1045 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ IN COVENANT HELD SPACE NEAR THE DIVINE JUDGMENT \ COMMAND BRIDGE
"So, are you sure he's on there?" She asked her partner. She looked at her as a look of seriousness met her. "Alright, if you say so." The cloaked ship entered the hangar of the Covenant flagship undetected and landed inside despite the tight squeeze. The landing gear held the ship upright as the back hatch opened temporarily and a lone figure darted for a nearby shadow; phase one was complete.
1050 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP DIVINE JUDGMENT \ PRISON CHAMBER B-7
The entire week he had been there, it was pure hell. Had it not been for his previous experiences, he would've caved by day two, but he stood steadfast. However stable his mentality was, his physical status was absolutely atrocious. He could hardly stand on his own, he felt light-headed from blood loss over the course of the torture, and above all he was weakened severely. They had beaten him, electrocuted him, pushed him to within an inch of his life, and yet he came back from it all. There was however one silver lining to this.
He had befriended a young grunt named Shola, and he had taught the Spartan a vast amount of the covenant language, both in speech and writing. At first the grunt had been scared to death when he was first shoved in there as a prank, and thought for sure the human would have taken out his aggression on him, but was surprised when instead of a fist, he was offered a hand. Shola was the one thing that kept the human's hopes up that he'd be rescued from this place, and he took comfort in the fact that the grunt wasn't a loyalist after all, just a poor grunt who was forced to become one.
He was currently visiting Sean while two brutes stood guard outside, both having a brute shot and red plasma rifle in tow. "So, what was it this time?" Shola asked him in curiosity.
Sean responded by spitting a decent wad of blood into the corner and drawing in a deep breath. "Beating me 'til blood came out my nose, a quick electrocution session, and to wrap it all up a punch to the face." He said as he indicated his black eye.
"Harsh. But cheer up, I'm sure you'll be freed soon." The grunt said trying to lift the human's spirits. Sean simply turned his head in a mix of shame and hopelessness. This was all his fault. Had he not let his anger get the best of him, he wouldn't be in this mess. "That'd be the day." He said as he picked up his helmet and stared into the visor, seeing Kate's face smile back at him. "I miss her so much."
Concerned with his depressed state, the grunt walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The human smiled as he looked up. "Well I hope your happy Shola." He said putting the helmet aside. "I don't think I'll ever be able to kill another one of you guys again." The grunt took satisfaction with the sincerity of his words, and was about to say something when they heard someone shout 'GET IT OFF!' from the corridor outside. Both the human and alien looked just in time to see one of the brutes be consumed by a blue fire ball. A plasma grenade? But who threw that?
The second brute got out his brute shot and aimed it down the corridor. "Show yourself!!" He shouted. What happened next could only be described as the fastest thing you'd ever see. A blur of motion happened as something ran out, gave a bunch of quick and precise punches to the brute before grabbing the brute shot and using the blade on it to slit the alien's throat. Sean quickly got to his feet and felt warm inside as he recognized the green of Spartan armor while Shola backed up and took shelter behind the armored leg. "Guess I owe her five bucks." The Spartan standing before them joked. Sean instantly recognized the cheery voice and associated it with the intense speed, smiling as he recognized her. "Kelly."
1105 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL CORRUPT HEART \ COMMAND BRIDGE
"DAMN IT!!" Kate shouted as she pounded her gloved fist on the panel in front of her, causing Rick's hologram to pop up.
"You do know AI can feel pain too correct?" He asked her as he pointed to her fist.
"Sorry, I'm just irritated that every time we get close to them, they jump again."
"Just be glad they haven't disabled his neural implants." Rick inquired. "Or else we wouldn't be able to have tracked them down this far." Kate took little comfort in the words of the AI as she grabbed the katana beside her and felt tears begin to form. "You've got to be kidding me, you're still up?!" She heard a voice behind her yell. She turned to see Linda standing there. "I thought Fred ordered you to sleep."
"I can't, not when I know Sean's out there being held captive by those….freaks!" She shouted as her grip tightened on the handle of the blade.
"How do you think I feel about John?" Linda asked as Kate's grip loosened and she had a look of shock on her face. "I nearly cried when I heard Hood tell us he was dead, but I didn't. I persevered because I knew there was hope for him." She said walking up to her fellow Spartan and placing her hand on her shoulder. "He'd want you to carry on, to not give up hope, to find him. That's what I believe they both want us to do, and it's why I'm not crying, and instead using that energy to find them."
