Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Halo series games, books, soundtracks or anything else to do with the Halo Universe. I do not own the characters in this fanfiction. All characters are owned by Bungie and 343 Industries. This story is based on the Arbiter character from Halo 2 and 3 and is written from his point of view and it follows his journey through the Halo 2/3 era. I have taken tips into the insight of the Sangheili culture by reading up on Halopedia and the Halo Novels, so please don't flame me for that.

Author's Note: This is a rewrite of my fanfic, the Arbiter's Tale, with triple checked grammar, whole new sections added to the story and various other tweaks here and there. Now, for anyone who had read my initial iteration of this fanfic, and noticed that I had put up about three chapters before stopping and failing to update further – I am aware that a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long time since I worked on it, almost a year in fact. Well, truthfully, I kind of forgot about it, and only recently have I came to realise that sitting in My Documents was the chapters of my fanfic. I realised that I had left my readers (if I had very many at all) in the dark, and I felt kinda crappy about doing so. I felt that I should try again, for the sake of any potential readers and myself. So I looked over my past work, noticed how bad it was (looking back now, it seems that way to me) and I have strived to update it, indeed I have added a lot of new content. I am ready to start posting my work again, and I PROMISE that I will update regularly, likely every fortnight at least, taking into account other stuff I have to do (school yadda yadda) I will not let you guys down, I swear this on the blood of my forefathers ; P Anyway, enough rambling, here's my new and improved first chapter of the Arbiter's Tale, enjoy! Please r&r- constructive criticism helps me to improve my writing. Happy Halloween everybody!

The Arbiter's Tale

Chapter 1

Thel 'Vadamee's Sentence

The doors silently slid open, revealing the massive High Council Chamber. The Council Chamber was but one of many, many rooms in High Charity, the Covenant's mobile capital city and population centre. The gargantuan room had the appearance of a vast stadium, with elevated sections on both sides on which long bleachers were situated.

One side of the room was filled with Sangheili Councilors, which were quietly muttering to one another. The other side had San 'Shyuum Councilors, or 'Lesser Prophets' which were louder than their Sangheili counterparts; their raised voices echoing across the chamber. Honor Guardsmen were stationed at regular intervals, staring straight ahead, not looking at the newcomer. They clasped energy staves in their four-fingered hands, ready to strike down any creature foolish enough to draw a weapon in the presence of the Hierarchs.

A podium sat in the centre of the chamber, where the condemned was to await judgment. Beyond the podium floated the three San 'Shyuum adorned in ornate robes, the Hierarchs, leaders of the Covenant Empire.

Each Hierarch was sitting upon ornate gravity thrones that kept them suspended a unit from the ground. The three each wore a heavy crown atop their heads, at the front of which a holographic representation of the Sacred Ring was situated. Each also possessed an ornate mantle that crested their necks.

The wise old Prophet of Mercy, once the city's leading Philologist, was the right-most of the triumvirate. Grey-skinned and wrinkled, his body was bowed with age. Despite this, he scrutinized the newcomer with keen interest. His expression betrayed a subtle hint of sadness, however.

A holographic representation of the Prophet of Regret floated on the left side. Young and somewhat foolhardy, he was not currently present, as he was serving with the Sangheili on his flagship. He was looking around at the councilors with a nonchalant expression on his face.

The Prophet of Truth, the leader of the triumvirate, and the most senior figure in the Covenant Empire was sitting in the shadows behind the other two Hierarchs, eyes fixed on the entrance of the Council Chamber.

The Prophet of Truth looked impassive, but the subject, disgraced Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice Thel 'Vadamee knew that this was only an illusion; the level of anger undoubtedly seething within the Hierarch was only veiled by his many years of experience in maintaining a cool political air. As it was, the Sangheili knew that chances of survival were virtually non-existent, regardless of the following proceedings.

Thel was still struggling to comprehend the fact that his greatest military triumph – the campaign at Reach - had become his greatest shame after the events of the Sacred Ring. Due to the efforts of the unholy human animals, in particular the infamous 'Demon,' the Covenant had been denied its chance to achieve the Great Journey.

