Thanks for your support people!!
Disclaimer: I no own Halo... huuu.... cries
Chapter IV – Action and Reaction.
"You what?!?", it roared through the Prophet's council chamber. Chakuth's team stood at full attention. They could not move an inch or make a sound, it might be considered insubordination.
Truth was angry, and the other prophets in the council were too, obviously.
"I can't believe that you actually let him go! You should have killed him on the spot, you had him cornered what's so hard about killing a lousy human?!", he roared.
Xehn stepped forward, his armour shook with his steps, "Permission to speak sir…", his voice echoed through the hall.
The Prophet stared at lower ranked Prophet questioning, "What did it say..?", he whispered. The minor, obviously studied the Lekgolo language stared at Truth, "he said Permission to speak, sir."
Truth returned his gaze to Xehn, "Permission denied, you're not the team leader, I wish to speak to Zhetey!". Miph stepped forward, not caring about protocols for a moment, "He's in the infirmary, being treated for shot wounds!", he said, slightly agitated. The entire council stared at the little Unggoy.
"And who gave YOU permission to speak?!", Truth said, while signalling to the Jiralhanae Honorary guards.
They stepped forward and grabbed Miph's shoulder pads, "Get him out of here…", Truth said.
Xehn stared at the Prophet, "Listen, I was the one who had him thrown off the Ship, Zhetey had nothing to do with it, on top of that, Zhetey was the one that pushed him into the other compartment. He got wounded and I took the liberty of finishing the deal.", he said.
Truth stared at his translator and waited for the other prophet to send him the message to his throne.
The prophet hovered forwards, gave the Lekgolo a very degrading stare and then at his brother, "Do you wish to be removed from your duty…?", he asked.
"No… I do not…sir…", Xehn answered. Truth turned around and stared at the message on his holo-pad.
"Well then, step back and be silent.", he said as he hovered back towards the rest of the prophets.
"Very well, bring me Zhetey, I want to have him here, I don't care how wounded he is, just bring him before me.", he said, "Lekgolo, bring him to me…", he said as he pointed at Kahlanx. The younger Lekgolo nodded and walked out of the room.
"The rest of you are dismissed…", he said as he turned away from them
Calith stared at Vemeth, concerned, "What do you think will happen to our team..?", Vemeth whispered and poked Calith softly. The older Unggoy sighed and just kept walking, hoping the Prophets wouldn't do anything bad to their leader.
----
Chakuth winced as the cold fluid was rubbed over his head wound, "It will leave a scar…", the medic said. The Spec. Op. stared at her and sighed, "I figured that… Well at least I have all the more reason to kick that human's ass", he said laughing a bit. The female Unggoy smiled faintly, "So how did your mission go?", she asked.
Chakuth sighed again, "I don't know, I have a bad feeling about it.", he replied and stared at her. She smiled faintly and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure things will be just fine.", she said and placed a bio-patch on his head wound. The doors suddenly opened and the massive Lekgolo stood in the door opening.
"Oh no! You can't come in here, it won't fit!!", she shouted at Kahlanx as he tried to force his body through the Unggoy sized bulkhead. Chakuth gave him an awkward look, "What's wrong Kahlanx", he said as the Lekgolo gave up trying.
Kahlanx turned his head towards Chakuth and pulled him self out, "You have to come to the council room, Truth wants to speak to you…", he said as he signalled his hands to 'come out'. Chakuth frowned and sighed, "I guess it means follow…", he said as he jumped off the treatment bed. "Well I'll be seeing you some other time.", he said as he walked out of the door.
She held her small handheld holo pad close to her, "Be careful Chakuth…", she whispered while turning away from the door.
Kahlanx stared at Chakuth, then walked in front of him. Chakuth could feel a very odd atmosphere around the Lekgolo, "Is it bad…?", he asked, breaking the silence.
The huge alien nodded his head and let out a frustrated growl, "Very bad, Truth is very angry, he took it off on Xehn and also had your friend Miph removed from the room…", he said. Chakuth frowned and wondered why the Lekgolo spoke to him, he couldn't understand it anyway, and they knew… "I… uh See…", he said figuring it probably had something to do with their mission.
When they arrived at the gate to the council room, Chakuth's team was standing there, Xehn leaned against a crate, Duthaz sat upon one and the 4 Unggoy sat on the ground near each other.
Miph rose, "Oh man, Chakuth… Truth is pissed off… he wants to speak to you…", he said with a concerned look.
Chakuth nodded and sighed, "I already had a bad feeling about it… but it just has gotten worse…", he said as he walked by them.
"Pray for me…", he said while he walked through the gate.
Truth had gotten impatient, and when the bulkhead opened he immediately burst into anger. "Where were you, why did it take so long?!", he shouted as he moved his arms angrily. Chakuth swallowed, it was weird to see an enraged prophet, and it looked kind of funny too.
