Gaius

Gaius is a Jiralhanae who lived during the Covenant's 9th Age of Reclamation, serving the hegemony in their War of Annihilation against Humanity. Part of the loyalist forces used to occupy Earth, he would fight the humans across the planet before being left behind when the ark portal activated. In the aftermath, he and his surviving pack mates would attempt to leave the world.
===Early Life===
Born on the Covenant frontier colony of Unyielding Endurance in 2527, Gaius belonged to a Vheiloth Jiralhanae clan that operated a mining factory for a local Sangheili keep.The eldest of four children and with his father as a foreman of the facility, the cub's early years were often spent helping his mother raise his younger siblings. In his free time, he would hunt small game alongside his siblings for family meals, or listen to his grandfather's tales of his time on Doisac before the Covenant's arrival.
On entering adolescence, Gaius would join his father on his hunting expeditions, learning various ways to survive in the wild. While most was used by the pack itself, more exotic meats were brought to a local inn favored by both Jiralhanae and Sangheili. Here, Gaius would meet and befriend the owners' son, a Sangheili youth by the name of Verk. Having a talent for crafting flavorful dishes, the youth's food would quickly gain favor with Gaius. In return, the cub would bring him various meats to work with, and entertain him with tall tales of combating the various vicious beasts of the forests.
Enthralled by these tales, Verk would request Gaius to help teach him the way of the hunt, to which the Jiralhanae would accept. In return, the Sangheili would show Gaius how to make his favorite recipes. Verk would happily agree to this deal and over the following months, the pair would educate the other in their craft. Thanks to this, Verk would soon be allowed to join his friend on the hunts. As they grew older, the two would soon be entrusted in dealing with more dangerous animals, with Gaius's father even granting them the use of a modified banshee, used in taking down prey too dangerous for normal groups. 
Over several training exercises with the craft Gaius would begin to show a particular aptitude with the vehicle, even once managing the feat of downing a large Cloud-Skipper that had harassed local merchant craft. 
By his mid-teens Gaius and his fellow youths of his clan would be selected to partake in the Festival of Blooding, an annual event that saw the planet's numerous Jiralhanae clans compete against one another for the honor of serving within the Covenant military. Following a grueling week of trials and tests against rival packs, he'd emerge among the survivors as victorious. His family, along with Verk, would celebrate this occasion, with his grandfather granting him the gift of a newly crafted Kewu R'shi'k-pattern plasma rifle, which the Jiralhanae youth would treasure.
===Academy Years===
Joining a nearby war college, Gaius would find himself having to constantly prove his worth to his Sangheili overseers and peers. While most saw him as little better than a barbarian, his talents in piloting, alongside his unwavering devotion to his team mates, would gain him some respect. In other combat scenarios, Gaius would prove an excellent combatant during ground assaults, using his plasma rifle to great effect.
=== Military Service ===
By April 2552, Gaius was placed within the penitence fleet of Promised Glory, serving onboard the Sinaris-pattern destroyer, Journey's Enlightenment. As the newest member of the ship's twenty-strong Jiralhanae pack, Gaius would be tested in combat against four other Minors to judge his worth. Managing to best two of his opponents, he was rewarded proper armor, and placed under the command of a Rh'tol Captain-Major named Haverum. Service under Haverum proved grating, as the Officer held no reverence for the Forrunners or their technology. Likewise, the Sangheili of the ship, despite their status as shamed warriors, still considered Gaius and his pack as lesser. Despite these setbacks, he would gain favor from an Ultra Jirahanae named Darius. Taking on an almost mentor-like roll, Darius would teach the younger Jiralhanae on how to best serve the pack and the Chieftain.
==== Quelling of the seventh Unggoy Disturbance on Tribute's Harmony====
In July 2552, the fleet would be called upon to handle a group of rebels on the Unggoy thrall world of Tribute's Harmony. Having recently uncovered a forerunner relic within a digsite, a large gathering of the the workers had slain their leaders and fortified themselves within the digsite in an attempt to claim the god-machine for themselves. While the mission was originally met for the fleet's Sangheili, it would be at the persuasion of the fleet's San'Shyuum Cleric that the Jiralhanae would instead be chosen to handle the task. Deployed at one of the entrances to the forerunner facility, the Jiralhanae of Journey's Enlightenment were able to clear out and secure the area. While the Chieftain led his Captains further in, he'd leave Darius in charge of Gaius and the rest of the pack to maintain security outside. Not long after a new force of Unggoy and Kig-Yar rebel reinforcements would begin to arrive, natives who had decided to throw in their support. While the pack was able to hold off the enemy troops with their vehicles, heavy weapons brought to bare would manage to destroy several. 
