protected by a green shield, and overall it strongly resembled a bird.

"Hail it." Says the Arbiter.

On another holo screen, they see a remarkable sight! An armored figure sitting in the cockpit and looking at them. The armor was colored yellow and red and had green light shining from a few places. The shoulders were huge! And the right arm bore a cannon similar to the Fuel Rod guns used by the Mgalekgolo.

"Another Demon?" Vtas asks the Arbiter.

There was definitly something strange about this individual, and yet the Arbiter couldn't shake the fact that whoever this was, was human. His suspicions were confirmed when it spoke.

"Nice to meet you too. " Apparently having heard 'Vadum. Judging from what he knew of humans, this one apparently was female.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" Arbiter asks the human.

... After a short pause, the figure spoke again. "My business is to hunt down the ones who crippled that ship you're on, and as for my name, I don't know you well enough for me to just give it away." Her ship slowed down, then stopped in space. She looked from left to right as a pair of Seraph fighters approached her. They're just a precaution, she told herself.

The Arbiter nodded. This one understood the value of caution, but now was the time for answers, so he spoke honestly. "I am the Arbiter, and Supreme Commander of the fleet of Sanghelios. This is Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadum. All of the Shipmasters around you are my brothers, and no harm shall come to you if you bring none to us."

The armored figure nodded back. "My name is Samus Aran. Bounty Hunter. I'd like to dock on whatever's left of that ship if that's all right with you?"

Vtas looked at the Arbiter, who nodded. Half-Jaw spoke to Samus. "You can dock in the Starboard Hangar, then come straight here to the Command Center. We'll be waiting."

"I'll be there." The Seraph Fighters moved on and Samus flew her ship around the Wildclaw, approached the deactivated energy shield, and landed on the bottom floor of the hangar, the ship's wings moving down to support the docking ship's ballance. A lift descends from the bottom of the ship, touches the floor, and Samus steps out onto the Covenant Ship.

An Elite approached her, holding a Carbine Rifle. He greets her, then points up to the third floor and proceeded to tell Samus about the corridors needed to access the upper levels, when Samus jumped onto her gunship, then leaped onto the walkway in the middle of the second story. She looks up at the next story, and jumps an incredible height, but not enough... then these boot mounted thrusters ignite and she leaps again! Somersaulting through the air and lands gracefully on the third floor. She looks down at the astonished Elite, still on the first floor, and yells:

"Which corridor will take me to the Command Center!?"

"The... the one on the left is the only one with life support and power!" Replies the Elite. With a nod, Samus walks away and is out of sight. Another Elite approaches his brother and asks him:

"By the Forerunners, what kind of technology is that armor made of? We never saw the likes of it on their Demons before."

The first Elite regained his composure and looked at Samus' gunship. "Either the humans have a few new surprises, or this one alone is full of surprises." He looks at his companion. "We'll just have to wait and see brother." On that note, they resumed guarding the Hangar.

- - -

Samus Aran entered the Command Center. She took a quick look around and scanned everything she could, then approached the Arbiter and the Commander on the platform.

The Arbiter spoke first. "Hunter Samus, we need to know who and what these creatures are, and what it is they are seeking."

She looks at him and spoke: "My enemies call me the Hunter, but you can call me Samus. They're Space Pirates. Primarily one species, they will add to their ranks any willing asset they can find. They look different because they bio-engineer themselves to suit their needs or adapt to different planets. They're a military based pirate confedracy that seeks to become the dominant order in the galaxy, and to do that, they steal from other races and kill them. I can assume that that's what they've done here?"

Vtas nodded and pointed to the holoscreens above the control panels, showing the camera feeds taken during the raid, showing Jackals carrying crates full of their wrist mounted shield generators. "And it would seem that a species known to us as the Kig-Yar has joined their group, presumebly to go back to their old plundering ways."

"Hmmm..." Samus thinks that she's gotten herself involved in something complicated. She would have to learn more about these people if the Pirates would continue to involve them. "I suppose I can learn everything I need to know from this terminal." She tries scanning the databanks and found nothing.

Vtas shook his head. "The pirate leader took all of the information." He points to the feed here in the Command Center.

The Arbiter watched Samus as the holo screen showed the dragon beast. He had been around the Spartan long enough to tell emotions of a human within armor, and he knew that she was angry. The clenching of her left fist, the straighter posture, the tilt of her Arm Cannon raising to aim at the screen, but through her visor he could see her eyes... and the amount of pain and hatred seen plainly through those human eyes intimidated even him.

"Ridley..." He heard her whisper. This Ridley was the one whom this warrior was hunting, and he hoped that circumstances will not put him or his brothers between her and her prey.

