Story Ark (3rd RP)

The 3rd RP was the RP that became the 3rd Classic RP, which began 6 months before the attack on Sigma Octanus. It was designed to increase originality, and it succeeded, coming to a screeching halt as everyone became dependant on Dav and Dav announced his departure. When Dav decided to return to the Classic RP it returned to activity... albeit at an astronomically slow pace and with only a few RPers. In April, 2009, a group of RPers (Dallas Mathews, Dav Flamerock, Whizzles, and Cheez) decided to return to the roleplay, bringing it back. Here are the events of the 3rd Classic RP as best as can be told.

The Draqamiv Incident: (02/28/07)
During an illegal exchange between esteemed Dr. Nikolai Draqamiv and a questionable agent from ONI, UNSA Agent James McClau broke from a two month cover operation and placed Draqamiv under arrest. He resisted, and in the ensuing battle cost the lives of a UNSA operative, despite Draqamiv's attempts to utilize nonlethal force. He escaped with the help of ARES II, John Tathers, and made it onboard the cruiser Prometheus, captained by Jennifer Hood, the two having strict orders to protect Draquimiv. James was left with a dead Agent, and his emotional instability sent the UNSA on a manhunt against Draqamiv and Tathers.

The Bellephoron, a Corvin Enterprises Scientific Vessel, encountered the fleeing Spartan I and Corvin offered his fellow Spartan amnesty on his vessel. Nikolai and the ARES II defected to Corvin's forces, deeply dissatisfied with the UNSC.

Under the leadership of Mykail Morrier, two UNSA-commissioned Prowlers, the Iron Bell and Prowless, managed to track and follow the Prometheus, but Nikolai and John had fled, leaving the vengeful Agent Sid Summers and his partner and tactical team leader Jonathon Johns with no suspect other than Hood. She resisted arrest, shooting Summers almost at the same time as when several Covenant Cruisers jumped in-system and opened fire on the Iron Bell, destroying it and cutting Johns and his tactical team cut off. The Prowless sent out a distress signal but was destroyed seconds later.

The Prometheus on the other hand, was unscathed. The Prophet of Favor, a member of the Covenant religious hierarchy, set out to make an agreement with the rebellious humans: the location Sigma Octanus IV and the Prometheus for a wealth of technology and information. Corvin and Draquimiv gladly accepted, much to the horror of both the dying Sid Summers and the young Jonathon. Sid detonated his bomb vest as protocol instructed, and Johns was horribly mutilated in Favor's attempt to silence a witness.

The two Spartan-Is parted ways, each beginning his analysis and overhaul of their newly acquired vessels; Corvin began the construction and modification of what would be called the heavy cruiser the Fiery Retribution.

Unfortunately for Jennifer, she was finally captured and interrogated. After resisting against every legal method of questioning, James decided that justice could never be served with the UNSC's justice system, so he killed Hood for mutiny on the spot. Now convinced by sources that Corvin Enterprises was involved with the Draqamiv Conspiracy, he sent Agent Charles Charleston to infiltrate their Headquarters. He was captured in exfiltration and put through a shocking interrogation regime. He broke after losing a leg and gave away James McClau to the interrogator. Now convinced that both the UNSC and Walter were after him, James sought out his CO and expressed his willingness to suffer the consequences of his action as long as Corvin, Nikolai, and Tathers were captured.

Mykail Morrier never allowed James to see the Cryo Prison, instead accepting him into his special wing of Pantheon Agents. James gladly excepted the offer, and his name was stripped from the record. Now he served directly under his CO, continuing to use his talents to dispatch of Covenant. Corvin and Tathers were convinced that the pesky meddler was dead. James had escaped.

~James McClau

The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV (02/28/07)
The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV began with the arrival of a full-fledged assault group of around forty ships. Oddly, the Covenant chose to drop their forces on the main city of the planet, quickly sweeping aside the human resistance.

During the battle a female elite named Zeya 'Paruee was captured by two Spartans, Will-026 and Fred-064. After a brief interrogation, the Covenant find the UNSC camp where the elite was being held. The firefight was quick and deadly for the UNSC, the Covenant freed the captured Zeya while also capturing the remaining humans left alive on Sigma Octanus. Among them were Spartans Will-026, Fred-024, Smith-048, and Tai-113. The captured humans were immediately sent to the Covenant Flagship, The Truth and Reconciliation. All the prisoners were sent to the main brig, except for 026 who was put into a solitary cell.

