The Grey Area
The taxi ride to the Orbital Lounge wasn't a comfortable one. They hoped to be there before Telek was. José had his arms folded, staring straight ahead of him, his face full of a cold fury that Alan had never seen before. He was now really starting to get worried about José; this whole mission seemed to have sent him tumbling over the edge.
"That Hazra's a fucking menace," José snarled, breaking the awkward silence. "We shouldn't have just left him with a migraine. He deserved to be punished."
"I'm getting worried about you, José," Alan replied, finally voicing his concerns. "You've been acting irrationally since you found out Dorva was here."
"You don't think scum like him and Hazra deserve what they get?" José snapped.
"It's just not like you, mate," Alistair chimed in from the back seat. Both he and Alan had identical looks of concern on their faces, something which seemed to annoy José even more.
"What do you guys want from me?" he snarled, before rounding on Alistair. "You backstabbed the boss and Rachel once. How do you think they felt about that, huh?"
"I don't claim to speak for Rachel," Alan said sharply, as Alistair opened his beak to argue, "but I didn't let it change me." José gave a frustrated sigh; he still wasn't sure if he could forgive Alistair for once making a colossal mistake which nearly cost the rest of the crew their lives. Alan, however, was convinced that José's old team-mates would not have wanted him to become a murderer.
"It's not too late," Alan continued. "You don't have to go through with this. Let me talk to him."
"Talk all you want," José said dismissively, "but it won't change my mind. I don't care what his reasons were. He screwed us... He deserves to die."
"We understand, mate," Alistair said, "but do you really want to kill him?"
"Look, amigos," José said, trying to keep his voice level but failing to hide his frustration. "I appreciate the concern and all, but I'm not you."
"This isn't you either," Alan retorted.
"Really?" snapped José viciously. "I've always hated injustice. The thought that Dorva could get away with what he did... Why should he go on living when twelve good men and women lie in unmarked graves?" He turned his face back to the windscreen, his eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, boss, but words aren't gonna help here."
The rest of the trip continued in silence. Eventually the taxi parked on a landing platform, near a short flight of steps leading up to the Orbital Lounge. It turned out to be a nightclub, with a social area out the front and thudding techno music which could be heard from the platform. Opposite the club was a low structure that stretched out and away from the club. Alan, Alistair and José all stepped out of the taxi and looked around. José looked at the structure and noticed a fire escape alongside it.
"I need to set up," he said to the others. "I can get a clear shot from that building."
"Alistair, you get to high ground and watch over things," said Alan. "Keep yourself out of sight. Telek will come in cloaked, so warn us if you see anything even vaguely odd."
"Understood, Captain," Alistair said. He went to climb up one of the nearby buildings, casting one last, meaningful look back at the others.
"What do you need me to do?" Alan asked José.
"When he comes, keep him talking and don't get in my way," José replied. "I'll let you know when he's in my sights. Gimme a signal so I know you're ready, and I'll take the shot. You'd better hurry; he'll be here soon."
With that, he climbed to the top of the fire escape and pulled his large ODST assault rifle off his back. He set it to single-shot mode and perched himself against the edge of the building, overlooking the courtyard. He peered down the scope and adjusted it accordingly. He wished he had remembered to bring a real sniper rifle, but under the circumstances this would have to do. He knew that he could easily send a bullet straight into Dorva's head even with this.
"Alan, Alistair can you hear me?" he said into his commlink.
"Loud and clear," Alan replied.
"All quiet so far, José," Alistair replied.
Down below, Alan moved up the steps and into the courtyard. He leaned casually against a wall and looked around. The area was deserted; everybody would be inside the club, and the music was bound to cover the sound of a gunshot. He pulled out his own revolver and adjusted the barrel so that it would fire Medusa shells, designed to stun instead of kill. He knew it would be good to have a failsafe, in case anything went wrong.
After waiting for ten minutes, a dishevelled-looking Sangheili, dressed in shabby, ill-fitting clothes, walked into the area, peering nervously all around him. This was the first time Alan had seen a Sangheili without their armour, and he couldn't suppress the feeling that they looked a lot less impressive without it. Life outside the military clearly didn't suit them.
"That's him," José said through the commlink. "Wave him over and keep him talking."
Alan did so, gesturing towards the Sangheili and looking at him intently. The Sangheili nodded and walked over to him.
