Space E-war

[The Kingpin]

pulses of blue plasma were fired back into the attackers' ranks, the VAMCEB Guardians firing the secondary weapon, Plasma Proximity Grenade Launchers, the pulses of plasma streaking forward at high speed, detonating over the enemy ranks, as Serephir pointed his assault rifle, hitting a button on the side, panels on the sides splitting as a panel underneath slid forward, frming an extended barrel, glowing yellow areas on the panels appearing, Serephir taking aim, a loud resounding boom coming forth as an explosion immediately rocked the enemy forces, Serephir's sniper rifle being used as a kinetic energy weapon to deplete a few shields, the VAMCEB forces firing at the enemies that were hiding behind them. "EVAC at my position NOW!" called Serephir through the comm, a Vardian shuttle being launched from the hanger doors of a nearby Vardian warship almost immediately, the craft heading for the atmosphere...

[dinoman666]

The squat, birdlike aliens who wielded the shields squawked and toppled backwards, their frail bodies mortally wounded by the attacks. Lissarkh used a concentrated Force Push to send one of the aliens flying backwards, shield and all, its spine snapping as it slammed into a thick tree trunk. The commando's blaster rifles were only so effective against the energy shields, taking many shots to overload the aliens' defenses. On top of that, there was definitely a lot of them, and one fact chilled Grievous to the core: they were Covenant Jackals. They must have been the so-called "alien warriors" Jolee had spoken of, which worried the cyborg even more. They had obviously been here for some time, and he doubted very highly that they didn't have a base of operations somewhere safe from the hostile Florn wildlife...

A single, towering figure was off to the side of the gunfight, his light-bending Active Camouflage keeping him hidden, especially in the heat of battle...

The commando on board Sassk's ship herded the floating machine towards the bridge, ushering it through the door and towards Sassk and TV-97...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir and the VAMCEB guardians maintained suppressive fire against the jackals, Serephir switching to Infrared as he dropped his own energy shield, the shield splaying out like a chinese fan, golden in colour, Serephir placing the barrel over the top and taking aim, another boom being heard as Serephir shot between shields, hitting one of the enemies through the heart using the confusion, the enemy being blown apart by the high explosive round. up in the atmosphere, a glowing blue form could be seen approaching at high speed...

[dinoman666]

"Can't that shuttle move any faster?!" Grievous snarled, using his own blaster to fire on the Jackals. One bolts hit an alien's hand through the shield's firing embrasure, knocking the Plasma Pistol out of the jackal's grip and making him stand straight, screeching in pain. Two more shots were sufficient to finish the Kig-Yar soldier off, the birdlike creature toppling over. One Jackal, unshielded but hidden in the lower branches of a tree, fired his Beam Rifle, a thin purple streak smacking one of Serephir's Guardians in their helmeted head, going straight through and drilling into a tree trunk, leaving a small, smoldering hole. "Sniper!" one of the commandos shouted. "Take it out!"

[The Kingpin]

Serephir swiftly pointed the sniper rifle at the trees, the enemy's outline being clear, another resounding boom being heard, an explosion of flames being seen in the tree as the sniper was literally blown to bits, as the loud sound of gatling gun fire and engines roared over the sound of the battle, a large silver trident shaped craft hovered down over the allied team, a large rectangular door opening beneath the craft, the insides glowing brightly as the entire group, fallen included, were pulled up by the large traction lift, closing beneath them as the ship's 5 gatling cannons tore away at the enemies, sawing right through the trees around them aswell, as it lifted off. "blasted....******** ambushed us" said the VAMCEB Guard Sergeant, tending to one of the wounded, the others eying the Koult and their fallen comrade. "HVMS Fury, prepare an R-Chamber. returning to the ship now" commanded Serephir. "Immediately, sir" responded a voice on the other end of the comm link when the signal went dead. Serephir sighed, returning the rifle to normal and putting it back in the weapon holster on his back, the shield closing into a small oval shaped object, which Serephir returned to a pocket built into his General's coat. "Any idea who they were, Grievous? you're more knowledgeable in militarised factions than i am" asked the General...