Meanwhile, in Sigma Octanus system, another Covenant ship exited Slipspace in the on the edge of the Heliopause. The Covenant battle group began question their mysteriously late arrival and irregular actions, but before any action could be taken the new Covenant ship performed a pinpoint-short Slipspace transition, exiting directly in front of the Truth and Reconciliation.

The Covenant ship, called the Fiery Retribution, was under Walter Corvin's command, newly modified with upgraded weapons and engines as well as the advanced Covenant Slipspace technology. As the Retribution came out of Slipspace, it unloaded a barrage of heavily modified weapons, heavily damaging the Covenant attack group. This provided the cover that was needed for an infiltration group lead by Corvin to board the Flagship with the intent to rescue to captured Spartans. Before the Covenant could react, the Fiery Retribution made good its escape, jumping out of the system.

The damaged Truth and Reconciliation, with its human captives, made a Slipspace jump to High Charity.

~ Will Cathers

Attack on High Charity (02/28/07)
While the Truth and Reconciliation made its way through Slipspace to High Charity, Will-026 was interrogated by the same elite whom he interrogated on Sigma Octanus IV, Zeya 'Paruee. When questioned, Will only revealed the name of the type of soldier he was, a Spartan, and told why their group were called the Spartans in an attempt to scare his interrogated. After further questioning with no more answers, 'Paruee led her POW back to his cell. Shortly afterwards, the Truth and Reconciliation exited Slipspace near High Charity.

The Truth and Reconciliation was boarded by an ARES II team, a brigade of NavSpecWar Marines, and the former Spartan-I, Walter Corvin. Lead by Corvin's second-in-command, ARES-II Lieutenant John Tathers, they fought through vicious resistance, heading for the brig. Will-026 was able to aid them with important tactical information.

While the battle on the Truth and Reconciliation raged on, Will-026 watered the seeds of doubt in his interrogator's mind, leading her to abandon the Covenant cause. They were able to evade detection by a nearby Konuelo, Erpa 'Lytamee, reaching and readying the dropships necessary to escape the flagship.

After releasing the prisoners, Walter Corvin and his team pushed through the Covenant opposition and made their way to the dropship bay. The remainder of the human forces loaded into the Spirit dropships and left the Truth and Reconciliation. Luckily, the massive volume of ships in the vicinity of High Charity allowed them to escape the ship without being caught.

However, there was another "human" force on the Truth and Reconciliation that was not rescued: an AI in a small robotic spider named Panzer. The small AI had snuck onto the Truth and Reconciliation undetected and made its way off the ship, escaping at the last moment in a Seraph, vanishing to an unknown location.

~ Will Cathers

The Defense of Reach (Wave One) (4-25-07)
The time for the Covenant's attack on Reach had finally come. Led by Fleet Master Voro 'Theranakee in space and the Sescorheisa Squad on the ground, the 300-ship Covenant Fleet attacked Reach. The flagship, the Great Prophet, was piloted by Zula 'Bobonsoree, and it was a 5-Kilometer Covenant Assault Carrier. Walter Corvin had taken the Point of No Return (Now the Singularity) to safety, leaving behind the Fiery Retribution to help defend Reach. The Retribution appeared in the center of the Covenant fleet, dropped some ARES, 'Lytamee, ["Zeya 'Paruee" 'Paruee], and 'Valkadon into the Great Prophet, sent the onboard Spartans and ARES II planetside, then vanished into the Slipstream.

'Lytamee, 'Paruee, and 'Valkadon, now all officially heretics, ran into Jessie and the Stage I Konuelos. Quickly they managed to turn 'Lytamee's friends heretic and commenced to try to take over the ship. However, the Inquisition were stationed on the ship, and they captured the heretics and killed almost every Konuelo.

The Covenant advanced on the human stronghold, ships obliterating the platforms and troops destroying the generators. As the turning point approached, as the fall of Reach became imminent, the Corsairs arrived. Led by Nar 'Dassadin, the Corsairs obliterated 100 Covenant ships and fled from the scene, suddenly turning the tides. Before the Covenant could regain their position, a heretic fleet led by the Prophet of Favor arrived to finish the Covenant off. The Great Prophet was destroyed, but not before evacuating all the important personnel and their prizes, the heretics and Jessie.

