Success

By Kool Killer

Authors note: This story ties into my other story FAILURE, to get a better idea of what is happening you should read chapters three, four and five.

The SilverSides, UNSC Destroyer 8/4/2540 4:01am

Sergeant Shelly Parkins smirked cynically at private Calla Anderson while she slept. Shellys' green eyes were filled with anger and irritation. The truth was Shelly kind of hated Calla already. Shelly had been married once, but that deadbeat of a husband had left her for another girl. The girl had blonde hair, blue eyes, and she looked a lot like Calla. The sergeant fumed while she watched Calla sleep. A small smug little smile was creeping up from the sides of Callas' mouth. Shelly held her rage in until she thought she would scream bloody murder. Then in a flash, Shelly darted over to Calla and grabbed the side of her bed. With a strong flip, Shelly sent the bed toppling over with an unaware private still on it.

Calla flopped to the ground with a thud as her bed landed over her.

"What the HELL!" Calla shouted flipping the bed off herself and then she stood up immediately. Calla didn't have to look far to see her assailant. Sergeant Shelly was standing at parade rest with her hands behind her back. Shelly sneered at Calla; her green eyes were narrowed and held nothing but contempt. Calla wanted to deck Shelly right in the face and humiliate her. Calla knew she could take Shelly in hand to hand combat, since she had been trained not only by the rebels but by the UNSC as well. However, doing such a thing to a superior would earn her a spot in the brig. Shelly could tell that Calla was thinking about taking a swing at her, but that would land her in a military prison. Calla knew this, so she relaxed her fists that were balled, and then she stood up straight. Calla glared at Shelly and voiced her tittle with repulsion. "SERGEANT!" Callas' blue eyes turned ice cold while she stared at Shelly.

"PRIVATE!" Shelly matched Callas' disgust with her own and then she briefly glared back. Calla gave Shelly a fake smile and asked a question in pure sarcasm.

"So Sergeant, what twisted duties are you going to make me perform today?" Calla had a stare down with Shelly. Shelly jumped into Callas' face and went back into drill sergeant mode, like the day before.

"ARE YOU FUCKING HIGH SOLDIER, DON'T YOU EVER SPEAK UNTIL SPOKEN TOO YOU GRUNGY LITTLE MAGGOT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME PRIVATE! Shelly screamed. Calla just stood there, unfazed by her sergeants' verbal attacks. Shelly wasn't the first drill sergeant Calla had come into contact with, and she doubted Shelly would be her last.

"Yes SERGEANT!" Calla replied with quickness. Upon seeing Callas' submission, Shelly instantly relaxed and stood back at parade rest.

"I have some very fun duties for you to perform, Private, now follow me," Shelly ordered as she turned on a dime and marched out of the barracks. Calla followed Shelly down different hallways, and then they reached an elevator. Shelly pushed the call button, then she turned and faced Calla. Shelly didn't say a word; she just stood there smiling sinisterly at Calla while they waited for the elevator. The elevator arrived and the doors opened up. Shelly and Calla stepped into the elevator and rode it down to the repair bay.

The doors to the elevator opened, revealing a huge repair bay, which was filled with pelican's, warthog's and even a couple scorpion tanks. There were no mechanics in the repair bay yet, but that wasn't a big surprise since it was FOUR IN THE MORNING! Calla walked out of the elevator with Shelly, the doors to the elevator closed, leaving Calla alone with her evil sergeant. Calla followed Shelly to the back of the repair bay. Calla didn't have to follow Shelly long before she saw the mess of the century. Twenty industrial sized oil drums were scattered about leaving a thick black mess everywhere. Shelly turned on a dime and faced Calla with an impossibly wide smile. "Your duty for today is to get this shit cleaned," Shelly gestured over at the oil drums with her left hand while keeping her right hand behind her back. "I want all this crap cleaned up and those oil drums stacked neatly no later than seven hundred hours, understood private," Shelly sneered wickedly at Calla.

"YES SERGEANT!" Calla replied without emotion. Shelly nodded then pulled a toothbrush out of her pocket. Shelly handed the toothbrush to Calla with haste.

"What am I supposed to do with this sergeant?" Calla asked confused, looking the toothbrush over.