"Let's get this over with," Dorva 'Elus said, his voice betraying a hint of fear.
"You're in my shot," José whispered. "Move to the side."
Alan paused for a moment. More and more he was convinced that this was a bad idea. Even when he was a Shadowrunner he had kept his own moral code; assassinations were completely out of the question. Kiryuu himself had said that there was always another option, no matter how undesirable it might be. So, in that instant, he made his mind up of what he was going to do.
"Listen, Dorva," Alan said firmly. "I'm here to help you."
"Don't ever say that name aloud," Dorva said, glancing around him.
"I'm a friend of José Lovano," Alan said.
"What?" Dorva replied, his eyes widened. "But he's dead!"
"He survived your little double-cross in the Exodus Cluster," Alan said, failing to hide the disgust in his voice. "Telek 'Heros is here too. They both want you dead, but I'm hoping that's not necessary."
"Telek as well?" Dorva replied. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"Damnit, Alan!" José muttered furiously. "If he moves, I'm taking the shot!"
"You're not kidding, are you?" Dorva said nervously. Alan just looked at him firmly; a look which told Dorva all he needed to know.
"Screw this!" the Sangheili said, sounding frightened out of his mind. "I'm not sticking around here to find out! Tell José and Telek I had my own problems..."
He started to move away, but Alan grabbed his arm and pulled him in close, so that their faces were almost touching.
"Don't move," Alan said firmly.
"Get off me!" Dorva shouted, but Alan's grip held fast.
"I'm the only thing standing between you and a hole in the head," he snarled.
"Fuck..." Dorva muttered, his head hung low. He had a look of the deepest shame on his face.
"Look," he said earnestly, "I didn't want to do it... I didn't have a choice."
"Everyone has a choice, you sack of shit," José growled.
"Truth got to me," Dorva said, his voice cracking. "He said he'd have my family killed if I didn't betray Telek and the humans! What was I supposed to do?"
"Let me take the shot, boss," José said firmly. "He's a damned coward."
Alan, however, did not budge. He continued to glare at Dorva, his reptilian eyes flashing dangerously.
"You were trying to save your family?" Alan said disbelievingly. "You'd better not be bullshitting me here..." Dorva walked towards one the benches and leaned on the back, Alan keeping himself between him and José's bullet.
"I know what I did..." Dorva said, his voice low and full of regret. "I know that so many died because of me, and I have to live with that. I wake up every night, sick and sweating... each of their faces staring at me... accusing me... My family wanted nothing to do with me, after learning what I had done... I'm already dead. I don't sleep, and food has no taste... Some days I just want it all to be over."
"Just give me the chance..." José's voice said firmly.
"You've got to let it go, José," Alan said. "He's already paying for his crime."
"He hasn't paid enough," José spat. "He still has his life."
"Look at him, José," Alan retorted. "He's not alive. There's nothing left to kill."
"My buddies..." José said, his voice cracking. "They deserved better."
"Tell José..." Dorva began, but seemed to trail off. He released a deep sigh. "I guess there's nothing I can say to make it right..."
There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Alan could tell that José was giving serious thought to what had been said; for one thing, he had gone longer than a few seconds without telling Alan to stand aside.
"Just..." José finally said, as if this was taking every ounce of resolve he had. "Just go. Tell him to go."
"He's giving you a second chance," Alan said firmly to Dorva. "Don't waste it."
Within seconds of their exchange, a ripple of distortion leapt out from behind a potted plant. Alan did not even have time to move when he suddenly found himself forced to the ground. Dorva let out a yelp of surprise when he felt something grip tightly around his throat and lift him up. A clash sounded and a spark of blue flashed before him. He then found himself staring down the twin blades of a plasma sword as the invisible figure revealed itself. His eyes widened when he saw who it was. After all this time of hiding, there he was—his superior officer, his commander, his leader, and the one he betrayed—Telek 'Heros.
"Hello, Dorva," Telek growled, his mandibles quivering. "It's been a long while."
"Telek!" Dorva squawked under the much larger Sangheili's grip. "It's—good to see you again. I see you got a promotion. Supreme Commander now?"
"Yeah, after my kind finally got some sense knocked into their blunt heads," Telek said. "And finally realized I was right all along! We wouldn't have been able to win the war if I hadn't sucked it up and went back to Sanghelios, pleading for their help. But begging them to defend Earth was not as hard as going through trial after trial in the UNSC for what you've done!"