Because of my own incompetence. He mused.

Thel noticed that Tartarus, Chieftain and Alpha Male of the Jiralhanae was also present, standing slightly off to the right of the Hierarch's. Tartarus silently regarding him with evil little orange eyes. The beast was unshaven, with thick grey hair all over his body and his large head crowned with a massive mohawk. Thel's skin bristled, how such a creature was allowed anywhere near the Hierarchs, he did not know.

Jiralhanae considered themselves to be equals to the Sangheili. The species were a relatively recent addition to the Covenant hegemony. A bestial, primitive species, the Jiralhanae were always feuding with one another. Indeed, when the Covenant had first happened upon the Jiralhanae homeworld, the species were only just recovering from a massive civil war that had almost destroyed their planet. They had no concept of honor and it was absurd to the Sangheili that such creatures could even pretend to try and become equal to them.

As of late the Jiralhanae were vying for the Hierarch's favor, and the Hierarchs seemed to be entertaining this. Such actions were worrying to Thel and his kin. The Sangheili had always been the protectors of the San 'Shyuum, from the earliest days of the Covenant.

Banishing such thoughts from his head, Thel inhaled deeply through his mandibles and stepped into the chamber.

Thel felt all eyes upon him as he walked down the centre of the Council Chamber to the podium on which he was clearly expected to stand. Thel walked tall, keeping his eyes trained unwaveringly on the Hierarch's. Thel daren't show any signs of weakness lest the Council think him a coward. He knew he was almost certainly going to be executed, and he was damned if he was going to be branded as a coward as well as an incompetent.

Thel stepped up onto the podium and waited for the Hierarchs judgment. The Prophet of Regret was the first to speak, and the Council fell silent. "What is your name, Sangheili?"

"Thel 'Vadamee, former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice and kaidon of the state of Vadam." Even as he spoke Thel felt deep discomfort as he knew that both of these titles would be stripped off him.

Thel had met both the Prophets of Truth and Regret before, but that was a long time ago, when Thel had been sent with a group of Zealots by the Prophet of Regret to hunt down a group of heretic Kig-yar who had seemingly joined forces with the humans and were selling them weapons. The Kig-yar had actually been sent with the blessing of the Prophet of Truth to trade with the humans so that the Covenant could learn the locations of human planets.

This confusion of orders had almost lead to Thel's death by the Prophets when they had found out what had happened, but the Prophet of Truth had spared him. However this was only because Thel had saved him from certain death from one of his comrades who, in a moment of madness, attempted to slay the Hierarch.

There would be no such chance of a pardon this time. The sin was too great.

"Let us start at the beginning." The Prophet of Regret said. "You arrived at this human planet, 'Reach' I believe the humans called it with the Fleet of Particular Justice. Part of a much larger armada of ships, your fleet participated in the orbital battle and subsequent cleansing of the planet.

I understand that a number of human ships fled from the battle, and your fleet gave pursuit. Clarify for me, commander. How many ships were there?"

"There was only one ship". Thel replied truthfully. That one ship would prove to be the cause of the fracas at the Holy Ring that would lead to its destruction, and likely to the end of Thel's life.

"One? Are you sure?" Regret said in a condescending voice. It was clear that Regret was disdainful of the Sangheili. Thel could gauge this in the way he spoke.

"Yes. They called it the Pillar of Autumn." Thel shuddered. Like many of the Covenant, he believed that for any being to possess a name, or be able to name its constructs, it had to be honorable. The humans, befoulers of all that was holy and heathens determined to delay the Great Journey, didn't deserve titles or names, only extinction.

Even more disturbing was that the humans had terms for each member species in the Covenant hegemony. This was a violation of the laws of the gods, and Thel was only too happy to burn down any human that he could.

The humans had put up an effective fight so far, to the extent that they were the Covenant's most dangerous enemy that it had ever encountered. In this respect, Thel did grudgingly have to admit that they were worthy opponents.

