Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft or Halo as those were developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Bungie Studios and subsidiary companies respectively.
Author's Notes: Here's chapter three! Sorry it took so long but I had to take care of some college work. Furthermore, I received some helpful messages about some mistakes I made on the last chapter so I updated it and corrected whatever mistakes I could find. Now that that's settled, on to the story!
"Talking"
"Thoughts"
==O==
Chapter 2
New Friends…or Foes?
==O==
John stared at the apparent leader of the group who introduced herself as Saelia Moonstrider. Like some of her companions she had glowing silver eyes and wore the armor that he noted among the trackers and archers earlier. Her weapons comprised of a sheathed sword strapped to her hip guard, a quiver of arrows slung around her back, and held a bow in her hands. Just like her fellow Night Elves, she had violet skin but hers was of a lighter hue and had a white stylized facial tattoo on her left cheek that ended at the jawline with a curve, while her long black hair ended just past the shoulder line.
Making sure not to reveal herself to the Night Elves, Cortana decided to voice her opinion.
"Ordinarily I wouldn't suggest revealing any critical information, let alone your identity, but we're short on information. You don't have to go into details so just tell her who you are. And I suggest that you also mention what you are. After your little performance I can bet that they might think that you're a demon so let's not leave them with that impression."
The Spartan scoffed a bit at that.
"Alright, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." John replied sourly.
Cortana laughed gently at that.
"It's up to you John, but not answering a woman's question is considered rude after all." she pointed out teasingly.
"Fine."
With that John directed his attention to the Night Elf leader and replied to her question in crisp military fashion, as he was trained to do ever since Reach.
"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan Sierra-117, a member of the UNSC Navy." he stated with formal discipline.
This however only seemed to confuse the Night Elves even more as they looked at him with utter bewilderment. John wondered what he should do now; he was more used to fighting Covenant, Flood, and Insurrectionists. Diplomacy was definitely not one of his strong points as that was somewhat outside his particular area of expertise since he had been trained to fight and the only kind of diplomacy he was in usually involved him escorting trained diplomats. But seeing as how he didn't have the luxury of consulting a diplomat, he decided to wait and see if they wanted to ask any more questions and determine his responses accordingly. Sure enough, asked questions they did, or at least Saelia did as she was the leader of the group.
"What is this UNSC you speak of? What sort of name is that?" she asked incredulously.
"I am Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan Seirra-117, but if you want something shorter to call me by, just call me Master Chief, or Chief. As for the UNSC, it is the organization that I have been serving for over thirty years of my life as a Spartan." John replied with maintained professionalism.
Saelia looked straight at the being's "head", leaning her neck slightly back as she did so. While this "Chief" was not quite as tall as some of the male Night Elves, but he was still fairly tall and the sheer power and skill he displayed made him a force to be reckoned with, there was no doubt in her mind about that. And quite honestly, staring at his face plate with her reflection looking back at her had perturbed her slightly. But she was a veteran warrior and she was not going to allow herself to be intimidated by anything or anyone. But she also realized that in the manner the stranger had spoken to her and from the way he fought the Orcs, she reflected that this Chief, like her, was an experienced warrior. She then decided to find out more about this mysterious stranger and his intentions.
"Very well… Chief, what race are you?" she finally asked, her voice tinged with curiosity.
The Spartan replied to that with only one word.
"Human."
Needless to say the Chief's response had greatly shocked the Night Elves. They had met the humans before though not under the best of circumstances when the two species first met, but the idea that this entity before them being human? They had never heard of humans having such a fearsome warrior in their ranks. Where was this warrior during the Third War? If he had been there, he would have been quite a deadly asset in fighting the Burning Legion. Were there others like him? Was this UNSC this giant spoke of part of the Alliance from Lordaeron as well? If he was why was he not with them when they came here to Kalimdor?
So many questions were flying in the minds of her companions but Saelia had only two, and she was not going to let them remain in her mind for too long.
"Can you prove that you are human?" Saelia asked with suspicion.
John had to give this….Saelia woman some credit, she was not easily intimidated by him and that was rare. Most human soldiers in the UNSC were usually either in awe, fear, and a few who were resentful of the Spartan while the Covenant, depending on which side, had other reactions. The Separatists had respect, while the Loyalists had hatred.
This Night Elf female wasn't showing any of those emotions and seemed focused on trying to make sure that he was not a threat. He could tell that much from reading her body movements and the way she looked at him.
"I am human, that's all that you need to know for the time being." John replied in a matter-a-factly tone.
Saelia frowned at that. She was annoyed and a little angry of course, but she kept her temper in check and reminded herself that fighting this being was not exactly the wisest course of action, considering how he easily slaughtered the Orcs and the Gronn. However she did have one more question and decided to ask it quickly in order to figure out what she should do next.
"All right, to my next question then. Is this UNSC you serve located in the lands of Azeroth and part of the Alliance?" she asked, hoping that the forthcoming answer would be enough to help her decide.
"No." the Chief replied with a shake of his head.
Now Saelia was even more confused than before. Here was a supposed human who was telling her that he was not from Stormwind itself, the capital city of the Humans, even more than that, he was telling her that his faction was not part of the Alliance and was not on the continent of Azeroth. This puzzled her a great deal and she wasn't getting close to answers that made any sense to her. For now, she decided to set those questions aside for the moment and focus on the more pressing issue.
"Where are you going now?" she asked.
"Back to my ship and set up a base of operations. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get moving." replied the Chief.
The Spartan turned and began to head off in a different direction in order to get to the other HEV. But before he could proceed, the woman had already moved in front of him, much to his surprise as well as that of Cortana's. She then had an arrow notched in her bow and aimed it right at his visor.
This woman had guts to be aiming an arrow that was ridiculously useless against his shields, much less his MJOLNIR armor, but he had to respect her daring. The other Night Elves seemed stunned by their leader's actions, but they didn't try to stop her.
That showed how much they respected their leader and the Spartan could certainly understand that. But he really didn't have the time for this.
"Why are you aiming that arrow at me?" John asked calmly, careful in not trying to appear too antagonistic.
"I do not trust you Chief, I am a Sentinel and my duty has always been to the safety of my people and my homeland. You may have saved my life and the lives of those in my patrol, and for that I do thank you, but I cannot just let you wander in this land without supervision. Doing so would be a violation of my oath to protect my people. I do not know for sure who or what you are or even if you truly are human. And until I find out who you are and where you come from, you are not taking another step further into the forests of Kalimdor." Saelia replied with steely conviction.
The Spartan couldn't help but feel a faint smirk form on his face.
"This woman is a soldier through and through…. she is duty bound to protect her people and world, willing to give her life to protect them. Something that we both have in common and I can respect that." he thought admiringly.