She glanced at the figure standing beside Ridley as they worked the command terminals. "Weavel..." She looked at the two Elites. "Do you know what it was that they were looking to find in this ship's databanks?"

The Arbiter shook his head. "No we do not. Our Covenant was split and shattered a year ago, and we are more interested in killing eachother than exchanging information.  We were hopping to find something, but alas they took everything."

Vtas thought of something. "Wait, didn't they say that they did not delete this ship's construct? Only imprisoned it? If we can release it, then maybe we can find some answers."

Samus nodded, and switched her visor from scanning, to hacking. She penetrated deep into the empty network, and found the isolated AI. Her suit's hacking systems broke the code that comprised the chains around the AI and released it. Before it could do anything else, she started scanning and hacking the construct itself! Gathering the data that it knew as quickly as she could! It ignored her and regained control of the network and ship systems. Addressing the Elites:

"Heretics! Traitors! Your vile filth taints this ship blessed by the Prophets! Whose wisdom has let the Covenant to glory time and time again in the past thousands of years! You ungrateful, incompetent betrayers of those who walk the Path! Especially you, Arbiter! You blasphemer, continuing to wear the armor blessed by the Prophets! You turn away from the Path and engage in Rebellion! Your Mark of Shame cannot be hidden, it will burn through your armor just as it was burned into your flesh! You-"

"Shut up." Said Samus.

"Construct, tell us what you know about the mission of the Wildclaw. Tell us now or we'll sever the power you need to keep you operational." Said Vtas 'Vadum.

"Haha! Fools! I now have control over the ship! You will die and will never witness the Covenant begin the Great Journey, and join the Forerunners in eternal salvation, freedom and immortality! And I shall join them in due time..."

Suddenly the lights and gravity went out! The terminals went offline! The Arbiter receives a message from one of the Elites monitoring the power supply. "Arbiter! The entire ship's power has been diverted to Communications! What is happening??"

Samus receives a message from her ship, telling her that the Hangar bay's energy field was shut down, and vacuum sucked nearly everything into space! She types into her Arm Cannon, telling the ship to lift off and wait outside the hangar. The Arbiter speaks to his brothers.

"Abandon the Wildclaw! The ship's construct has taken over the ship and will kill everyone aboard! Get yourselves and the Huragok back onto the Spirit dropships and return to your ships. We need a Ranger to pilot our Phantom in the starboard hangar to position itself next to the corridor leading to the Command Center to pick us up! Acknowledge!"

"Acknowledged Arbiter." Everyone replies.

Samus scans the room and detects a decrease in atmosphere. "We had better get moving or there won't be any air for you to breath in."

They nodded while panting a little. Samus, the Arbiter, Vtas 'Vadum, N'tho 'Sraom, and Usze 'Taham ran out of the Command Center and down the corridors as fast as they could! Air was disapearing even faster however. So the Elites took a deep breath and held onto whatever air was left. Finaly they turned a corner and saw the Phantom waiting for them! Gravity disapeared suddenly and they had to jump and float all the way into the open troop bay! Crashing into the other wall, the pilot sealed up the dropship, repressurised it, then turned it around and left the hangar.

While the Elites were catching their breath, Samus instructed her ship to follow them. The Arbiter, between gasps, contacts his commander on the Shadow of Intent.

"How... 'cough' many died?..." He asks in a weak voice.

"Few fortunatly. The Sangheli on board the Wildclaw were Rangers and activated their suits as the air was vacuumed out. Unfortunatly, we lost the majority of the Huragok who were on the ship."

The Arbiter cursed in his own language... then asked. "Did the construct send a message?"

"Yes Arbiter, sent to Loyalist controlled space. We managed to intercept it and trying to understand its message."

Samus then speaks. "From what I could get from it, the Wildclaw was an advance party. Like a scout sent to make sure the area was secure. They sent in that battleship because they wanted to be prepared (evidently they weren't). All I've got left is some strange symbols."

"Let me see." Vtas asks. He moves into the cockpit of the Phantom and Samus sends the information to the terminal in front of the Elite. A holoscreen appears and a bounch of triangles, squares, lines ect appear. For some reason, they looked familiar to Samus, but she couldn't figure out why.

"These are Forerunner coordinates. We've been using these to find their relics for eons. Wherever these lead to, it must be important..."

The Arbiter nods and contacts the Shadow of Intent. "Once the ships are ready, contact Sanghelios and we'll send them a report of our findings, then we'll chart a course for wherever those lead to."

"What are the Forerunners anyway?" Asks Samus.

The Arbiter hesitates, as well as the other Elites... "We thought we knew... but recent information has led us to doubt our previous beliefs, so I'll tell you what I can." He looks at Samus. "And Samus? My name is Thel 'Vadam."