"You don't understand—I had a reason!" Dorva said. "You think I wanted to do what I did?"
"That doesn't make a difference," Telek said. "You knew the truth. You know what we were trying to prevent."
"I had a family to think of," said Dorva.
"And I was thinking about my entire species!" Telek bellowed. "You knew the consequences if Truth had won. You knew what he was going to do! Your family would have been good as dead anyway if Truth had won! We'd all be dead. Billions of lives across millions of worlds, wiped out in a blink of an eye all because the Covenant didn't know what the damned Halos really did. I was trying to prevent a massacre and you nearly let it happen. The lives of those ODSTs was just the opening act, the glassing of 76 worlds the Covenant had done was just the warm up. We're talking about full-scale annihilation here. Because you wanted to save your family, you nearly doomed us all. How—selfish you are. And I had to pay for your crimes. Kiryuu never let me hear the end of it afterwards. I was about to be thrown into prison and all that I had worked for to stop Truth from killing us would have been for naught."
"But you succeeded," said Dorva, almost in tears. "You succeeded. If you're here, and the war is won, then Truth must be dead."
"I killed Truth," said Telek. "I finally got my revenge for him casting me out—for telling everyone that what we thought was wrong. He declared war on a hapless species just because they were in his way! He wanted to commit genocide upon them, because they were in his way. And I killed him. I stopped him from making the 'Great Journey' happen. But I wasn't alone. It took the combined efforts of me, Otto, and Kiryuu—their leader, to stop Truth."
"Then, kill me," said Dorva. "I have brought dishonour upon you, and my own family for what I had done. I do not deserve to live."
"Gladly," Telek growled, lifting his sword up. "I'm gonna cleave your head from its neck, traitor!"
As Telek was about to strike, however, he felt something suddenly wrap itself tightly round his sword-arm. Before he had time to act he felt a sharp tug on his arm, and his sword was jerked loose out of his hand. It was thrown onto the floor and landed a short distance away. Telek spun round to see who had dared to interrupt him, and as he did so he threw Dorva hard to the floor. Dorva just lay on the ground looking like an overgrown slug; he made no effort to escape, apparently resigned to his fate.
Alan, meanwhile, was pushing himself to his feet, the nanowire line from his monofilament whip still fastened tightly around Telek's arm. He and Telek didn't take their eyes off each other. Telek's mandibles quivered as he let out a frustrated snarl, but before he could say anything Alan cut him off.
"I don't want to hear it, Telek," he said firmly. "I know what Dorva did, and I'm telling you that he's not worth it. There's nothing left of him to kill. I'm not letting you or my crewman sink to his level and become murderers because of him."
"Bad move, kid," Telek growled just as he took hold of the whip. He gave a good heft of his sword arm and hurtled Alan against the wall. "Don't you become a fugitive among my fleet as well! I can kick you out as quickly as Cujo let you in."
Alan slammed into the wall and crumpled up on the floor, winded but otherwise unharmed. He had not expected Telek to be like this; if anything, the Supreme Commander was out for blood more than José was. If even the notoriously anti-Sangheili José could bring himself to spare Dorva, then Telek was beyond reason.
"Captain!" Alistair's voice said in his ear. "I'm right above him, I can pound his face into the-"
"No!" Alan said, in an urgent whisper. "Not yet..."
Dorva glanced up at Telek, still with pitiful eyes, but the much larger Sangheili disregarded him. He pulled the modified caster magnum, the gift from Manda and Jacob Keyes from its holster and placed the specialized Technomancy shells into it. They were #13 shells, specifically designed to kill Flood, but Telek was willing to use it on Dorva just this once.
"I'm willing to pay the price of getting rid of trash like yourself, Dorva," he said. "From now on, you have no name among your people. But I'll make your death quick and painless. It's the least I could do for the fine service you have given me prior to your betrayal."
Alan glanced up, seeing the familiar gun in Telek's hands. For a short moment, he saw Manda instead of Telek, holding that rather large pistol in his hands. It was Manda's magnum! Telek had Manda's Magnum! He could see the cyan blue glowing circuitry along the edges of the gun. Dorva closed his eyes, waiting for the shot.
"Adios, Dorva 'Elus," Telek sneered just as he charged up the gun. He planted his feet to the ground, bracing himself for the powerful recoil that the #13 shell was about to give him.
