Risha woke herself as she felt herself begin to dream, elevating her forebrain to consciousness and staring at the ceiling of the room. She ached, body and mind and soul, but she resigned herself to suffer in peace because she knew the causes of her pain were beyond her control. After a few minutes she swung her legs over the edge of the mattress and stood, slowly making her way around the room and checking what was inside, searching for clothing as she planned to bathe. The cool air night left the room chill, and her bare skin reacted by tightening slightly. It was a far cry from the sweltering heat she would be enduring in Mdama, however she found it comfortable. She rummaged through drawers and closets, finding brightly colored and flowing clothing she did not expect. It reminded her of the dress of Sanghelios, and a pang of homesickness ran through her.

'We truly are not so different, are we?' She looked for what human used as undergarments, finding the baggy trunks and overly small and obviously feminine garments to be strange, nothing like the sling cloths her people wore. She tipped her head to the sides in a shrug, resigning to go bare beneath the clothes she had chosen. She would have simply returned to her armor, however the undersuit was damaged and no longer safe to wear. Her Exoskeleton of plating would suffice, considering it covered nearly all of her except her navel area.

The bathroom was odd to her, unsure what the strange bowl connected to the floor was for, and the shower was encased in glass panes. She turned the knob in the shower, being blasted with steaming hot water she did not expect. She hissed like an angry snake, stumbling out of the shower as he skin burned from the sudden heat. She must have made more noise than she realized because Alex stood in the doorway, rifle at his shoulder but pointed to the side.

"Christ, I thought you were being attacked with all the racket you caused." He deflated slightly, visibly disarming his mind into a more peaceful state. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"I… Didn't expect the water to be hot." She slowly grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall, holding it so it covered from her pelvis down for modesty. Alex took the subconscious hint and diverted his eyes to stare at the tiles beside her foot.

"Yeah, we take hot showers." He set his rifle on the sink, stepping into the bathroom and turning the knob in the shower until the steam stopped. "There, it's warm now, but not hot. Just turn the knob left for cooler water, right for hotter." He stared her in the eye and nodded once, awkwardly making his way out of the room. She waited until he was gone to return the towel to the rack, picking up a bar of soap and sniffing it. It had a floral scent, and though it wasn't the neutral smell she was used to, it wasn't unpleasant. She turned to face the sink and mirror, looking herself over and gingerly touching around the stitched wound on her side. It ached more than the wound itself, and the weakness and chill in the rest of her body caused her to worry.

She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, instead entering the shower and finding the temperature far more accommodating. The warmth filler her quickly and pushed the chill from her body, alleviating some of the aches and pains and allowing her to clear her mind of several worries. She found the soap didn't have the effervescent burn Sangheili soap had, however the scent relaxed her nerves well. All in all she would have considered it a very fine hygiene experience, and felt magnitudes better than she had before. As she managed the clothing she had appropriated she caught herself humming a tune from her childhood, something her mother had sung to her when she was very small. The clothing hung loose in places where it should have been tight, and was far too short for her, barely meeting her hips. She removed the robe from her shoulders and settled for folding it once and fastening it around her waist.

She made her way from the bedroom to the living room, finding the clock on the wall had progressed two digits, two hours if her knowledge of human time measurement was accurate. The sound of soft plodding on carpet drew Alex's attention and he looked her over, smirking and nodding once.

"You approve I take it?"

"Positively African, and very traditional colors as well." The cloth was a design of stripes and triangles colored yellow, orange, red and brown. She had turned what was originally a shirt into a skirt rather tastefully in her opinion, though she felt slightly exposed without her chest and stomach covered as was custom for females on Sanghelios. "Are you hungry? I raided the pantry and fridge, found some pretty decent meat too." He nudged a skillet sitting on the table next to him before returning his view to the window. "It Mutton done in a Teriyaki style with onions and sweet peppers. I already had my fill if you want any."

"You're very generous," She said, taking a seat behind him and lifting the meal towards her face to smell. It didn't smell offensive, however it was strange. A mixture of salt, sweetness and aromatic spice met her sinuses and caused her stomach to groan quietly, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since inserting into the city when the sun was still high in the sky. She took the large spoon in hand and took a careful taste, finding it not unpleasant. That struck her as something quite strange, that humans weren't the repugnant creatures her brothers and sisters claimed they were. The word nishum was thrown around sangheili speaking members of the covenant, meaning parasitic worm. However they continued to prove to her that they were anything but. They enjoyed things, just as the Sangheili did, and it seemed most everything human's enjoyed, she enjoyed as well. "May I aks you a question?"

