Fira 'Demal (AAO)

Fira 'Demal is a Sangheili officer who served briefly in the before the in 2552. During the Sangheili's ensuring fallout during the Schism, he remained loyal to the Covenant separatists which later formed the Interspecies Union with the United Nations Space Comman. He is the cousin of Sona 'Demal and a close friend to Autel 'Vadam, and is known for his prejudice against the UNSC's .
Being born in the Demal family, Fira primarily spoke in Caelestem Gloriam, a less-commonly used language that everyone in his bloodline was familiar with. He could also speak in the Sangheili's predominant language, Honesta Sententia, and secondarily learned how to communicate in the human languages of English and German later in his life.
==Early Life==
===Childhood (2530—2548)===
Fira was born into the Demal Keep in 2530, as the son of Alma 'Ontom and an unknown father. As a member of a family that was well-known for its great number of warriors and tight-knit bond even in combat, he had a lot to live up to. As a child, Fira stood well when demonstrating the teachings passed down from his uncle Jeran 'Demal, but always found himself in a rivalry with his older cousin and Jeran's son, Sona. What was most frustrating was that while Fira tried to best him, Sona often had an air of indifference even during training, and could still come out on top. This would often frustrate Fira at first, but later their rivalry would become solidarity as both of them became older.
When the war against humanity continued to spread into their Inner Colonies in 2536, most of the soldiers from the Demal line were called along with thousands of other Sangheili to engage in battle with a platoon of SPARTAN-IIIs from Alpha Company. Among the four hundred thirty-seven members of the Demal family was Jeran. A few months later, only twenty-two Demal warriors made it back alive, and among them was not his uncle. Fira was assigned to train with a more distant relative, but refused and instead ran away from the keep. Sona went after him and found him five days later, and convinced the exhausted but still stubborn Fira to return. Reluctantly, he did so.
When Sona left the Demal keep in 2541 to join the military, Fira unexpectedly developed borderline depression, and isolated himself from the rest of his family. At the best of times, there were as many as four Demal warriors at the keep to train them, and at the worst, as few as one. Fira spent most of his time away from the elders and even his cousins, training mechanically with them but finding no passion in any of it. He began longing to join the military, if only to find something worth living for. He strongly believed that the Demals were well and truly cursed, and that if he killed the demons that had slaughtered his family, the surviving Demals would be saved.
===Military Training and First Betrayal of the Jiralhanae (2548—2552)===
Fira began his training at the military city Stoic Courier in 2548, and was assigned as a roommate to Autel 'Vadam. Although having become used to being alone by then, he found himself surprised at his initiative to befriend the albino and even more at how much he missed being in the close company of another Sangheili. The two quickly became friends during their four years of training. Fira had also taken the time to know two other recruits in particular, Warra 'Mantakr and 'Tullum; the three of them would often fight together in battles in later years.
One incident during Fira's training was when a Spartan, Randall-037, was discovered away from UNSC territory, captured, and taken to Stoic Courier for execution in 2551. The recruits had watched as the weakened Spartan was forced to fight off half a dozen Lekgolo in a massive arena. Although he was unarmoured and weaponless, he still managed to kill three of the Hunters before finally being overwhelmed and was beaten to death by the three remaining Hunters. While Autel had been shocked at the human's bare chances of survival, as well as the dishonourable and brutal nature of his death, Fira felt no remorse for Randall, believing that he had deserved to die because he was a Spartan.
When Tartarus and his Jiralhanae arrived at Stoic Courier in 2552 on orders from the , Fira was suspicious of their presence and smuggled two Plasma Pistols out of the training facility, giving one to Autel and keeping one for himself. Later that night, he was awakened by the sound of a close-quarters brawl between Autel and two Jiralhanae that had sneaked into their dormitory, he discovered that several recruits were killed in their sleep. Outraged, Fira accompanied Autel to Stoic Courier's main facility in an attempt to warn Field Master Bata 'Noromee. However, 'Noromee was at the time in Tartarus' presence, and a fight quickly ensued between the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae, which ended with Tartarus' escape and 'Noromee becoming mortally wounded. Upon discovering that Tartarus' cruiser headed for Sanghelios, Fira and Autel rallied a number of recruits and headed to a hangar bay to give chase. While Autel made it onto a dropship that flew for Sanghelios with all speed, Fira was separated and instead boarded a damaged dropship that landed on the moon Suban to make repairs.