Taking a Carbine, Gaius would eliminate these Unggoy, with his packmates using grenade launchers and spikers to slay those who came too close. The Chieftain and his Officer would eventually return, proving a rallying force for the covenant forces, and demoralizing the newly arrived rebels, who would attempt to surrender. Instead, Carnarum would order the gathered throng killed wholesale, to be made an example of those who would betray the Covenant so easily.
====Schism within the fleet====
During refueling operations in September 2552, news would arrive of the Covenant had finally discovered one of the Sacred Rings. Gaius would celebrate alongside his pack mates, joining in days-long feasts and sports,these festivities would prove short-lived. The arrival of the Kerel-pattern carrier, Pious Devotion, would bring tragic news of Halo's destruction. A representative of the Hierarch onboard the carrier would also reveal a new edict, calling for the fleet's Sangheili were to resign from their stations and grant these positions to the Jiralhanae. Shortly after this revelation, Gaius and other members of his pack would come under attack by the ship's Sangheili crew. Fighting off the attackers, Gaius would report the sudden betrayal to Haverum.
The Captain-Major would reveal that the fleet had fallen into internecine conflict, with the Fleetmaster declaring the Hierarch's edict a breaking of the Writ of Union. Thinking this to be a coup, he had ordered his men to kill the perceived traitors. Ordered to secure the hanger, Gaius and his pack mates would be joined shortly by Darius and a trio of Stalker commandos, who assisted in the task of protecting the area. During this time, the Pious Devotion would begin sending out additional troops to assist the heavily outnumbered Jiralhanae.
As allied forces arrived, Gaius would join them in a push to the ship’s command center, where he would witness Haverum dueling the Ship master, with the Captain-Major ultimately winning the battle. Those Sangheili who remained on the ship rallied at the engine room, in an attempt to destroy the reactors. This plan would fail, as the room was simply sealed, and the air evacuated, suffocating the traitors. Over the next few hours, the fleet would fall under full command of Jiralhanae forces, with the station following suit. Once this was complete, the Pious Devotion would set itself as the new flagship of the fleet, taking them to Doisac for further re-armament and replenishment of soldiers.
===The Battle of Sol===
====Landing Site Ambush====
By early November of 2552, the fleet of Promised Glory would be among those Jiralhanae forces called upon to join in the Covenant's continued assault on the Human homeworld, Earth. Managing to combat orbital defenses, Journey's Enlightenment would deploy the pack alongside several Unggoy and Kig-Yar levies to secure a fuel depot near the dig site of the ark portal. Here Gaius would have his first taste of combat against the enemy when a group of ODST troopers ambushed the contingent via drop pods. Holding station on a deployed tower near the supplies and vehicles, Gaius would snipe several members of the attacking force, managing to save ' life in the process. As the battle progressed though, he would be forced to abandon the tower when one of the humans attempted to kill the entire pack by targeting one of the fuel tanks.
The resulting explosion destroyed the vehicles, and slew several Jiralhanae and their underlings. Enraged at this embarrassment, Haverum would go on a rampage, charging the few Humans remaining and ripping them to pieces. In the aftermath Gaius would manage to find a communication device from one of the bodies, giving it to an Unggoy knowledgeable in the alien tongue. With this they were able to counter several other attacks by the human forces in the following hours. 
====Skirmish within Voi====
A week into their arrival, Gaius and the rest of the pack would be sent to Voi, one of the Covenant strongholds emerging in the region. During a night patrol Gaius, alongside Darius and others would come under attack by a group of ONI soldiers donned in SPI armor. 
===Battle of New Mombasa===
In the final days of the conflicts on Earth, Gaius would be stationed in the ruins of New Mombasa. Here they would celebrate the arrival of the Keyship,and mourn the loss its presence implied.
===Post-War===
===Personality and Traits===
Considered loyal to a fault, Gaius was a devoted soldier to the Covenant, seeing the hegemony as saving his people from perpetual barbarity. While holding no resentment for the Sangheili serfs he grew up among during his youth, Gaius despised Sangheili Commanders, seeing them as arrogant and too willing to cast aside their underlings. 
Category:Jiralhanae