"You should eat before you do, but I won't stop you." She took a full bite of the meal, chewing it slowly as she tasted all there was to sample in the mouthful. She decided she didn't enjoy the stiff orange parts, and that the pale yellow cone vegetable was her favorite of the vegetables. By far her favorite part was the meat and the flavoring it had. It tasted very similar to colo, a Sangheili livestock animal, and the way the spices warmed her tongue was pleasant in her opinion. The flavors were far more delicate than the chosen flavorings Sangheili used, preferring strong and pungent flavors in dishes compared to the lighter and complementing ones humans used.

"You could have killed me," She said after finishing the rest of the meal, wiping her mandibles with a clean cloth from the table. "You wanted to kill me. I saw it in your eyes when you placed your weapon in my face. I don't blame you for wanting me and my kind dead, in fact I understand entirely. What I don't understand is why you didn't." Alex sighed, deflating. She could smell the change in his pheromones, the air wafting from him now filled with confusion and fear of a different sort than before. "Don't lie to me Alex. I have been honest with you since my first words."

"Yeah and I appreciate it." He moved his foot, letting the curtain cover the window. "I try to keep you dehumanized, but the more I think and the more you're around the harder it gets."

"How do you mean?"

"Well the way you talk and sound for starters. You sound like this girl I once knew. Odette. We went through technical school together after basic training, at least until she finished her training and went to deploy. She was from Tours but lived in London, and had almost exactly the same tone of voice and the exact same accent you have."

"You were attracted to this woman then?" He nodded slowly, rhythmically continuing the motion as he watched Brutes move beyond the window.

"Yeah, for what good it did me." He paused, becoming very still. He seemed to deflate further; shoulders falling, gaze lowering to his boots, breathing slowing. It was the image of deep sorrow she had seen when news came that a warrior a female had been wed to had died. "We kept in contact after, planned on hooking up if we survived the war. But Fumirole was hell, and I had to watch her die in my arms after she was brought back to the fleet over the planet." A phantom passed its spotlight over the building, and she could have sworn she saw tears on his cheek before he casually wiped his face. "Then Earth was attacked and there you are. One minute you're trying to kill me, the next I'm patching you up because you sound like she did and I couldn't bring myself to walk away and let you die." He fell silent, slowly returning to the way he had found him when she entered the room. The silence filled minutes, and she felt she should say something. Finally she bucked up the courage and began to ask him to continue but he cut her off. "And then there's your habits, like crossing your legs, sitting propper and graceful like she did. When you hid yourself in the bathroom for modesty, and how there's not a hint of aggression in your voice unlike every other hinge-head I've seen. I hope I'm painting the picture right. You have so many human characteristics and ticks and habits that when I look at you I see her, dark skin and all."

"I see." She looked away from him, spying a book on the table. She picked it up, taking in the art on the cover. It was a picture of a human woman riding a winged beast covered in scales and projecting flames from its was wielding a sword, wearing armor Risha thought looked rather impractical. The title was Dragonriders of Andromeda, and she read the synopsis on the back thinking the summary to be rather boring in her mind. She put it back where she found it, lacing her fingers together as she sat in silence, feeling the chill and ache creep back into her body from her abdomen.

"How's the wound?" His voice caught her off guard, and she nearly jumped in fright. "I heard you grunt when you put the book down. Is it hurting more than it did before?"

"Yes, but I guess that would be usual for healing wounds." She placed a hand on her side, testing it with slight pressure and finding it far harder than it was normally. "Sangheili warriors don't use doctors. To loose blood is to lose honor, and to cause a warrior to lose more blood than they would from a wound is to take their honor from them."

"Yeah well a dead warrior isn't as useful as a live one." He removed his boots from the chair they were propped on, rising to his feet. "Your people remind me a lot of the Samurai in feudal Japan. All honor and battle and glory. Patriarchal if I'm not wrong. Am I?" She shook her head, and stood at his urging. He pressed his hand into her side as she had before, making a high pitched noise through pursed lips. It was called a whistle, if she wasn't mistaken. "This isn't good." He pressed a bit more, placing his free hand on her other side and testing the difference. "You're hemmoraghing internally, bleeding into your body cavity. If it doesn't stop on it's own, you could die." He looked up at her from his crouched position, giving her a smile as they called it. However it didn't seem happy as they were supposed to be. "How do you feel about Doctors?" He continued to test her flesh with his palms, pressing areas of her abdomen to see how much was filled with blood.

"I'm not opposed to them, as most females in my society don't share the idiocy of males." She looked straight ahead, grunting quietly when he touched a particularly tender spot. "I have never been healed by one other than with medicine however. Ouch!" She hissed without meaning to, closing her eyes in pain as he pressed into the wound. She heard him mutter an apology as the pain faded dulled. She waited for the pain to return, however it never came and she could still feel his hands. She looked down, watching as he stared at his hands, noticing his thumbs gently caressing her stomach. She cleared her throat, and he pulled them away, clasping his hands together as he stood, shifting in the way that said he was in uncomfortable territory. "Why did you ask that question?"

