Oblivion

Chapter 2 - Welcome to the Universe


The Ship Master walked in front of her. Vassi kept her head bowed. It was nothing to do with being a female in the presence of a male. He was her commanding officer, and her loyalty - as well as her absolute respect - now belonged to him.

The Unparalleled Supremacy was more spacious than any of the Sangheili bafttle cruisers she'd been on. She, like the other students of the war academy on Sanghelios, had learnt to pilot in one of those. The interior had allowed barely any elbow room - it had been designed to carry a Sangheili officer with a small platoon of Unggoy, and the Unggoy were a diminutive species. Vassi hadn't minded the tiny cruiser. Its small size had made it easier to manoeuvre. Her scores on the piloting test had been the second highest in her class.

The ship she was on now was a far cry from her test cruiser. The corridor that she and Ship Master 'Vadamee were walking down was double the length of the ship she'd flown. Vassi's mind wandered.

She had been her father's firstborn. Vassi knew the story - her father, a Major-domo who had earned the coveted right to breed, had hoped for a son, but gotten a daughter instead. As an infant, she had been sent to the household's harem to languish until she reached physical maturity. There she would have stayed, had her father been able to produce another child. As it was, every time one of the wives in the harem had fallen pregnant with 'Tnes Voro's child, there had been a miscarriage or some such. Finally, Major-domo Voro had gone to the harem not to produce a son, but to reclaim his daughter. Vassi had spent her childhood fighting the other Sangheili her age - all males, since none of the other men in her household had had the problem of her father. She had known even then that in the eyes of 'Tnes Voro, she was a replacement, a second-best substitution for a son.

So Vassi had made sure to win every single children's play fight she had gotten into. It wasn't hard.

None of the other Sangheili children had known what determination and drive were at that age, let alone fought with those things in mind. Vassi had fought like a demon, and she had always won.

Then she had entered adolescence, and gotten into more fights than ever. Many of the Sangheili males she had grown up with had started looking at her differently, many of them tried to have their way with her. Vassi had been unable to complain to her father. Her father honestly didn't care, and wouldn't have believed her even if he did - the right to mate with a female was a privilege which was granted to a male Sangheili by the highest of the household. The price of taking such a liberty as to mate without permission was beyond high, and few would dare risk it.

What her father hadn't understood was that the other Sangheili didn't look at her as they would look at the wives, who were revered in their own way. They looked at her and saw an intruder, an interloper into the world of men.

Then Vassi had made her application to the war academy, with her father's grudging permission - she had to carry on his bloodline, after all, and represent him, and fight honourably on the battlefield, and how was she to do that without an education?

Most of the males' applications had been processed in two weeks, and they were enrolled in the academy. Vassi's application had taken three months for approval. Even when she had finally joined the rest of them, she had to work harder than they did for every high score she got, which was always just less than that of the highest-scoring male.

It was strange that Ship Master 'Vadamee hadn't looked past her and chosen one of the others, one of the men. Vassi wanted to look up at the gold-armoured Sangheili's back but didn't quite dare.

She didn't know whether to question his motives or not. The idea of distrusting a commanding officer went so far against the grain of her training that her mandibles tensed and flexed at the idea. On the other hand, Vassi had never given anyone trust freely. Her instructors at the academy were supposed to be impartial, but they had constantly favoured the male students over her and made her work harder to always come second. Her father had only sent her to the academy because he had been unable to sire a son. And Vassi had never been able to have friends because she was a female Sangheili alone in a world of males. The lesson that Vassi had learnt from infancy onwards was that she could never expect respect, or indeed justice or fair motives, from anyone or anything.

Vassi put the quandary aside for the moment. She was to be employed in navigation, which had been one of her greatest strengths at the academy. The navigation instructor had had to work hard to find a way to put her second in that class.

'The bridge is this way.' Ship Master 'Vadamee's voice resounded, deep, throughout the corridor. 'Please follow me.'

Vassi obeyed. The doors in front of them lit green and slid open, and Ship Master 'Vadamee stepped through.

The room was as big as her entire test cruiser had been. Vassi was momentarily glad she was only an apprentice, and not in charge of flying the Unparalleled Supremacy. She recognised some of the keyboards with their primarily violet holograms, but not others. She supposed she would have time to learn, assuming Ship Master 'Vadamee kept her at this position. Several Sangheili, all males, all blue-armoured like her, were sitting at various consoles around the room. One Sangheili, obviously an officer, was clad in red armour and seated at the head of the room, in front of three terminal screens.

Ship Master 'Vadamee walked over to the red-armoured officer, his footsteps clattering dully on the polished floor, and spoke. 'Lieutenant, I have your apprentice as promised.'

The officer turned, glanced at Vassi, then did a double take. To Vassi's surprise, he didn't object, but nodded in deference. 'Many thanks, Ship Master.'

'Apprentice Vassiminde Voro, you are now in the charge of Lieutenant K'ruk,' Ship Master 'Vadamee said. 'You will report to him now. He is my new second-in-command.'

Vassi hid her surprise. The rumours about Galeg had been true, and Ship Master 'Vadamee had appointed a new lieutenant. She wondered briefly what had happened to him, and then bit off that train of thought. She was an underling. She wasn't here to think, or to speculate.

'Voro,' Lieutenant K'ruk said, pronouncing the last name slowly. 'Is Major-domo 'Tnes Voro your father?'

'Yes, Lieutenant,' Vassi replied, kneeling. She could tell by his silence that he wanted to ask if 'Tnes had had a son. He seemed to decide against it, and motioned for her to stand.

'You know the fundamentals of navigation already?' he asked.

'Yes, Lieutenant,' Vassi repeated.

The Lieutenant pointed at the left screen. 'You will operate this terminal. It will be insignificant if you make a mistake, since I am controlling the primary guidance system. You will do only as I tell you. Ask a question if there is something you do not understand, but otherwise remain silent.'

'Yes, Lieutenant.'

Lieutenant K'ruk motioned for her to take a seat at the screen. Vassi did so, and her hands moved to the controls. They were drifting through what was mostly empty space, which made for tedious staring at a screen, but Vassi didn't allow her mind to wander. She had been given a job to do, and she would do it. That had worked for her in the academy, and it would work for her again here.

'We are attempting to locate one of the outer human worlds,' the Lieutenant explained. 'So far we have been unable to intercept any of their communications, or decipher any of their computer information, as primitive as it is.' He let out a derisive noise. 'They have adopted this tiring habit of erasing data from their systems when they sense a threat from any of the Covenant.'

Vassi remained silent.

The Lieutenant went on. 'You do not need to know why this planet is important. However, if you manage to obtain any information regarding something called Reach, you must pass it on to me or to Master Vadumee.' He paused. 'Do not worry for your safety. This is a scouting mission only. We will return with a fleet once we have established its location.'

Vassi's mandibles tightened at the mention of her safety. The Lieutenant noticed, and quite unexpectedly let out a laugh.

'Of course 'Vadamee would have chosen her for a reason,' he muttered to himself.