"That is your cleaning utensil," Shelly replied firmly. Callas' mouth opened up in horror.

"Are you kidding me sergeant!?" Calla nearly shouted in disbelief. Shelly grinned at Calla before she spoke up.

"You know, you're right, give me that toothbrush," Shelly ordered with her hand held out. Calla happily gave Shelly back the toothbrush. Calla knew there was no way in hell she would be able to clean this gaping mess up with a flimsy toothbrush. Shelly put the toothbrush back into her pocket and pulled something else out.

"I realize that a toothbrush would be insufficient to get this job done, so here's a q tip," Shelly tossed the q tip at Calla and she caught it before it fell into the oil spill. Calla cringed as she held the ear cleaning tool up to her face. Calla looked back at Shelly and she had a dead serious look on her face. Calla looked back at the q tip, she was better off with the toothbrush.

"Can I have the toothbrush back Sergeant?" Calla asked with irritation. Shelly laughed at Callas' response, and then she replied.

"No, but there is a mop, a scrub brush, rags and cleaning solutions in that utility closet," Shelly pointed at the door to the right of Calla. Calla sighed in relief, thinking Shelly might have been serious just now.

"Thank you sergeant," Calla responded, much relived.

"I may be a hard ass, but I'm not unreasonable, get the job done private," Shelly ordered.

"Yes sergeant!" Calla replied. Shelly turned and started to walk away. Calla waited for Shelly to leave the repair bay before she started to clean up the ungodly mess. Calla took extra care not to get any oil on her elite skin boots. The job went a lot faster with the cleaning supplies. Calla had managed to finish cleaning and stacking the oil drums with five minutes to spare. Calla stood back and admired her cleaning detail. Calla smiled proudly before she slumped up against one of the scorpion tanks and slid down into a sitting position.

Calla sighed and chuckled to herself. It was true that Shelly was a hard ass, but at least she had a sense of humor. Calla retrieved the q tip and held it up to her eyes. Calla laughed out loud while she shook her head. Then Calla put the q tip back into one of her pockets. Calla looked at her watch, it was six fifty eight. Calla didn't want to be seen by Shelly relaxing so she stood up and faced the elevator at attention. Right on the mark, the elevator doors opened up and Shelly strode in exactly at seven am. Shelly walked towards Calla and stopped five feet from her. Calla stood at attention. This time, Shelly gave Calla a friendly look.

"Good job private, I could have done it better though," Shelly stated as she checked out Callas' clean up job.

"Thank you, sergeant," Calla replied, with a hint of annoyance. Shelly looked over at Calla, and she smiled. Calla was sort of stunned at first, this wasn't an evil smile, it was a sincere one.

"Why don't you go and take a shower, then meet me in the mess hall for some breakfast Calla," Shelly asked, she did not order, and she addressed Calla by her name. Calla was bewildered at Shelly's' sudden change of heart, it was as if a spirit of peace came over her.

"Are you feeling okay sergeant?" Calla asked, unsure of Shelly's true intentions.

"Of course I am Calla, why do you ask?" Shelly responded, with a bit of cheer in her voice. She just addressed Calla by her name again, instead of her rank.

"The reason why I ask is because, up until now, you've wanted to tear my head off," Calla told Shelly how she really felt, without sugar coating it. Shelly seemed to like Callas' bluntness and she released an innocent chuckle.

"Well that's because I can now see that you are not a pushover, I told you to get this cleaning done in a very short amount of time, and that's exactly what you did," Shelly paused, then continued. "Twenty used oil drums in a little under three hours, and the floor was cleaned spotless, that is fucking impossible for most others, so it is obvious that you are a hard worker," Shelly pointed at Calla.

"Yeah, I guess, but I have cleaned many oil drums before sergeant," Since Calla had spent a lot of time being a mechanic; she had learned many neat cleaning tricks.

"Calla, when other people are not around you can address me by my name," Shelly said as she checked inside one of the oil drums, it was so clean, it practically shined.

"Very well, Shelly," Calla was now very wary of her sergeant, maybe she was bipolar, one side of her is evil, and the other is kind?