"Because I may be your only hope of living if this doesn't fix itself." He looked her in the eye, giving another unhappy half smile. "I could, if I had to, clamp you down on a table in a hospital, open you up, find what's bleeding and stop it." He shook his head, sitting on the sofa next to where she stood. "But it would be traumatic. Psychological damage. I can't anesthetize you because I don't know if our anesthesia would kill you or not."

"What is anesthesia? I'm not familiar with this word."

"Its uh… It's a chemical compound that puts you into a deep deep sleep. Numbs your nerves so you don't feel anything at all. We have local anesthesia, which just numbs a certain area of the body and leaves you awake, and general anesthesia that knocks you out. Local is safer than the knockout stuff; no risk of leaving you in a coma, and i could probably risk using it on you as long as i had an adrenaline shot nearby incase you go into anaphylaxis. Allergic shock where your respiration and cardiovascular systems shut down. But if you're awake for an open body surgery it can still leave the mental scars."

"We don't have that on Sanghelios, or even in the Covenant. Our doctors would simply have you bite on a padded ball too large to begin to swallow and go to work." He barked a laugh, but she didn't detect any humor in it.

"That's uh… Pretty medieval by human standards." He pinched her long abdominal muscles lightly, his eyes saying he was working something out in his mind. "Do you think you would be alright if I opened you up? If it came to that I mean." She looked him over with a suspicious eye, unsure how to take the question.

"Why would you offer?" She moved away from him slightly, trying to get more of a metaphorical scope of him. "Hours ago we were enemies. We are still enemies, just temporarily allied." He sighed, looking at the floor and nodding. "Alex, are you alright? In here, alright?" She touched the side of her head, indicating his mind. "You were petting me moments ago…"

"I'm sorry, I just…" He shook his head, running both hands over his face as he took a deep breath. "I was coming to terms with her death, or I think I was. To top that, my parents died in a car accident a month ago. I like to think I'm strong, but it's becoming apparent that I probably have a few cracks in my mind. Maybe it's the stress of the invasion, piled on top of my parents and Reach and Odette…" He trailed off, and she watched as he seemed to force his eyes to divert away from her. "Look I'm just…" He sighed, then suddenly growled and knocked the puzzle cube from the table before standing and stalking toward the hallway. He pressed his hands against the walls, looking like he was trying to widen it. Risha stood, moving closer to him and holding out a hand towards his back for comfort but stopped herself. "You have no idea what you've done to me, to all of us. Harvest was scary, then all the colonies falling like flies, then Reach. The big one there. That really put us on edge. Everyone here on Earth is terrified, even before the invasion, even with the Home fleet in orbit and all the platforms with Super MACs, all the soldiers on the ground... There's only so far you can push a human before they start to lose it, and I feel like I'm getting very close to my limit."

Risha pressed her palm into his back, between his shoulders, gently rubbing circles around the tensed muscles. She could feel him relax, though whether with relief or with despair she couldn't tell. She felt for him, understanding how he felt full well because she felt nearly the same way. Sanghelios was in danger of the same thing happening here, and she dreaded hearing that it was glassed when she next made contact with another of her kind. She carefully pulled him into an embrace, cautious of how he would react, but needing the companionship as much as she felt he needed it. He relaxed further and she could feel the tension bleed from his shoulders, no longer pressing against the walls. He even leaned back into her.

"I'm tired of fighting." He lowered his arms as he spoke, letting them dangle loosely at his sides and brush against her arms. "I'm tired to all the guts and gore, all the dead men and women hanging on for dear life when that I have to tell will be alright when I know they're not. I'm tired of patching people up so they can go back out and come right back with plasma burns or spikes or needle holes. I'm just tired of war and everything about it. I've been in the UNSC for ten years. I spent most of that as a combat surgeon and I've seen just about every part of the human anatomy where it shouldn't be and put it back together." He pulled away carefully, separating himself from her and pulling a rectangular box out of his blouse pocket. He removed a white and yellow tube from the box and pulled a red strip from the end, creating an ember that leaked an acrid fume. He inhaled, then exhaled cloud of smoke, something detestable she was aware humans did. It was called Tobacco if she remembered correctly. "You said we were still enemies. Do we have to be?" He looked at her, blowing smoke out of his nose as he held the tube, a Cigarette she remembered, in his fingers. "I'm not saying we have to be friends, but we don't have to be enemies, do we?"