"I can assure you that I am no threat to you or your people. In fact, you're people may be able to help me." said John in an attempt to placate the women.
"Explain yourself now." Saelia demanded curtly, wary of the Chief's intentions regarding her people.
"My ship crashed landed not too far from here and while I do have it's location, I don't have the necessary knowledge of this land or it's people. Aside from the Orcs I helped kill, you're race is the first I have encountered and I am not here to wage war on anyone. If you like, you can accompany me to my ship so you can be assured that I won't cause trouble. I also have a proposal."
Saelia relaxed a bit and spoke once more.
"What do you have in mind?"
"I'll prove to you that I am not a threat. I will also help you fight any possible threats we might encounter along the way. In return, you can tell me just where exactly that I have landed on."
"Why?"
"I am in an unknown land, surrounded by unknown races, cultures, civilizations and others. I need information of cultures, customs, social hierarchies, factions…everything. I need to know who the sides are and what the situation is here so I can make informed decisions that will be the key to my survival on this world which is no doubt your home. Information is power and I need information, which is what you have." the Chief explained.
Saelia thought it over and weighed her options. The offer sounded sincere and she decided that she and her group would greatly benefit from the being's skills and weapons when it came to fighting other threats, especially when they fought with the Orcs. She also thought about what he was asking from her. As he said information was a powerful thing, however she was very careful when she considered this train of thought.
Information was a very valuable commodity and Saelia was aware of it's power. After all, it was with information that they were able to survive the war with the Burning Legion. If she gave this stranger the information he wanted what was he really going to do with it. She knew that she would have to decide quickly since there was no telling what would happen if they stayed here much longer.
"Very well, I accept your proposal. But let me make one thing clear, if you do anything that I consider a threat, I will not hesitate to fight you, even if I die doing so." Saelia replied evenly.
With that the Night Elf left and returned to the rest of her group to check on the wounded and injured while the Spartan was left alone to speak to his companion.
"Not bad, not bad at all. We get them on our side for now and you get information on this world we happen to be in. You've gotten rather quick on the tongue there big guy." Cortana commented with evident amusement in her voice.
The Spartan simply shrugged.
"I suppose, but it was the best option."
"I know. But it's safe to assume that they are very aware that you are more than capable of taking them on in a fight despite their numerical superiority. The fact that you will be willing to help them might put them in a more relaxed mood. Not only that, but the extra hands will come in handy since we do have limited supplies until we get to the second HEV since there is no telling what other creatures that we might have to deal with until we get there. Plus they know the lay of the land so we might get access to shortcuts to save time. Still, that woman certainly has guts, aiming an arrow at you like that, I like her spirit."
John snorted a bit in good humor as he also had to respect the woman who only moments ago had aimed an arrow right at his helmet's face plate. Not many did that to a Spartan and he saw the look of determination in her silver eyes. She was a veteran of many battles and no doubt this made her braver than most people. He then looked back at the woman as she checked her comrades, both male and female to see the extent of their injuries. He saw the ones with the clawed weapons casting some sort of spell that seemed to help mend the wounds of their allies.
Cortana took a quick interest at what she was seeing.
"Remarkable….whatever those men are doing it seems to help stimulate the natural regenerative properties of the body. I am picking up some weird energy readings coming from them though I don't detect any massive energy readings that would signify an attack." she noted with fascination.
The Spartan nodded as he saw that the wounds of the Night Elves were beginning to mend before his eyes. He moved a little closer to allow Cortana a better view and there he saw some of the wounds closing up right in front of him. Then he realized that the number of wounded was a bit higher than the number of healers they had with them and an idea clicked to him.
He placed his weapons aside while removing the rucksack from his back and opening it to see what supplies he had with him for treating wounds. He had made sure to pack extra medical supplies for any kind of situation even though his MJOLNIR Mark VI had built-in Biofoam injectors with a self-sustaining supply of Biofoam.
Spartans were trained for anything and everything so he brought all he needed when it was possible. That was something that his mentor and trainer Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez had trained into him and his fellow Spartans since they were young and that lesson had saved them more than once. Most people who would see the harshness and ruthlessness of the man's training of such young children would call Mendez a sadist and a monster, but the Master Chief knew otherwise.
Mendez's lessons had been invaluable in shaping him and his fellow Spartans into the soldiers they were today. Those skills, abilities, and knowledge were the keys to not just their success but also their survival. They would not have lasted as long as they had without his training, and that training helped them turn what would have been lose after lose into a tactical victory during the wars with the Covenant. Mendez was a father figure to them and that was why no matter what others thought of the man, John and his fellow Spartans always thought highly of him whenever they looked back on their past lives.
He found that he had more than enough supplies and moved over to one of the wounded Night Elves. He then opened one of the Health kits to begin treatment but was stopped by Saelia.
"What are you doing?" she asked while looking at his equipment with suspicion.
"Showing you that you can trust me for the time being. I will help tend to the wounded in your group."
"Our Druids can tend to that." Saelia countered.
"True, but they will need to use their magic in combat as well and the quicker your people are treated the faster we can get moving." the Chief pointed out.
Saelia looked at the Spartan for a bit and while she didn't show it, she understood what he was saying. Rejuvenation magic took time to work and since they were a fairly large patrol they had to wait for the magic to take full effect so travel was not possible, especially when wounds and injuries would prove to be a problem for them. Though personally she wondered just what sort method of healing could this….Master Chief give to her people. After seeing how much carnage he could unleash, the idea of this entity being a healer was rather hard to swallow. However she decided to try and see for herself if what this Chief said was true.
"Then you may do so, but I will be watching you closely."
The Master Chief nodded then quickly got to work, taking out several canisters of Biofoam as well as some self-sealing and adhering antiseptic bandages, some morphine, and a stitch kit. When he got what he needed together, he went to work patching up the wounded Night Elves. Before he started he gave them warnings that the Biofoam would sting a bit at first and sure enough it did, making the women hiss in pain. But it only lasted for a second and soon he was placing bandages on the wounds. For the more serious cuts, he uses the stitches to seal up the wounds carefully, used the morphine to dull the pain, used the Biofoam to seal the injuries, and then applied the bandages.
Spartans were no strangers to doing first aid. After all, they had to treat their own injuries as well as that of their fellow Spartans as part of their training in order to survive on the battlefield. Despite their near invincible and supposedly merciless war machine reputations they were able to heal and treat wounds to keep themselves in top fighting form. The work to heal injures only took the Spartan about half an hour at best since there were a number of others who needed treatment. Once the Master Chief was satisfied with the results of the work he had done, he got up and left.
The Spartan was busy gathering his supplies as he looked at the recovering Night Elves he had treated. Seeing them get back on their feet told him that his work was done, though he made sure to warn them that the medicine was temporary since the effects would wear off in a few hours. But overall their wounds would be fine once they were further healed by their comrades.