"Thank you Calla, now go and take your shower and report immediately to the mess hall, understood private," Shelly ordered in a lenient manner, and she said the word private with slight sarcasm.

"Yes sergeant Parkins!" Calla returned her own sense of humor. Calla turned and left the repair bay in search for the showers. While Calla walked down the halls she whistled a song her mother had sang to her when she was a child. The song was very relaxing for Calla. Calla stopped by the ships outfitter and picked up a fresh uniform before she left for the showers. Calla was able to find her way around the ship pretty easily with help from the ships AI, Zig.

"And you take a right here and the showers are directly to your left, may I be of assistance in any other way, Private Anderson?" Zig asked, he had a humors attitude, no doubt reflecting captain Dogartts' mind set.

"That will be all Zig, thank you for your help," Calla said as she made her way into the women's shower area. The shower room was huge, and very nice. All the showers had their own personal mirrors and the walls of the showers were eight feet tall, specifically designed to keep proverts away, professional perverts. It was clear that the captains' bonuses had found their way to every part of the SilverSides.

Calla put her new uniform on a bench outside of the shower she was going to occupy. Then Calla took off her greased up uniform along with her specialty boots, and she placed them down on the bench neatly. Calla walked into the shower and slid the curtain over for privacy. Calla looked at herself in the shower mirror. Calla was twenty three, but she had the body of a nineteen year old. Calla had the perfect build; she was neither underweight nor overweight. Her skin was a tan color. Calla had spent a lot of time outside in the sun as a kid, and as an adult too. She was five ten in height, which was pretty tall for most females. Callas' deep blue eyes complemented her short spiky blond hair. Calla kept her hair short for a reason. She remembered one girl was working on a warthog and her hair had gotten caught in the fan belt, If Calla hadn't been there, that poor girl would have lost her hair and her scalp too. Calla shuddered not wanting to imagine the bloody mess that would have caused.

Calla turned on the shower and Ice cold water hit her bosom. She shirked and jumped back immediately. When the ice cold water had hit Calla it felt like a thousand daggers striking her. Soon the water became hot and steam drifted towards Calla. The steam was Beckoning Calla to let it envelop her in warmth. Calla accepted the steams invitation and entered the steady stream of hot water. Calla sighed happily as the water cascaded down her shoulders, taking the impurities with it. Calla grabbed a soap bar that had a sweet scent to it. Then she started to lather her body up with the soap. Calla steeped back into the hot water and let it wash the suds away. Calla finished cleaning herself and turned the water off. Calla looked in the mirror and admired her wet body. "Damn your hot girl," Calla praised herself before she grabbed a towel and dried off.

Calla left the shower and put on her new uniform. Then she slipped on her special boots and tied them tightly. Calla left the shower room feeling refreshed. The next order of business was to eat breakfast with her bipolar sergeant. Calla started to walk to the cafeteria; she did not need Zig's help since Blake had shown her where it was. Maybe I might see Blake there, Calla thought to herself. That thought make Calla walk a little bit faster.

Calla was not ten feet from the cafeteria when a massive shockwave passed through the SilverSides. Calla grabbed the hallway wall for support. The ship became deathly quiet, not even the air conditioning units could be heard. Without warning, the ships PA system came on; the Captain was the one speaking.

"Slip space rupture! The enemies are here boys, everyone to their posts now!" Captain Dogartt sounded like he was ready for a fight. The doors to the cafeteria flew open as different crew members ran out like bats out of hell. Calla even saw Blake dart out of the cafeteria followed by the lieutenant and corporal he had brought to the SilverSides. Blake didn't see Calla in the stampede of personal as he ran straight towards the bridge. Calla stood frozen unsure of what to do until Shelly ran out of the cafeteria. Shelly ran up to Calla with a plate that was filled with tasty looking sausages and crispy bacon.

