Jez 'Varum

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"In my younger years, I had thought the was the reason I took my birth in this cosmos. I deeply believed in them, accepted them as the single goal of my life. But, they did something unexpected. I was thrown out of them, branded as a heretic. But now, I know the true secrets of the Covenant. Thus, I take an oath to fight and destroy the empire until my last breath, no matter what it takes."

- Jez, revealing his experience of the betrayal of the Covenant Empire to him.

There are many tales of great Sangheili of the Covenant Empire, fighting their enemy for the honor of the Covenant and their own race. However, a few tales are not considered to be part of them. A few tales of certain individuals whose tremendous work has gone unnoticed in the tales of other Sangheili. They say of an individual who had led the Covenant to victory in many battles, determined to uphold the Empire's glory, but ultimately resulting in the noble Sangheili breaking away from the Covenant and fighting against it. The tale of Jez 'Varum is one of these. Some thought he was a great hero, others thought he was a devil in disguise, an enemy to the Sangheili and the Covenant in general. But out of all, he was just a Sangheili who was betrayed by the very empire he had deep devotion towards.

Born in the densely-populated urban areas of, Jez was from his childhood very interested in the Covenant Empire. Even though his ancestors were not in the military, Jez left his family's tradition and instead joined the Covenant. He was noted to be very effective and skilled at sword-to-sword combat, something only a few Sangheili were expert at. His expert sword fighting skills granted him with the honorific rank of a, in search for Covenant artifacts. But his life took a reverse turn when the Covenant accused him of being with the heretics, kicking him out of the Covenant for him to die. Enraged, he took an oath to fight the Covenant to his dying breath after learning of its true secrets.

In order to get his revenge, Jez allied himself with the ones he had slaughtered before, the Heretics and started involving in hit-and-run attacks. In one of these hit-and-run attacks did Jez find his ship, the Tenacious Esteem. He continued to use it until he heard of the Sangheili breaking away from the Covenant. Jez then joined the Sangheili, then called as the Covenant Separatists and later as the, and aided them in their war against the Covenant Loyalists until the Covenant finally dissolved in 2552.

Since then, Jez had been a member of Swords of Sanghelios, while also conducting his own operations too. While the Varum state was completely remade and brought back to its pre-Clan war stage, Jez had opted to not be the Kaidon of the keep, instead giving the title to his brother, Ceb 'Varum.

Early history
Jez was born in the 23rd Age of Doubt, or according to the human calendar, in the year 2491. He was raised in the state of Varum by his uncle Daro 'Varum. He never knew his father, nor his occupation or anything about him. He used to constantly participate in battles with other Sangheili of his age, and was a champion, making his uncle proud. This made him grow his love for combat. Although his brother Ceb 'Varum wasn't a big fighter as Jez was, he too was quite strong, instead of fights Ceb used to focus more on history, politics, and literature. When the time had come, Jez refused to continue the tradition of his ancestry by being in the state politics and overlooking it and joined the Covenant military, leaving his family's tradition to his brother. This was because Jez wasn't interested in ruling; he was more fascinated in battles and the Covenant.

Not long after his joining in the Covenant military, he received word that the various states of Qikost were having conflicts within them. Rushing to the planet, Jez found out that the powerful states of Vulcam and Kronam were fighting each other. In this, the other states were getting destroyed. The Vulcam state had fallen, as the conflicts had destroyed his keep and the Kronam people had slaughtered Jez's men, with the belief that they were on the other side of the war. His uncle and his family were killed, except for his brother Ceb, who was not to be found. Seeing the destruction, Jez's heart sank. Everyone he ever knew gone, forever.

Jez was unable to bear the pain, and more importantly, the rage he had within. In his enraged state, Jez went to the Kronam state and challenged its Kaidon, Fenr 'Kronam, for a gladiatorial fight. News spread all over the planet, as Fenr had accepted the challenge. Jez faced Fenr in the famous gladiatorial arena. Fighting in a sword duel, Jez almost lost when he used his legs to kick Fenr and make his fall on the ground. Gaining the upper hand, he stabbed the Sangheili with his Energy Sword, before beheading him off. Killing Fenr made him earn a name across Qikost, both good and bad. Some considered him as the "bringer of good days to Qikost", while many others thought him as a devil who'd consume the entire moon one day. Despite the good name, Jez was considered to be a devil by the other states and was banished from Qikost for roughly seventeen years in human terms, as a punishment for his act.