Defeated, the Sescorheisa Squad, 'Theranakee, 'Bobonsoree, and their heretic captives retreated to High Charity.

-- Dav Flamerock

The Defense of Reach (Wave two) (03/02/07)
Shortly following the defense of Reach, which decimated the Covenant fleet, the retreating Covenant leaders (the Sescorheisa Squad, Fleet Admiral 'Theranakee, and Ship Master 'Bobonsoree were tried by the Prophets for cowardice, but they were given a second chance - an ultimatum. If they returned they would be killed. Their mission was to take Reach (which the Covenant thought had lost most if not all its defenses) with 50 ships.

The Covenant flew to Reach, where they found themselves up against 41 MAC platforms and a host of human ships. The MACs obliterated all but one ship - the Ascendant Evincar, the Covenant flagship. The Evincar latched onto the UNSC Hammer of Dawn and commenced a boarding raid. Some brave and foolish marines, led by David Firestone and Kelly Wolfe, infiltrated the Ascendant Evincar, and with tactics only Spartans could know they freed Erpa 'Lytamee, Jessie, Korajyra, Kona 'Valkadon, Zeya 'Paruee, and Yeka 'Erchosenee. The infiltration team, now strengthened by the former prisoners, raided the bridge, slew the Sescorheisa Squad, 'Bobonsoree, and Fleet Master 'Theranakee.

The victorious soldiers renamed it the Ascendant Hero and were congradulated by both Mykail Morrier and the Prophet of Favor. Favor gave them each a gift, and they returned to their respective ships. It was almost instant that the Covenant retaliated again...

-- Dav Flamerock

The Second Offensive and the Fall of Reach (4-25-07)
The Covenant, furious and wanting to finish the humans, attacked with a huge 500-ship fleet. Spartans from all generations joined together under the leadership of Mykail Morrier and together they defended both the MAC platforms and CASTLE base. But it was too much. The Covenant obliterated almost all the human ships, destroyed every MAC platform, and landed their armies on Reach to aquire the Forerunner crystal.

Humanity had lost, and in a last attempt to survive, the Ascendant Hero, Dawn Under Heaven, Singularity, Fiery Retribution, and the Streak all fled to the same place. Seven Covenant ships followed them from the battlefield.

Under CASTLE Base, Sark-022 discovered the Forerunner crystal. However, the Prophet of Grace, leading the Covenant battleforce, descended into the CASTLE. Under the human stronghold Suchora dueled Sark and the Prophet won. The Covenant left the planet victorious and the Prophet of Grace gave the order to glass the planet.

-- Dav Flamerock

Alpha Halo (10-04-07)
Weeks before anyone else arrived, Panzer, an AI in a small robotic spider, made his way to Alpha Halo in a stolen Seraph. The AI landed on the planet and made contact with a strange creature known as Ckbe 'Arkoree, who was a Flood Combat Form.

Weeks later, after the Fall of Reach due the Second Invasion, a single ship, the Ascendant Hero, arrived first, randomly plotting a escape course based on Kona 'Valkadon's memories of the Forerunner Artifact. In hot pursuit, seven Covenant ships followed, but their immediate tactical position was poor; the Covenant being extremely hesitant to fire due their fear of hitting the ringworld.

The Dawn Under Heaven, the newly refurbished Halcyon-class cruiser, arrived outside the "safe zone" provided by Halo. The Ascendant Hero's troops were already badly depleted from fighting on Reach, while the Dawn had not had the chance to deploy, leading Erpa 'Lytamee to order an evacuation of the Hero, and then using the empty ship as a shield to save the Dawn. Despite its best efforts, the Dawn was boarded, damaged, and was guided into a crash landing on Halo, coming down in the mountains.

The odds turned in favor of the Humans when the Fiery Retribution and the Singularity arrived, following the stellar coordinates on the recovered crystal to arrive at the Ringworld. The Fiery Retribution's superior technology and tactics allowed it to destroy two of the Covenant ships, and completely disable the other five. Unfortunately, nearly all of the Covenant forces had disembarked for Halo, leading to the landing of a thousand fully equipped soldiers.

It was then that even more ships arrived: The Neo-Covenant ships led by Zeka 'Pamuee aboard the Truthful Aura, and Dallas Mathews's Streak. The Neo-Covenant took up positions around the ring and the Streak flew down to meet the other humans.