"This is why I'm not sleeping. I want to get them both back fast." Kate responded as she turned back to the controls and yawned.
"No, it's why you SHOULD get some sleep, you need rest, and staying up seventy-two-hours straight isn't getting them back any faster." She said pulling her from the controls and escorting her to the door. "Get some sleep, you're going to need it."
"Fine, but if anything happens-"
"I know, I'll alert you if anything comes up." Linda reassured her.
1105 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP DIVINE JUDGMENT \ PRISON CHAMBER B-7
"We need to go, now." Kelly told Sean as she deactivated the energy field and urged him on. She then spotted the grunt behind him and aimed her assault rifle.
"Stand down!" Sean shouted as he forced her rifle's barrel to the ground. "You're going to need your ammo for later, and he hasn't shown any hostility to you." Sean said kneeling down and fidgeting with his right leg.
"He's your friend isn't he?" She asked as she sighed. "Well, no matter, grab a rifle and let's go."
"Won't need it." Sean said as the compartment in his leg opened up and he grabbed a handle and pulled it out. He then pressed a button as the energy sword came to life and the compartment sealed up again. "Now let's go." He said attaching a plasma rifle to his leg.
***
The two Spartans ran frantically through the winding twist and turns of the flagship, having a firefight here and there, nothing slowed them down until they approached the hangar again. A squad of brutes jumped out and surrounded them, forcing them to retreat in between ruts in the bulkhead. Kelly switched to her shotgun and popped out of cover, blasting two of them away with two quick bursts. The remaining four brought out maulers as a countermeasure and every time she tried to fire again, they shot at her and forced her to retreat, not getting in a single shot. Sean groggily grabbed his plasma rifle with his free hand and decided to charge the group of three. He waited for the next try by Kelly and then he rushed out towards them. One of them tried to fire again but was enraged to find his clip empty, both halves of him wished he hadn't fired the last shot as they fell to the ground in opposite directions. Sean then hosed the next one in the face with plasma fire. The third aimed right at his head and missed the shot as he flipped up and over the third and swung the energy sword, leaving a clean slice straight through its neck as both corpses fell to the ground simultaneously.
Using Sean as a distraction, Kelly popped out again to fire at the remaining brute and was annoyed to find it hiding in a bubble shield. She then noticed it reaching for its belt and charged into the bubble as she blew a dinner plate-sized hole in the brute's stomach. "HEADS UP!" She heard Sean shout as she looked to her right just in time to see a brute take a plasma bolt to the face and fall forward into the shield; a primed spike grenade stuck to its hand. Kelly dove out of the bubble as it contained the blast and collapsed. "We're running out of time!!" She shouted at him as they ran into the hangar and towards the back. "Now what? There's nothing around here." Sean observed as they were out in the open.
"That's what you think." Kelly told him as she knocked on thin air and a thud was heard. She stepped back as a bay door dropped to the ground and the inside of a ship showed. He was about to say something, when a twin bolts of thin energy struck him in the same shoulder that had taken so much abuse in the week. Kelly noticed that his vitals showed the blast of pain had been sufficient enough to cause him to slip into unconsciousness as she killed the jackal responsible for that, and dragged his body inside. The door lifted up as Kelly shouted 'Clear!' and the invisible ship lifted off and left the hangar.
1120 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL CORRUPT HEART \ COMMAND BRIDGE
"He's entered slipspace." Rick told her as he showed a dot moving on the radar.
"What? Why with the sudden jump?" Linda asked the AI as she saw Will come onto the bridge with James behind him. "What's all the commotion?" Will asked as he stretched his arms.
"Looks like they jumped again." James said as the front view screen turned to normal upon the ship's exit from slipspace to find Divine Judgment still floating there. "Or not."
"What? I thought you said he entered slipspace." Linda consulted with the AI. "Are you losing your touch?"
"Don't make me laugh Linda." Rick responded in a tone that would suggest that was impossible. "I don't know what ship he's on, but whatever it is has a Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive on it. In other words UNSC property."
"The hell is a UNSC ship doing near a Covenant cruiser by itself?" Will asked massively confused.
"I'll go wake Fred up." James said rushing out of the bridge.
"What does this mean?" Linda asked.
"It means your brother has been rescued." The Arbiter said as he stepped out of the shadows.
"Do us a favor will ya, stop sneaking around with your cloaking device on already." Will said a bit annoyed by him sneaking up on them.
"My apologies, a force of a habit. Though I was picking up faint traces of one of your intelligence ships earlier. It appeared briefly before it vanished from the radar."