Fira quickly convinced the recruits to return to Stoic Courier and free the Sangheili imprisoned there, and in the process, met then-Special Operations Officer , who allowed him to bring the imprisoned recruits aboard his corvette. Ironically, these recruits would later become heretics when 'Refumee's ship was forced into Slipstream space and arrived at the system following the destruction of . After freeing as many recruits as he could, Fira used three captured nuclear mines to overload Stoic Courier's reactors. Inconveniently, Jiralhanae captain Cerberus concurrently brought it into Slipspace, unaware of the danger the entire city was in. Fira launched an assault on the main facility with Warra and 'Tullum, killing Cerberus, freeing the last prisoners that they could find, and escaping in a pair of dropships after bringing Stoic Courier back to normal space in an unknown system.
===Battle of Earth and Battle of Installation 00 (2552—2553)===
Fira and the others ended up near the planet Substance, and more importantly, . Running out of supplies and breathable air, they landed on the ring and resided there for over a month. They had remained hidden even when the Prophet of Regret's ships entered the system, believing the Hierarch to be hostile towards them. However, when High Charity and the remainder of the Covenant Fleet arrived, Fira and the others entered the city and shortly afterwards were accepted as soldiers the Covenant.
Fira had been one of the Sangheili who had taken part in the First Battle of Earth. After fighting his way through a civilian district, he killed Nick and Hilary Abrams in a brief exchange-fire, but retained his sense of honour and spared their child. Shortly afterward, arrived at Earth and declared a complete truce between humanity and the Sangheili. Fira joined the rest of the separatists in the fight against the Covenant that had betrayed them. Later joined by Autel and several of his other friends, Fira was part of the squad that found 's Cartographer, and later the assault on the Citadel.
==Later Life==
===War Against the Fallen (2553—2567)===
By 2559, Fira had been promoted to Major. An anti-UNSC separatist group called The Fallen declared open war against the Interspecies Union. Its leader, Isto 'Vadum, ordered the kidnapping of hundreds of Sangheili newborns and took them to Earth as an act of deceit to drive apart the still-fragile bond between humans and Sangheili. During a mission where he and Autel tried to rescue a group of the abducted children, Fira was wounded by a plasma grenade that was meant for the newborns. Suffering severe injuries, many of which caused his blood vessels to burst open and destroyed one of his hearts, Fira fell into a coma and was placed in medical care at the Demal Keep. He survived the procedure, and regained consciousness shortly after Isto was killed and the newborns recovered.
===Hunt For Mallanus and Assembly With Phoenix Team (2567—2570)===
By 2567, Fira had reached the rank of Ultra and was one of the many Sangheili teams assigned to fight the Fallen presence on the planet of Cordial Harmony. The team soon encountered a Fallen squad terrorizing a group of humans working at a hospital; when a young Sangheili swordsman, Tuka 'Refum, attempted to intervene by killing one of the Fallen soldiers and engaging in a duel with another. When he gained the upper hand against his opponent, he was shot by one of the other Fallen. At that time, Fira and his team stepped in. The fight ended with the Fallen Minors were killed and the Major was captured and to be interrogated. Fira ensured that the unconscious swordsman's injuries were treated, and when Tuka woke up, discovered that he was the son of Sesa 'Refumee. Hearing of his plan to find Tuka's old friend, Simon-G294, and kill the Jiralhanae chieftain Mallanus, Fira decided to help him. They were also joined by one of the medics at the hospital, Cassandra-G006, who was an old friend of Simon.
Fira travelled with Tuka and Cassandra to the planet of Gamma-13 to find Simon-G294. They signed themselves on as hired guns, and were soon caught in one of the planet's many skirmishes. In one encounter, Fira fought in intense close combat against an infamous mercenary named David Kahn. The fight left both with numerous injuries and for Kahn to escape in an uncharacteristic bid for survival. After Mallanus' death, Fira offered Tuka a position on his team as a soldier, which he accepted.