This time, Alan did not hesitate. He quickly drew his own caster revolver, the glowing circuitry on the barrel showing that the shots were primed and ready. He fired at Telek, the gun releasing what looked like a large ball of electricity.
Alarmed by the sound of the gunshot, Telek looked up, but he wasn't able to dive out of the way of the shot in time. The electric ball slammed into him, causing him to shake violently and be covered in glowing sparks. His shields absorbed a good deal of the shot; he had not been knocked out cold, after all. However, he still felt unbelievable amounts of pain as the energy surged through him.
Taking his cue, Alistair swooped down from the building he had been hiding on top of. His glide path took him down behind Telek. As the sparks faded and Telek gasped for breath, Alistair rammed into him from behind, sending both sprawling onto the floor. There was a horrible crunch as Alistair slammed Telek's face into the pavement, while with his free hand he pulled the magnum free. Alan wobbled to his feet, his heart racing but keeping his gun drawn, while Alistair backed away clutching Telek's magnum.
Telek rose up to his feet, and let loose a deep growl: "That was a stupid move, Tweedy Bird. I'm gonna make hot-wings outta yah!"
He gave a good pop of his neck and tightened the bandana knot behind his head. The Sangheili pulled out the twin shot guns from his back and spun them around, cocking them into place.
"I've handled Flood, I've handled King Ghidorah, I've handled Truth," he began. "I think I can handle a giant turkey such as yourself. Now gimme back my gun before I turn yah into Swiss Cheese."
"Make me, mate," Alistair said.
"Have it your way, son," Telek shrugged. "But y'all picked the wrong Sangheili to pick a fight with."
With one fluid motion, Telek butterfly kicked Alistair, knocking both him and the magnum to the ground. He heard the cocking of Alan's gun and swung around before the mutant could take the shot. Just as the shot was fired, Telek spun out of the way and knocked Alan over with the barrel of the shotgun. He saw that Alistair was still trying to make a reach for the magnum and fired the shotgun in his right hand. The spray impacted in between Alistair and the magnum.
"Not nice to try and take things that ain't yours," growled Telek. He spun the right shotgun, cocking it again. Alistair tried to make another reach, but Telek called after him. "Eh! Bad birdie. Back away before I blow that beak of yours off your face."
He turned to Alan.
"This ain't your business, kid," he told the mutant. "This is mine. He was under my responsibility. And I nearly got shafted because of him. Now, if you wish to continue under my fleet's protection, I suggest you learn to follow my orders. This is Sangheili tradition. He who dishonours another, must pay with his life. He has dishonoured me and many of my fleet. If Cujo were here, he'd be doing the same thing. Which is why he ain't here and I am. Because I am the commanding officer of this fleet, I take the duty of doing the dirty work. What even made it worse was this traitor decided to run instead of face up for his crimes. Just letting him live with misery is not enough." He pointed the gun at Alan. "Now, you don't wanna join him, do yah?"
"Telek," began the voice of Dunkelzahn. He could tell there was some strain in the Dragon's voice trying to project itself so far. Telek glanced over to see the underside of his own ship peeking out between the skyscrapers. "Would you listen to Alan? Show a little compassion. Let the man go."
"I spent a whole month tryin' to find his ass," Telek growled. "Leaving my fleet behind so I could take care of this one blemish with the UNSC, and now I have the opportunity to correct that mistake—and everybody is telling me I shouldn't? Do any of you realize what I went through in order to cover my ass and not get thrown into a POW camp or executed? All because of him! My life, Cujo, Mitsu, Tulsa's and all our crews lives—for his. And the worst of it all, I had to prostrate myself before Kiryuu Knight because of him. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do. HICOM was already scared shitless over letting someone from the Covenant with a level 5 clearance to ONI. And letting him live is a sign of weakness among the Sangheili. Even Cujo, Mitsu, Tulsa—Wago…for God sakes—would be asking why I let him live. And what compassion should I show someone who showed no compassion to those he was assigned to work with? I trusted this pathetic being with a mission he decided to discard over the lives of his family—which would have been meaningless anyway had Truth won. Y'all can't possibly understand what this means right now."
Telek looked down at Alan again.
"I have no idea why you want to risk your neck to protect his," he said. "But either way, I will have his neck—even if I have to take yours first. So, before you wish to die for him, I suggest you think about your own right now. He's already given up. Death would even allow him to save face. That is our way, even if it isn't yours. I am showing compassion by ending his life."