"I suppose we don't." She diverted her gaze to the hallway, finding the dog cautiously coming toward them. Alex slid his back down the wall, sitting and calling the animal toward him. IT approached, and he gently lavished affection on the beast, causing it to wag it's tail as he stroked it's fur. She thought about what he had told her, taking in a different side of the war, feeling for humans in different ways than she had before. She had never hated them to begin with, but…

She swooned, stumbling to the side as lightheadedness overtook her and catching herself on the wall. The dog whimpered and backed away from Alex, and he rushed to catch her, helping her to her feet, then to sit on the floor. "You're really cold. What's your answer to my question? Are you going to let me try and fix you?" Her head was swimming, and his voice sounded muffled and distant. She could feel her consciousness fading, and the only thing keeping her present was her own efforts to stay away. She gave him a languid but definite nod, prompting him to work himself under her and bring her to her feet. "Then we're going to have to start walking. The nearest hospital and everything I would need are a full klick away." He had the door open when she pulled herself of of him and feel against the wall. "What are you doing? You could die if we don't hurry!"

"Get me effects. I put them in a bag next to the bed." She planted on the floor as she fought to stay awake.

"This is hardly the time…"

"Do it nishum!" He flinched at the insult and she felt bad for having said, but the effect took and with a nod he left for the bedroom. She knew he was right to worry. Here vision was tunneling and it took all of her resolve to fight back the gray haze threatening to overtake her mind. He returned quickly, a duffle bag over his shoulders and nestled in the small of his back.

"I got it." He worked her arm across his shoulders and slowly pulled her to her feet, kicking the door through the frame against its hinges. He let out a loud whistle that shocked her back from the brink of unconsciousness, and the dog ran into the room, giving a bark. "C'mon girl. You wanna go for a ride?" The dog cocked its head, ears perked and tail wagging at the prospect of a car ride. "C'mon, let's go, get outside." The dog bolted past them, hurrying down the stairs before them as he followed slowly. He had to drag her.

"Why did you bring the dog?" She spoke through pants and gasps, and her words were mangled as she couldn't keep her jaws closed. He shrugged, carefully navigating the stairs.

"You seem to like it, and it would be a shame if some Brute's came in here and ate the poor girl." He stumbled down the stairs, but made the ground floor rather quickly. The air smelled like smoke from a burning tower nearby, and the Ozone scent from Solemn Penance's slip still lingered. "I'm hoping there's still a working Warthog at my last AO. Could make this trip a lot shorter."

"And if there isn't?"

"Well it's on the way so no time lost." He whistled again, bringing the dog along side them as they moved through the alley they had met in. "How are you holding together?" She shook her head, literally shaking off another wave of exhaustive unconsciousness. "Not good then. I hope that 'Hog is still there."

XXXXXXX

"Warchief, not to undermine your authority but I don't think an Anti Air battery would be useful in the north section of the city." The Brute Major stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring at Maximus's chest as he turned to face him. He swallowed, suddenly aware of the possible repercussion from such a beast of a Jiralhanae. Maximus glowered down at him, able to smell the fear rolling off of the Major. This was good. It was nice to know he still struck fear in the hearts of his inferiors.

"You will oversee the construction of the system to ensure no humans come to destroy it. You have no say in this matter. I believe there will be a counterattack from the direction of their city of Voi, so we will implement any means I deem fit, where I deem them fit to be. Am I clear?" He hadn't raised his voice, but the effect of his words and tone had caused the Brute to begin sweating. He nodded, and turned for the door. Maximus stalked back toward the window of the room, looking down at the basecamp and its functions. He watched as Unggoy slacked and loafed about sucking their narcotic infusion gasses, watched Kig Yar squabble over scraps of canned human food and shiny objects one had found. Some Brutes were spending their free hours fighting among themselves in a ring of their peers, over some petty trifle of a matter, or just to stay fit he didn't care. "Pathetic. All of you. You suckle on the teat of the Prophet and their lies. There is no Journey, no ascension. The facts face you with each artifact and ruin they uncover and yet you still blindly follow them, whether for material gain or some idiotic belief that a race as intelligent as the San'shyuum could never concoct a fallacy so elaborate." A knock drew his attention, and he turned to see several grunts enter the room, lead by one of the Skirmisher Kig Yar.

"Warchief." The Kig Yar bowed to him, and Maximus nodded. He liked this one. He was clever, not taken with the miser's pittance the Covenant offered him. Maximus would fold him into his plans, he decided. "My commander was slain by humans in the fighting. With your permission I would like to take charge of those that were under his command."

"You have it. Congratulations, Major Sav Fel." Sav bowed to him again. "I want your to muster your forces near the gate. I wish to take a trip into the city and observe the occupation progress like I intended to hours ago and I require your escort."

"You hardly require it, Warchief. I will gather my Grunts and Jackals. We shall meet you there."