"I'm sorry sir… My wounds had to be treated, they bled a lot…", he said as he showed his treated hand.
Truth have a crisp stare at it then stared directly into Chakuth's eyes, "Zhetey… Why did you not kill the demon?", he asked suddenly, the entire council was silent.
Chakuth stared around at first, took a deep breath, "I couldn't sir, I had fired my FR-gun on it, it had it's shields down, but my plasma gun weren't efficient enough to bring it to the ground…", he explained.
The prophet stared at him thoughtfully, "Take your team and board aPhantom to earth, I'm sure that it will try to kill me some other way… But I doubt it that he will try to board my ship again… After your… little adventure.", he said.
Chakuth nodded and sighed.
"Your mission remains the same, it just got harder, now you will have to find him on earth which is a lot more difficult, looking at the space the planet has to offer for hiding…", he said mocking Chakuth.
The Unggoy stared at the ground, then at the planet behind the Prophet, "Very well sir, I will take him down…", he said softly. "Dismissed…", Truth said as he turned away from Chakuth as he walked out of the room.
Truth stared at a Jiralhanae commander, "Have one of your men pilot that ship and make sure that it won't be able to return to this vessel… I don't need leaders that fail at my missions…", he said calmly and stared at the planet… "As soon as this planet is glassed and deprived of all it's inhabitants… Our Great Journey will begin… without the Sangheili and Unggoy…".
A Jiralhanae accompanied the young Spec. Op outside, "Wait here, your escort will be here soon…", the voice of the simian alien sounded. Chakuth nodded and rejoined his team.
Miph ran up to him, "Went bad didn't it..?", he asked, carefully. His friend nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Xehn stared at the Unggoy then at his brother, "Did you hear what the Prophet said…?", he asked his younger brother sitting against the bulkhead to the Council room. Kahlanx nodded slightly and removed his hand from the door, "I'm not sure though, Truth's voice doesn't give off many vibrations…", he said as he walked towards his brother.
The older Lekgolo held his head up a bit and stared into nothing, "What did he say...?", he asked.
"Something bad… Or at least, it sounded very bad…", Kahlanx replied and walked towards the team, "Even if it is something bad, we will not be able to tell them, they don't understand us…", he added to it.
"I'm well aware Kahlanx…", Xehn sighed and followed him.
It took quite some time before a Jiralhanae commander showed up, "Please follow me to the docks, We will board a cruiser there, is any of you qualified to fly a phantom?", he asked.
Duthaz rolled his eyes, "I am…", he said as he walked up to the Jiralhanae.
The biggeralien gave him a degrading look, then walked on, "Very well, you'll be piloting the craft and take me to my drop-off point…", he said and made his way to the docks.
The Lekgolo brothers stared at each other, "It doesn't sound good does it…?", Kahlanx asked his brother. Xehn was quiet, he always was when deep in thought and didn't answer until his brother gave him a soft punch against the shoulder.
"What…?", Xehn asked.
"I've got a bad feeling about this… The Jiralhanae isn't staying with us…", he said. Xehn nodded a bit, he was distant again.
Chakuth was tired, the world around him had faded a bit and he had mixed feelings about the odd mission he had been given.
Miph stared at Chakuth, "Hey… are you feeling alright?", he asked silently, grabbing his friend's hand. Chakuth stared at him, forced a pitiful smile and stared at the floor again, "Yeah I'm okay…", he said.
----
Denakh stared at the Phantom docked over them, "Whoa, it's pretty big!", he said strangely cheerful. Calith and Vemeth joined in, "It's cool, ain't it?", Vemeth said poking Denakh.
"Oh yeah!", the younger Unggoy said.
"It'll be our death…", Calith said sarcastically, then laughed.
The Jiralhanae commander stopped, "Well step aboard, the Lekgolo first…", he said as he waited at the slope.
The Lekgolo brothers followed the orders of the commander, walked up the slope and sat down. Made themselves a bit smaller and waited for the team to enter as well. Chakuth was next, he walked up and stared at the brothers.
'It's like being transported to a prison camp on another planet…', Chakuth thought as he saw how the two massive and prideful Lekgolo hung their heads down. Miph sat down next to Chakuth and noticed it too, they usually didn't care much about the situation, but they seemed to feel bad now. The 3 other Unggoy followed, then the slope closed, leaving them in the dim purple light.
The engines of the Phantom roared to life as they felt how the ship left the docking bay and the gravity seemed to pull at their stomachs for a second. If there was anything Chakuth hated more then interstellar vessels, it were the transporters that took him places. He felt queasy, his stomach turned and it almost felt if they made a loop of some sort. It took to long, his hand and head still stung from the wounds, he stared at them, trying to forget the place he was in. A comforting hand of Miph suddenly made it's way over the shot wound on his hand, Chakuth stared at his friend and smiled behind his mask.