The old Prophet of Mercy piped up. "Why was it not destroyed, with the rest of their fleet?" The frail Prophet spoke with an incredibly raspy voice, indicating extreme age. He was regarding Thel with interest.

"It fled, as we set fire to their planet." Thel said, remembering how, aboard his flagship, the Seeker of Truth, he had noticed the human cruiser hurtling away from the doomed planet Reach. Thel had ordered the nearby ships under his command to pursue the Pillar of Autumn. "But I followed with all the ships in my command."

While the rest of the Covenant armada had remained in-system to complete the glassing of the human planet, Thel had mustered the Fleet of Particular Justice and followed the human ship into slipspace. He had no idea of the vessel's destination.

Being superior in speed to their human counterparts, the Covenant ships had arrived at Halo first, and had formed a blockade in order to stop the human ship from touching down on the Holy Ring.

"When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by its majesty?" The Prophet of Regret was clearly trying to undermine him, trying to portray him as a bumbling fool in front of the other Hierarchs. This angered him, as he had not ascended to his current - or former – position through incompetence.

Knowing what a wrong answer could provoke, he decided to play the fool.

"Blinded?"

"Paralysed? Dumbstruck?" Regret said, slightly louder. Now it was blatantly obvious to Thel that Regret was trying to rile him up. If he so much as said one word of clear defiance to the most holy Hierarchs, then they could have him terminated with a simple gesture or command.

Thel would not rise to the bait. Doing so would only make his current situation far worse so he just answered the Hierarch as neutrally as he could.

"No."

"Yet the humans were able to evade your ships." The Prophet of Regret pressed on, simply ignoring Thel. His tone became more hostile, "Land on the Sacred Ring, and desecrate it with their filthy footsteps!" He concluded, bringing his holographic fist down upon the armrest of his gravity throne. The Prophet of Regret was positively shaking with anger now.

Thel was now feeling more than a little apprehensive now. He knew that the Prophet of Regret would certainly have him killed, if not worse. Thel had done his best to stop the human ship, the Pillar of Autumn from touching down on Halo, but the Prophet of Stewardship, who had been attached to his fleet, had forbidden him to fire on the interloper, lest they damage the Holy Ring.

Ultimately Thel had chosen to ignore this order once it became apparent that the humans were intending to make landfall on the ring, but they had been too late, for the human ship was able to land - albeit roughly – on the surface. Had the Prophet not given such an idiotic order, Thel's ships could have easily burned the human ship from the skies before it could even come within close proximity to the ring.

When the human forces had spread onto Halo and established a base, the Covenant dispatched ground troops to root them out. The human forces had offered surprising resistance, and Thel's ground forces had taken heavy losses. The Covenant's situation was further complicated by the release of the Flood, an ancient parasite that had driven the Forerunners themselves into extinction. The Flood was a foul parasite that thrived by consuming other sentient creatures. They infected sentient lifeforms, transforming them into terrible abominations.

Specimens of the Flood had been kept in containment under the surface of the halo ring. The humans had entered one of these containment facilities, and whether knowingly or not, had released the Flood onto the ring. Within hours the Flood had spread across most of the ring, infesting both human soldiers and Covenant troops.

Facing a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the parasitic lifeform, Thel had had no choice but to evacuate all troops off the surface of the ring.

"Noble Hierarchs, surely you understand that once the Parasite attacked"- The rest of Thel's words were drowned out by loud mutterings from the High Council members. He looked around at the Councilors. Surely enough he could see that some of the Prophet Councilors were standing up, waving fists and shouting. The Sangheili Councilors, showing more restraint, remained seated, growling amongst themselves.

The Prophet of Mercy banged a fist on his armrest. "There will be order in this council!" His tired voice was heavy with anger. The Prophet of Truth, who had until that point been sitting in the shadows, came forward between the Prophets of Mercy and Regret, the tiny blue hologram of Halo on the front of his crown standing out from the surrounding gold. He held up a hand, indicating silence, and as if a switch had been turned, the entire Council fell totally quiet once again.