Flattery, and an over indulgence of it. That was Sav's only detestable feature, besides being a Kig Yar. He had probably slain his commander himself. In fact Maximus was sure of it. He had contacted the Brute an hour ago himself. No matter. "Let no one in here." He closed the door behind himself as he left, receiving a salute from the two hammer wielding Brutes that flanked the door. "And set a projector to display these orders. Spread the word that while I am away this is what everyone is to do. If I find anyone had deviated these orders in the slightest I will behead the ones responsible as soon as I find them." The brutes gave another salute before he exited the building and made his way toward the gates.

Eirwen had contacted him ten minutes ago, and he was about to do a Type 1 Eyeball check of the sector she had chosen to ensure only his least liked commanders were there. Sav Fel met him as agreed, and together they set off for the residential north district of the city. They walked in silence, mostly for the Unggoy always yelped at the wind and the Kig Yar phalanx always had something to fight about. Halfway to their destination Sav separated Maximus and himself from the rest of the unit and approached his side while wringing his hands. "What do you want?" Maximus knew that look. Cunning desire for material gain, he had seen it in every one of the Kig Yar at some point. The pirate blood ran through the Skirmishers the heaviest.

"To know why so many competent commanders have been relocated to the industrial district, while all of the incompetent and commanders at odds with you are in the residential sector." Maximus laughed once, thoroughly impressed but not surprised that he had noticed.

"You are a quick one Sav. Alright then, I shall tell you. But only because it would behoove me to have you as an accomplice rather than an enemy." He glanced back, ensuring the unit was too far away or too occupied to hear them. "The Covenant is dying and I do not want to be on the wrong side of a ventral beam when the Sangheili retaliate to the Schism. My loyalties lie with them, not the Prophets, and they have already dug their own grave. I see the Humans and Sangheili siding together to destroy what's left of the Covenant soon, so I work to better my standing with the humans before this alliance of necessity occurs so I will stay well out of the way of fire."

"This is a very Kig Yar approach for a Jiralhanae."

"Is that an insult?"

"No, quite the opposite. I admire the preemptive measures." They continued in silence for a few more blocks of the city, and Sav had to fall back to intervene in a verbal debate becoming physical. He rejoined Maximus at the front soon however, and began to work his wormlike tongue. Maximus would like nothing more than to snap his beak for all the scheming the little bird creature did, but he would have his uses in the coming days. "Do you have room for another on your sloop? I can assure you I would be a valuable asset."

"Welcome aboard Sav. Now keep quiet, and use discretion. If I have something I must tell you regarding this, I will come to you. Should your tongue slip…"

"Perish the thought, Warchief."

XXXXXXX

Eirwen stalked the warehouse she had repurposed as a forward observation base, watching the two hundred Marines and Army infantry she had collected since beginning her effort. They were tired and hungry and worn, but they would do for what she had devised. Everything was in motion, and as much as she would like to take his hat off, Maximus was on his way to ensure no Brutes he deemed too fit for the job were ignoring him. It wasn't that she didn't like him as a person, he was clever and disillusioned with the Covenant which made him one of the best strings to pull, however he was still a Brute and she knew that her home world was ravaged by his kind before the Covenant glassed it. Wounds like those didn't heal easily, especially when your existence was now based around the hate you carried over something like that. She watched soldiers work on Warthogs and a solitary Scorpion from her vantage among the catwalks overhead, noting the quick glances from several others not doing anything. They looked afraid like all the others, but she could see their fear wasn't from the covenant but rather her.

"Do something." She had turned on her external speakers and turned up the volume to bullhorn levels, causing several of them to jump or fall over as they were about to doze to sleep. "I don't care what it is, but make busy like. I don't want anyone dwelling or postulating." Several of them hurriedly started cleaning their rifles, another bunch went to see if they could help with the mechanics, and still more started looking for literally anything to keep themselves busy in her eyes. She watched one man stack crates of ordinance she had scavenged, then once finished proceed to stack them on his other side. Even while they worked, the jumpier, greener soldiers gave her quick, scared glances. It was probably the armor. She hadn't shown any of them her face yet, and even if they had seen a II, she doubted they had seen the configurations an ONI III could put together. She smirked to herself as she pictured their mental image of her; Some alien creature in human disguise ready to separate one from the herd and devour them whole, or a robotic suit powered by an AI with no Asimov Laws.

"Ma'am." She jerked her view to a Marine standing beside her, holding a salute. "You… Are a woman, right?"

"I'm a Lieutenant. So just 'Sir' will do. What do you want Lance?" He dropped his hand and held out a datapad displaying a team of phantoms constructing an AA Battery a few Klicks away.

"Drone footage, and a live feed at that." She had read his file when the Super rebooted. Lance Corporal Jenkins, cyber warfare, but every marine was a Rifleman. She had scoffed at his name when she read it. She had know a lot of Jenkins'. They must have made up fifty percent of the UNSC. "I figured you might want to see it, considering you're in charge, Sir."