The Chief's words was proven true as the Druids found that they only needed to cast less of their magic on the wounded as their bodies were already healing. This allowed them to reserve more of their magic for other situations they might find themselves in. Even the other female Night Elves were impressed by how quickly their wounds had healed as the Spartan moved to recover his weapons. Once he recovered them, he checked the ammunition stores and saw them to be all good. Then he recovered his Combat Knife, cleaned it a bit and placed it back in the sheath, showing that he was ready to continue with his mission to locating the other HEV and his ship.
With nothing more to do, Saelia signaled her patrol to move forward and to follow their new found guest and possible ally. Although the senior Night Elf Sentinel still held some nagging reservations about the Spartan.
==O==
Several hours later…
As the motley band reached the second HEV, the Spartan tapped the code onto the control console to make the HEV fire it's hatch open. The Spartan then told the Night Elves to stand back and avoid being hit. However, having witnessed the whole thing happen before, the warning was not entirely necessary as they stayed a good distance away from the HEV.
After the door was launched out, the Spartan checked the contents of the HEV and found all the supplies and spare weapons that he had stored were all accounted for. He then checked his chronometer and saw that it was three o'clock in the morning. It had been at least several hours since he had finally gotten on the move after treating the wounded and traversing through the forest since the new group actually slowed him down. It was a bit of a problem but the fact that they knew the land helped somewhat as they moved through areas that shaved off more time from his trip and the extra support was helpful.
There had been a few more encounters with several unknown indigenous wildlife. Some of them were naturally hostile and while he had been more than able to hold his own, he had been able to witness the Night Elves in action.
He had to give them credit. Their skills were very useful and their weapons, while primitive by any standard of the UNSC, where highly effective. No doubt their long lives here in this kind of world made them excellent in survival and tracking, and the Spartan wondered just how they would perform in other environments.
Cortana had joked to him that if any of the male personnel back at the UNSC got to see the Night Elf females in action, they would have been more than happy to work alongside them. And despite his professionalism, John couldn't help but agree a bit as he could certainly see the appeal of the women, despite the fact that the Night Elves were technically aliens.
He decided that now was the right time to grab a much needed meal. As much as he wanted to go all the way to the Dawn and check the Frigate's status, he wouldn't be able to do much about it if he lacked the energy to do so. He might be a battle hardened Spartan but he was no god or machine, he needed energy like the next person.
With that in mind, John turned to face Saelia who was still there next him.
"We can rest here for now, grab a meal and when we're done, we'll push on to the Dawn." he informed her.
Saelia nodded and turned to her comrades.
"We will set camp here for now and get some food and rest, let's get a camp site set up as quickly as possible!" she ordered.
"Yes Sister-Captain!" chorused the other Night Elves.
The women got to work gathering nearby firewood while the men began to look for any local game as well as looking for wild fruit and vegetables that would supplement their meal for the day. They also appeared to have carried some supplies for making fire. While some set up the camp, others armed with their bows stood guard to make sure that no one attack them while their companions worked. The Spartan mentally nodded in approval at the cohesiveness of the Night Elf patrol.
"Your group's shows a great deal of discipline." the Chief commented, making his opinion of the group known to Saelia.
Saelia nodded.
"We have to be, our numbers aren't like what they used to be ever since the Battle at Mount Hyjal. We have to make sure that we do our best to survive and avoid losing too many of our people in pointless battles and field accidents. We…lost so many." she replied softly.
From the tone of her voice the Spartan could tell that particular battle was something of a sore topic for the Night Elf and he could understand why. John himself had been in some very serious battles with the worst being…
"Can't start thinking about that, not now." he thought solemnly.
"I'll set up my camp here near the HEV." informed the Chief.
The Spartan left the Night Elf looking at his back as he walked away. Saelia sighed to herself and headed off to help out with the setting up of their camp.
The Spartan meanwhile was busy with his own thoughts but as soon as he got to the HEV he started to work on setting up his own camp. Since there was a small stream nearby he quickly rummaged through his supplies to see what he could use to cook with.
He found a Ferro-cerium rod that he could use to make a fire and took that with him. He gathered some dried wood nearby and quickly got enough fuel for a fire and worked his magic with his recovered combat knife and soon got a fire going. The warm fire's heat wasn't felt as his MJOLNIR Mark VI armor was more than able to handle that requirement. But for morale purposes and for boiling the water he'd be using, it was exactly what he needed.
He had several MREs with him and he opened one by pulling the heating tab that triggered the hidden heating weave that was in the tray that held the food there, warming it up and making it ideal for eating. The MRE contained hot mashed potatoes with butter already on it that melted to add more flavor. There was also boiled peas and carrots as well as several slices of well cooked beef with now hot gravy on them. The Spartan quickly took out the specially made spoon and fork as well as the sachets of coffee powder, cream, and sugar.
He then got out a small pot made from metal and poured in the coffee, sugar, and cream and took some cool water from the stream. Cortana had already analyzed the water and found it to be fit for drinking with no danger of any unwanted parasites or bacteria. He then made a quick tripod from several strong metal rods and when that was done, he hung the pot over the fire and got down to eating his meal while occasionally making sure to stir the contents of the pot to make the ingredients for the coffee blend better together.
He already removed his helmet as he started to eat his food. After a while he was beginning to feel much better, one thing that he learned early on in his life as a Spartan was to never underestimate the power of a fresh hot meal. He might never show it but he felt very relieved whenever he was able to have the taste of a hot meal in his mouth and the warmth of it in his stomach.
==O==
A few minutes later….
As he ate his meal with military discipline he began to focus on thinking of what his next course of action should be. So far he had been able to get on the side of the Night Elves though he was curious about the ramifications of his siding with them over those Orcs. Most people would have opted not to get involved in the battle at all and would have just let the Night Elves and Orcs fight it out, that way the one how waited it out would be free to move on.
However the Spartan knew next to nothing about this world or its environment. Compiling topographical data was easy to do with the kind of technology he had at his disposal, with Cortana's help of course.
The more difficult information to collect however was the knowledge of the people on the ground. Who were the key players? What were the factions and organizations here? How many other races and cultures were there on this world? Knowledge was power and information was strength.
Needless to say John knew all too well how true those words were since it was only when so many lives were lost in the opening days of the Covenant War that the UNSC was able to know enough to face the enemy. Data from recorder chips recovered from dead, dying, or living UNSC Marines, ODSTs, and Army personnel had provided valuable tactical and strategic insights to give the UNSC a fighting chance against their new enemies. While gathering tissue samples from the bodies of the dead was one thing, gathering intelligence from live beings was another thing entirely with far more benefits.