[dinoman666]

"Those," Grievous replied coldly, "were members of the Covenant. I'm sure you remember them when the Flood attacked Trandosha, and the Covenant followed. I've been trying to keep them out of TGDA-controlled space for months now. Looks like that hasn't worked out so well as I had imagined."

The cloaked figure, who had ventured closer to the enemy forces when the shuttle arrived, was now onboard, flush against the wall of the compartment, trying to stay hidden...

[The Kingpin]

"What would they want with you now? i mean...we got rid of the Flood ages ago. unless of course they were seperate from the group simply trying to stop the Flood...do you think they may be planning to invade the System?" asked Serephir. "Or were they after the Jedi?". he fell silent as he noticed something out of the ordinary. he sensed something else was there. another soul...something not of their own. he gave a glance at Lissarkh to see if she had noticed it...

[dinoman666]

Grievous shook his head. "It certainly has nothing to do with any Flood. The Covenant is an incredibly large organization. The battlegroup we destroyed likely didn't even dent their numbers. Other than that, I have no idea what they're doing here, of all places." The cyborg narrowed his eyes. "But I intend to find out. We're going after whatever base the Covenant have set up, and we're driving them out of this system for good." Lissarkh glanced at Serephir casually, giving him an almost imperceptible nod of her head...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir casually tapped the wrist-top computer, saying "I'm going to give orders to the fleet to set up regular patrols. whatever base there is here it can't be that large. chances are they'll attempt to call for backup or even extraction. we'll be there to catch them when they do". with that, Serephir proceeded to tap away on the wrist top, the buttons of which were Vardian script. unknown to anyone onboard, he was actually sending an order to both the VAMCEB soldiers onboard the ship and to the crew in the hanger of the Fury, warning them that there was a stow away on board, and that it may be using active camouflage. his orders were to have the VAMCEB soldiers leave the ship first, followed by a medic coming in to take the wounded aboard. afterwards, Serephir, Grievous and Lissarkh would leave the ship. if the enemy attempted to leave before that, it'd be shot by turrets waiting at one side of the entrance, as well as the hanger bay sentry turrets, all of which used alternative sensory equipment such as infra-red and energy sensors, which would home in on the energy emitted by the active camouflage. if it waited till afterwards, Serephir would deal with it personally. a series of acknowledging responses came, all silent and all in Vardian script, on his wrist PC. satisfied, he closed it. soon, the shuttle arrived. Serephir glanced at the guardians. "You head out first, you're in the way of the medics. Grievous, Lizzarkh, wait a moment. let the medics take out the wounded first". the VAMCEB soldiers nodded and began moving, the door opening up...

[dinoman666]

"I don't want to wait!" snarled Grievous irritably. "At least, not as long as it would take for the Covenant to try and retreat from the planet. I will wait until nightfall, but I want to take that base out myself!" Lissarkh shook her, seeing an ever-slight waver in the air as the mysterious stowaway shifted, taking an almost imperceptibly small step closer. Whatever this creature was, it was definitely well-trained, because Grievous certainly didn't notice the motion...

[The Kingpin]

the VAMCEB troops left the shuttle, two drones moving in as they left, a field forming between them as a third drone moved up, projecting a beam over the Jedi and lifting him, placing him on the surface produced by the field,another field forming above it, the fallen VAMCEB soldier being lifted similarly onto the energy stretcher, the bots rolling out of the shuttle swiftly. "Now you can go, if it pleases you" said Serephir as he stood...

[dinoman666]

Grievous, still fuming, walked out, but Lissarkh didn't. "I'll get right back to you on that. The shimmering form was closer now, and the Trandoshan sprang into action. Pulling out and activating her Lightsaber in one deft move, she spun around, swinging at the figure's upraised limb. However, the creature's hand was three feet above her head, and the green blade only hit the tip. Sparks flew, and the front half of a Plasma Rifle seemed to materialize out of thin air, falling to the floor. Lissarkh viciously kicked her assailant in the gut, a tall, slim alien appearing out of nothing for a split second, doubled over with shields flaring around it. Lissarkh swung her saber down at it, but the creature, now invisible again, rolled backwards suddenly, throwing Lissarkh off-balance. A cloven, hooflike foot struck Lissarkh's hand, knocking the Lightsaber hilt out of her grasp and making her stumble back. Suddenly, the last thing Lissarkh expected appeared out of nowhere: a gray-armored Sangheili.

