Aboard Super Corvette Fearless Faith
Slipspace, 10 hours from Halo
Nolsüm sighed as he looked over the bridge crew; not at the bridge crew, they were the finest in the Covenant, but at the general situation. How could have they let the prophets down so, letting the humans find Halo prior to the Covenant. If it were not so true he'd accuse anyone speaking those words of blasphemy and heresy.
"Tobe," Nolsüm called to a Kig-Yar dressed in a plain headdress and nearly laid out across the navigation controls, "I need to talk to you in private." Nolsüm had little idea what to say, but Tobe was the only one he could really trust with any information. He and Tobe had been friends all their lives, they'd gotten each other through some hard spots and some close calls. The doors opened to a private dining room for the Ship Master and bridge crew, empty now because it was no where near time for a meal.
"You of course haven't been told everything, Tobe." Nolsüm lamented.
"I am a minor Kig-Yar currently ranked as a rear navigations officer; I'm lucky if I know anything." Tobe squawked a little after speaking, the equivalent of something between a snort and a chuckle.
Nolsüm half heartedly smiled then said "That is beside the point, Tobe, you could be a rear supreme commander if you put your mind to it, even higher if the Prophets hath deemed it acceptable. But current matters are upon us both," Nolsüm glanced around the room for any type of camera or recording device and found none. "You must know that this mission is not solely to explore Halo, but to drive the Heretics off it."
"You don't mean?"
"Yes, the humans have beaten us to it."
"By the Forerunners!"
"No, by the Prophets. Something tells me they had a part in the humans getting to Halo, perhaps they want to anchor a fight here, finish them in one last battle, perhaps its something they don't even have fully planned yet, either way it's dangerous, and I have a bad feeling about it. And while you are still view by the bridge crew as a rear navigations officer, by the ground troops your name is being spread as a great military leader who fought the humans on Sigma Octanous. And you are listed in the army as a rear supreme commander, and there are no other full supreme commanders or higher ranks on these ships save myself."
"In other words in the navy I am an RNO but in the army I'm a rear supreme commander, and that means if you die, I'm next in line?"
"I don't want to see any of these Sangheili die because of being leaderless."
"What about the fleet commander? Won't he try to assume control?"
"No, he has the fleet to direct already, he isn't going to want to lead 5000 troops at the same time, especially with a rear supreme commander right there."
"OK."
Tobe then exited the doors and went back to scrutinizing the navigation data. Nolsüm hoped he'd done the right thing, he trusted Tobe, but he'd never put him in control of so much power.