Not able to go back to Qikost anymore soon, Jez took a brief leave from the military to search for his brother. He searched Sangheilios and its moons but was unable to find him. After a long time of searching with no success, Jez was finally able to overcome his feelings and accept his brother to be dead. He then returned to the Covenant military, to keep him away from his thoughts of his dead family and brother. Little did he know, his life would be forever changed due to the Covenant Empire, from the famous 'Slayer' name earned on the Sangheili moon to being an important figure in the history of the Covenant.

Battle of Eridanus II
After training and enlistment, Jez's talent was finally put to test in his first battle with the humans, the Battle of in the. The Covenant had found the location of Eridanus II fairly easy, due to them infiltrating computer networks during their visit and the subsequent war on, known to the humans as the. From the edge of the system, they found out there were neither any UNSC ships in orbit, nor any, making it easy for the Covenant to invade the human colony. However, as they reached the planet, they witnessed a battle group of ships speeding towards them. Believing to be a surprise attack, the Covenant fleet quickly sent in Jez and his troops to the surface of the planet, for a quick assault and a search for the locations of human worlds in the galaxy, by infiltrating their databases. "The humans are indeed clever to defend themselves without a main military force. They're not cowards. So aren't we."

- Jez, commenting on the determination of the Vanguard soldiers to protect the planet against the Covenant invaders.

Jez and his squad travelled to the surface using a. Advancing into the city, the squad inspected human architecture and style, adding the information to their reports as they progressed. On entering, they found out that the, the main strategic military force of the humans, had removed their presence from this planet, indicating the presence of the importance of only specific human colonies. However, though, there was a smaller scale military force present on the planet, different from the ones they've faced before, a force they later learned the name to be "Vanguard Forces", who tried to fight Jez's squad back.

The Vanguard Forces, although having technology and weapons inferior to those found on Harvest, proved to be a tough opposition, but they were soon defeated by a diversion using the Unggoy and an ambush, where they were massacred by leading them into a trap and detonating Covenant mines placed in the area. All forces gone, Jez's squad entered a huge human facility, which they thought to be important. There, they found lots of machines and databanks, possibly containing the location of their homeworld. Before they could analyze the machines, some of the human soldiers, who were cut off from the massacred unit, tried to ambush the Sangheili. The Elites managed to kill them all, but witnessed the deaths of two, one of which was Rego 'Betazee, Jez's close friend. Just then, they were called back by the Covenant fleet in orbit, which had won the battle in space and were now moving to glass the planet. Retreating back to the ship, Jez witnessed the glassing and destruction of the human world. "This war won't be an easy one. There will be more humans, with more reinforcements. This is only the beginning..."

- Jez, thinking about the possible outcome of the war.

Battle of Algerion IV
"With this sacrament of blood, we journey into the Divine Beyond."

- Jez, reciting the Sangheili Field Marshal's mantra.

Jez's first mission as a was the Battle of Algerion IV. Algerion IV was a small Outer Colony, located in the Algerion star system. Originally an Insurrectionist planet, Algerion IV was firmly taken over by the UNSC in 2548. Since then, it has become a military planet. The Covenant attacked Algerion in May of 2552. The Covenant fleet was led by the CAS-class assault cruiser Ardent Inquisitor, and consisted of about 15 ships in total. As there weren't many ships in orbit and those that were already present were just frigates and destroyers, the fleet just sent a moderately sized army to the surface. Their goal was the same, infiltrate human databases in order to get coordinates for the humans' strategic worlds, especially their home world, Earth. However, it was a huge mistake made as they realized soon.

