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Operation: False Prophets- Afterward
Posted By: Ian Barnes<panzerschreck15@netscape.net>
Date: 9 May 2002, 4:48 am


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    Historical excerpt taken from the historical textbook'Life of A Spartan', written in 2710. Details the events after Spartan-117left Earth with the Prophets, and the subsequent court martial.

Written by- Master Zærr

 The Master Chief arrived at the Covenant home world only minutesafter he left Earth. Flying into the world's atmosphere, Spartan-117 pilotedthe craft into the middle of a large square, in the middle sat a largestage. Obviously for speeches. Covenant ran for cover as the large craftset down in the town square.
    Spartan-117 exited the craft with his two hostages,and forced them to tap into every vid and holo-screen on the planet. Millionsof Covenant gathered around personal or public holo-screens, waiting patientlyas they believed their revered leaders were about to speak.
 Hundreds of Covenant troops rushed to the town square to aidtheir masters. Spartan-117 purportedly drew his weapon, threatening toassassinate the Prophets in plain view, even though the Master Chief publiclyadmitted at his court martial that he would have never dreamed of firing.
    Once Spartan-117 was assured all holos were linked,in a quick motion, reaching out with both arms, John tore the godlike exoskeletonsoff the Prophets. Electricity crackled and hydraulic fluid spilled as theCovenant leaders were revealed for who they really were. Lowly creatureswho had no connection with the so-called Covenant Gods.
    Everything went even better than the Master Chiefhad anticipated. In a moment of brash confidence, the Prophets had linkedtheir appearance to every holo in the entire Covenant Empire. Trillionsof Covenant witnessed the revealing of their unholy Prophets. Spartan-117claimed that the thousands of Covenant gathered before him sat motionlessfor minutes, soaking up the monumental revelation. Claiming to have snuckback on board and escaped with no resistance, the Master Chief returnedhome to face his court martial. Watching from a holo onboard, Spartan-117observed hordes of Jackals and Grunts assaulting their False Prophets,gnawing, clawing and slicing, until the bodies of their false messengersof god were horribly mutilated.

    At the trial of Spartan-117, his only defensewas the simple line, 'Before going into battle, would you cut off yourright arm, and leave it bloody on the floor? That is what you are doinghere!'
    The Master Chief had no chance of winning hiscase. He had been charged with seven counts of assault, two counts of enteringrestricted areas, and theft of UNSC property. Spartan-117 was sentencedto life in prison without parole. As the Chief was lead off in shackles,his last words were, 'Someday, the brightest of you will understand. Someday.'
    Spartan-117 was never heard from again. Meanwhile,the Covenant Empire was in a complete upheaval. Now that they had no trueleadership to direct them along their Golden Path of Righteousness, CovenantGenerals, Admirals, Counts, Dukes and Barons squabbled over what was theright path. Soon, small rebellious tribes turned into planetary sized factions,warring over who had interpreted the will of the gods correctly. Therewere fifteen major clans and several minor clans, some spread across ahundred worlds, while others only several. Billions died in their holyjihad. The Covenant juggernaut effectively gnawed itself to death. TheCovenant Civil War lasted decades, until the Covenant was a tiny emberof what used to be a roaring fire.
    Finally, after years of rebellion, the UNSC movedin with a completely rebuilt military, and finished off what was left ofthe Covenant, destroying various Covenant worlds with barrages of atomicweapons. With every world came a nuclear winter.
    Finally, the UNSC had wiped the galaxy cleanof the entire Covenant scourge, save one faction known as the 7th Clan.Disappearing from the galaxy, the lost Covenant clan vanished from allrecords and planets. They were effectively invisible, rebuilding up totheir previous might where one day, they might be returned to their formerglory, taking their revenge on all humans. But that is a story for anothertime and another age.


 Editors Note: After this document and the book it was foundin were authored, the writer, so-called Master Zærr, disappearedfrom all record books. No one had ever seen him or spoken to him. Somebelieve he was a fictional character, a writing alias. Many believe thedocument may have actually been written by an AI, while others follow different,more radical beliefs of the author.





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