"Oh great, now ONI is getting into the mix." Linda said sarcastically.
"Well, not ONI specifically." Rick replied to back up the Arbiter's claim.
"And how's that?" She asked approaching the hologram.
1600 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ LOCATION UNKOWN \ ONI INTELLIGENCE SHIP VENUS
"Ow, what happened?" Sean asked as he sat up on what he felt was a bed. He held his head and looked around the room as he heard what sounded like giggling. He looked everywhere to find the source and looked to his right as Kelly materialized in front of him. "AH!" He yelled in surprise as he crashed to the ground.
"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to startle you that much." Kelly said helping him up. "You're sure in sorry shape, just what happened to you on that ship?" She asked him as his arm wrapped around her neck for support.
"Put me through hell." He replied weakly as he felt his head spinning. He then felt Kelly walk him towards the exit and looked up at her helmetless face. "Where are we going?"
"To the command bridge, there's someone you need to meet." She told him as she urged him along. He groggily dragged his feet and collapsed a few times as the torture finally caught up with him. "Geez, when you said hell you weren't kidding." She eventually got him to the bridge as a lone person sat in the command chair. "He's up."
"Good." The person said as she rotated the chair around to face him. Sean nearly fainted at the sight in front of him as he temporarily forget all the pain he had endured, forgot John, forgot everyone as he looked Dr. Halsey in the eye. "A pleasure to see you again Sean, I hope you enjoyed the present I gave you." She told him as an unusually big smile was on her face as she was genuinely happy to see him. He instantly sprang up and saluted for a second before the pain caused him to collapse on his knees as he kept himself up with his arms. "You always over exert yourself." She scolded him as she got up from her chair and shined a flashlight in his eyes. "Just how much sleep did you actually get aboard that ship? Your eyes look like they go on forever, and it looks as though you've lost a lot of blood."
She turned the light off as she let go of his chin and his gaze immediately fell to the floor from exhaustion. Kelly helped him to a seated position as Dr. Halsey sat back down in the command chair and turned back around. "We're heading towards my new lab. There I'll be able to give you the rest of your treatment and the blood you need."
"Well, could you at LEAST explain to me where the hell you've been for the past few months?" He asked her as she froze in place.
"All in due time Sean." Kelly told him. "Now just sit back and relax." She then helped him to the side as he was leaned against the bulkhead. He immediately drifted off to a deep sleep as Kelly walked over to Dr. Halsey. "You know, you don't have to tell them about it."
"I do Kelly." She replied rather coldly. "I betrayed them and left them when they needed me most, I can't just leave it at that." The ship then disappeared as it didn't turn on the cloaking device, but instead entered a hidden lab station in orbit around what used to be Harvest.
1605 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP DIVINE JUDGMENT PREPARING SLIPSPACE JUMP TO PURSUE PRISONER B-7 \ COMMAND BRIDGE
"OK, so tell me again young grunt, what happened exactly?" Brutus asked, very enraged at the surprise attack by a single craft.
"Well, umm, you see your Excellency." Shola stammered as he tried to find the correct words for what happened. "A second human that resembled the one that we had captured showed up and liberated him. I hid in the shadows and witnessed the new one stick one of our plasma grenades on the first guard while she killed the other with his own launcher. And as our cameras picked up," he said as he pointed out the camera feed that came to life at his touch, "they managed to kill every troop in their way before vanishing from thin air and leaving the ship. That's all I know."
"I thank you for your honesty young one." He said as he stomped a short while and abruptly punched a nearby jackal's face in, causing it to fly all the way across the room and leave a dent in the bulkhead. Shola stepped back and chewed on his claws. "CAN SOME ONE IN THIS ROOM, TELL ME JUST HOW A SINGLE HUMAN INFILTRATED OUR SHIP AND LIBERATED AN S-CLASS PRISONER?!!!" Brutus screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone, even the higher up brutes, cringed at their leader's anger; none of them had seen him this enraged before.
"If you insolent imbeciles cannot find him, then I will make every waking unit of your life hell!!" That was motivation enough for them all to work extra hard. After a few tense units, they had found his signature, albeit faint, they had a good enough lock to pursue him.
"You really must watch your temper." The voice told him. "It won't get you anywhere but the afterlife."
"My apologies master, I'm just upset that I couldn't break him OR kill the one you despise most."
"All in due time my dear brute, we just need to find a new poison. Then soon, very soon, both the human and the disgraced one shall be dead."