Sent To Protect and Serve Humanity

Chapter 55: Their Great Game

3rd POV

The clock has finally struck midnight.

All across Remnant, pitched battles stretch across her capital cities as the full weight of the Covenant's armed forces were thrown against the dug-in Alliance. Brother against brother in the peculiar case of the aliens, the naval garrison intended to defend New Australia would be amongst the first struck by the hegemony's forces.

Above the city, Righteous, Adamant, and Euology remained motionless as they faced down the opposing force, which consisted of one Kig-Yar Varric-pattern heavy cruiser joined  by one Unggoy Ceudar-pattern Corvette and a Sangheili Zanar-pattern light cruiser.

However, their weapons lay silent, and their shielding remained deactivated. Their gallant warships merely hung in the nighttime sky, the purple exterior and hue from the ships covering the starry background. The anti-air batteries on the ground remained still, and hangers of these warships continued to house their swarms of aircraft, a sign of peaceful intentions.

These intentions were taken with delight by the lead naval ship, Righteous. In an attempt to open a line of communication between his former loyalties and his new sworn allies, the Hunter had invited the other warships onto his own vessel.

As the surface anxiously awaited results, the six alien warships had met to discuss the situation. They all dawned the harnesses of their respective ranks, with the Jackle's being the most well respected of the bunch.

Standing in the bridge of the heavy destroyer, the aliens had all intermingled beneath the warm lighting of the warship.

"We need your help, Worm." The Kig-Yar Major, whose name was Ceaseless Piety exclaimed, doing its best to articulate the human language. "Prophet wants to rid us!" He frantically pointed at a purple collar around his neck. "Says we are liabilities!"

The Sangheili Minor, who was named Tenacious, would step forward. "After the majority of my people fled to the UNSC, we stayed behind to gather information... but we suspect Salvation figured us out." He tugged at the purple collar around his neck. "Thankfully, we managed to suppress the signals these transmit, buying us enough time to ask for help."

"Pleasies!" The Unggoy, named Pandemonium, begged with tears. "Me don't want to dies!" He gestured toward the purple device attached to his methane tank before the Kig-Yar spoke again.

"He gave the fleet these bomb collars and split us up." Ceaseless explained.

"We think he's attempting to weed out any traitors by making them fight or catching them. Fortunately for us, we have a couple more minutes to make a decision." Tenacious took a step forward. "We need your help, Mgalekgolo."

Righteous quietly pondered the request. He was almost certain they were telling the truth but couldn't be one hundred percent. Then, he remembered being informed by Respite of friendly moles within the Covenant's navy. The Hunter would briefly glance toward the two corvettes at his side before turning back to the other three aliens.

At one point, these six warships were just as devoted to the Covenant as their forefathers, their captain's, and their crew. However, their eyes would be opened during their Great Schism. Now, they had a chance to finally right their wrongs, and who was Righteous to deny his former allies, his brothers in arms that opportunity?

The low grumble of the Mgalekgolo shook the floor as he nodded his head.

Righteous motioned his two corvettes toward the new defectors. Adamant and Euology both quickly did as they were told, bringing a pair of tools with them. The two Grunts were quick to stand on the table and begin to deactivate the bomb collars on their new allies. One-by-one, the iron grip of the Covenant would be broken, each collar falling to the ground as its purple lights quickly dimmed.