"You're going to have a quick breakfast Calla, we are going to the armory," Shelly said, and then she handed the plate over to Calla. Calla ate her breakfast quickly while she ran to the armory with Shelly. The sausage and bacon was to die for, she just might actually. Calla was starting to like Shelly, just a little though. By the time Calla and Shelly had reached the armory, Calla had finished her breakfast. Calla entered the armory with Shelly and she set her plate down. There were many crew members arming up in case they were boarded by the covenant forces nearby. Before Calla could form an opinion on her situation, Shelly handed her a M24OB heavy machine gun that used a seven point six two by fifty one millimeter round. The Heavy machine gun fired a glazed green tipped depleted uranium bullet; the round would knock a hunter right on its ass. This was the type of weapon you fired at someone while saying, SIT THE FUCK DOWN! Calla was instantly in love with the firearm, she hugged it tightly.

"I thought you would like that, but set it down for a second and put this thing on," Shelly handed Calla a bullet proof vest. Calla put it on hesitantly, knowing it was not plasma proof. While Calla was fastening the vest to her chest, Blake entered the armory followed by the corporal from earlier. Blake immediately spotted Calla and ran over to her.

"Hey Calla, It looks like you're ready for a fight," Blake smiled and nodded to her heavy machine gun. Calla blushed a little and responded.

"I sure hope so," Calla smiled weakly back at Blake; she knew that covenant encounters never ended well.

"Hey, don't worry Calla, you are going to knock them on their asses with that thing," Blake placed a reassuring hand on Callas' shoulder. Before Calla could respond to Blake the corporal hollered over to him.

"Blake, get over here and take these assault rifles man, the captain needs us back right away!" The corporal was busy throwing as many shotguns as he could hold over his shoulders.

"Alright James, I'll be right there," Blake replied, and then he looked back at Calla.

"Take care of yourself Blake," Calla in a sudden motion, wrapped her arms around Blake and snuck a kiss in on his cheek. Blake blushed and hugged her back.

"Uhh, I will be fine Calla, you just be sure keep your head down," Blake broke out of Callas embrace and ran over to a rack that held assault rifles. Blake grabbed as many of the assault rifles as humanly possible and left the armory with James, not before he gave Calla a quick salute. Like last time, Blake left before Calla could return the salute. Shelly had seen Callas' display of affection and she spoke up.

"So, is he your boyfriend?" Shelly asked. Calla could sense the jealousy in her voice.

"No, he's just a friend, and since we might not make it out of here alive, I thought I would give him a little treat," Calla grinned at her sergeant. Shelly smirked back at Calla and replied.

"Oh I think we are going to be just fine," Shelly said as she secured a MG36, a decedent from the Germans' MG42. The MG36 used a five point five six by forty five millimeter round. The light machine gun fired a hardened red tipped incendiary tracer bullet. The MG36 bullet was smaller and did not have quite as much stopping power as the M24OB heavy machine gun, but MG36 made up for that in rate of fire. The MG36 could fire one thousand two hundred rounds a minute; literally, this light machine gun would turn whoever was on the receiving end of it into Swiss cheese. The fact that MG36 was also loaded with incendiary ammunition made it even more deadly since the bullets would continue to burn inside their targets, causing unimaginable agony.

"You know what, I think we are going to be just fine," Calla said while she lifted her metal baby up and held it lovingly. Shelly did the same to hers' and then she tossed Calla a helmet. Calla didn't know what it was about helmets, but when she wore them she felt invincible. Calla planted the helmet firmly on her head and fastened the chin strap down snuggly. Shelly fastened her helmet down too.

"Alright Calla, let's kick some ass!" Shelly shouted, earning cheers from other crew members that were still arming up.

"Hell yeah!" Calla yelled, getting in touch with her dark side. Shelly led the way out of the armory with Calla following close behind.

"Are we heading to the docking bay?" Calla asked with excitement.

"No, there will be plenty of personal to hold the primary docking bay, we are going to the rear of the ship to secure the secondary docking bay, my guess is the covenant will probably split their invasion teams up," Shelly responded.

"Don't you think they will just destroy our ship with plasma?" Calla questioned.

"In the beginning of the war I would say yes, but now that they know our numbers are much greater than they had first anticipated, I would say no," Shelly huffed and drew new air into her lungs, her light machine gun wasn't very light. "They probably want to end this war just as quickly as we do, so there is a very high chance that they will invade this ship to gather any Intel they can to find the rest of our planets, if that is not the case, I am sorry I did not get to kick your ass sooner," Shelly smiled back at Calla, her eyes brows were cocked. Calla in the beginning thought Shelly was the most evil person she had ever met. But now, Calla was glad she met Shelly. Shelly was sort of like a sister to her, a bipolar sister.

