Halo: Indelible Past/Chapter Seventeen

The vacuum around Famul was swarming with activity.

The Jiralhanae colony world, once the solitary refuge of Chieftain Mallunus's pirate fleets, was now a haven for all manner of fugitives and outcasts. Kig-Yar raiders mingled with scavenged Unggoy colony ships, vying for spaces in the planet's packed orbital docks while Sangheili and Jiralhanae warships patrolled the atmosphere. The warships outclassed all but the largest of colony ships; amidst the teeming cutters and frigates they were like whales cutting their way through schools of tiny fish. And human vessels, once an enigma amongst Famul's regular traffic, were now as abundant as the Kig-Yar and Unggoy.

Famul had become a hub of underworld commerce, the likes of which its former master had only dreamed. Its surface, once ruled solely by the Jiralhanae, now boasted hubs of life for all species, humans included. Yes, some of the chieftains had resisted, but they had met mysterious uprisings from within their own packs, swiftly cast down and replaced by successors who saw the wisdom in allegiance with other species. After all, it wasn't a Jiralhanae they owed their new rule to.

But the one who had orchestrated the fall of Mallunus, the one who had brought the new prosperity and strength to Famul as if by his own sheer force of will, was nowhere to be found amidst the orbital activity. No, there was another, less traveled arena where he had made his lair.