Upon landing, 'Lytamee gathered the evacuees in the immediate area together, organizing them and setting up an Alpha Base in the canyons. Nearby, the Covenant also set up their own base of operations to mobilize from. The ship masters were given specific tasks by Fleet Master 'Ventalamee, and soon Obsi â€˜Pacolee was locating the Control Center, 'Helkatonee was sent to destroy 'Lytamee's troops and the humans, and 'Tulevantee went to locate Ckbe â€˜Arkoree, the survivor of a previous crash at Halo.

Corvin, 'Lytamee, and Captain Jacobson met to discuss tactics, and after they agreed on their course of action they destroyed the Covenant attack party and 'Helkatonee. Meanwhile, 'Pacolee discovered the truth about the Flood and returned to warn 'Ventalamee... only to discover that he had already released the Flood and the entire Covenant battleforce had been consumed. With no other options open, 'Pacolee met with the Coalition forces and offered them his help. Begrudginly, they accepted.

Meanwhile, Mykail Morrier and his team of all-gen Spartans were sent to stop 'Tulevantee, who had gone to "collect a stash of Forerunner weapons". In fact, 'Arkoree had led the Covenant into a trap so they could be consumed by the Flood. It worked perfectly, and soon the Spartans discovered the true horrors of the Flood firsthand. They managed to fight their way into the bowels of the Forerunner structure, where they encountered Cyrus Learl, the last remaining Forerunner. They didn't have his trust, but finally he managed to lead them back out, where Skyhunter picked them up. Everyone was heavily shaken up by the experience, and the dropship commenced flying them back to the Coalition Base.

However, the Coalition Base was under siege. Luckily, Corvin and 'Lytamee had mobilized everyone against the Flood and were evacuating everyone to the mountains when the Flood attacked. Valiantly led by Ship Master Zeka 'Pamuee, the Neo-Covenant delayed the Flood as the last of the Coalition troops were pulled out. With everyone gone, the Neo-Covenant flagship Truthful Aura opened fire, glassing Alpha Base and obliterating a huge army of the Flood.

There was a short dispute between the two leaders of the Coalition and 'Pamuee, and finally the Coalition was moved again to the downed Dawn Under Heaven. Everything seemed to be going well for the Coalition so 'Lytamee gathered the leaders for a conference to discuss his battle strategy. However, Dr. Anaru, who had previously been killed, was resurrected inside an OMEGA body. Filled with anger and hatred, he singlehandedly destroyed the Fiery Retribution and met a few Spartans, Will, Jason, and Erica, who had arrived with the Streak as well as the Ghosts led by Jared Thomlinson and Brandon-015 in combat on the plains of Halo. They did battle and after multiple close calls the UNSC soldiers drove Anaru off and returned to the Dawn Under Heaven.

'Lytamee and 'Paumee came to an agreement and together they liberated the Control Center from the hands of the Flood. However, in the battle Korajyra was killed, and his death struck a huge blow to 'Lytamee. Jessie arrived with reinforcements to help defend the Control Center and once everything was set up the heavily wounded 'Lytamee went outside to the courtyard at the top of the pyramid to get some medical help. The medic was slain by Anaru, who arrived and demanded assistance escaping the ring. 'Lytamee and Kona 'Valkadon attempted to be civil with the OMEGA construct, but Anaru blew off 'Lytamee's lower leg just before more reinforcements arrived, and with them Erica Firestone, Will-026, and Mykail Morrier and his Spartan team. After Jessie (at Anaru's order) convinced the soldiers that Anaru was not hostile, more medics came to help 'Lytamee. They decided that the best course of action was to refit him with an OMEGA leg, which would be provided by Anaru.

Erpa 'Lytam came out of the ship and returned to the Control Room, where he encountered Five's heretic squad assembling bombs to blow up the ring. After a heated argument during which the Oracle, 343 Guilty Spark, arrived, 'Valkadon convinced 'Lytam that the rings were not what started the Great Journey and 'Lytam agreed to help destroy Halo. He was attacked by sentinels, which were slain by the heretics, and his AI was inputted into the control room. Petra, the AI, counciled with 'Valkadon, Morrier, and 'Lytam and they agreed to send the three of them plus Loki's SPARTAN team and 'Valkadon's Heretic team into High Charity to raise hell against the Covenant. Petra would be in charge of getting everyone onto the Dawn Under Heaven, which was almost finished being repaired, and they would escape the ring.

