Gliese: Sop
"Are you sure they won't kill me on sight?" Sop asked as the team headed to the City hall in the main city of the planet Gliese.
Charlie nodded. "I have a few friends in some pretty high ranking places. They'll make sure you're not attacked until our story has been told and thought about."
"And if they decide to kill me?"
"Well, let's just hope it doesn't come to that."
"But if it does?"
"Then I'll fight with you. But it shouldn't. Not with our evidence."
Sop wasn't completely convinced, but it was enough for now. Climbing the steps to the large building, the group was confronted by two Police and a squad of Marines, all of whom kept their weapons pointed in Sop and Thek's general direction.
Checking their , the Police stepped back and let the Marines form a half circle behind the four. They walked briskly through the halls for a few minutes before coming to a large room, a wall about eight feet high holding up rows of pews, like bleachers at a football stadium.
Lights from above bathed the pews in shadows, but illuminated the ground. Sop guessed the room was big enough to hold two Phantom drop ships. Ten guards stood around the room, backs to the eight foot wall and guns raised slightly, pointing at the four.
"I think this is preposterous, dealing with the species that is trying to kill us!" someone in the room said.
All discussion stopped as the team walked into the room. Sop saw guards stationed around the room as Charlie cleared his throat. "Um, hello everyone," he said. "I'm Chief Pet-"
"We know who you are, Petty Officer Tem. But, who are the other three?" a man in the darkness snapped.
"This is Lieutenant Sharon Bornde, from my platoon. The Elites are Sop and Thek, I can't pronounce their last names." He shifted and glanced nervously at the guards around them, noticing one tighten his grip and raise it slightly higher.
"Quite frankly, Chief Petty Officer, we do not care about their names. You're lucky that we even agreed to see you, without throwing all of you in prison," a woman replied, likely she was young by the sound of her voice.
Charlie nodded. "Very well. Sop, you can speak."
"He will speak when we say he can speak," the first man replied.
Sop growled softly. "I will not take orders from you, Human."
"And you better watch your tone when talking to me. I will have you thrown in jail and ship you off to Earth to be killed. Or, better yet, I'll have one of these guards here pop you in the head."
Thek shot his hand to his plasma pistol. Sop growled again as the guards shifted nervously. Charlie watched it all, an expression of worry plastered to his face.
"Stand down, stand down!" a younger man shouted, his chest illuminated slightly by the light as he stood.
Muttering, the guards lowered their rifles. Thek growled and moved his hand away from the weapon.
"Alright, Sop is it? Could you please tell us what it is you want?" The man sat back down.
"Of course," the Sangheili replied, nodding slightly. "We have come to ask for an alliance. If not a permanent one, then a temporary one, until we kill the Pudii."
"The Pudii?" the woman asked.
"Yes. We came across one of your vessels and found everyone dead. Until Charlie found us and led us to safety, before we had to battle our way from the ship. Most all of my warriors were slaughtered. My brother's ship, the Inconceivable, was destroyed."
"A new species huh? Sounds like a trick to me," the older gentleman said.
Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled something small out. "Don't believe us? Check out this holovid. It's my helmet cam. If you could be so kind?"
One of the guards stepped up and grabbed the small disk from his hand and walked back to his spot by the wall. He pushed a small button that was painted the same color as the concrete wall, which opened a small cubby with a disk slot and a multitude of buttons.
A screen came sliding out of the roof. It was just larger than the old movie theater screens in the twenty-first century. The video began playing, from when the aliens first boarded the Destroyer, to when Charlie and the others were on the Pelican on their way here.
Whispers spread quietly through the darkness, hinting to their being – at the least – fifteen to twenty people. Finally, the first man to speak stood, his wrinkled chin illuminated by the overhead lights.
"If your leaders would send an official emissary to meet with us, we will consent to make peace arrangements – for the time being. But, we will be sending one of our own men to stay by your side. Guards, let him in."
The two guards beside the doors pushed them open and called for someone. A thirty-something man with blue eyes and stubble covering his jaw walked in. His buzz-cut hair matched the stubble. An ugly scar ran from the top of his left eye and down, to just under his cheekbone. He scowled at the two Sangheili as he walked in, looking up into the darkness.
"You wanted me?" he asked.
"Yes," the woman replied. "We have arranged for peace agreements to be made. You will travel with these four to their HQ. From their, you will come back with them with the Covenant emissary."
His jaw was tightly clenched. "Sir, permission to speak?"
"Granted."
"Let me get this right. You want me to travel with these Split-Lips to their HQ to make peace arrangements, while we are at war?"
"Correct."
"I'm sorry sir, but I must respectfully refuse that order. After what happened to me, I cannot in good conscience follow through with those commands. Permission to pass on this assignment."
"Because of what happened to you makes you the perfect person for the job. If they cross us, You'll be more than happy to shoot them in the back of the head. Plus, I know you won't turn against us. So I am forced to refuse your request."
Nodding, the man turned and stomped from the room, doors banging closed behind him.
Sop looked to the darkness and nodded. For another hour, negotiations were finished and paper work sent off. Under the official U.N.S.C seal the team would be called Alliance squad and would travel to High Charity, to hopefully come back to Gliese with an emissary.
"Well, let's just hope that we're able to make it aboard High Charity," Sop remarked as they headed for a Pelican outside the building.
"What do you mean?" Sharon asked.
"We're taking one of your ships to High Charity. We'll be lucky if they don't shoot us down before we are able to make a case for ourselves," Thek replied.
"Oh. Yeah. Well, guess we better cross our fingers and pray," Charlie said, scratching the back of his head.
They boarded the Pelican and were off, heading for a small craft that would carry the team across the universe to High Charity.