What Now?

Oru stood and gazed at Sunaion in the distance. He’d watched the Guardian rise up out of the sea and lay waste to the Covenant stronghold weeks ago, as well as his brother’s ships. He could do nothing to save them. His Kaidon, his Arbiter, could be dead. The city lay in smoldering ruin, and a good portion of the towers had sunk below the sea’s surface. A fitting end for the Covenant, and any faith he had in his Gods.

The Guardsman clasped his hands, and directed his gaze down into the water. The red stone cliffs overlooked the ocean, which savagely pounded the rock with waves. The sound was a constant thrumming was something he’d had to become accustomed, since being stationed here with the Spartans.

Oru steadied his nerves and trudged back to the few tents and human equipment, which was rather ugly and grey in his eyes. The fact it worked at all was a shock to him. The Sangheili saw the four humans at one of the consoles they had set up, working as they remained clad in their clunky armor.

Riley-G315 paced quickly, gripping her Assault Rifle in one hand. Isabella-G238 was working on the blue screen of her datapad, and would occasionally throw up her hands in frustration before returning to her task. Nathan-G187 and Kiara-G214 sat still, throwing pointed glances at each other and at their teammates.

The silence pervaded, except for the stone crunching under Riley’s boots. Thel ‘Vadam and the Swords of Sanghelios had gone silent, and Isabella seemed to have no luck getting any signals as well. It had been weeks since the entire battlenet had gone dark after a massive burst of data. The five of them were stranded with no contact, or evacuation.

Isabella hastily stowed away her datapad, and stood with her team. She took off her helmet, showing her jaw was clenched and eyebrows furrowed. Oru approached, and for once, Riley didn’t leave once he entered line of sight.

“The Arbiter remains silent, as do the the rest of the Swords.”  He stated flatly.

“The entire battlenet is down. So is Waypoint.”  Isabella added.

They all stood, staring back and forth. The ocean waves pounded the cliff face as ever, but the silence was palpable. The five shifted on their boots, as if waiting for a solution to fall out of the sky.

“Well,”  It was Riley who broke the silence, “What do we do now?”