"Well, however this goes, I will be right here with you until the end, sergeant!" Calla and Shelly shared a laugh together. Soon Calla and Shelly reached the long large hallway that led to the secondary docking bay. Both Calla and Shelly moved large plush couches into the middle of the hallway and set up a barricade. Calla and Shelly lowered the bipods on their machine guns and set them on the top of the couches. Then, Shelly and Calla cocked their weapons. Loud snaps could be heard as they let the slides slam back into place. The two women had their firearms trained on the secondary docking bay entrance, the doors were closed. What ever tried to get through this way would be dead faster than a Chester that was sent to prison. Shelly and Calla thought they had all their cards together until the PA system came on.

"The covenant cruiser has opened fire, everyone brace for impact," a flight deck officer warned the crew members inside the SilverSides. A second later and the ship shook violently, but it did not explode. All the lights aboard the SilverSides shut off and the weapon platforms went offline. Calla and Shelly were completely covered in darkness. It got real quiet inside the secondary docking bay hallway, with the only sound being Calla's and Shelly's steady breathing. A light illuminated from Shelly; Calla looked over at her sergeant. She was lighting a cigarette.

"You want one," Shelly asked as she offered the lit cigarette to Calla.

"Sure, thank you." Calla never smoked before, but the lit cigarette did give off some light so she accepted it. Shelly lit another cigarette and took a nice long drag from it. The tip of the cigarette lit up bright enough to expose Shelly's' face. Her eyes were looking straight at the docking bay doors. Calla decided to inhale some of her cigarette smoke, which was a mistake as she started to cough loudly.

"Calla, you cough any louder and the entire covenant armada will hear you," Shelly joked, reaching through the darkness and patting Calla on the back.

"Sorry Shelly," Calla responded in a hoarse voice.

"Don't worry, I want them to know we're here," Shelly squeezed her MG36 tightly with anticipation. After a while, the emergency power kicked on, lighting up the secondary docking bay hallway with yellow hazard lights. A second later and the PA system came on again.

"Covenant drop ships are inbound; all crew members are to commence the COLE PROTOCAL immediately!" The flight officer announced his orders. Calla and Shelly smiled wickedly as they stared down the sights of their machine guns.

"Those covenant troops are making the biggest mistake of their lives," Shelly chuckled and leaned forward into her weapon.

Meanwhile…

Thel Vadam'ee stood up proudly inside one of the many phantoms that were heading for the pathetic human ship. Thel turned and addressed his warriors.

"Brothers, today the prophets have ordered our forces to capture these week humans," Thel paused in his sentence as his fellow warriors growled in disgust. "It would seem that the hierarchs have other plans for these, HUMANS," Thel hissed the last word.

"Indeed they do," another Sangheili with only two mandibles spoke up. Thel nodded to Rtas vadum'ee knowing exactly what would soon happen to the humans aboard the destroyer. A third huge black sangheili spoke up too.

"Our glories prophets have seen fit to offer the humans a chance to walk the path with us into salvation, should they survive their assimilations, they will be reborn into a new generation of sangheili," Shipmaster Sael Yersen'ee added.

"Yes, should the humans survive, they will join our forces, and together we will conquer the galaxy, then we will find the path of redemption our sacred forerunners left for us," Thel made a fist when he mentioned the forerunners. The sangheili inside the phantom gave a victory cry, they all roared loudly. Rtas stepped forward holding a gas grenade.

"We will use these grenades to incapacitate the humans, the grenades release a sleeping agent that will render the humans unconscious," Rtas paused and continued "No human is to be harmed, those who disobey this order will be punished," Rtas got unhappy looks from just about all the sangheili in the phantom, besides Thel and Sael.

