Chapter 4

Exilius wouldn't show it, but he was hurt. Every few steps, he lifted his hand to his mouth and coughed silently, and more than once he noticed blood staining his fingers. Walking aggravated the aching in his chest. Broken ribs maybe, that turned inside and tore into his lungs. If the humans cared to notice, the impact of the Warthog had actually crushed his chest plate, and there were very large holes and cracks in the armor. The humans didn't seem to notice. They were walking in front of him, and only occasionally turned back, as if to confirm that the great behemoth was still stomping behind them. No matter what pain was in Exilius' chest from when the vehicle hit him, he never once dropped his Spiker's aim.

When he heard the roar of an engine in the distance, he was tempted to just put all the humans down. It could only be a human vehicle after all, with a human driver. It would take time to put the humans down though. And weakened as he was, if they all attacked him at once, beating him with punches and kicks, they might actually put him off his feet. He had made them each relinquish their weapons and upper clothing to be sure they weren't hiding anything, but he knew humans were still capable of fighting with fists and feet. For now at least, they thought he could rip them apart without any problem. They thought his coughing was just because of the thick air.

He snarled and pointed at his left. The captain ordered the other humans to move to where ordered, while Exilius stomped to the right, behind the cover of a large mound of rock. He placed his Spiker on his belt and took up his hammer, holding it above his head, ready to swing. He had heard the distant growl of an engine. He did not care how a vehicle was working after the EMP, he only cared about neutralizing the threat. He listened as the engine grew closer, pausing, snorting, waiting. When he had decided that the vehicle was just right, Exilius swung down, and smashed the hammer into the ground.

XXX

Iza screamed as the hammer seemingly dropped out of nowhere and into his path. The hammer came short of smashing the Mongoose, instead the Mongoose crashed straight into the hammer. The hammer had been stuck into the ground, making something as solid as a wall to crash into.

For the second time in recent memory, Iza found himself flung off a Mongoose. This time though, he knew to roll to avoid injury. First he tucked his head close to his body and lifted his arms to protect his head and neck from impact. He also rolled along the ground, so that none of his body took the brunt of the impact against the rocky terrain, though he got no small amount of cuts and scrapes. All this took place in a single moment.

Groaning, he looked up, just in time to see Exilius stomping over to him. Iza groaned and rolled over to all fours, and tried to scramble away, when he felt a firm hand on his ankle yank him back. Iza turned, pulling the pistol off his hip and aiming up. He was a bit between the chieftain's legs from the force of the yank. Taking quick view of the chieftain, Iza noticed a large hole in the breastplate. The chieftain was hunched over and aiming to crush Iza's skull with his left armored hand. Iza jammed the muzzle of the magnum into the hole, pushing it against the chest, which gave the chieftain pause.

Exilius growled lowly. His hammer couldn't be used in this range, and his Spiker was still on his belt, and he lowered his left hand so he wasn't off balance. Of course, if Iza did shoot and the chieftain lost his balance, he would be crushed under the Brute's girth.

Captain McMichael, inching closer to the distracted chieftain, suddenly reached forward and snatched the Spiker from his belt. The captain danced back out of range, taking up the Spiker and aiming at Exilius. Iza, confused at what was going on, took out his second magnum and aimed at the captain.

"Kig-Yar," the captain ordered. "Name and rank."

Iza growled, pulling the hammer back on his pistol. "Iza, marksmen. What is going on?"

"Who's side are you on?" the captain asked. Exilius asked the same thing, though in the Covenant's language. And it occurred to Iza that neither the human nor the Jiralhanae could understand each other. Iza, on the other hand, didn't need a translator to understand or speak. Again, this thought passed through him in little more than a moment. The truth was, Iza was loyal to himself. He cared for himself, and only himself. But temporarily, he could give his loyalty to someone.

He may not like Jiralhanae, but he knew their incredible strength. He knew their power. And he also reasoned that the chieftain, despite the dangers of two guns on him, was the one in power. Even if Iza shot him at pointblank, he might still have the time to kill a few people. More than that, if he died, Iza would be crushed under him. Iza wanted him to live, and turned both guns onto the human. "Drop it," he ordered.

The captain moved his aim down to Iza. Iza squeezed the trigger, and shot the human between the eyes. Exilius snorted, and stood up. "Iza?" he asked.

Iza stood up as well, swaying his two magnums at the remaining humans, afraid that one would try to attack him in revenge for the one he had killed. "Yes…"

"I am Chieftain Exilius. You're deputized as my second in command." He walked over and retrieved his dropped Spiker. "Ask the humans where they would go for a pick up."

Iza nodded, and did as he was asked. The lieutenant, the next in command of the human squad, answered, and Iza quickly translated for Exilius. "In the event of an emergency, they are to radio their position. Since there are no radios, they plan to simply to reach a high point and signal for pick up with a flare."

Exilius paused, thinking, then said to Iza, "Ask them why they would tell the truth."

Iza did, and translated, "Because her primary concern is the safety of her men. If they reach the rendezvous, they will hopefully be able to escape one way or another." Iza shrugged. "At least she is honest.

Exilius coughed briefly into his hand, and wiped the muck onto his thigh. "Tell them they can load the wounded onto the Mongoose, and drive alongside us. The one with the broken leg is only slowing us down. But if the one on the Mongoose flees, I will slaughter the others."