Jez was sent along with about four Phantom carriers to the planet for invasion. However, what they didn't know was that the city that they attacked, New Calicut, contained many that were actually used for launching payloads into orbit. In the case of Covenant invasion, they were quickly re-purposed into weapons for fighting the enemy ships. The mass driver shot down two of the phantoms right at their central area, crippling them. Jez's phantom was shot at too, and although it hit across the side, the damage was too much for the ship to bear, and so it went down. Crash through an industrial building, the Phantom hit the ground near the coastal area of the city. The impact was huge enough to kill more than half of the Jackals and Grunts, and a few Elites too. The survivors including Jez, after a few minutes, salvaged all the weapons they could and set out.

Jez led the survivors into the city, in an attempt to find the survivors of the other phantoms, and group together for more chances of survival. They went underground, thinking it as the better option. There, he met the Sed 'Gcada, with his small squad of Minors and Majors. Grouped, they continued their search. They were attacked by a platoon of human Marines, and although they killed them all, they faced a few losses; two Minors and an Ultra died of the injuries. Just then, he was contacted by the of the Ardent Inquisitor, who ordered the survivors to retreat back to the ship, as they had won the battle in orbit. For this, Jez's squad was asked to neutralize the humans manning the mass drivers.

Jez led his squad to the place of the mass drivers, at the edge of the city. Time was running out, so the Sangheili disregarded stealth and sprinted towards the mass drivers. On reaching and waiting for a few moments to take a breath after the pretty-long sprint, Jez split up his team into two; Sed's team would go to the generator facility to take it out in order to cut off the power to the mass drivers, while Jez's team would attack and kill the humans manning the mass drivers inside the control room. For this, Jez opted for stealth; they had to take out all the humans without them calling for reinforcements.

Advancing slowly, Jez's squad reached the control room. Inside were about eight human technicians, three military soldiers, and an Artificial Intelligence.

Second Battle of Deston
In November 2552, the Covenant, at the peak of their power and almost winning the Human-Covenant War, attacked the planet of Deston again, having failed at glassing it the first time decades ago in 2530. Since 2530, Deston was significantly improved on its defenses, with new military bases and training complexes set over the planet, and more MACs and ships guarding the planet, in the case of a surprise attack. The Covenant, however, hadn't come without a purpose. The Luminary of the Ardent Inquisitor had detected a massive Forerunner structure in the deserted forest part of the planet, the one which was almost fully glassed by the Covenant during the previous battle. The had, secretly, ordered the Ardent Inquisitor and its fleet to go back to the planet, and investigate the Forerunner structure, in order to find any new technology helpful for the Covenant and take it, with the conception that humans were unaware of the Forerunner site. Thus were sent a huge force of troops to the surface for an ambush, as the humans were fish in a bowl.

Jez was leading a huge battalion of Zealots, Jackals, Drones and Grunts, to the surface of the planet, near the site. On landing, they were immediately encountered by teams of Spartans, or as the Covenant called them, "Demons", and a small fight ensued. Jez's team had some cover in the dense forests and the advantage of being more in number. Although the Spartans mysteriously vanished in a few minutes, possibly due to them getting new orders, Jez was still impressed at their skills, their bravery, and tactics. As they reached the area of the site, they realized their mistake; the humans had already guessed the Covenant's destination and had assembled a huge force around the installation, due to their recently acquired information of the Forerunners from the.

Jez, realizing he had no choice, charged with his huge force at the humans, with the confidence of overcoming them. While most of the Sangheili and the infantry were indulged in the conflict, Jez led a small task force of Zealots and Jackals into the interior of the installation through a secret back entrance. There, he saw the same Spartan he had faced before, with the gray and blue colored armor, along with his teammates, near a control panel studying a giant hologram. Jez ambushed them, engaging in a brief conflict with them. At this moment, a Jackal, trying to do something in order to distract the Spartans, quickly pressed a button on the console, initiating something that caused the entire room to shift and tremble. Lights from the ground turned on, and before they could realize, Jez and the others felt nausea and dizziness. Jez's vision started to go shaky, giving him a sense of discomfort. In truth, the installation was teleporting them through the Forerunner's advanced slipspace manipulation technology, to a distant Forerunner installation light-years away, floating in space, undisturbed.

Trivia

 * Jez is one of the very few Sangheili who still use the, the other notable Sangheili being.

Appearances

 * Halo: Reclaimer
 * Cebverse Chronicles/Was it all worth it?