"You buckin for a promotion or a lay, Lance? Either way nice try with the flattery." She set the drone to circle high overhead then handed him back the tablet. "Solid work, keep it up. I'm holding you back with anyone else you know here that's tech savvy, except a couple if we try and repurpose that battery later. Go round up your posse and I'll try and keep the computers in this Reserves base we're about to take operational for you." He saluted, taking her nod for permission to be dismissed. "And try to coax some more cooperation out of the Super while you're at it. He's been a pain in my shiny metal ass!" She looked at the laughter that followed the statement without turning her head, noticing she was getting a few less wary stares as a few minutes passed. The joke had worked. She had put a more human face to the gold visor. 'Don't get too human E. You're still worth fifty of these guys in a fight. There's gonna be a lot less of them in a few days.'

"Needless to say they will still prove useful beyond just bodies."

The voice was in her helmet, played over the speakers via a data chip in her skull. It belonged to the AI Gwynedd, a fourth generation prototype Smart AI developed by ONI. Parangosky had foisted her on Eirwen after a foray into the outer colonies that cost the UNSC Fireteam Shadow, starting with Gwynedd amplifying her abilities she could continue to pull off the stunts the full fireteam normally took. She had carried the AI through Reach and Operation FIRST STRIKE, and she had to admit that Maggie was right. She had never been so effective before in her career.

"I have an ONI report from just before Solemn Penance slipped away and fried everything."

"Aren't there firewalls around deployment details?"

"You know how much I love to snoop, E."

"Save the specifics and give me the digest then."

"Very well." Gwynedd simulated clearing her throat, quite taken with human interaction protocols. "Veronica Dare commandeered an ODST squad for a smash and grab of something in the Superintendent's Database. A subroutine called Virgil. It was written by a Doctor Daniel Endesha to watch over his daughter, which makes it rather odd that this would be such a high priority target."

"How does that help me Gwyn?" the AI was silent for a half second, then gave her the impression of a shrug through her CNI implants. Eirwen chuckled and shook her head. "I mean it's very interesting, but don't see what good I could do to this cause. Im hip deep in something already." She adored the AI. She was every way Eirwen's complement. They thought along the same lines of thought, be it at vastly different speeds, and shared the same overly sarcastic sense of humor. They were both of Welsh origin; Eirwen's grandparents having left Wrexham for Arcadia, Gwynedd created from a Welsh ONI agent's donated brain. Most importantly, however, they were both cautious in a way that threw it to the wind. Gwynedd loved perusing classified intelligence that was only for the highest ranking eyes, brazenly doing it in a manner that left indisputable proof that it was her yet never allowing her path to be tracked, and Eirwen preferred to move on her own through dangerous missions with minimal intel, shooting from the hip and sliding through by the skin on her teeth, relying on her 'Spartan Time' perception to carry her through the day.

"At the very least it's something to think about. ONI diverting forces from a more strategically important operation to nab a babysitter?"

"There's always something more to anything ONI does, and this is no different. Probably something it noticed watching the little girl."

"Or something far more important." A series of strange symbols scrolled over her HUD, accompanied by the small graphic face the Superintendent used to seem friendlier. "You know what those are."

"Yeah but I haven't seen them since Reach."

"There's also a mess of Covenant script mixed in with them. My guess…"

"You make guesses now?"

"I can't know everything E. Everything humans and the UNSC do, maybe. But this is Covenant and Forerunner ideograms in human code. My guess is there's a Covenant AI trying to acess more than it could without raising the alarm and ONI wants Dare to go collect it." There was a pause as Eirwen glanced over the code and feeds before blinking them away. "Also, your boyfriend is in the area. He brought his friends, but if you wanna go make out it shouldn't be hard to separate them."

"Oh this is shaping up to be a great day. Do you think he brought condoms or am I gonna have to raid a pharmacy for Plan B?" She pushed off from the rail, mantling the side of the catwalk and landing with a heavy thump on the polycrete floor. "Master Guns!" She stood up as she called out, being greeted by a man in his late sixties smoking a cigar and looking like he had had too much shit. "First, give me that." He pulled one last time on the cigar before handing it to her, and she lifted her helmet and set it in her teeth.

"Been a while since you've seen a SW, Ma'am?" She gave him a single nod as she pulled deep on the cigar, tapping her helmet on her thigh and mean mugging anyone that looked at her. She knew what they were looking at; Her porcelain white skin and eyes so ice blue they looked flat and smooth, coupled with her hair made for some confusing thought processes when it was standing in six and a half feet of Titanium and robotics. "Enjoy that then. One of my last. And I'm pretty sure we're not gonna find any more just lying around. What can I do you for?"

"Well about three grand would get you an hour Guns." He made an expression she considered to be call 'not bad', and she chuckled at her own joke. "I want you to organize the rabble, put together squads, set up a plan of retreat should this op go pear-shaped."

