AN: Hahahahaha, omg you, you really thought. HAHAHAHA!

Planet: Reach

System: E.E

Time: 1145

Maybe….just maybe following unknown primitive xenos to wherever they wish was a bad idea.

Kirby didn't know if it was the weather, the people or the straps on this fucking air vehicle, but the bad gut clenching feeling he had wouldn't go away. It was one of his most trusted instincts, his gut. And it had only ever led him awry one time, involving a woman of course. Other than that, the battlefield of war was where it shined. Not once had he ever disregarded it.

And so he decided to speak up about what his current thoughts predicted.

"You're at war aren't you?" Kirby's speech was flat, as if he knew the answer already and needn't have any confirmation.

"And you didn't know they were here did you?" Same tone. This time all the marines that sat near him tensed and looked toward the Lt. for a response. And they would have gotten one too if Kirby hadn't continued.

"I suspect you're about to be invaded." This was matter of fact. No other option existed. Not to Kirby anyway. How many times had he been in this exact situation?

Imminent invasion. Possible destruction or enslavement or culling or raid or any other fucked up thing some prick xenos did for fun.

At the expense of his people.

Real fun.

"I'd suggest calling a global military dig in and wait for reinforcements, if these xenos are more advanced than you as I think they are then you need to win the space battle first before any real ground operations can be taken. Unless you like being bombed from orbit that is." He finished his speech, which he considered quite nice to these….Bruggo ( old Kurdish word for monkey), then again he would need to make nice with them If he hoped to use their race in the future. He supposed it would probably take eliminating the xenos attacking them to gain their trust.

No matter, one legion of the Kurdish empire should be enough.

Not many primitive races, and yes Kirby also considered these other xenos rather primitive as well, could stand against ten billion Kurdish Front Force Initiates let alone the uber-dreadnoughts and enhanced Kurdish bio-organic super soldiers.

No, Kirby suspected it would take less time to cull this race than it would to establish a foothold in a Narg system.

He remembered the 100 year invasion into a single sector of Narg space. It was the first counter attack ever attempted in Kurdish history against the Narg.

At first things went well, the space battle was won as the Narg spacecraft were no match for the brand new Junia class uber-dreadnought. It was then the true terror of the Narg were unleashed. Flesh Branders whose sole purpose was to burn and then skin Kurdish soldiers alive. Blood Drinkers who would hook men and women up to contraptions in which all bodily fluids were drained from you, the empty husks tossed in piles, left to rot.

And let us not forget the Bone Hunters, who unironically, tore bones out…to collect…yeah.

Again while you're alive.

To make a long story short it was a failure. A disaster really. The Kurdish were used to the hit and run tactics the Narg had employed since first contact, and had never engaged in a prolonged ground war with them.

And it showed. Kirby was simply lucky he wasn't yet old enough to participate in said campaign, lest this story might never had been.

As Kirby was reminiscing and plotting to gain this species 'aid' the Lt. was staring at him rather intently, not quite sure on how to respond to this string of subtle insults and unneeded advice. Only unneeded in that they knew that space was key to winning, it was that problem that had always eluded them. They were mostly matched in terms of a ground war. Humans had sheer tenacity and will to live that replaced the need for better technology. Although as the war progressed so too did the human's arsenal.

It was just never enough in space.

Still, he wasn't sure how to answer this creature.

It was clear he (if he was male) thought himself quite superior if speech was anything to go by. Seemed to think of the Lt. and his squad as 'lesser'. In terms of tech, well, the Lt. wouldn't lie. It seemed everything was ahead of the game except humans. The Forerunners, Covenant, and now this guy.

God damn hopefully this one was the break.

"Space battles against Covenant forces have had….mostly negative outcomes." The beginning of the sentence was clipped but as he finished, Kirby who had began listening, noticed the fatigue and stress in the Lt.'s voice. The same type that often came out of his fathers.

A small amount of empathy welled within him.

But not much.