"There will be two different teams, one will attack the main docking bay to cause a diversion, the other will sneak into the wretched ship through the secondary docking bay," All the sangheilian warriors seemed to like Thels' plan a lot, they all nodded their heads in agreement. "Very good, may the forerunners shield your hearts with their hands," Thel nodded once more to his brothers in arms before he sat back down. The rest of the ride to the human ship was quiet, besides the occasional clicks that were heard from the younger sangheilis' mandibles, they were noticeably eager. Thel remembered when he was young, he was very zealous himself. Thel smiled and clicked his mandibles together. Soon the humans would know true power!

Half of the phantoms split up and went their respected ways. Thel, Rtas, Sael, and the other half of the sangheilian warriors arrived at the secondary docking bay. Thel readied himself and walked up to the phantoms loading ramp with his plasma rifle drawn. He did not want to be the first one to break Rtas' orders, but if a human did challenge him with a weapon, he would silence them. When the phantoms loading ramp lowered Thel expected to be fired upon, but it was quite the opposite. Thel ran down the phantoms loading ramp and took cover behind a large metal crate. Thels' warriors took cover too. Thel craned his long neck up and looked over the metal crate, his reptilian eyes scanned for any movement. The secondary docking bay was completely deserted, not a single human could be seen.

Thel stood up and took a second look around the docking bay. There was only one way into the bowels of the human ship. A strong sturdy double door was the only thing standing between Thels' team and the rest of the ship. Thel found it very odd that the humans had left one of the most obvious spots for an invasion undefended. Thel ordered his men to stack up along the sides of the double doors. Thel nodded over to Sael and he quickly strode over to the double doors and planted a compression charge. Then Sael armed the charge and walked back with haste to his position. Thel waited for a couple moments, listening for any signs of human life on the other side of the doors, he heard none. Thel covered his ears and nodded to Sael. Sael smiled mischievously and pressed the detonator down. The compression charge imploded, then exploded violently inwards, blasting the sturdy doors down and sending them grinding across the floor nine feet where they screeched to halt.

Just as Thel was about to give the order to go, a young and overly eager sangheili warrior darted out in the middle of the docking bay hallway with his plasma rifle. Thel in a lightning fast motion tackled the sangheili back into cover as human machine gun fire erupted further down the hallway.

"Are you trying to give the HUMANS AN EASY KILL!?" Thel scolded the young sangheili. Thel could see the fear in his eyes. The young warrior knew he had almost perished.

"I'm eternally sorry shipmaster!" the young sangheili yelled over the humans that were still firing their weaponry. The humans continued to fire their weapons for a couple more seconds and then the echoes of their shots ceased.

Calla and Shelly had fired nonstop for a whole ten seconds. By the time Calla stopped shooting she had only wasted thirty five rounds from her M24OB heavy machine gun. Calla looked over at Shelly; her feet were buried in brass. She must have spent one hundred and eighty rounds in just TEN SECONDS! Calla had fired three and a half rounds a second. Shelly had fired eighteen rounds a second. Calla and Shelly looked down the hallway, they didn't see the elite they had opened fire on, he must have been obliterated. With two hundred and fifth teen rounds spent, he'd better be dead! Shelly reloaded her MG36 slapping a fresh duel drum mag in before pulling back on the slide. Shelly let go of the slide and it snapped back into place chambering a fresh round.

"There's plenty more where that came from split chins, why don't you poke your heads out again?" Shelly playfully punched Calla on the shoulder. Calla grinned wildly back at Shelly, her heart was pounding from the excitement. The elites in the docking bay roared a challenge at the two women. Shelly and Calla answered their challenge with another barrage of bullets. Between Calla's green tipped bullets and Shelly's red tipped bullets; it was starting to look a lot like Christmas.

Thel and his warriors cringed at the awful sound the human's machine guns' made. Sangheilian ears were very sensitive to loud noises, so the onslaught of human firepower was almost unbearable. Rats moved close to the entrance of the docking bay hallway and threw a gas grenade down the hallway. A couple seconds later and the gas grenade exploded. Thel smiled as he heard the humans cursing, their mouths were so filthy.

"Oh Fuck!" Shelly yelled as the grenade the elite threw exploded sending blue gas screaming down the hallway towards them.