Duthaz watched the screens of the small craft, he was used to forcefully flying one of these and watched as the drop-off destination came in sight.
"You should land near that Phantom over there…", the Jiralhanae commander spoke as he pointed on the holo pad of the area.
The Sangheili nodded and flew the craft towards the directed point.
As they hovered over the Jiralhanae outpost the commander eyed Duthaz for the last time, "Fly to the next navigation marker on your area map, you'll find where the Prophets have expected the human craft with the demon in it has landed, take him out, then return to the ship, all there is to it.", he spoke, then made his way off the ship.
The Sangheili narrowed his eyes and stared in the back of the ship, the passenger compartment. He saw how the young Unggoy were surprised the commander hadn't stayed with them. Even the Lekgolo brothers looked concerned. He took a deep breath, then closed the bulkhead between the two compartments, locked up the slope and took the ship away from the outpost.
The Jiralhanae commander stared at how the Phantom took off, "It's a waste of ship if you ask me…", he said as he stared at the lower ranks of Jiralhanae guarding one of the many Covenant outposts in the human city.
"To bad we wont be seeing that fine piece of work in flight ever again…", he said as he walked into the base.
----
Duthaz slowed it down, checked his motion sensors on the ship, and then checked again. "Are they serious…?", he said to himself as he tapped the pad a bit, not believing what the instrument told him.
He opened up the intercom, "Zhetey… you might want to come here and see this…", he said and closed the com again, opening the compartment door. It didn't take long for the five feet tall alien to stand next to him, "What's the matter…?", he asked slightly curious.
Duthaz pointed at the motion sensors then stared outside again, "Either it should be raining humans here, or we just flew over a human headquarters…", he changed view to a different angle, still showing up hundreds of red dots.
"Is this our navigation marker…?", Chakuth suddenly asked.
The Sangheili stared at the Unggoy then at the screen, "Yes, it seems to be our landing spot, but unfortunately they forgot to clear it for us.", he said as he let out a frustrated growl.
"Want me to get my other Unggoy and have them man the plasma turrets?", Chakuth asked.
"And show a pitiful try at shooting ants in an ant farm? I'd say we ignore orders and find another place to land, and infiltrate without them knowing it… I haven't run a check on how many it are, but I'm not planning to count dots either… Be my guest…", he snarled as he hit the thrusters and propelled the Phantom away from their Navigation marker.
The Lekgolo in the back stared at each other as they felt the sudden change of movement.
"You think that there's something wrong?", Kahlanx asked his brother as he braced himself a bit. Xehn stared at the end of the slope, "I'm not sure…", he said as he held on as well.
Chakuth hurried himself back into the passenger compartment, "Okay, listen up. We just found out that our landing strip is filled with human activity, meaning that if we'd land there, well.. I don't think more then a few scraps of iron will land there… That means we need another landing strip and infiltrate by means of stealth. It's not impossible, although Xehn and Kahlanx will have to fall behind us. Once 'Kinomanee has found us a good spot to land, we will head out and kill the demon.", he spoke as he took out his personal navigation pad, "Everyone, link up your own navigation system with mine, or we'll get lost. The humans don't have neatly structured buildings like the Covenant have.".
The ship came to a rough stop, it send Chakuth into a wall, "'Kinomanee! What happened!?!", Chakuth shouted over his intercom.
The Sangheili growled loudly, "Human anti-aircraft mechanism, they're everywhere, the damn bastards sent us into our deaths!!", he shouted as the ship suddenly made speed again.
Denakh stared around nervously, "We're all gonna die!!", he screamed in panic as Calith strapped him in tightly.
"No we're not you idiot, just hang on and be quiet!", Calith shouted as he strapped himself in as well. Vemeth was strangely calm, he was used to rough air battles and was a plasma turret veteran.
Chakuth got up slowly and checked his breathing equipment, as they checked out fine he hurried to the cockpit and closed the bulkhead.
"You'll need a navigator…", he said, as he jumped on the navigator's seat and strapped himself in.
"Is there anything you can't do…", Duthaz growled annoyed as he tried to dodge the shots the humans shot at them with a transporting vessel.
Chakuth grinned, "Just one thing… Fail…", he said as he stared at the Navigation screen and calculated escape routes.
The Sangheili did his best to dodge the rockets the humans launched at them, "Tell one of your Unggoy to man the turret, I'm sick of playing a sitting duck with this scrapheap!", he shouted and opened the bulkhead.