He had too many problems. His people had too many problems to worry over a backwater species. No matter how grievous this war of theirs might be. For all he knew, though he doubted it if only through technological disparity, they started this whole mess of theirs.

But he couldn't think like that. He was a Prince first and soldier second, but his people were not here, so he had to make due.

"How did it start?" He wanted to cut the fat and get straight to the heart of this matter. His split second decision to help this race in an effort to gain some type of ally, be it beneficial to both or just his species, would only proceed with information.

Lt. Morell was taken aback a moment. He didn't expect such a direct question from the alien.

" We aren't entirely sure. We made contact with them over twenty five years ago on a planet of ours called Harvest", at the mention of the planet all the other marines on the pelican straightened in their seats.

"At first things were fine, then they started attacking, claiming we were an affront to their gods." He said in a somber tone, the very air around him capable of causing sadness.

" They glassed the planet after, and then every planet they found after that" he finished with those words and let them sink in.

Kirby wasn't moved.

"Religious genocide?" he asked with slight curiosity. He never met a religious type xenos, the Klepct didn't count Sectonia was no goddess just a bug with delusions of grandeur, and so the idea intrigued him. Usually religion was just a side effect of intelligent life, and any who followed wholly never evolved past swords and kings. Science was what ruled, with Religion being a pastime. Even Kirby admitted there was no real proof of the High Goddess Junia. It was just a hope for something greater than a war-torn galaxy. That was why the church had as much power as it did. Hope was an incredible weapon.

As for Lt. Morell, he was still unsure of the questions this alien posed, but still requiring his peoples aid, he answered.

" It seems like it, so far there's over twenty billion dead last reported, and with the knowledge we gained with your arrival, many more." He was trying to illicit an emotional response from the alien.

He got one. Just not the one he wanted. And the information that came with it would unnerve him till the day he died.

"Hahahahahahaha" Kirby's laugh echoed through the pelican's seating chamber. Even above the noise of the engines and wind outside did it reverberate. It seemed that was all the occupants could hear for some seconds.

The power armored Kurdish prince was what you would consider doubled over in laughter, hands at his sides and mouth open yet unseen through his mask, he couldn't help it either as the piece of news he just heard was tragically comic.

"OH, oh, oh my" he continued as he tried to gain his composure, still eliciting small chuckles while he looked right at the Lt.

"Is that all?" he spoke simply.

The entire pelican was quiet, including the spartan and the pilots that had been listening in.

"Do you know what I make my people do" Kirby's voice had gone quiet. No one moved an inch.

" The trillions that aren't in the Front Forces have twelve days off a year, the rest of the time, they till the fields to feed our trillions more soldiers and themselves. They work grueling hours in the manufactoriums and technolodges to provide equipment and weapons to said soldiers, with no breaks and no complaints less they receive less rations for the month." Kirby's voice was growing louder and louder. He didn't know why he had come undone, it wasn't like him, but this xenos race had no idea the horrors that they would face if they lived through this genocide.

"Most of them have no education beyond what is necessary of their future, for it is determined for them. If you are lucky enough to be born noble, then you are lucky enough to lead from the front line of glorious combat, for that is the duty of every leader. Every one of our weeks…billions die. Men and women of our great empire. To xenos and traitors and cultists*."

Kirby had managed to capture everyone's attention in less than a minute of speech. Either he was an incredible statesman and charismatic prince…or humans were stupid and primitive enough to be captivated by those their better.

Probably the latter.

Still, it roused something bestial in the hearts and minds of the humans aboard the cramped vessel. Something instinctual.

"And yet" he continued, seaming to near the end

"We endure" his gaze could be felt through his visor. The Lt. knew that this alien was staring right into his soul.

"Will your species endure Lieutenant Morell?" Kirby's final words were upon him.

Truthfully, he didn't know. It seemed that the Covenant were everywhere. That they found every world and killed everything. No matter what they did they couldn't stop them.

But….

'We survived when everything else said we wouldn't' Morell thought with confidence.

And so he spoke to this alien, this outsider, this being who thought himself superior.

"Yes. Yes we will!"