"No much to retreat to in this city now but I'll do my best. Field Commission?" She nodded once. "It's always in the way a louie talks. What's the full plan, if you don't mind me askin'." She let her head list slowly to each side as she smoked, wondering how much to divulge. "If it's all above my paygrade then I won't be upset. Wouldn't be the first time ONI took over one of my missions."

"Well your mission was failed when the Covies landed boots in November Mike. No offense."

"None taken. I know where we stand in the city."

"Alright. Well there's a reserves base with a direct line to the highway out of this city, as well as a hardened communication's array if it's still structurally sound. We're gonna take it and then use it as a base of operations to strike out at anything that would hinder a counter attack from getting into the city. AA batteries, enemy armor depots, weaken patrols and the host of the occupation force with hit and run tactics supplemented by our Scorpion and whatever mobile firepower we can hijack and turn against them."

"Alright. I'll make sure everything is ready. What's our time of execution?"

"Oh-Four-Hundred. Brutes and Grunts dont see too well in the twilight hours, and any Jackals will have to contend with the contrast of the shadows or the sun in their eyes." She looked to the Cigar, deciding there was enough to hand back without seeming rude. The Master Guns nodded his appreciation and returned the stogie to its seat in his teeth. "I'm taking a walk, going to see what's happening, do a little recon. I'll be back in an hour. That will give us five hours to set up for the smash from there."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll see that everything is ready by then."

"Dismissed Guns." The Sergeant gave her a salute and she returned it, quickly returning her helmet to her head.

"Alright, get back to work! I want the 'Hogs up and running with all the ammo you can fit in the beds and that tank ready to fire in two hours!" Eirwen watched as he set about organizing the troops for a minute before she turned and headed for the back door.

"I would advise doing actual recon." Gwynedd brought live drone feeds up in the corners of Eirwen's HUD, doing her best to aid the effort. "While you and I may be able to do a true smash job on the base and surrounding area, I doubt they would be able to keep up or even survive if we don't have accurate intel on enemy troop locations."

"Alright, point taken. I'll see what Maximus is up to, then I'll start sneaking around."

XXXXXXX

Alex killed the engine and coasted the 'Hog as far as it would go as a Covenant patrol passed his line of sight. He had his glasses set to thermal display, and he watched as the assorted aliens moved past through a wall. They were just a single block from the hospital, so close he could see its sign in the darkness without NOD assistance. He looked right at Risha and the dog in the passenger seat, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder as she drifted in and out of consciousness, trying to help her stay awake. She twitched and her hand stroked jerkily over the dog's fur, lethargic in the motion and halting halfway down it's back. Worry ran through him as he saw her abdomen, swolen with the volume of blood inside. He wondered if he would be able to save her at all. She had lost a lot of blood, and without a transfusion the surgery would probably tip her over the edge and she would slip away from blood loss alone. Turning his view back to the fore he decided he could risk the engine and turned over the hydrogen powerplant, leaving the lights off as he let the fuel injectors slowly pull the vehicle forward.

He parked the 'Hog in front of the emergency bay, stepping and moving around to pull Risha from the vehicle. She roused as he worked himself under her shoulder and she said something in Sangheili mixed with english that didn't make sense. "It's gonna be ok. We're here." He held her up and his M6 at the ready as he pushed his way into the hospital, clearing the rooms with open doors as they traveled halls until he found one of the operating rooms. Inside was a robot with a myriad of surgical tools, it's mantis like arms resting loosely on their stand. "This is it Risha. You're gonna be fine." he tried the door but was stopped by firm resistance.

"Greetings traveler. Lost? Anxious? Please remain calm." The voice was overly cheery and patronizing, like one would talk to a child almost, and Alex knew it well. He lived in New Mombasa, and he interacted with the city's Superintendent daily at least. "Warning, do not let hitchhikers into your vehicle."

"Cut the shit Super and let me in. She's going to die if I don't get her on the table." He tried the door again but made no progress.

"Warning, unauthorised personnel will be reported to the authorities." Alex was quickly becoming frustrated with the AI, and it showed as he began kicking the door. "Please remain calm, help is on the way."

"God dammit Super I am the help! Just let me in so I can save her!" He carefully set Risha against the wall, the dog rushing to her and gently licking her stomach. Alex put all his force and weight into the door, kicking and slamming his shoulder into where the double doors met. "Come on! Fucking let me in you useless piece of junk!"

"Please remain calm. The Doctor will be with you shortly." Alex continued to wail on the door, giving up after several more tries. "Warning, trespassers will be apprehended by the authorities." Alex huffed and moved toward the Superintendent's camera, watching it stare at him.