"You were right to focus your attention on the Flood." He said to Thel. "But this Demon, this 'Master Chief'…"

Thel remembered the heavily armored human who had laid waste to so many Covenant troops. He had seen reports from the field of the 'Spartan.'. The Unggoy were no match for the armored human, and even the powerful Sangheili, Thel's own species, could not seem to overcome it.

Thel felt a sudden stab of anger towards the creature. He had hoped that one day he would be able to face this Demon, this faceless cudgel of destruction. How he longed to run it through with his Energy Sword, to spill its blood and put an end to its pitiful existence. A creature that did not show its face was unholy and not worthy of a warrior's death.

The possibility of this happening was now out of his reach. It had been the Demon who had destroyed the ring. Thel was powerless to intervene, as his forces were in disarray, trying to evacuate the ring while holding back the relentless Flood parasite.

Somehow the damned creature had survived, escaping the halo on one of the human's crude space fighters. It had continued to cause chaos among the Covenant, boarding Ascendant Justice - the flagship of a scouting party sent to the Sacred Ring after its discovery by Thel's battle group – and piloting it out of the system.

It was rumoured that this 'Demon' was the last of its kind, as the rest had been killed on Reach. This likely made the human even more dangerous as it sensed its kinds end.

"By the time I learned the Demon's intent, there was nothing I could do." Thel's words seemed to have lit a spark. As suddenly as Truth's upraised hand had quieted the Council, it was suddenly in uproar again.

The Prophet Councilors got to their feet, yelling at the top of their voices. Even the relatively restrained Sangheili Councilors didn't trouble to keep their voices down. To Thel's deep disgust the Jiralhanae Chieftain Tartarus chuckled happily. The Prophet of Regret leaned over to murmur something in Truth's ear, however Truth held up a hand, cutting Regret off mid-sentence. When he spoke, it was in his usual calm tone.

"You are one of our most treasured instruments. Long have you led your fleet with honor and distinction. But your inability to safeguard Halo… was a colossal failure." Thel's stomach dropped at these words.

The next to speak was the well-known Prophet of Objection. He stood up and raised his fist, waving it at Thel. "Nay, it was heresy!"

This sparked a whole new wave of shouting from the bleachers. Thel had never been called a heretic before. He felt a boiling anger simmer up from deep within him, but he did not dare move his mandibles. He looked around at the Councilors, they were all standing, screaming and some looked ready to jump down and strike Thel down where he stood.

Thel stared defiantly at the Hierarchs and spoke very clearly, so that they would hear him over the noise the Council was making.

"I will continue my campaign against the humans!"

"No! You will not."

The Prophet of Truth issued these words with an air of finality; there was nothing further to say. The Hierarch turned to Tartarus, and the Chieftain gave a loud bark. As if from out of the walls, two more Jiralhanae stepped toward Thel. One tried to grab him, but the Sangheili quickly jerked away, growling threateningly at the beast. Such creatures like that would not touch him. He turned and started to walk away; ready to accept his certain death.

His head was spinning – This was the greatest dishonor Thel had ever suffered in his lifetime. He will not just lose his rank, but his name and his status as Kaidon of the state of Vadam. He heard the Prophet of Truth's voice telling him that he would be left behind upon the beginning of the Great Journey.

His name would be scrubbed off the Vadam Saga and he would be known as one of the greatest failures of all of Sanghelios. To be without a name was a fate worse than death.

Thel knew that it would not only be him that will suffer. His blood line would likely be also killed and the entire Vadam keep would be forever scorned. Thel was in a way grateful that he would not be alive to witness this.

The High Prophet of Truth Ord Casto watched as the disgraced Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice was escorted away by the Jiralhanae. What else could be done? The Commander had obviously tried to prevent the Sacred Ring's destruction at the hands of the Demon, while simultaneously combatting the Flood as it spread across the ring.

Not hard enough, it appeared, as he had still allowed the ring's destruction, and in doing so delaying the Covenant from walking the Path on the Great Journey.

Despite this failure, Truth still had plans for this Sangheili.

