Rose didn't know what to expect from captors. She had never seen Covenant ships before, much less anyone belonging to that dreaded race. All she knew about them were from what the UNSC's ministry of propaganda released from the public. They were fearless creatures that brutally attacked humanity without thought or contemplation, burning worlds that went in their way. From all their descriptions, they were as mindlessly brutal as they looked alien.
So it came as a surprise to her to see the Covenant interact with each other with a sense of hierarchy and organization. They were organized and intelligent. Sure, the small bipedal ones in the breather masks trotted back and forth with little coordination and their hand gestures seemed primitive and unintelligent, but they responded to their larger superiors with respect and deference. All the creatures aboard the ship carried themselves with a military precision, everything done according to schedule. She once saw, from the observation deck she was charged with cleaning, a parade group greet the, what appeared to be, their religious leader sitting on an antigrav chair accompanied by the Ship Master.
The Ship Master was an enigma to her. After bringing her on the bridge and conversing with her a bit (via the comm-translator he had outfitted for her), he had no further interactions with him, except when he would chance upon her cell to engage in pleasantries. Her only other interactions with the aliens were with her Jackal guards, though they were limited to mere hoots and barks, and the occasional shoves and shocks from their, what she dubbed, "pacification rods." She hated the Jackals. Those rabid, bird-like carrions were prone to fits of violence and madness. Early in her captivity she had made the mistake of challenging these creatures and it was only through the intervention of some Elite officers that her guards didn't take too many liberties in pacifying her and left her for dead.
There were other prisoners of war in the ship that Rose soon came into contact with. It seemed that the Ship Master was in the habit of collecting humans, though for what purpose, she couldn't fathom. He never experimented on them, despite what centuries of xenophobia had taught pre-Covenant war era humans had believed. Alien-probing was as foreign a notion to them as those creatures were to her. There were six of them, two men and four women, though who they were she never asked. They kept mostly to themselves; Rose theorized that they may have been prisoners for far too long to be comfortable with any new presence among them. Her only true companion was Lea, the woman she was captured with. A graduate of a small community college, Lea was struggling from one low-rent job to another. Rose learned that Lea was in the business district of New Mombassa, having come from an interview, when the evacuation began.
Rose was disturbed from her thoughts by the arrival of her cellmate. The hazy purple light of the prison shield collapsed in an instant as Lea was thrown onto her cot. The cackling Jackals gave her a few condescending hoots before bringing the shield back up. Lea was a mess, Rose could see. There were fresh welts and burns on her arms as well as on her legs that weren't there this morning. From what she knew, Lea was only charged with cleaning the level 4 decks today. She wondered why she suffered such treatment. Not that it was unusual for Lea or herself to return at (what her standard Earth time watch told her was) night with new injuries. A groan escaped from Lea. Hurrying to her side, Rose helped her up and used her handkerchief to clean up the stained blood from Lea's split lip.
"What happened to you this time?" Rose asked while trying to clean the wound.
"A Bluey that got carried away. You know how it is." Rose nodded in agreement. Aside from Jackals, those low-ranking, Blue armored Elites were the most hostile to their presence. They normally held their anger in check, especially when in the presence of their superiors, but every now and then, a few of them would take out their frustrations on the day on the human prisoners. It was decreed by the Ship Master that the murder of any of his prisoners by anyone under his command would count as a major crime, punishable by immediate evisceration. Because of this, a rankled Bluey would usually grab the nearest pacifier from their Jackal guards and land a few strikes before surrendering them to their excited guards.
Rose began to address the other wounds on Lea's legs. "Anything serious that they may have broken?"
Lea raised her skirt to show the marks on her thigh. "Not really. At least I'm given enough time to heal before they start zapping us again." Finished, Lea took off her shoes and sank into the cot. "By the way, I heard from one of the blueys that we're supposed to report to the Ship Master later."
"Why?" Lea only shrugged in answer.
Being ushered through the bridge's portal and into the Ship Master's command center filled both women with fear and trepidation. The sight of the armed guards, and of the Ship Master's own personal guard, was a terrible sight to behold. Grasping the other's hand in hers, both women crossed the threshold, accompanied by their Jackal security detail. With each step that they took, Rose noted every weapon in the room was slowly trained on them. Upon passing the cold, metal archway, they were commanded to stop. Was it her, or were their captors' plasma weapons beginning to glow brighter?
Stopping in the center, both women stood there, knees shaking, hands quaking, in the sights of every weapon there and the eyes of the stoic, imposing Ship Master. "Leave us," he said, with a hand signal. Most of the Elite guard, along with their Jackal security, left the room, leaving the two humans alone with the Ship Master, his honor guard, and his subordinate officer.
He stared at us, the Ship Master did, with those deep, penetrating reptilian eyes. His eyes worked their way over our bodies, paying particular attention, I noticed, to Lea specially, though I wondered if he were merely examining her fresh wounds.
"I take it that Minor Redumee has caused you some trouble, Mizzz Lea." He confirmed, his tongue finding difficulty with the word, even through the translator. "Rest assured that he has been summarily dealt with for his actions." Lea could only nervously jerk her head in response. His eyes turned to me next.
"Mizzz Rose, I trust that none of my crew has unjustly harmed you as of late?"
"No, my lord," I stammered. It's true, ever since my last incidence with the Jackals, they seemed to be less harsh towards me when on guard duty.
He nodded appreciatively. "That is good. Forgive me. I sometimes cannot stop my soldiers from being a little bit too…zealous in the performance of their duties. I am only glad that you weren't victim to their more enthusiastic approaches to pacification. I—" His words were cut short by the sound of a shrill alarm.
The silver armored elite turned. "Ship Master! Flight patrol detected a mass of incoming enemy ships. Reports show several of their massive attack-class ships bearing our way."
The Ship Master turned towards the holo-display that suddenly flared up. "Bring up the tactical readouts." His subordinate nodded, and then looked at the two humans suspiciously. "Perhaps, the females can return to their cells for now, your grace."
But the Ship Master shook his head. "No. This is something I'd like them to see. Bring up a live feed of the battle." A video screen was superimposed over the tactical screen, data streaming down on either side. "I count six of their assault-class frigates bearing on our position." Docked within Earth's atmosphere, the Covenant ship was safe from the reach of the more powerful, yet non-atmosphere combatable human capital ships. Bringing up the tactical screen again, the Ship Master spied fighter squadrons coming in to assist the frigates.
"Launch fighter squadrons and awaken the point defense A.I." Scanning the tactical screen the Ship Master inquired, "Are there any ships nearby that can respond to our call?"
"There are, your Excellency. Should we call for aid?" The Master Elite cocked his head at that remark. "'Aid,' subordinate? No. Send the word that someone will have to clear the resulting debris when we're through."