Iza nodded, and translated. The humans, rather than responding, merely carried their crippled brother onto the vehicle. They set him on, and he revved the engine, before starting to inch along. On foot, the others followed after.

XXX

"This is Colonel Reynold Cash, commander of the Rhiannon. We were passing through the sector when we registered a massive disturbance planet side. We are here to offer assistance."

Kazanna, who appeared on the pedestal beside the shipmaster's seat, was sitting cross-legged. "Still no rise out of anyone," she said. "I'm seeing signs of active ships, but none are responding…oh wait. We have a message from the Eternity Darkness. One of the newer human/Sangheili cooperative ships. Shipmaster: Rik Crolun, a Sangheili zealot. I'll patch him through."

"Thank you Kazanna," the colonel said softly. Turning to his monitor, he greeted the Sangheili warmly and cordially, while Kazanna flicked out of sight. She was still there, watching, but she figured the colonel wanted his "privacy".

"Shipmaster Crolun, do you require any aid? We..."

"No," the shipmaster said sharply. "And with respect, human, this is a classified operation. You should not be here. I will ask you to leave the sector."

Omnipresent was perhaps the best word to describe Kazanna when she was aboard the Rhiannon. She could stretch her mind and influence to its every nook and cranny, read the weapon read out, shield levels, monitor the cameras in the halls, and the camera outside that watched the surface of the planet. For this reason, she noticed the red flicker of light that sped up from the surface and into the air, before exploding into a firework like display. Instantly she cut the camera feed that watched the surface off, and waited for the firework to flicker and die before she let it play. The colonel didn't notice. He was talking with the shipmaster, and Kazanna waited for him to finish to appear on the pedestal. "Reynold," she said. "I think you should send out a small Pelican on reconnaissance."

"The Elite made it clear, we're to leave the sector."

"There is someone down there. I saw an emergency flare. I cut the feed so the Sangheili would not be made aware of it. I think that something is wrong."

Reynold nodded. He had served alongside Kazanna for almost seven years now. He had learned to trust her, just as much as he did any of the flesh and blood members of his crew. "If you think that best, Kazanna. I will organize a squad. Can you figure out the coordinates of the flare?"

"I believe so sir, I will tell them to the squad before they leave."

The crew was organized with no large problem. Even though the Rhiannon was a science vessel, it still boasted a decent security force. Four men, plus one pilot, were ordered into a drop ship and set out to the coordinates that Kazanna had given them.

XXX

"Don't do anything stupid, and this will end. Try to warn them, or flee, and everyone dies, starting with you." Iza translated what Exilius said for Azula, who gave a somewhat aloof shrug. She turned to her men, and gave them the order, that under no circumstances, should they interfere with what came next. Humans were not unlike Unggoy, Exilius mused. He watched the small female as she ordered, then took his hammer off his belt and set it down behind him. Iza took a few steps away, slinking deep into the thick, ashen air to avoid anyone immediately seeing him. The humans stayed a few steps back, and Azula walked forward, waving her hands as the Pelican drop ship came down to the planet.

Four soldiers immediately came out of the drop ship, each armed with the standard issue assault rifle, and each paused at the sight of the great chieftain. "Lieutenant Broeland, I'm the one who sent up the flare," Azula said, coming forward.

"What's with the Brute ma'am?"

"We managed to take him, we're going to turn him over to the Elites and see what they want to do with him. You got any masks? My men have been huffing the ashes all day. It's not healthy."

One of the humans shuffled back into the drop ship and took several facemasks off the wall. He came out and quickly passed one to Azula. For the other humans, who were standing quite a distance back, he shuffled towards them and began passing them around.

The air was whipping itself into a storm and hissing fiercely, so the humans didn't notice as Iza came behind the trio who were still near the drop ship. He made sure to click the hammers of the two pistols he held extra loud, and then pressed them into the back of the head of two of the humans. The third turned, and lifted his rifle, but Azula took him around the middle in a bear hug and held his arms down. Exilius quickly drew the Spiker from his belt and turned to the fourth human, who had let his rifle sling at his side so he could carry the face masks.

Exilius snorted, and turned, picking up his hammer and then backing into the drop ship. And for a time, Iza was the only one left, holding his two pistols against the mass of men. Though they had mostly been disarmed, a mass attack could be a problem. Azula thought of attacking him, but soon enough the Brute came stomping back out, carrying the pilot (literally carrying the poor man like he was a doll) in one hand and several bindings in the others. And then came what happened before. Iza translated the orders for the humans, which involved relinquishing all weapons, and then binding their hands behind their back with the restraints the chieftain had brought out. But again, the chieftain explained that if they all cooperated, they would not be harmed.

Which, the more Azula thought about it, the more she believed it. Yes, none of them were Helljumpers. None of them were the most elite soldiers that the UNSC could offer. They were just rank and file marines, and they really didn't have a chance against a cream of the crop Jiralhanae. But all the same, if they all attacked in one great mass, they might be able to hurt the Brute, and they could certainly kill the Kig-Yar. In other words, it was best if each party cooperated. There was nothing to be gained from the chieftain killing the humans, and if the humans didn't resist, there was hope they would make it out. A soldiers first duty is to her mission, second to her squad, and third to herself. The mission was a failure, a clusterfuck. The least Azula could do was make sure her squad was alright.