"Vemeth!",Chakuth shouted, "Man the turret, shoot as many of those human bastards as you can, just make sure you hit something!", he said as he waited for the Unggoy veteran to take his place behind the Plasma Turret.
"Great, now we're less sitting ducks as we were before.", Duthaz said as he backed up the ship and flew at the human gun turrets.
Vemeth took aim and fired, Chakuth could see he was a veteran, only a few shots missed, and most were so well-placed they also sent other things blasting into the sky. As he focussed back on navigating he tried to pin-point himself a landing spot between the red minefield of human manifestations. It seemed impossible, they were everywhere, and it seemed harder to believe this was a navigation error made by the prophets.
He closed his eyes, inhaled then exhaled again, 'Stay focussed Chakuth… you can do it…', he said to himself as he suddenly saw a destination that could be made if flown correctly.
"I've got one…", he said as he sent it to Duthaz' screen. The Sangheili nodded and roughly changed course, "Very well, hang on to your breathing gear and spiked butts…", he said as he flew between huge skyscrapers to their destination.
As the navigational marker came in sight the Sangheili narrowed his eyes. "Do you want me to park this thing in a skyscraper…?", he asked as a big building slowly came into vision.
Chakuth stared out of the small window only to see the building coming in fast, "There shouldn't be a building there…", he said as he stared at his screen, "We should just be able to fly right though at this altitude…", he said as he shifted from the screen to the window.
Duthaz rolled his eyes, "I guess now buildings have learned to magically appear as well?", he said as he hit the thrusters and gained speed. Chakuth stared outside again, squinted his eyes and suddenly saw why the Navigator gave it as a possible option, "'Kinomanee!! The building, it has a hole the size of a phantom constructed into it. We can fly through easily!", he said as he stared at the Sangheili, who felt it necessary to grin.
"Fine, we'll push trough, I'm sure the humans will love that… You, gunner.", he said as he poked Vemeth, "Fire once we entered the hole in the building, make sure it will collapse the moment that human aircraft flies through… It will give us some time to land and get away from the craft.", he said as he kept his eyes on the outside.
Vemeth nodded and focussed on his target.
"What human aircraft…", Chakuth suddenly asked. Duthaz eyed him for a brief second, "The one that has been following us the moment we flew over that human base… I guess I forgot to mention that…", he said dryly as he focussed on keeping the Phantom aloft.
"Just great, are they firing on us?", he asked as his concerned look returned to the navigator screen.
"Apparently not, I don't have rear view mirrors now do I, and you haven't felt the ship buckle. Meaning that ship is simply following us to our destination and take us out on ground level…", he said as the building came intensely close.
"That's why the Unggoy behind the turret here, has to destroy the foundations the upper half of the building rests on.".
Chakuth nodded, "Good, we'll be fine…", he said softly as he tried to remain calm.
As the Phantom made it's way into the building's odd construction Vemeth hit the triggers and the Plasma weapon fired, continuously biting it's way through the steel.
Vemeth stopped firing, "Now would be a good time to activate some afterburners!!".
The building moaned, the crippled and molten steel collapsed under it's own weight as the upper top of the building came down on it's lower half. The enormous force of the two colliding and crumbling masses of steel and concrete whipped up a giant dust cloud, blocking all vision for the small carrier Phantom.
"Are we through?", Vemeth asked as the ship slowed back into it's regular flight pattern.
Silence, then the human aircraft flew past them with high speed leaving the Covenant in the Phantom stunned.
"How in the world… could they have dodged that… they were right on our tail!", Duthaz shouted out as he took evasive actions to not get caught in the Pelican's trail.
"It's just gonna have to get rough from here on, Gunner, shoot them out of the sky, no remorse!", the Sangheili roared as he straightened the ship and entered a hot pursuit.
"You got it!", Vemeth shouted as he fired the plasma turrets at the human ship.
Chakuth smiled faintly, "Well, from a slow and boring cat and mouse game, into a real dog fight, that's new!", he said as he stared outside the window.
"Just sit back and watch, this won't take long.", Duthaz said as he closely followed the other craft.
Vemeth kept his three turrets locked on the Pelican as good as he could, shooting the super hot bolts of plasma at it, hitting quite frequently. Chakuth stared at the now red glowing tail of the human ship, it felt good. Even though their mission seemed impossible, this was a good start.
A sudden shock threw Duthaz off his seat, Chakuth's head forcefully bumped into the screen and the world seemed to stop for a short moment. The lights in the craft went red as the ground came closer every second, Chakuth felt his head sting as he could barely open his eyes, the smoke prohibited him from seeing anything clearly. Then a much greater impact shook the ship, and everything that hadn't faded from Chakuth's vision before, was black now…
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Ah ohhh that doesn't sound good does it? Cliffhanger? Hmmm I guess so XD R&R please :)