For these reasons he chose to help the Night Elf Sentinel and her patrol because of several factors they displayed during their fight with the Orcs. The first was because they had not attacked him the very second they saw him, this told him that they were only aggressive when they saw something as a threat to them. And treating something that was unknown to them differently was a good sign. Had they attacked him outright, he would have considered them to be hostile and killed them.
The second was the fact that they were able to speak the human language of English, that meant that they had prior contact with humans and that could be very valuable to him as they would no doubt know more about where he could find other humans in this land.
The third was due to their skills as residents in this land that they called home, they knew their way around the land and would be a great help to him in cutting travel time in half. Plus they would be able to explain to him the various life forms here on this continent which would save him both time and potential headaches if had did it on his own. He didn't want to waste valuable resources in fruitless ventures into an unknown territory after all since it was counterproductive so having assistance from the natives was helpful.
The final reason was that he had a feeling that he could trust them. Not enough to warrant him turning his back to them of course, but enough to tell him that he might be in better company with them until he got everything he needed from them.
Asking the Orcs could have also been useful. But when he saw the way they attacked the Night Elves with absolute blood lust, the Spartan knew that aligning with them was not a viable option. Their knowledge of human language meant that they also had prior contact with humans, but their actions told the Spartan that their relations with humans would no doubt be hostile, and if they knew he was human, he had no doubt they would have tried to kill him.
The savage and suicidal attacks they did also told him that they were fanatics, even when he was slaughtering their group; they didn't break and retreat to recover but rather kept on charging like rabid wolves after a meal. Fanatics were not the type of people one should trust in any way and who knows what have happened if they somehow captured him. The Orcs he fought with also displayed a bloodthirsty nature that made them similar to the Brutes when they went into a berserk rage in battle. This was another good reason why he didn't need to be working with them.
As he finished his meal, he then moved the pot off the fire and poured himself some coffee. Sipping his coffee, he took the time to savor the taste and warmth. It had been so long since he had a proper meal ever since getting back to Earth and fighting all the way to the Ark so he decided to take his time to enjoy it, though his senses were still on alert.
==O==
Meanwhile on the other side of the lake, the Night Elves were currently cooking a deer that the Druids were able to hunt down while eating some of the wild fruits and vegetables that were brought in by the others. The patrol also took out several skins of cool spring water that they had with them and they were making sure to have a good meal before they moved onwards with their guest. The fire was made by magic to cook the meat well and the Night Elves were finally able to relax somewhat.
Saelia sat near the fire and was deep in thought about everything that had happened so far this night. One of the Sentinels noticed this then spoke to her commander.
"Sister, are you well?" asked the Sentinel with concern.
Saelia sighed.
"I am unsure sister….I only hope that I am not making a mistake by allowing this Chief to continue to his destination." she replied wistfully.
The others nodded solemnly in agreement. Then one of the Druids spoke.
"While that is true, it seems that his route is taking him away from any of our settlements as well. Wherever his ship may be, it is very far away from any of the villages our people reside in. I have a feeling that if he had any ill will towards us, he would have fought us as well as the Orcs." he pointed out.
One of the Sentinels nodded to that.
"I have never seen such movements before in my life, it was too….fluid and precise, if he truly is human….then he is unlike any human we have come across." she said with a bit of wonder in her voice.
"His armor could be enchanted, that might explain his speed and power." provided another Sentinel.
"I don't believe that is the case sister. Remember, there was nothing to tell us that the armor was indeed enchanted or magically forged, as there had been no magical energy coming from it. Nor did it have runes, magical symbols, or metal that we would recognize as enchanted. And I sensed nothing that would indicate any sort of magic that I have seen from our records that has anything to do with enchanted metal or any inherently magical materials." supplied a second Druid.
"But how could he cause that much injury to a creature as formidable as a Gronn with just a punch and kick? I have never heard of any human being able to do that or from what I read about humans." argued a third Sentinel.
"Perhaps he is indeed a demon and uses an armor that somehow contains and hides his Fel energy?" pondered another Druid.
"Then why did he heal us with those devices he had with him if he is indeed a demon?" retorted the first Druid.
"Perhaps to lure us into lowering our guard, to make us see him as less of an enemy and make him seem more trustworthy to us." countered the third Sentinel.
"Demons of the Burning Legion may be subtle, but not THAT subtle. We have killed so many of their most powerful leaders and officers in the battle of Mount Hyjal that they have lost a much of their elite forces who were excellent at manipulation. Besides, we have no idea what sort of metal could hide Fel energy just yet. And if there was such a material, then the Legion would have been using that for all their forces, though I have my doubts as many of them would much prefer to show themselves in their arrogance to destroying us in the open." explained the first Druid.
Saelia listened to the debates between the members of her patrol group as she ate her own food to satisfy the ache in her own belly which was steadily growing when they skipped dinner and since it was going to be morning soon, they were not going to have breakfast either.
One of the older Druids, who had been listening to the various arguments of his companions, was in deep thought before he finally spoke.
"What we can all agree on is this, he is not what he seems and we must keep our eyes on him and make sure that we have him under surveillance at all times. He might become a valuable ally but he can also become a deadly enemy. We must be very careful of this being until he gets what he wants. Then will shall see what he does next and respond accordingly." reasoned the old Druid with a look from his amber eyes that conveyed deep wisdom.
"Shouldn't we inform High Priestess Tyrande of this? She must know more about this being that has arrived in our lands as she is our people's leader." suggested a younger Sentinel.
"We will indeed sister, but first we must know more about this being before we make a more formal report to the High Priestess."
The discussions carried on for a while until Saelia decided to check on their guest. She got up and headed to where his camp was. When she arrived there, she just witnessed him putting his helmet back on hiding his face to her yet again. Was he really a human underneath that helmet, or a demon hidden in an armored shell to hide his true form?
So many questions were flying through her mind as she looked at the Spartan move up and picked up one of the weapons that he had with him earlier; along with the supplies he had taken from the HEV or whatever it was that he called it. Several weapons were there also so she wondered just how her 'guest' was going to carry them. The Spartan turned once more with the golden face plate that covered it's owner's face greeted her once more and she felt a shiver of unease run through her.
Saelia tried to ignore the unwelcoming sensation, but ever since she saw this being in action she couldn't help but feel that this was a full-fledged and battle hardened warrior before her. Her former mentor, the Ancient of War Valok Hardbark, once told her that sometimes warriors could tell the power and strength of another just by observing and being close to them. She had taken that lesson to heart and it was now that she was beginning to sense that her trainer was right. This being radiated something that tickled her warrior senses and mind. Those feelings were the kind one felt when facing a warrior of greater skill, experience, and power according to her mentor which is something to be treated with respect and not to be underestimated.