Petra gathered the pilots together and began repairing the Dawn Under Heaven, which was almost at flying capacities. Ten minutes before power returned, 343 Guilty Spark arrived with an army of sentinels, teleporting into the ship and beginning to attack the crew. In the face-off that occurred between the AIs, Petra learned that Guilty Spark had stopped the heretic bomb's countdown timer, and that it wouldn't go off. The Katana Squad, a team of four Spartan-IIIs, volunteered to sacrifice themselves to rearm the bomb. While the sentinels were distracted with the Dawn, Katana Squad flew to the Control Center. There they encountered an army of Flood forms, who had come to take it once and for all. They rearmed the bomb just as the ship powered back up and the Flood attacked both the Control Center and the ship. The sentinels turned to attack their new foes, the humans retreated deeper into the ship, and Petra captured Guilty Spark. With a burst of power, the Dawn Under Heaven lifted off and exited the ring's atmosphere just as the bomb detonated behind them. In a huge display of fire, a flaming V was drawn into space and the ship's memory core as the ring was blasted into three pieces, which then disintegrated as the gravity sent them crashing into the core of Threshold. The events of Alpha Halo were over.

-- Dav Flamerock

Attack on New Mombasa (5-23-08)
On October 20th, the Covenant ship Paladin Of Regret entered the Sol System with several other Covenant Ships, for the Hierarch of Regret had discovered the presence of powerful artifacts on Earth. Under Lord Hoodâ€™s leadership, the defenses of Earth were rallied, although they were not able to defend against the entire strike force immediately. The Paladin Of Regret slipped past their guard, stopping to hover just above the East African city of New Mombasa, where it curiously dispatched its contingent of troops. The UNSC rallied all its troops to Mombasa, where three Spartan-IIs converged to defend Earth, and many troops including Corporal Jack Hawke, Sergeant James Kay, and Forseti traveled to do battle with the Covenant attackers.

Their respective pelicans all converged on a single location, where Kay Forseti and Hawke met up. They engaged the Covenant and boarded a Scarab Mining Walker, successfully destroying it despite the vigilant defense. A pelican saved them just before the Scarab detonated. The pelican, however, didn't get far. It was hit by a flying piece of debris and the pelican crashed on the roof of a building, where the trio was attacked by a pair of banshees. Forseti showed off his mad ninja skills and defeated both of them using only his body and his sword. They descended and continued to do battle with the Covenant, joining up with Private Verday Mahler and Private Ryan Marks. Meanwhile Jared Thomlinson, Dallas Mathews, and Will-026, all arriving from Alpha Halo, touched down and joined battle with the Covenant as well. Seperately, the two groups began downing Covenant AA guns in order to clear a path for air support. During the course of the battle the two teams joined up and began taking down AA guns together. During that process James Kay became separated from the group.

After some time, the soldiers rejoined with Forseti as the PANTHEON operative arrived in a captured Covenant Phantom Dropship. He carried out a secondary objective to pick up a fallen pilot, then picked up the Ghosts and Will, and then the group blasted their way into the Paladin of Regret. Once on board, the team split up into two groups--one to take the bridge, the other to secure Engineering. As the humans made their way to their objective, the Covenant fell back to defend the bridge.

Meanwhile, the Coalition ship the Dawn Under Heaven, still heavily damaged from the battle at Alpha Halo, limped through space above Earth, hiding behind the planet. On board Petra and the Sangheili Har 'Kriannee agreed on a course of action--to infiltrate the Covenant defenses with Coalition troops and aid the UNSC. The two dropships were sent to the Paladin of Regret... and were promptly ordered by the Inquisitor on board to defend the bridge, all according to plan...

As the human forces on the Paladin met up against heavy Covenant defenses, a new figure entered into the mix, having stowed away on the Coalition dropships: Joseph Anaru. The OMEGA behemoth spared nothing his rage as he moved through the ship, destroying everything and everyone he could.

Meanwhile, the human soldiers, under command of Lieutenant Forseti, passed through the Covenant defenses until they reached the bridge. Upon arriving, an attack triggered the Coalition troopers' trap--as the humans assaulted the bridge, the bridge defenders who were secretly allied to the Coalition turned on their loyalist brethren. As the troops combated in the bridge, Thor Rethan and several human soldiers blasted their way into the Paladin's hangar bay, where they contacted Forseti and organized a team to assault Engineering. The assault made it to the Paladin's engineering sector, though such a location was well-defended.

