(3rd Pov)
The bridge of the CAS-class Assault Carrier thrummed with deadly silence as the massive ship hung in orbit above one of the many Covenant-controlled planets deep within the Orion arm of the galaxy.
In the center of the bridge, sat upon an anti-gravity seat, was the leader of the Fleet of Anointed Oath, along with a subordinate, bound and on his knees before the leader's seat. The atmosphere of the darkened room was one of great weight. Lights had been dimmed as if ceremonially, and no creature dared to utter a word.
Sangheili and Unggoy of officer ranks stood in a circle surrounding a central platform in the command structure. The Sanghelli stood in respect before the leader, but their reptilian eyes betrayed their disgust of the subordinate in front of them. The Unngoy stood silent out of fear and reverence; their leader was many things, but forgiving was not one of them. They seemed to try and stay as far away as possible, sticking to the furthest away from his vision they could possibly be, trying to become one with the background of control systems and seats behind them.
"-Tr-Truly my lord, I-I do not know how the humans were able to destroy the-the Unrelenting," the subordinate stuttered out as his eyes stood steady, looking at the ground. He did not dare bring them up, "It must have been a treachery done by the crew! No human could-"
As he began to speak again, the ship master raised his hand as his deep voice sounded like a gate slamming closed, "Silence," and at once the subordinate's mouth shut his mandibles, almost chattering with shivers.
There was a pause as the ship master seemed to rub the hand rest of his seat as he thought, "The mere presence of your heretical stench stains the holy vessel, the Great Prophets ordained." his words flowed as his own disgust became apparent, though it was expected.
"Your actions have led to another of their vessels being destroyed. Desecrated by the unholy filth of those abominations," he began to rise from his seat, his armor reflecting in the light that beamed down on the platform as if the scene happening was a trial. The armor the leader wore was markedly different, contrasting with the armor of his subordinates. His armor, rather than being colorful, thereby denoting rank, was silver as if made of steel, dark bronze mixed with silver accents filled ornate engravings that ran along the surface of the armor. The armor itself appeared ancient, as if something forged during Medieval times, an armor worn by a knight of high honor or a well-disciplined Samurai.
He stepped onto a set of floating platform steps, his form large even among the other Sangheili, "You have dishonored your forefathers, and have brought only shame to those who share your own blood, however wretched it may be. There is no excuse for this…disgrace," he stopped standing in front of the kneeling Elite as the humans would soon call them.
"Your punishment," He moved behind the heretic. His voice flat, unamused, to the fleetmaster, this was nothing more than a payment for one's wage.
"Death," In an instant, the ship master ignited his energy sword, and in a swept arc, the heretic's head was separated from his body. The plasma instantly vaporized and caterized the wound on the body's neck. Without needing to be ordered, Unngoy moved forward to dispose of the corpse.
"Disgraceful," the leader couldn't help but murmur as they departed
One of the higher-ranking subordinates, a Sangheili wrapped in a white hermetically sealed combat armor with a thruster pack upon its back, bowed before the head Elite, "My lord, Arbiter. We have returned from our search of the wreckage of the Unrelenting," he spoke humbly.
But the name Arbiter given to the Sangheili leader was one unbecoming of any form of respect. It was a position given to one in disgrace and humiliation, one who had been stripped of all honor and one who knew the difficulty of gaining it back.
The one before them had been given the position by the gods through their holy prophets and was anointed to do the will of the prophets. His service would only end in death after increasingly difficult suicide missions, which were his only true hope of regaining lost honor.
Such was the tuition for one who'd lost his way from the Great Journey.
The Arbiter turned to his seat once again, ascending the anti-gravity stairs and returning to his throne as fleet master and ship master of his flagship, The Fang of the Hierarchs. A holographic window projected a static image of a debris field. Covenant red insignias littered the purple hull pieces and shattered remains of a small cruiser.
The Elite Ranger began speaking through his sapphire blue visor, "The cause of the ship's destruction was internal. The reactor seemed to have suffered critical damage, before going supercritical and detonating," the Ranger spoke concisely.
The Arbiter considered his words, however heretical they almost were, 'The heretics are unsurprisingly crafty but their deception will not be enough to save their pathetic race,' the Arbiter considered before gesturing for his subordinate to continue, in order to make something of this foolish loss, he needed to gleam some form of information so such a failure could never happen again.
"My team and I found evidence that suggests this was done by a small team of humans," he said, and even the crew of the ship that had returned to work stopped and turned with narrowed eyes to the Ranger. Even the Arbiter's eyes contracted at the words.
"You mean to tell me that one of our Covenant's glorious vessels' halls was tainted by those parasites?" he spoke in a dangerous tone, without evidence. This was outright heresy to even suggest that the lessers could get within inches of a battleship, nevertheless outright destroy it after boarding it. Luckily for the ranger before him, he had evidence.
The static image of the debris field changed, and a short video began to play. From the corner of a room, it showed an elevator lobby from within the Unrelenting reach a floor where squads of Covenant infantry had barricaded across from. The platform of the elevator reached the floor with the body of a Kig-Yar, but in the next instant, an explosion went off, and the recording went to static. A few seconds later, a quick shot of a blurry green figure appearing from the shaft played. More static, but this time with the sounds of a battle behind it, another short clip of the green figure standing over another Sangheili firing some kind of kinetic weapon into the Sangheili's head.
The camera returned to static, and the final clip and most refined image was one of the now clear Humanoid soldier turning around facing the recording device. The Spartan, as they would come to know him, was slightly crouched, SMGs raised, pointing through a doorway out of frame of the camera. Its visor seemed to glow in the lights present in the image as if it were watching the members of the Covenant just as they watched it.
The image stopped on the Spartan. Some in the room couldn't help but feel unsettled. The Arbiter was not one of them.
The Arbiter seemed to be deep in thought, and his subordinate continued with his report, "We also investigated the human presence that was reported on the planet below. However, their facility was destroyed, and nothing was recoverable."
'Another disappointment,' the Arbiter remarked to himself. Even at the cost of a ship, the teachings they had gleaned were… inconsequential. A high cost for no learned lesson.
"Dismissed," he waved his hand, and the ranger bowed once more before departing.
The Arbiter moved to shut off the projection but paused. His eyes focused on the white digits outlined on the human warrior's armor. He'd been told that those characters were the human version of numbers.
003
'I'll remember that,' and in the coming years, he would.
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A shorter chapter but it got the point I wanted it to across hopefully.
So yeah this Arbiter will be the first "Main Antagonist" of the story. So expect him to be prevalent through the next couple of arcs I have planned.
Anyway I got one more chapter and then it will be the end of this first volume which I shall name Initiation. From there I'll have a week or two break (to rack up some chapters as my stockpile is gone). And we'll pick back up, take the time to think ask questions or whatever.
But I'll see ya in the next one.