It was clear to Truth that the Sangheili species were no longer capable of keeping the Covenant's enemy at bay, as the humans, in particular this troublesome 'Demon' were still able to cause untold amounts of damage to the Covenant. Truth still possessed the fragments of the Forerunner Crystal the humans had destroyed.

This crystal had been capable of warping the fabric of Slipspace itself, allowing ships to travel hundreds of times faster in Slipspace than normally possible. This great gift from the gods had also been destroyed due to the Sangheili's ineptitude.

This said nothing of the destruction of the space station Unyielding Hierophant and hundreds of Covenant warships.

His personal fleet.

Truth still struggled to comprehend this event.

Truth believed he had found the Portal to the Ark, where the Covenant could begin the Great Journey. It was buried under the surface of another human planet. He was mobilizing his invasion fleet at the Unyielding Hierophant space station. The fleet was a secret even to his fellow Hierarchs.

This fleet would have been powerful enough to easily overcome any defences the humans had and access the Portal. But it wasn't to be. A team of these 'Demons' had somehow infiltrated the Unyielding Hierophant, and were able to destroy it, foiling Truth's plans and delaying his planned assault. The Sangheili had once again failed to stop the humans.

The destruction of the Halo Ring, the most grievous sin of all enacted by the humans, had now come to pass, and again the Sangheili had failed to prevent it from happening.

Truth tugged absentmindedly at the wattle dangling from the corner of his mouth. Not only were the Sangheili incompetent, but that they were a race of heretics. He knew that, within their ranks, many had questioned the Covenant's motives for exterminating humanity. Indeed, Truth almostexpected that the Sangheili had allowed the humans to cause the Covenant to come to such standstills.

They were trying to delay the Great Journey, just as the humans were.

Truth knew that no matter what setbacks ailed the Covenant, it would still make the Journey, and all nonbelievers, the Sangheili included would be damned for their treason. Truth had plans to deal with the Sangheili, however.

The Jiralhanae, in contrast, lacked the foolish concepts of honor the Sangheili possessed. This, along with their blind faith to the Covenant's cause and their naturally fierce warrior prowess made them the perfect race to command the Covenant Military as they had no qualms over the Hierarch's orders. Truth's fleet had consisted of a crew staffed almost completely by Jiralhanae, as part of his grand design.

Truth was already planning for the ascension of the Jiralhanae, gradually replacing tasks the Sangheili had carried out with the Jiralhanae. He was devising a coup that would allow the Jiralhanae to become the military leaders of the Covenant. This would be carried out very soon.

Knowing of the intense rivalry between their races, Truth knew that the Jiralhanae would have no hesitation in carrying out his orders.

For now, the slaying of the heretic leader lurking on the Gas Mine in the gas giant Threshold's atmosphere near the Holy Rings remains, whose signal Truth had picked up would have to do. The blasphemer was spreading such insidious tales that members of the Covenant were revolting, flocking to his false cause. This was yet another source of treachery within the Sangheili.

Revelations such as these could cause the fragmentation of the Covenant, which Truth had worked so hard to not let come to pass. The heretic spoke of what the Forerunner Keyship's Oracle had told Truth so many years ago when he was the Minister of Fortitude. If these revelations came to be believed by the masses, it would spell destruction for the Covenant Empire.

The fool would need to be silenced, and that was where the disgraced Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice was to come in.

The Sangheili would be branded with the Mark of Shame, but instead of being killed, he would be brought to the Mausoleum of the Arbiter and be bestowed with the title of Arbiter. His failure to protect Halo meant that the Sangheili was more than appropriate for the title. He and a team of Sangheili would assassinate the heretic leader and the Arbiter would die in the process, with any luck. He would kill two birds with one stone.

With that, the High Prophet of Truth sent out the order that the Sangheili be brought to the Mausoleum of the Arbiter after his branding. The Prophet of Truth pressed a button on the armrest of his throne and the platform they were situated upon began to descend silently, as the two Hierarch's began their journey to the holy Mausoleum of the Arbiter to await the battered and tortured former Commander.