In 2568, Fira met SPARTAN-III Delta Company's Phoenix Team, to which Peec-D1074, the human child he had spared, was a part of. Fira's usual distrust of humans increased when they had to fight alongside the Spartans, despite Autel's attempts to maintain peace between the two. By his sixth sense, Peec immediately knew who Fira was, and his long-time grudge resurfaced. The tension broke not long after when Fira fought Peec hand-to-hand, which ended in the two pulling guns on one another. Autel and Wings-D339, Phoenix Team's leader, found them at that point and stepped in, but not before Peec's combat knife ended up in Fira's rib cage. He healed sufficiently afterward but the still remained resentful of the Spartan.
When Fira went down to the surface of an unknown planet with his team and Phoenix, they ran into a powerful Jiralhanae named the Judicator. The Chieftain quickly managed to incapacitated Autel and nearly killed Fira. Both Sangheili were saved thanks to Wings. Fira did not acknowledge this deed at first, but eventually gave way to his grudging shame and unreasonable hatred, and became more open to the Spartans afterwards.
==Final Years==
===Beta-14 Incident and Following Events (2570—2573)===
When a Sangheili pro- faction called the Path Walkers were discovered on a Forerunner planet in 2570, Fira was sent there when negotiations between them and the Interspecies Union turned into a bloody firefight. Upon hearing that a possible ex-Spartan had killed a member of Delta Company and kidnapped an important member of the Path Walkers, he and Tuka joined Felix-116 to find the culprit. Fira located the kidnappers first, who turned out to be none other than Simon and Kahn. While Felix gave chase to Kahn, Fira and Tuka headed off Simon and managed to corner him. Disgusted by the mercenary's atrocious acts, Fira prepared to kill him, but at Tuka's pleading, he spared the Spartan and let him go. He would later come to regret this decision when the kidnapped Path Walker was not found and their leader, Urei 'Cazal, declared war upon the Interspecies Union.
By 2572, Fira had earned the rank of Field Master. Still trying to let go of his past, he agreed to Wings' idea to deal with the persisting problem and accompanied Peec to find out about the Spartan's former life. After heading from Earth to , they located his older siblings, Calvin and Marina Morley, as well as Jess, their great-aunt (and unbeknownst to Peec, Felix's spouse), all of whom were serving in the . Shortly afterward, the pair found themselves fighting against Path Walker forces, and helped the Marine battalion repel them. After a long siege, Fira also helped a group of Marines secure a Forerunner artifact. During this time, he had gotten to know Peec and his family well, and fought alongside them without falter. They were later joined by the rest of Phoenix Team, who had also been sent to protect the artifact.
===Death (2573)===
Fira helped Peec with consulting a Precursor AI with the artifact, but were forced to hide it somewhere safe as Covenant forces swarmed the system. The two went separate ways in an attempt to divert the attention of the enemy, but Peec's location was given away by the artifact and he was pinned down by the Judicator. While on board Sona's ship, engaging the Covenant in space, Fira managed to deploy his team and make it to the surface with his squad. They quickly cut through a shipbreaking yard near an old plutonium mine where Peec was holding out, and reached his location to fight off the Jiralhanae. However, the Judicator soon arrived, and not wanting to waste the lives of his fellow Sangheili, Fira ordered them to leave and remained with Peec to fight off the massive Chieftain. He managed to save Peec and the artifact, and forced the Judicator to run, but had exerted all his strength and become fatally injured in the heavy fight. In his final moments, Fira briefly reflected upon his life and made a final reconciliation with Peec before succumbing to his wounds.
==Promotions==
{| class="toccolours" align="left" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2" style="border-collapse: collapse;"	 	
 Rank 	 Rank 	 Dates 
 	Minor Domo 	2552—2555
 	Major Domo 	2555—2560
 	Ultra 	2560—2568
 	Zealot Minor 	2568—2571
 	Field Master 	2571—2573