Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss

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Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss is one of several short-stories in Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe. It tells the story of an ONI operative named Connor Brien, who is sent to a Jiralhanae-captured human world, Beta Gabriel, only to find himself the subject of their violent sports. Noticing unrest in the local Brute hierarchy, Brien conspires with fellow captives to make an escape while the Brutes argue among themselves. It was written by Eric Raab.

Plot Synopsis

Learning of the Jiralhanae invasion of Beta Gabriel, Connor Brien was granted permission to land on the planet and study their behavior. He is caught by a group of Brute hunters while he observes from a tree, and is brought back to their encampment around a landed Covenant vessel, the Valorous Salvation. While there he witnesses the slow breakdown of the pack's unity.

The pack is in fact the product of two seperate packs which had recently been merged by the Covenant leadership. The two clans were ancient enemies that had fought even before the massive civil war that had knocked the Jiralhanae back to a pre-industrial state. Naturally led to tensions in the two factions with the pack. One clan, led by brothers Ceretus and Maladus, felt themselves to be the more intelligent faction of the pack, and their devout religious beliefs were more in line with those of the Prophets. The other faction, led by pack Chieftain Parabum, believed only in muscle and tradition, and used relics in more opportunistic and disrespectful ways.

During the Fall of Reach Parabum exhibited cowardice when he ordered the ship to retreat from the massive attack and instead landed on the nearby Beta Gabriel. When they first arrived on the planet they hunted the humans they found there and feasted like never before. As the number of humans dwindled they ate the Unggoy who had been aboard the ship, and Parabum instituted limits on hunting and eating the humans.

Shortly afterward Maladus snapped and challenged Parabum over his cowardice and abandonment of their duties to the Covenant. However, Parabum was stronger and mercilessly pummeled him into submission before tearing his throat out with his teeth. This only serves to further enrage Ceretus.

When O'Brien is brought to the Brute encampment he finds the remaining human captives in a wretched state. One of the captives is a prominent religious figure named Dasc Gevadim who had hidden away on Beta Gabriel to increase the devotion of his followers, who were led to believe he had transcended. The restless Brutes of Ceretus's hunting party kill one of the captives, Hague, for fun, however when Parabum's hunting party returns he is annoyed and embarasses Ceretus in front of the others.

Ceretus then begins plotting to overthrow Ceretus, but he has no hope of beating the chieftain in a direct challenge. Instead Ceretus tries to convince another Brute, Hammadus, who is the only one strong enough to defeat Parabum. He does so by using Hammadus's brother Facius, and arguing that they need to overthrow Parabum, return to the Covenant, and beg the gods for forgiveness or else face damnation.

As a leading UNSC expert on Jiralhanae recognizes that if he could somehow exploit the underlying tensions and pit them against each other, he and his fellow captives will have a chance to escape. He identifies Parabum and Ceretus (or "Big Boy" and "Six" respectively, as he nicknames them) as the alpha males of the group, and in the event of a confrontation plans to tranquilize them both and in the chaos escape.

Ceretus gets Facius to try to convince Parabum to return to the Covenant, with Hammadus promising to protect his brother. When Hammadus speaks to Parabum however, the chieftain responds by saying that there are no gods, causing Ceretus to erupt with pious indignation. Parabum kills Ceretus with his Gravity Hammer before being tranquilized along with Facius by Brien. Chaos reigns, however only Brien and Dasc are able to escape. They make it back to Brien's camp where Dasc shoots Brien in the head with his own M6 pistol before help can arrive in order to preserve the secret of his disappearance, preferring that one man die so that the faith of millions can be preserved. Afterward UNSC reinforcements arrive, and though they find no human survivors they slaughter the remaining Brutes. Dasc hides from them, and wanders amongst the corpses, feeling utterly forlorn.

Characters

• Connor Brien
• Ceretus a.k.a. "Six"
• Parabum a.k.a. "Big Boy"
• Maladus
• Facius a.k.a. "Butch"
• Hammadus a.k.a. "Ludo"
• Dasc Gevadim
• Hague
• Jupentus
• Brunus
• Golubus
• Nixaliz
• Vern