"He's got a point, boss," José's voice whispered in Alan's ear. "Why are we trying to protect the bastard? I said I wouldn't kill him; I didn't say I'd stop a mad split-head from doing the job."
Alan said nothing. If he was being honest with himself, he couldn't say for certain why he was trying to save Dorva's life. The only thing he was sure of, right to his core, was that killing him would not be the end of it. In any case, now that Telek was actively threatening his crew, a part of Alan wanted to disobey Telek just to spite him.
"If you need me to tell you why I'm sparing him," Alan snarled, "then you've not been around humans long enough."
"Then that makes two of us," mocked Telek. He pointed his shotgun away from Alan and straight at Dorva 'Elus, who was still lying on the ground. His other shotgun was still aimed at Alistair.
"Make a move for that magnum again," he began. "And you're Kentucky Fried Poultry. Got it?"
Unnoticed by Telek, Alan had shifted slightly to the right. José realised what this was; his cue to take the shot. He had kept his rifle pointed at Telek since his arrival, unable to get a good shot at Dorva. The way José was feeling, he needed little excuse to shoot at least one Sangheili today.
The shot seemed to ring all around the area as José fired. His bullet found Telek's wrist. Blood gushed as Telek was forced to drop one of his shotguns, taking Alistair out of his line of fire. Another shot rang out, this one planting a bullet firmly in Telek's ankle. Caught by surprise, Telek cursed as he toppled to the floor, seething with pain. He cursed himself for not dealing with the sniper sooner.
Spurred on by Telek's fall, Alistair sprang to his feet and tackled Telek to the ground again. The two rolled over a couple of times, wrestling and wriggling, but the shock to Telek's system at being shot seemed to be great. Alistair threw him away from the square, towards the platform where the taxis were parked. There was now a sheer drop behind Telek, as he had been thrown close to a gap between the parking area and the building José was hiding on top of.
Telek tried to stagger back to his feet, but Alan fired another Medusa shell, once again giving him the feeling that thousands of volts were surging through him at once. The Sangheili staggered backwards as he struggled to regain his composure. His senses overwhelmed, he wasn't paying attention to where he was standing, and to Alan's horror he toppled over the railing and down the drop!
Time seemed to suddenly slow down for Alan as he ran towards the gap. He hadn't intended to kill Telek, even less to send him flying off the building. There was a loud thud from somewhere below as he and Alistair reached the railing. Peering over the side, they saw Telek's body slumped on a set of pipes sticking out of the metal wall about twenty feet below. Alan felt as if something was wrapping tightly round his neck; his brain seemed to have completely frozen in abject, mind-numbing terror.
"I..." Alistair stammered. "I think I can reach him..." With that, Alistair jumped over the railing. As he fell he slammed his claw into the wall and slid down it, tearing large chunks out of the wall. This slowed his descent, and he landed safely beside Telek. He placed two fingers on his neck.
"His pulse is very faint," Alistair called back up. "It's a bloody miracle he's still alive. I'll try to bring him back up top!" With that, he hoisted Telek over his shoulder and began to climb back up the wall, though his progress was very slow on account of only having one claw free.
"Rachel," Alan said faintly into his commlink. "How quickly can you get the shuttle to our position?"
"In about two or three minutes, Captain," Rachel said. Her voice became very worried when she heard Alan's tone. "Why? What's wrong?"
"I'll explain later," Alan replied, trying to bully his brain into concentrating. "Just get here right now, and tell Bishop that we're taking off as soon as we arrive! José, bring Dorva to the landing platform!"
It took over two minutes for Alistair to successfully drag Telek back up to the platform, in which time the small shuttle arrived, hovering just over the platform. José then appeared, his rifle aimed at Dorva's back, keeping him in front. Alan, meanwhile, had retrieved Telek's weapons, including the caster magnum, and was now keeping them very close to him.
"After you, chupaverga," he muttered bitterly, forcing Dorva on board the shuttle before following him. Meanwhile, Alan and Alistair managed to drag Telek's body over to the shuttle, and actually had to throw him on board before climbing in after him. Alan slammed the door shut as the shuttle pulled away, heading back towards the Serenity.
