Halo: The Dunes of 2560

Chapter 16: Part 2: Leaders of Tomorrow

Moxi was born in 2528, in the 23 Librea System, before it was glassed that same year. She was a refuge, like Osa 'Drazam. Her family settled on New Jerusalem, until she became an adult. Her childhood wasn't very eventful, however, when she reached adulthood, the SFA made their presence known immediately to her and built trust with her. She had a handler, but didn't take to him that well because he was a human, so she was discretely transported to Sangheilios to meet with a Sangheili handler. She told her family she was going off planet for University, but the truth was that she was going there to be trained by the SFA. 

The SFA had a base of Operations on Sangheilios for a long time, part of a multilayered system of operations which would create a vast rift between departments. From within, the other layers couldn't be seen, but from the very bottom, everything above became very clear. She was brought the utmost bottom, a small SFA group known as The Leaders of Tomorrow. They were their own entity separate from the SFA's influence, but had full control over the SFA, the UNSC, and the Covenant. This group would utilize the most secretive, and oppressive methods of control to maintain power over major planets like Sangheilios, or Earth. 

Moxi was officially brought into the ranks around 2549, where she'd become a Guard, stationed in an underground base on Earth. The squad was listening to her tell them all of this, when Candy blurt out, "What the fuck are you talking about???" She coughed, "Sorry, I can't talk for long." Her voice was very low and could barely be heard at this point. Mryva cut in before Candy could speak, "During her time on Earth, I found out that some kind of massive battle broke out in that underground base she was in, and she was injured. If I recall, her head was nearly severed." Moxi was holding her throat when Trent gently grabbed her hand, and moved it, he looked at her throat, "The cut is much deeper than I thought, its subtle and hard to see, but look." He points to a very thin line on her neck, "That would kill any Sangheili." Vasi looked at Moxi, "Did they do it to you too?" She shook her head, "I really did survive. Barely. I had to push my head against a wall to keep my neck closed." Candy gagged at the thought, and walked out.

She was gonna continue telling her story, before Osa 'Drazam jumped up, staring at Moxi, "Everyone out, now." Moxi coughs again, as everyone else slowly left one by one. Trent hesitated, but Vasi brought him with her out. When it was just Osa and Moxi, he turned around and sighed, "'Special Fields folks,' now I know where that Sangheili came from. The Covenant don't know of the SFA's existence. The one was from the Leaders of Tomorrow, right?" He turned to her, and she shrugged. He ran to her and grabbed her, "You know Moxi! You know everything! Tell me!" She curled up, trying to avoid him, he persisted, "How did the escape pod make it onto the Dunes like that? Was it a set up?" She avoided eye contact with him, "Osa, please-" He pulled on her to face him, "You owe me an explanation!" She pushed him, and he backed off. 

Moxi had removed her helmet, which is the first time Osa saw her without her helmet on. He rubbed his eyes, he had a headache, "You ready to explain it to me?" She tossed her helmet down on the floor, "I'll try. I can't talk much longer, I'm in so much pain." He nods, "Understandable. I'm listening." 

Right before the Escape Pod landed on the Dunes, several events transpired that led to up to a massive change within the UNSC, the Covenant, and the current state of affairs between them, the SFA, and the Flood. On Earth, an experiment with a Cobalt Fuel Cell Reactor went awry at a UNSC Research Facility in a remote region of Saudi Arabia, which was subsequently covered up. The SFA sabotaged the program due to the fact the SFA cornered the Cobalt market with their research, and couldn't afford to let the UNSC start buying up enormous quantities of Cobalt. Purely a financial decision,  which cost several thousand lives.

The Covenant discovered an entire solar system far out from either the UNSC or their own regions of space. The planets and the star contained massive quantities of Gold, Hydrogen, and certain chemical compounds to aid in the development of plasma weaponry. The Covenant fleet that discovered the system had SFA spies on board, which led to the SFA intervening. Within a few days, the entire fleet was destroyed, and the SFA began harvesting the system.

The high ups in the SFA; Generals, and Admirals, had written up a massive report on the annual take-in on resources, programs, and intelligence. The year is the best year for the SFA, however, a massive security issue arose when the report was leaked on the planet Dunes, where the report was written up. 

Osa 'Drazam was staring at the floor, trying to piece together what this all meant, Moxi gulped, and coughed. He looked up at her, "David did it, didn't he?" She nods to him, motioning a slashing motion around her throat; she can't speak anymore. He stands up, "So they sent it to us as bait, and it all worked." Mryva walked in, "Hey, you two all good? It's been a hour." Osa walks to him, "Bring her to her room, and meet me at the cafeteria."