Roaring angrily, the alien grabbed Lissarkh by the throat with one clawed hand, lifting her up and holding her in front of himself, glaring at her with cold yellow eyes, simultaneously strangling her and using her as a shield against retaliatory fire. Grievous spun around as the battle unfolded, shouting, "Lissarkh!" However, he hesitated to sprint forward, and his commandos didn't fire, not wanting to risk hitting their commander's niece...

[The Kingpin]

it took less than a second for Serephir to respond, a snap being heard as the creature's arm was broken through telekinetic energy, Serephir lifting the creature up mentally and pinning it to the wall of the shuttle, Lissarkh now free from it's grasp. "Clever...but futile..." said the Vardian General coldly, his hawkish gaze boring into the Sangheili's soul itself. "You ok, Lissarkh?" he asked, not turning his gaze off the alien...

[dinoman666]

Lissarkh wheezed for moment, rubbing her sore throat as Grievous helped her up. "Yeah... I... I'm fine..." The Sangheili, despite its broken arm, chortled. Grievous, who had a translator built into the cybernetic portion of his brain, translated the creature's speech a half second after he was done speaking, through the cyborg's speaker grille. The voice was deep, grating, and animalistic: "You have interfered with his Excellency Ripa's plans for the last time. Kill me if you must, but there will be more. We will hunt you down and destroy every last member of your disgusting race, and your friend's, for your destruction is the will of the Covenant, and the Sangheili will be their instrument!!"

[The Kingpin]

"Then...i suppose it can't be helped..." said Serephir. without another word, he swung a fist into the pinned Sangheili's face, she sheer force of it breaking two of it's mandibles and knocking the creature out, before looking towards the door of the shuttle. "Get this thing to a containment cell and take a blood test. i want to know everything they know about them by the end of the day. also, i want investigations into all our files and through our allies regarding the Covenent. i want to know enough about them to be able to pass as one of the Covenent myself" he said, several soldiers moving in afterwards and taking the unconscious Sangheili, throwing it into a containment Pod to be taken to the ship's brig. "I'm hoping you can help me with the latter request, Grievous?"..

[dinoman666]

"Unless you can turn yourself into another species, you won't pass as a member of the Covenant," Grievous said. "Humans are despised by them. If you want, however, I can supply everything you need about the Covenant." He eyed the Containment Pod. "The Sangheili, however... That is a different matter entirely..."

[The Kingpin]

"I don't intend to pass as one. i just want to know everything any member of their own kind would know about the Covenent. it'll make them easier to deal with. as for the Sangheili....assuming the Covenent are as large as you say, chances are we're going to need to resort to...less conventional forms of combat" said Serephir. as he said that, he walked out of the shuttle, intending to head towards the Bridge, to organise patrols, as well as a return group including himself and the Executioner, knowing he'd need to rearm, resupply and adjust his equipment back on Vardia...

[dinoman666]

Grievous and Lissarkh followed Serephir, the cyborg saying, "If, by less conventional forms of combat, you mean infiltration, then I wholeheartedly agree. That's what commandos were built for."

[TyrannoTitan]

"No. There isn't. That's simply a fool's hope at finding easy money." the man replied bitterly...

The small machine waited patiently on board the TGDA vessel, having secretly sent a small division of itself to make a technical sweep of the vessel, mainly out of curiosity...

Meanwhile, with their Wardens gone, and their new-found technology, a small ship left the planet behind, resembling a slightly larger version of the TGDA shuttle, heading toward the more populated regions of space...

[The Kingpin]

"Infiltration won't be the only thing used in this war, if they decide to wage it" said Serephir as he walked, reaching a tram, which took the trio towards the ship's bridge...