"What the-" Rachel was stammering in a high, terrified voice. She had turned to see Telek slumped all over the floor and was now trembling ferociously. "What's - why is he – what the hell have you done?"
"Just gone and declared war on the Fleet Shadow of Fury," Alistair said faintly, hardly daring to believe what they had done himself.
"All my fault..." Dorva was muttering in a low tone. "It's all my fault..."
"Shut up!" José barked. "You're damn lucky I didn't kill you myself, you sack of shit!"
Rachel was still muttering furiously when the shuttle landed back on the Serenity, just above the wing. It slid smoothly into its secure position and everyone scrambled out, with José still keeping his gun trained on Dorva and Alan and Alistair carrying Telek between them. Rachel brought up the rear, her face white and dripping with sweat. As they stepped onto the gantry above the cargo bay, Bishop clearly lifted off from the landing platform, as the ship gave a lurch.
"We're dead..." Rachel kept muttering. "We're so dead... We've kidnapped the Supreme Commander... Shri's gonna be pissed..."
"Right now, Telek being here may be the only thing that'll keep us alive," said Alan. He was trying to hide the mounting panic he was feeling himself. Never had he felt such an occasion where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and he now felt as if he was making up their plans as they went along. They would never be able to save face with the fleet now, not after this; he would be surprised if they didn't annihilate the Serenity and everyone on board the next time they met. He looked over at José, who returned a look of pure disbelief.
"Lock him up in one of the passenger cabins," Alan said, jerking his head at Dorva and trying to steady his voice.
"Gotcha, boss," José said grimly, and he marched Dorva down towards the common area, where the passenger cabins were kept.
"Rachel, Alistair," he said, handing Telek's right arm to Rachel, "patch Telek up in the infirmary and seal the door. There should be some shutter controls for the windows just inside the door; seal those up too."
"We'll try," Alistair said. "Let's just hope they can actually hold him." Alistair and Rachel staggered, carrying Telek between them, down to the common area. Alan could still hear Rachel muttering "I'm so sorry..." to Telek in a worried tone, as if convinced his limp form could hear her.
"Bishop," Alan said into his commlink. The vibrations stopped as the Serenity flew clear of Illium's atmosphere. "How far is it to the nearest UNSC outpost?"
"A few hours away through slip-space," Bishop replied. "Why, Captain? What happened down on Illium? Why aren't we meeting with the fleet?"
"We don't have time for twenty questions, Bishop!" Alan shouted, taking his mingled anger and panic out on the unfortunate pilot. "Just get us to that outpost as quickly as the engines will allow!"
0
Within seconds after the Serenity had taken off from the spaceport, the Shadow of Darkness was in hot pursuit. Shri had taken command of the ship from Erin and was barking orders to Joli to follow the now renegade cargo ship from the Fleet Shadow of Fury.
"They will realize why we are called Shadow of Fury!" Shri cried. "How dare they shoot and kidnap the Supreme Commander. I will have their Shipmaster's head on a pike!"
"They also have Dorva," said Erin.
"They're aiding in the traitor's escape," said Shri. "Preventing us from doing what is necessary. What was Cujo thinking when he let these witless idiots into the fleet?"
"Cujo could not have predicted that they would do this," said Dunkelzahn.
"Rolu," said Shri. "Send a message out to Cujo and the rest of the fleet Shadow of Fury. Tell them that the Serenity and its Shipmaster, has disembarked the fleet to find Dorva 'Elus and aid in his escape as well as nearly kill and then kidnap the Supreme Commander Telek 'Heros."
"But that is not entirely true," said Dunkelzahn. "It seemed they were also after Dorva's head."
"Then why didn't they kill Dorva?" Shri asked. "Why did their Shipmaster let him live?"
"Alan didn't want Dorva to die," said the Dragon.
"What reason would he have to keep the traitor alive?" asked Shri.
"He is showing compassion," said Dunkelzahn. "And there must be another way to settle this. One without the shed of blood."
"You don't know very much about Sangheili culture, do you?" Erin asked. "Even I agree with Shri. Dorva must be executed."
"You are a doctor," said Dunkelzahn, shocked by the statement that Erin gave. "You're supposed to save lives."