"He is powerful….and dangerous. I've already seen what he is capable of well enough but still, what kind of battles did he take part in to make him this way?" she pondered lost in her own thoughts.
"Is something wrong?"
Saelia quickly realized that she had been staring at the Chief and without any hesitation she quickly replied.
"Nothing, I came here to check on you and see if you were doing anything suspicious." she said simply keeping her expression neutral.
The Spartan shrugged as he got ready to move out, but stopped and turned back to Saelia.
"I've finished gathering everything I needed from here. So I'm ready to keep moving to my ship if you and your friends are ready." he said.
Saelia looked sharply at the Chief.
"No, my troupe hasn't finished recuperating yet. Be patient, once were fed and rested we will follow you." she said with a tone that brokered no argument.
"Fine."
It grated on the Spartan's nerves somewhat but he kept himself from over reacting and kept in mind that he had to earn the trust of the natives if he was going to make sense of this world that he had landed in.
Though inconvenient was it was, the delay did give him more time to study the Night Elves a bit more. And from what he could see, they were a very tight-knit team. Saelia was giving precise orders and gave respect to her group while maintaining discipline. He could see that her group was willing to continue traveling with her to help keep watch over him. All in all, this was a well-oiled group and no doubt had seen plenty of action together for a very long time, which was something that made him feel more respectful of them.
However, he had to remain objective, aligning blindly with them was not why he was here. He needed information and they had it, so there was no need to fraternize with the Night Elves just yet. The mission always came first while everything else will follow afterwards. He then activated a private COM communications link with Cortana.
"Cortana?"
"Hm? What's up?"
"How far are we from the Dawn in terms of days and travel time?"
"Half a day's walk at best. Hopefully we can avoid any more of those roving beasts and who knows what else. This is turning out to be quite the little field trip."
The Spartan had to agree with her on that as he looked for his weapons and honed all of his combat senses on high alert. The Spartan recalled encountering the local wildlife here. Some he and the Night Elves could avoid while others were just too aggressive and persistent to ignore.
==O==
As soon as the camp was broken up, the group moved through the lands with the Spartan moving alongside Saelia. She decided to tell the Chief what he needed to know about the land he was currently in. Apparently this continent that John and Cortana had landed in was called Kalimdor and was home to the Night Elves for the most part as they mostly took up residence in the northern part of the continent to be closer to the forests which were sacred to her people.
They were not the only races who called Kalimdor home however. In the middle of the continent known as Central Kalimdor which, according to Saelia, was a harsh land that had verdant plains, desert lands, savannah, with large and small islands near the coastal areas, as well as marshes and swamps, and was home to the New Horde. It naturally had mountains, hills, and canyons befitting the land and was home to not just the Horde but the Centaurs as well as a few other races.
And to the South were ancient ruins and more besides. Apparently, in the past when the Night Elves had greater power and influence had lived there before the Sundering. John tried to get more information about this for both himself and Cortana, but Saelia was tight lipped about that topic so he decided to save it for another time. All he could gleam about it was that South Kalimdor was now a contested hot zone and was not for the faint of heart. For good reason it seemed as there were very few towns there from either the Horde or the Alliance.
He asked about the Alliance first and it was then that he learned about the time when the Night Elves had first encountered the Alliance and the Horde and how things had changed for them ever since they had first fought both the Alliance and the Horde. And eventually they sided with them to fight the Burning Legion's forces when the Second Invasion occurred.
Saelia then told the Spartan that if he wanted to know more about the events of their history, then he would do better with talking to the scholars, druids, and archivists. She concerned herself with more present matters though she was willing to talk about what she knew from her own experiences.
He did just that and wanted to know more about the Alliance as she knew it. He learned that Alliance had come from another continent called Lordaeron after the Burning Legion attacked it when they summoned the aid of an undead army known as the Scourge. This alliance of humans, dwarves, gnomes, and high elves was led by one Jaina Proudmoore, who was now ruler of a place known as the Theramore Isle. Once they had arrived, they came under assault from their old foes, the Horde, specifically the Warsong Clan of the Orcs.
This told the Spartan that the Orcs were a clan based society and that was a very difficult thing to deal with in his mind. Though they were one race, they were divided into clans and had different customs so communicating with them was going to be a challenge. But he placed that aside and continued to listen to Saelia.
She didn't know what happened that day but apparently the Horde and the Alliance had decided to work together in order to fight the Legion and this was when her kind had conflict before the two sides worked together. A band of Orcs had desecrated their forests for lumber to build their homes which led her people to go to war in anger. And in that same battle with the Orcs, they had taken some form of demonic power and had killed someone of great importance to her people. Supposedly a Demigod named Cenarius, which was why her people developed an intense hatred for the Orcs and hunted them whenever they could.
It seemed that this resentment carried on to this day. Even after the leader of the Horde, an Orc Warchief named Thrall had told them that ones who slew Cenarius were not Orcs but Fel Orcs.
This was enough to tell both John and Cortana just where the racial hatred between the Night Elves and the Orcs came from. They privately talked it over and decided to wait a bit longer and gather more information before making a final judgment on the Orcs and the Horde as a whole.
Saelia then told them about the battle of Mount Hyjal where they finally aligned with both the Alliance and the Horde to strike down the forces of the Burning Legion. Then she told him of how hundreds in the triple alliance had died to buy time for Malfurion to accomplish his goal and what happened by the end of it. Which lead to the current situation in the lands of Kalimdor.
By the end of the conversation, John had decided not to ask about the Horde for now. But then he remembered the group of Orcs that he had killed not too long ago and quickly turned to Saelia.
"Saelia."
Saelia looked at the Chief, curious about what he wanted ask this time.
"Yes Chief?"
"The Orcs that attacked your group… were they apart of the Horde?" asked the Chief. Outwardly he maintained his composure when he asked. Privately though he was very much concerned about the potential implications of what her answer might be.
Saelia shook her head.
"No, if the icon I saw displayed on their armor and skins were of any indication then those Orcs were a part of the Twilight's Hammer clan." stated Saelia.
"And who are they?" asked the Chief.
"I do not know much about them. But from what I have heard, they are more of a cult than an actual clan, since it's followers consists of other races besides the Orcs. All of them joined together by a single sinister belief."
"Which is…?"
"To bring about an apocalypse on all of Azeroth." she replied ominously.
"Charming… they must be a riot at parties." Cortana commented sarcastically to John.
John ignored this as he continued to question Saelia.
"Why?"
"As I said, I don't know much about them. Perhaps if it is allowed, you might learn more about them yourself from our city's archives, but that remains to be seen." answered Saelia, making it clear that she still didn't entirely trust the Chief.