The battle, however, was not going well for the humans. Even with the Coalition's support, taking the Paladin of Regret was not proving an easy task. To remedy this, Forseti called in support in the form of the PANTHEON's Einherjar elite troopers. Their arrival turned the tide enough to allow the humans and Coalition troops to take the bridge, albeit at 'Kriannee's death. Moments before the Paladin of Regret performed a predetermined Slipspace jump to Delta Halo, the Coalition and humans captured the ship, though its condition was not reliable...

-- Dav Flamerock

Coalition Rise (Attack on High Charity) (6-24-08)
Upon arriving at High Charity, â€˜Lytam, â€˜Valkadon, Loki, and the others discovered that their chronometers had broken. Now inside the Forerunner Dreadnought, they snuck along to a hangar, where they stole a phantom and flew into High Charity itself. With expert tactics and strong expertise, the Spartans and Sangheili eradicated their opposition, securing the hangar and getting all the huragok they could find onboard. Ready to go, the Coalition troops entered High Charity proper, decimating opposition without much difficulty. To pull off 'Lytam's plan, they split up, Loki, One, Two, Four, Six, James, Avery, and Tai sneaking off to deactivate the alarms and control the locks in the Council Chambers, while 'Lytam, Kelly, David, Five, Seven, Mobuto, and Smith snuck into the Council Chambers via the Sangheili Dome, which would allow the Coalition leader to give his speech to sway the minds and hearts of the entire Covenant, or at least a portion of it, to convince them to break away, join the Coalition, and forsake the Covenant as he did. His speech was incredibly rousing, and used every tactic he could think of, including a recording of a conversation between him, Five, and the Oracle, 343 Guilty Spark. The Covenant was split into complete chaos. Most of the rebels were Sangheili who felt that the San'Shyumm were plotting their downfall, but there were Sangheili loyalists and there were rebels of every race, except San'Shyumm or Huragok. The resulting chaos wound its way all through High Charity and the surrounding fleet. Three ships were captured or converted to join the Coalition and escaped... several others that converted were destroyed before they could easily escape. Meanwhile, the original Coalition troops made their way towards the armory and then the hangar, where they would meet up and escape...

As Loki's team, stationed at the broadcasting station, began to escape, they were set upon by a squad of Jiralhanae honour guards. In the ensuing battle, Tai and Loki were slain while the others escaped. Shortly thereafter, 'Lytam met up with the escaped team, formerly under Loki's command, heard of the loss, and quickly made his way for the hangar. The Coalition forces regrouped in the hangar, converting people as they went. Those civilians who made it to the hangar were evacuated with the Dauntless, a kig-yar Coalition ship, though a few dropships were destroyed in the escape. Shortly afterwards, High Charity jumped into Slipspace to arrive at Ariaos II, where the Codex had been uncovered. Unfortunately for the Covenant, though, the Forerunner Dreadnought was swiftly captured by the Coalition and, though the Loyalists were fighting for control in the hangar, 'Lytamee led some humans to the Oracle onboard and convinced it to disengage, shunting High Charity from Slipspace as the now-free Dreadnougth departed for the heretic world of Persephone.

-- Dav Flamerock

Struggle on Delta Halo (6-22-08)
The Paladin of Regret, a Covenant carrier, blasted off from its holding over New Mombasa, heavily damaged by the rampaging OMEGA Joseph Anaru. The bridge had been captured moments before its departure, and in that time the Coalition and UNSC forces determined the ship's impending jump, alerting the PANTHEON's Fenris that the Covenant ship needed be tailed. Thus, the two ships--one human and one Covenant--leapt together from above New Mombasa, destroying the city and taking them to Delta Halo. Upon arriving, the Coalition forces decimated the bridge by stockpiling it with active explosives, crippling the ship further and opening an aperture to lower levels.

Meanwhile, what loyalists remained alive on the Paladin took the conservative option and evacuated, leaving in what escape pods, drop pods, and dropships remained, landing on the Halo and beginning to organize a combat force centered around a temple in which the Prophet of Regret, no longer Hierarch, set up his stronghold. As the loyalists organized, humans from the UNSC Fenris began flying to the surface of the ring.

-- Dav Flamerock