"Listen. The Covenant is split and she's a friend now. Please, Super, please let me in. She's bleeding internally. She probably won't live much longer if I don't stop the bleeding, you gotta let me in! I won't lose her again!" he stared at the camera, feeling his face flushed with exertion and his sinuses ache as tears began to creep into his eyes. "Please. She's all I have left. I couldn't save Odette but I can save her, I know it. So just let me in and take control of the machine. I can fix her on the fly if you just help me. She's not human so your Asimov Laws won't conflict if she dies, but we gotta try." There was silence for several moments before he heard the chunk of the locks disengaging. He didn't wait, quickly lifting her and moving her towards the table. He hurried to get her on the surface and strap her down, pouring iodine over the operating area before he moved to the sink and scrubbed his hands and arms. "Super, I need you to take a tissue and blood sample to see if anesthesia is safe or not. And give me a shot of epinephrine in case she starts to fade. She's Bi-Vascular, probably cobalt-iron hemoglobin makeup if that helps in any way. And hurry, we don't have much time." He slipped into a smock and a pair of gloves, returning to her side and looking down at her. Her eyes opened and her almost lost his composure, fighting back tears for reasons he didn't understand. 'Why do I feel so strong about her? I haven't known her for even a day, and it's already like she's been in my life for years.' She raised her hand and took his, giving it a squeeze as she tried to speak and only managed a weak wheeze. "It's alright, I promise. I'll save you, do you hear me? I'll save you." She made a strange expression, closing her jaws and lifting her top set slightly to expose her teeth. Was that a smile, mimetic empathy? "Just go ahead and rest. When you wake up everything will be fine and perfect." She nodded, cringing weakly in pain before resting her head on the padding. Her grip lessened and her body relaxed, but she continued to breath, and he realized she must have passed out. The robot whirring caught his attention as it presented a datapad.

"I was right about the blood then." He wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeves, noting that he was actually crying over an alien. He leaned in, focusing past the blur in his vision to read the rest of the data. "And local anesthesia only. Great. Restrain her head in case she wakes up. I don't want to risk psyche trauma in case she looked down while I'm wrist deep in her organs." The robot set two of its arms to word, offering him a traw of syringes. He set to work numbing the area of her midriff and back, running through all of the needles and hoping it was enough. He gave the drug a few moments to work before he painted an invisible line down the center of her abdomen. "Alright Super, open her up. Be careful, I have no idea just how thick her skin is compared to humans, so we're exploring unknown territory." the AI did as instructed, smoothly passing the scalpel through her flesh. It took several cautious passes to fully enter the cavity, but eventually she was open. It was minimal invasiveness, just a four inch incision, but Alex wanted to cause as little damage as possible. "Suction. Clean all of the hemorrhage hour of the cavity, and ready a transfusion with it if it's salvageable." Again, the AI did as instructed, removing the violet blood and causing Alex to think of the smell of a freshly paved road. It was acrid and pungent, but his love of driving cause the smell to bring fond memories of his childhood back. A camera was inserted into the area, and Alex took the controls, maneuvering it towards the wound he had stitched. "Alright, intestines, part of a liver, spleen I think… Kidneys… Where are you?" He pulled back, moving the hyper flexible wormlike device around her individual organs. "Got it. Man she's not much different from us. A small nick in the common iliac artery on the right outside. Why didn't I think that spike would have hit it?" He set the camera to stay, angling suction toward the area to collect any fresh loss. "Separate this from the rest, it's all fresh. Do a scan of her arm to find the vein and put this right back into her after it's checked for contaminants." The Super gave a chirp through the machine, following his orders to the letter as he snaked a laser into the incision.

Suddenly his video feed failed as did his control of the medical robot, and in a few seconds of panic he thought about pulling out and doing this the way his seven times great grandfather had to. However he composed himself and remained completely still. "Super, the feed." He looked on to the screen, watching the empty black glow as he waited. Seconds felt like hours, and he quickly tested the laser against the cloth in a tray. It still worked, and he wondered if he should start believing in a god. "Small mercies and all that. Super are you there?" He looked to the robot, seeing it limp and unresponsive. Even the light in the camera that said it was occupied by the AI was out. Did the covenant find his data center and pull the plug? Panic returned, and he was unable to stifle it as the monitors attached to Risha began to scream that she was slipping into dangerous vital territory. With a growl of stress induced frustration he grabbed the scalpel from the tray and opened her further, turning the suction back on and setting it in her cavity as he stared at the cause of her malady. "Alright then, manual it is." He hadn't worked on a body without robotic support in almost five years and worried that he didn't have the skill any more, but it was such a small wound that the laser would close it in less than a second. He pressed the edges of the cut together and passed the laser over it, sealing it with a small fume of white smoke. The alarms became a single high pitched whine as she flat lined. "No, no, no!"