John nodded in understanding. After all, if their positions were reversed he would have done the same. Putting that aside, he was very relieved to hear that he only killed Orcs from a rogue clan rather than from the Horde as that would have probably brought unwanted complications to his already difficult situation. He then asked about the twenty foot one-eyed creature he had killed that was with the Twilight Hammer's Orcs. According to Saelia, the creature was called a Gronn. Apparently they were rarely seen in Azeroth and under the best of circumstances it was generally better to avoid them altogether, as they had the reputation of having a ferocious nature.
Satisfied with the answers he gotten so far, John continued traveling with the Night Elves in relative silence. He wondered what other surprises were in store for him during his stay on this world.
One thing was for certain though, he was going to have to tread lightly and think carefully about what actions he should take in the coming future. If anyone had told him all this before he had landed on this world, he would have labeled that person as a certified lunatic who needed to be treated in a psych ward for the rest of his or her natural life.
But of course, that was no longer an issue given what he had seen.
The group managed to make good time due to the Night Elves' extensive knowledge of the land. Though a few of them in the group pointed out that they were skirting rather close to the borders of Central Kalimdor. So they had to be careful of possible encounters with patrols from the Horde that were in the area. Fortunately they hadn't encountered any and soon set up camp late in the afternoon and were able to eat and rest, once they were done, they would press on until night fall.
On the third day they finally arrived at their destination. The Spartan gave a slight sigh at the sight of the wrecked Forward Unto Dawn that lied on its resting place of sand and rock. It looked like the Forward Unto Dawn was going to be his home away from home for a while on this unknown world and he would not have it any other way as this was the only thing, besides Cortana, left that reminded him of the UNSC.
As he moved along the rocky terrain heading toward the frigate, he had nearly forgotten about the Night Elves that were with him. He turned and saw that they were looking at the frigate with absolute shock written all over their faces.
==O==
The Night Elves literally stared open mouthed and wide eyed at the sight of the wreck of the Forward Unto Dawn, they had no idea that the falling object they had seen from before was actually this large ship in front of them. It resembled the air ships that were used by the Alliance and occasionally the Horde. But this massive thing made all those ships look like toys by comparison. It was huge and there was no doubt that they were going to be in for more surprises. Of course they had heard rumors of the Draenei home ship, Exodar, being very large and from what they know of the Draenei is that while the ship before them was not quite as large as the Exodar, it was still of a significant size to be sure.
This patrol had dedicated itself to working in the lands of their people so they had never set foot in the capital city of the Draenei to be entirely certain, but they had heard rumors of the city's beauty and design. This ship on the other hand was a completely different sight all together.
This was more than enough to convince Saelia that the Master Chief was not lying about his faction not being part of the Alliance. If it was, then she would have seen at least ONE such ship like this in her time in the Sentinels so long ago during the Third War.
Saelia managed to catch up with the Spartan who was a fair distance from them and though she couldn't see the being's face underneath the helmet, she had a feeling that he seemed more at ease at the sight of the vessel before them.
"This is your ship?" Saelia asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
The Spartan nodded at that.
"Yes, this is the rear section of the Forward Unto Dawn. It was a UNSC frigate that took part in a number of major battles, one of which I was part of as well. I can't say any more than that for now, but I can tell you that the other half of it was lost during transit to this world." he replied.
Saelia became uneasy at the implications of that answer as she looked toward the ship. She was no expert but seeing the melted cut on the ship sent a shiver down her spine. It looked as it some power or another had actually cut the ship with something massive and very hot. She continued examined it a bit more, not that was much of a problem considering the sheer size of the vessel, of which continued to increase as she and the others got closer to it.
"What in the name of Azeroth could possibly be powerful enough to do this to a vessel of such size?" she thought with increased worry.
"Just how large was this….Forward Unto Dawn when it was whole?" Saelia asked.
The Spartan saw no harm in telling her the original dimensions of the Dawn and Cortana likewise agreed with that assessment. With the Dawn stuck here they weren't going anywhere any time soon, so there was no reason not to tell the Night Elf leader what the ship once was in the past.
"Before it was cut in half after a battle, the ship was at least one thousand six hundred seven feet at length, with it's width at least five hundred nine feet, and it's height is four hundred fifty seven feet tall." he crisply informed her.
Saelia couldn't help but be in awe as she began to picture the size of this vessel when it was not dissected by whatever it was that reduced it to such a state.
She shook her head in disbelief.
"So this is the most powerful warship in your forces?"
The Spartan slowly turned to her. Even though she couldn't see the Chief's face or read his body language, she swore that somehow she felt that he was somewhat amused by her statement.
After a moment of silence he finally replied.
"No actually, ships of the Frigate Class in the UNSC Navy are considered to be the weakest in terms of fire power, armor, and size. They make up for those weaknesses by being easier to build and can be fielded in larger numbers."
This bit of information stopped Saelia and her patrol dead in their tracks as they looked at the ship with renewed wonder. This ship was by their standards nearly the size of a well-fortified castle with a whole city inside it. The length of it could take in a number of villages into it. While the height was nearly that of a mountain; and this being calls it the weakest type of ship his faction has?
"If it was true, then how big were their most powerful ships?" thought Saelia.
They looked at the side and saw the name of the vessel itself. Next to it they spotted an emblem depicting a bird of prey, like a large eagle with his wings fully revealed in all its glory. Gripped in it's talons was a globe of a world and a single white long banner that hanged on the lower half of the globe with the letters UNSC. This further convinced Saelia that the Master Chief was definitely not lying about him not being part of the Alliance.
They finally shook themselves out of their stupor. Gathering their wits they followed the Spartan as he reached an access doorway and began to type in something on some sort of glowing pad. Then what appeared to be nothing but pure metal walls parted to reveal that it was a door. The Night Elves were very much worried about going in there. The idea of entering this fortress of metal did not sit well with them, especially the Druids as it felt unnatural to them. However, they decided to take the risk in order to learn more about this stranger.
==O==
As they walked through a massive hallway, the Spartan checked the entire corridor with his assault rifle and sharply scanned every corner with his enhanced eye sight. For now it seemed that no one else besides them was in the ship and the emergency lighting was still operational giving a low level lighting in the area. He then found what he was looking for.
"All right Cortana, you ready?" asked John.
"Yank me Chief, it's time I get access to the ship and see if everything we left behind is still intact." replied Cortana.
There was a slight pause before she spoke again.
"By the way, are you sure about this?"
"We don't have much of an option Cortana, like you said we need their help after all." John pointed out.
"I know, but I'm going tell you now anyway John, this is going to be an interesting day."
The Night Elves watched in curiosity as Spartan walked over to some sort pedestal with a small glowing blue circle in the middle. They stopped when he reached it and then the Spartan reached behind his helmet and removed a small device that was shaped like a small card that glowed. He placed it into a slot on the side of the pedestal and stepped back. A small figure then blinked into existence in the middle of the circle and the Night Elves were suddenly surprised to see what appeared to be a small light blue human female made from light and even more so when it spoke in Common.