"Shit, oh SHIT!" Calla shouted her own curses before she lifted her heavy machine gun up. Shelly and Calla abandoned their positions at the comfy couches just in time as the blue gas engulfed the area. Calla and Shelly fell back as far as they could before they had hit an emergency blast shield door that had shut when the sensors had detected the gas.

"Oh no, this is not good!" Shelly yelled, now there was no escape and the elites would soon be sending more gas grenades their way. Calla looked around desperately searching for an escape path, and then she saw one. A small ventilation shaft that Shelly and Calla could just barley fit through.

"Shelly, here's a vent!" Calla moved over to the ventilation shaft and fired her powerful weapon into the vent. It only took a couple of rounds and the vent cover disintegrated into little pieces. "We have to ditch our guns, and our armor!" Calla knew there was no way that she and Shelly would be able to fit through the vent opening with all their gear. Calla reluctantly said good bye to her metal baby, and then she shed her armor. Shelly did the same and climbed into the vent with Calla just as the elites threw another gas grenade their way. Calla and Shelly moved twice as fast through the vent when they heard the second gas grenade explode. The blue gas chased Shelly and Calla through the ventilation system. The gas finally slowed down and stopped nine feet from the two women. That was a good thing since Shelly and Calla encountered another vent cover. Shelly gave the vent five hard kicks and she sent it flying to the ground.

Shelly and Calla jumped down backwards from the vent opening and turned around. Then they prepared to run, but both Shelly and Calla froze dead in their tracks. There in front of them were twenty five elites that were trying to get into the armory. The elites stopped prying at the armory doors and quickly faced the new comers.

"Holy fuck," Shelly whispered under her breath. Calla looked back up at the vent they had come through. The vent was too high to reach and the blue gas was starting to slowly trickle out of the vent down along the wall. Calla and Shelly backed up against the wall they had jumped down from as the large elites surrounded them, clicking their mandibles in anticipation. Both Shelly and Calla adopted a fighting stance, preparing for the inevitable. One of the elites eyed up the two females and snorted. The elite walked up casually and prepared to grab the two females, thinking they were not a threat to be taken seriously. Boy did that elite make an ill informed decision. As soon as the elite reached out to grab the two females they lashed out at the elite, crippling him and sending him flying back towards his buddies in their fury. The other elites gawked at the human females in shock, not believing what they had just witnessed.

Some of the other elites barked orders at each other and they started to close in on the females. Calla looked over at Shelly and spoke.

"One down, twenty four more to go," Calla pressed her back against Shellys' and they started to duke it out with the elites. Whenever the elites would get close to the females they got their asses handed to them right and proper. The elites backed away from the angry females, some were holding their stomachs and others were holding their mandibles, obviously in pain. The elites gave loud battle cries and they rushed the two small females together. Calla and Shelly managed to land a couple of punches, but they were quickly overpowered by the sheer might of the large elites. Shelly and Calla were hit multiple times, covering their faces with their hands. The elites viciously kicked and stomped on the two helpless females until they heard a loud roar from behind their flanks. All the elites whipped around in panic to see a furiously angry ship master.

Thel had never felt much pity for the humans, but when he saw his own men battering the two little females it more than he could allow.

"You all should be ashamed of yourselves!" Thel roared at his sangheilian warriors. They all bowed their heads in humiliation. "There was no HONOR in this fight!" Thel scolded his warriors as he pushed the sangheili aside and moved over to the unconscious females. Twenty five warriors against two tiny females was hardly a fair fight. But these two females held their own better than most of his own warriors, how was this even possible? Thel delicately scoped the two small females up and held them firmly in his strong arms. Both of the human female's faces were bruised and bloodied. Thel felt his blood boil and his eyes shot daggers at his men. All of them back up and bowed their heads further in disgrace. "This is the kind of behavior I would expect from those filthy flee ridden Jiralhanae, not my own WARRIORS!" Thel glared at his warriors before he turned and left. Both of the human females had done more than enough to show their worth. They definitely deserve a chance to become one of us, Thel thought to himself as he carried the two tattered females back to the Unyielding Triumph.

Authors note: And now the real fun begins, bwah hahahahaaa!

Now I only have one favor to ask of you, if you like this story, please leave a review! Or else you will suffer the same fate as Calla!