"Dunkelzahn, do you know why doctors are often scorn in the Sangheili culture?" Erin asked. "Besides the fact that we do realize we need doctors to cure ailments and help patch up wounds so that we may continue on fighting, there is a reason why Sangheili fear and loathe doctors. It is because when we draw our scalpels, our knives to cut into the flesh and operate, we dirty our blade with blood. It is a Sangheili tradition that one should never draw blood unless he intends to kill. Doctors go against that tradition by using blades to heal people. However, despite the fact I am a doctor, I am still Sangheili. Even I understand that the traitor must be executed. In our culture, this is showing mercy. By letting him live, Alan is doing nothing more than dooming him to a fate worse than death."
"Dunkelzahn, we are not human," said Shri. "We don't do things that humans do. This is a matter for us to handle, not for this Alan Tyler and not for you. And now, Alan is only making it worse by running away."
"What else was he suppose to do?" Dunkelzahn asked. "He has Telek!"
"He shouldn't have done what he did," said Shri. "But running only worsens things. Rolu, have you sent out the message?"
"Yes, Commander," said Rolu. "I've sent it."
"Alert me when he replies," said Shri. "Joli, cloak the ship. Rolu, advise the fleet to be cloaked as well when we engage the Serenity. Once they have left slipspace, we will fire a warning shot across her bow."
"They will be heading for UNSC space in two hours, Excellency," said Joli. "If they catch us firing at that ship…"
"Then we'll tell all UNSC ships in that sector who that cargo ship just kidnapped," said Shri. "After all, Telek is a UNSC vice-admiral. Alan should have thought of that before taking off for UNSC controlled space."
Rolu turned around: "Excellency, we've got a call from the Divine Journey."
"Patch it through," said Shri.
"Shri!" Cujo bellowed. "What in the name of Pete has happened?"
"Exactly what I've told you," said Shri. "Your Alan Tyler rookie kidnapped Telek after he shot him. They're heading for UNSC controlled space as we speak. ETA 2 hours. We're right behind him."
"Unbelievable," said Cujo. "Alan wouldn't do this. Why would he do this?"
"Because of Dorva," said Shri. "He has Dorva alive on his ship right now."
"I said he could go so that his bigot friend José could kill Dorva," said Cujo.
"Why would this José want to kill Dorva?" she asked.
"Because he was the only ODST that survived that slaughter Dorva lead them to," said Cujo. "I told him to be discrete about it. Wait, you mean to tell me that all this time Telek was after Dorva? Was that why he was missing for weeks?"
"Yes," said Shri. "He knew that if he told you or the others, that you all would want in on the revenge. He defaced us all. Telek knew that if we all came to Dorva, ready to kill him, he would flee again. He had to do it silently. So, he couldn't tell you where he was going. He didn't want you to follow."
"Son of a bitch…" Cujo sighed. "I'll be a Drinol's mother. I cannot believe that he would—wait, yes, I can believe Telek would pull a stunt like this. He pulled one when he went after Miranda! And several others too. Never mind. Is Telek even alive?"
"Let's hope for Alan's sake that he is," said Shri. "Because if Telek is not, then I will kill Alan Tyler!"
"Now, just hold on," said Cujo. "I'm notifying the outpost right now that a stolen Firefly-class cargo ship is heading over there with the kidnapped Vice-Admiral Telek 'Heros. If we don't get there in time, Alan will be meeting up with a rough welcome once he gets there."
"Stolen?" asked Shri.
"Alan and his crew stole that ship in order to find Kiryuu Knight," said Cujo. "I like the kid, but I can't let him get away with kidnapping my frat brother and making off with a traitor."
"This just keeps getting better," sighed Shri. "Where did he steal that ship from?"
"Your favourite Western Dragon," said Cujo. "Lofwyr."
"Oh—God no, not him," groaned Shri, lowering her head into her hands.
"Lofwyr allowed it to happened," said Cujo. "Hint on allowed. With one condition, he either brings Kiryuu Knight back, dead or alive, or he doesn't come back at all. And Lofwyr has his guys out looking for the stolen ship right now just in case things go awry. Now, Alan's coming into UNSC space with not only a stolen ship, but also a kidnapped vice-admiral. That boy just doesn't learn anything, does he?"
"He is not very bright," said Shri. "Alright. I'll see you when we get to the outpost. Alan better hope the UNSC catch him first."
"Just hold that temper, Shri," said Cujo as his image clicked off the main view screen.
"Joli," said Shri. "Keep that course steady on that outpost. Push it as fast as the drive can allow it."
"Aye, aye," said Joli.