"Ahhh…. after a long hike like that this feels nice." sighed Cortana while stretching with a content look on her face.
The Night Elves were looking at the small human female made of pure light that glowed blue; curiosity overcame shock and fear as they came closer to see if what they were seeing is real. As they continued to examine it they saw symbols that none of them recognized moving along the body of the woman of light.
They quickly started when the blue woman of light turned to look at them with a smile.
"Greetings, my name is Cortana."
Saelia managed to stop staring and spoke back in Common.
"I am…"
"I know who you are, you are Saelia Moonstrider of the Sentinels. I watched you and your fellow Night Elves with my Spartan when you were trying to track us a few days ago." interrupted Cortana still smiling at Saelia.
"You were there!?" Saelia asked in surprise.
"Yes, you could say that I reside in the mind of my Spartan as it were. What he sees, I see, what he hears, I hear, we are one, in a manner of speaking. By the way..."
Cortana's body glowed a violet hue, showing that she was somewhat annoyed by something. That and the frown dominating her face was also telling as she glared a bit at the Night Elf.
"I was also there when you pointed an arrow at my Spartan's head. Though your weapon might not have done you much good and while I admire your courage, I was not very amused by what you did at all."
While John didn't quite approve of the way Cortana was handling this, he knew Cortana was just a little upset over the previous incident but he trusted her judgment so he didn't interfere. As she continued to glare at Saelia who managed to keep her expression calm and focused despite the death gaze she was receiving.
Cortana then smiled a bit and seemed to relax as she spoke once more.
"At any rate, what's past is past, the here and now is what's most important."
Despite the helmet of his MJOLNIR hiding his features, he had to admit that it felt good to see her face to face again.
"What's the ship's status Cortana?"
Cortana looked around the ship, and Saelia had a feeling that this….being of light saw the ship differently than she and her fellows did. It looked as though she was peeling away the layers of metal around them and seeing what was beyond them.
"What is this being?" Saelia wondered.
"She's still mostly intact and surprisingly no worse for wear with all things considered. Everything we locked down is all right were we left them." Cortana finally replied to John in a tone of familiarity.
John nodded in approval at the results. Before they had gone down to the planet's surface after deploying the satellite, they had managed to take full stock of the Dawn's supplies. Back when the Dawn was about to move out with the Separatist Fleet, Commander Miranda Keyes had ordered the Dawn to be loaded down with some serious materials and equipment, in preparation for anything that might have been waiting.
The equipment included a working infantry weapons, armor, and ammunition assembly package. It was a large collection of robotic units that were designed manufacture all known weapons and ammunition used by the UNSC. Designed to replicate the production capabilities of large scale manufacturing plants, this was smaller so it took longer to make weapons, armor, and ammunition. However, it was more portable so it would be invaluable in helping making new weapons and more with what little materials he and Cortana had to work with.
Another bit of equipment they recovered was a number of portable holotanks for more in depth field operations in battle which would be very useful to him and Cortana, once they obtain whatever information they needed. They also found several crates filled with Data Crystal Chips that would allow them increased amounts of storage space for any additional information. These would be valuable to them since they would also serve as sources of data storage for Cortana to use in order to keep her in operational capacity.
There were also crates filled with working UNSC Bubble Shields, they were limited in number but would become very useful when the time came. There were also TR/9 Antipersonnel Mines in the supplies, as well as a number of salvaged Covenant Loyalist equipment such as Regenerators, Power Drains, Flares, Cloaking, Deployable Cover, Portable Gravity Lifts, Radar Jammers, and even some Jackal Shield Gauntlets. And, to the mutual surprise of Cortana and the Chief, there also at least a dozen Forerunner Auto-Turrets and Sentinel Beams of the regular and blue beam variants that appeared to have been salvaged from the Ark. The gear might seem out of place in such a world that was not dominated by technology, but in the minds of Cortana and John, there was nothing stopping them from taking certain advantages in this situation.
Along with those things, they found working components for a hydrogen reactor bank. This would prove very useful as this would relieve the strain of powering the Dawn from the four Deuterium nuclear fusion reactors that served as the Dawn's power source. The trip through the portal and the results of the crash landing had damaged them and it would take time before they were fully repaired so they need to make sure that they don't put too much strain on the reactors.
A number of extra Robot Rovers were also found on the manifest. These machines were loaded into the Dawn for heavy duty operations as they had no idea what they were going to face once they crossed into the portal that lead to the Ark. There were a total of seven of each type, the first were standard Rovers used to carry tons of equipment and supplies, in essence, are cargo lifters. The second were Robotic Dollies, specialized units for medical facilities to move supplies and patients in and out of certain areas when medical personnel were too busy to deal with multiple patients. The last, but certainly not least, were the Service Drones which does heavy maintenance and work.
With Cortana and himself being the only personnel here, having these units intact was like receiving a gift from God. Added to that was a large number of UNSC weapons that were dragged into storage for that mission, even several M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifles which were phased out of service back in the year 2521 which were then brought back in to service during the Covenant War.
Apart from this, there were also a number of stored Covenant weapons such as Carbines, Beam Rifles, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Repeaters, Fuel Rod Guns, Plasma Launchers, Focus Rifles, Concussion Rifles, Needlers, Plasma Pistols, and a good amount of Plasma Grenades and Energy Swords. These were all invaluable weapons of war and would be useful though the Spartan knew better than to use them up since he had no way to recharge them and supplies for the Carbines and Needlers were going to very precious.
The only other significant find on that end was a number of Brute weapons that were onboard as well, namely a number of Spiker Rifles, Brute Plasma Rifles, Brute Shot Grenade Launchers, Mauler pistols, and their trademark Spike Grenades. These had been taken from several battle fields on Earth and Miranda had requested for their use in the Dawn's personnel's arsenal instead of being left to rot. Besides, nothing enraged the Brutes more than being shot and blown apart by their own weapons.
All of this was further supplemented by the fact that Lord Hood had requested at least two crates full of special replacement parts, spare fusion cells, BIOS data cards, testing equipment, and more for the MJOLNIR mark VI armor components straight out of the labs. Even though the Admiral thought that going to the Ark was a mistake, the head of the UNSC burned everything he had on this last gambit and entrusted the Chief with those parts for the final battle. Though he never got to use them at the Ark, John decided to send a silent thanks to Lord Hood anyway.
Needless to say, John was very pleased that none of these things had been lost as they would be critical for his plans here. Now all he had to worry about was how much of this he should tell his potential allies.
