Pious Transgression, Illuminated Consecration

Both the Arbiter and Prophet of Mercy observed the holo-table as it displayed the destruction of the fleet-master's phantom. This was an act of war, there was no doubt. The negotiations was the only thing holding the Covenant fleet back. The Prophet simply muttered; "A shame." before nodding at The Arbiter. He knew what to do. While the negotiations had gone on, he'd formulated an aggressive, fast paced plan. Ships within the fleet began changing formations. Smaller transport frigates alongside escorts began descending upon Aurora, dispersing over the planet-side. Their task was easy; clean the planet of taint. While a planet-wide invasion was in the works, three battle-groups was formed. One to hold their position, one to initiate a blockade of Aurora and the last one would search for the Destiny Ascendant. To conduct such dis-honourable actions couldn't go unpunished. A group of five Battle-cruisers and one Assault Carrier began their way with great speed to scout the system. If they had luck, the Ship couldn't have gotten far. 

The Arbiter had, with the blessing of the Prophet, sent a Strike-Group to the Vault. This Strike-Group consisted of Zealots and Ultras. The elite of the Sangheili. 

[hr]

Aurora, within the Vault. 

Tartarus and his pack put up a good fight, despite their significantly lesser numbers. The rather confined space made the following-conflict a cluster-of-confusion. The Jiralhanae took this to their advantage. But in the end, most of Tartarus' pack laid dead on the floor. Only four, including Tartarus survived the ordeal. All injured in some way or another. The Chieftain of the pack regained consciousness  when a Genshati stomped on his chest. Still suffering from the unconsciousness, Tartarus didn't get a full image of the situation at first. But his vision quickly recovered, making the magnificent room visible for him. The dead littered around him, of both friend and foe. Then he heard the Hirule speak.

[i]"I must see to final preparations. If you imbeciles have learnt anything from the death of your comrades, you won't try anything stupid until I come back." [/i]

The anger within Tartarus begun to rise, a dangerous anger. The Jiralhanae species are known for the frenzy when seeing their pack-members die. But the Chieftain knew better than to fall victim to the frenzy. His only objective now was to find a way to make this go in his fortune. His inaction proved some fruit, as he heard some static chatter from the surface. Tartarus could only assume the forces on the surface had made their way into the Vault. 

"Tartar-...We've infiltra-...The Vault-...Engineers-...Hacking into-....The System."

Only time would tell if the Covenant forces would be able to access the Genshati systems.