"All right then, I think it's time to do what we talked about earlier Cortana, we should tell them." said the Chief with a meaningful gesture as looked to Cortana.
Saelia and her fellow Night Elves were confused by what he said. Cortana however simply smiled at the Chief.
"I think I have enough power for a little show and tell." she replied with hint of mischief.
The Spartan nodded and turned to the assembled Night Elves as the main lights in the frigate finally came online, showing the Night Elves where they were standing in. This was revealed to be a wide hanger bay where a number of still working UNSC vehicles was parked. These vehicles had not been used in the battle since all the UNSC forces had been evacuated when they finally made the last strike at the Ark. That was why there was such a massive surplus of equipment still in the Dawn's inventory when it went through the Portal. He also found out that Lord Hood had more than gone out on limb when the Chief found out that the Admiral had sent a large number of vehicles to aid in the assault.
All of which would soon be put to use at some point in the future, if the Chief had anything to say about it. From what he could tell there were a pair of Albatross Heavy Drop-ships, a half dozen Pelicans, four Hornets, four Hawks, three Banshees, and ,much to his surprise, two Longsword Interceptors for air power. In the ground vehicle department was a pair of MAAT-9 Wolverines, three Spectres, five Brute Choppers, seven Covenant Ghosts, a dozen Mongoose ATVs, ten Gauss Warthogs, ten LAAV Warthogs, and twelve Transport Warthogs.
In the heavy Armor category was at least a half dozen fully upgraded M808B Scorpion MBTs, four Brute Prowlers, five Wraiths, and much to John's own inner delight, was a pair of Grizzly Battle Tanks and a single M-145D Rhino. How Commander Keyes got her hands on even one of these Rhinos was beyond the Master Chief.
The Night Elves were left utterly slack jawed at the sight of these vehicles. Of course they had seen the Alliance use Steam Tanks in the Third War, but these things made the Alliance vehicles look like mere toys by comparison!
"So you wanted to know whether or not the UNSC was here on your world? The answer to that question is simple; we're not from your world. You see, we came from another world entirely. Everything that you see here is but a small part of what the UNSC uses. So I believe that this is enough evidence for you to believe that were not exactly from your neck of the woods." the A.I. informed the Night Elves with a certain amusement at their reactions to her words.
==O==
The Night Elves were left to absorb all of that which they have been told and what they were looking at what was sitting there before them. Saelia then knew that this was something that immediately demanded the attention of High Priestess Tryande Whisperwind and the rest of Night Elf people. However the Chief repeated himself to them that he and his companion were not here to invade their world. From what they told the Night Elf party, the two of them had crash landed on Azeroth and only wanted to establish a place to stay and wait for rescue. They had no intention of fighting with or against anyone here on the ship or in the world in general. They just needed information so they had something to work with in order to make the right choices.
That was when the Spartan explained his reasons as to why he aided them when they were attacked by the Orcs and why he had made the offer to Saelia. The Night Elf then replied that they had to report this to their leader at the Night Elf capital of Darnassus. The Spartan asked who their leader was and that was when Saelia told him about Tyrande Whisperwind.
As he and Cortana listened to Saelia speak about the woman who was the High Priestess of the Sisters of Elune, they knew she would the right person to talk to. The fact that she was the leader of the Night Elves further convinced them of the merit of the idea. Hearing about her history, which included her training under this supposed Goddess Elune and with the Demigod Cenarius, her skills in warfare, despite being in a religious office, all the way to the Third War further reinforced the facts to both John and Cortana that she would be the first person they needed to talk to in order to get a much better understanding of the situation in the continent and the world that they crash landed on.
When they asked if they could meet with Tyrande, the Night Elves were very uneasy at the idea. As they all had already seen what he was capable of and the thought of allowing him inside their capital city and before their most beloved leader was not very appealing to them. Especially to Saelia who was more than aware of what the Spartan before her could do and purposefully strode up to the Chief.
"I cannot allow that! To let you roam in my people's homeland is treasonous!" she snapped venomously.
John smirked at that as he was starting to respect this Night Elf a bit more.
"If will it alleviate your concerns I will go with you unarmed while you escort me if that's alright with you." suggested John.
"From what I have witnessed you don't NEED your weapons to do damage, of that I have no doubt." Saelia retorted sharply.
The debate between Spartan and Sentinel lasted for some time until Saelia decided to order one of her fellow Druids to go and speak to Tyrande and see if the High Priestess was willing to consider a meeting with the Spartan. The Druid in question was introduced as Naros Shadecrest. Like his fellow Druids he had glowing amber eyes and wore a light robe while carrying an ornate wooden staff that was decorated with various feathers from native birds. His skin was of a darker shade of violet and had wild unkempt light green hair. After agreeing to deliver Saelia's message, he then turned into a raven and took flight back to Darnassus. In the meantime, since they were still needed to patrol, the senior Sentinel gave orders for her group to go back outside while she remained here to keep an eye on the Spartan.
Naturally her group protested at this but she reminded them that they still had their duties as Sentinels and it needed to be done, the others reluctantly agreed and soon left the Spartan alone with the lead Sentinel.
With Saelia as his guest for the time being, the Spartan decided to at least give the Night Elf some good accommodations here in the ship and guided her to the nearby crew's quarters. When they arrived the Night Elf was left surprised to see the row of bunks there. While the Dawn had a cyro-tube area, it was only used for trips in Slipspace travel, so it wasn't needed. Besides, the Chief and Cortana still didn't know how Saelia's biology would react to the chemicals involve in cryo-stasis so they would let her rest in the crew quarters.
The Sentinel looked around carefully and walked to one of the beds to see if it was fit to sleep on. Which seemed rather clean and the pillows looked nice to her eyes.
She propped her bow and sword next to the bed and sat there, surprised that the bed, despite it's hard appearance, was soft and comfortable. She had never felt a bed as smooth as this before and it showed on her face. That was obvious to the Spartan as he spoke to her while being at the door.
"Is this enough?" asked John while standing at the door's entrance.
"What?" Saelia started, shaken out of her revere.
"Is this room to your liking?"
The Night Elf slowly nodded.
"Good."
As the Spartan left, the door closed leaving Saelia alone for her to rest. She might not admit it, but even she had been hoping for a warm bed to sleep in once she had gotten back to any of the villages after patrolling. But this bed was very nice, one of the best she ever lied on in fact. She then rested her head down on the soft pillow and closed her eyes as sleep finally claimed her.
==O==
Author's Notes: And….that's the end of chapter three. Just so you know, it might be a little while before the next chapter is up. My college assignments are starting to stack up so I need shift my focus to that for the time being. But don't worry I'll have the next chapter posted as soon as I've gotten everything straightened out. So feel free to review and give suggestions about the story in the meantime and I'll see ya later!
