Chapter Seven
November 23 2536 (ESTIMATED, IN SLIPSPACE), Covenant Frigate Rectitude
Will wheeled himself into the guard room for dinner, he had just spent the day being questioned by Nese, and he was ready for some good food. He pulled himself up to his spot at the table, and smiled at Kev and the rest of them. "Smells good today."
Sol glared at him, "It's prepared the same every day."
"So? It still smells good," Will was just in too good a mood to be put down. The group began to eat in silence. It was only a few minutes before they finished their rations. Sol walked briskly away from the table, back toward her bed. Will raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Kev slowly wheeled herself over to Will, "Mind if we talk privately?"
He smiled, "Not at all, let's head back to my room." The two slowly made their way through the foyer and down the hall to Will's small room. It had only taken them a few days to adjust to the wheelchairs, and now they were mobile again.
Will pulled himself up to his bed, and pulled himself over onto it. He moved his chair back so Kev could wheel herself in. The door shut behind her, and she looked around nervously. "I need to be truthful with you Will. I can trust you, correct?"
He nodded, "Of course, what's going on?"
She looked, well, if she was human he would have called her frightened. But he wasn't sure if the facial movements were the same or not. It was just his feeling from her actions. "I think we may have a problem with Sol." She paused, and leaned back in her chair. "Right before we left the infirmary, Sol told me that she believes you are... What's the word? Twisting her?"
Will paused for a moment, "Oh, manipulating?"
"Yes. Sol believes you are manipulating the Priestess in some form into becoming your ally and bring chaos to the Covenant. That you are somehow turning these events into a plan. She asked me to find out that plan."
"Hmmm, and?"
Kev looked confused for a bit. "What?"
"And do you believe her?"
"Of course not. You are a good person, for a Human. You wouldn't be manipulating the Priestess."
Will looked completely serious, "What if I told you I was? From day one of me being on here everything I've said and done has been calculated to turn a Covenant Priestess into a heretic, and to bring chaos to the Covenant?"
Kev sat there stunned a bit, "No... You can't be..."
"Would I be any less of a good person?"
"Of course you would be!"
Will leaned back against the wall, "Well then, I'm happy to say that I'm not manipulating her. I agree with her plan for the time being. In my current crippled situation, any chance of escaping would be useless, so for now I am going to play along with her."
Kev looked relieved, "What happens once you are no longer crippled?"
"Then I won't have to play along anymore, and probably by that time I'll be somewhere near a ship. I'll hijack it, and fly my way back to UNSC space with valuable intelligence about the Covenant religious system, and one Priestess in particular," he explained.
There was a pause, "If you just told me your plan, then what's stopping me from telling Sol and the Priestess?"
Will smiled, "Nothing. If you want to tell them go and do so. Or you could always come with him. You're a mercenary right? We can pay you just as well as the Covenant can."
Kev sat up, and started wheeling herself toward the door without a word. Will smiled and waved as she left. "Good night Kev," he said as the door closed between them.
Waiting in the study was Sol, her arms crossed in impatiences. She spoke softly as Kev approached, "It's been days, have you discovered his plan?"
Kev nodded, "I did."
"What is he planning? Murdering the Priestess?"
"No, it's worse than that," she replied, forcing herself to sound disgusted and angry. "He's planning on helping her set up the colony, and taking her for himself."
Sol was silent for almost a full minute, "I swear on every living creature, that I will rip his head off before he touches her in any way."
Kev let Sol wheel her back to their room, and she climbed into her bed. The lights were dimmed, and the room was warm. She looked at the door to the foyer, and beyond to where Will was sleeping. She wished for his sake that he recovered quickly, and got out of this mess.
November 26 2536, New Harmony
"What do you mean, steal a ship?" Julia asked February. She was standing in the middle of a large computer filled room, with giant glass windows overlooking a small building. It was the central computer core for the city, and in the center of that was February's core.
The monitors pulled up a list of incoming ships. "There will be 3 supply ships here tomorrow, and another 6 by the end of the week. I propose that you eject me onto a wireless computer, and I shall help you hack into both the armory and into the Pelican. We'll fly up, dock with a ship, evacuate the crew, and fly off toward the signal we're getting from the telemetry probe attached to the ship Sergeant Ward was taken on."
Julia sat down in a nearby chair, "What you're proposing is a crime, Feb. We can't just go and do whatever we want."
There was a pause in February's programming, "I am aware of the legality of our actions, however, we cannot let our friend remain a prisoner of the Covenant. The longer he is with them, the more of a chance he will be killed."
"But what are we going to do, just the two of us? Have you even thought about the plan once we get to where ever they have him?"
"I have a plan for that, which is why we're going to need some friends." The screens pulled up a data log from a cargo ship that had been by the planet almost a year ago. "It appears that in distant systems, Human refugees and non-Covenant Jackals have created a sort of treaty. They trade goods and help each other out, in exchange for not ratting each other to their respective main governments."
Julia read through the log in front of her, "Seriously? Why hasn't this been reported? Why aren't we trading technologies and information?"
"The UNSC has just recently come into information about these treaties, when one of the camps was attacked and destroyed"
"How do you know so much about this Feb? You're a planet based A.I."
She sounded smug with her answer, "I deal with a lot of the inbound merchants and traders, and with their computer systems. Even a few fellow A.I. from time to time. It's just a matter of getting them talking."
Julia leaned back in her chair, "Even still, what would make these rebels help us?"
"We're not UNSC, so we're going to be rebels ourselves. I feel confidant we can convince a few to help our cause."
"Starting with me," Julia jumped up, Sergeant Stock was standing in the doorway. "I heard most of the conversation, and I want in."
"Sergeant Stock! How did you get in here, this is a secure facility!" February shouted.
He grinned, "I'm temporary commander of the UNSC forces, and so my codes allowed me full access to this building. It was just a matter of following Julia. I sort of overheard your conversation earlier today, and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about."
Julia looked concerned, "You're a soldier, you can't just leave on some rebellious mission. Even if you did, the rebels would never trust you."
"Your right. But I can get you a ship, supplies, and everything you need for a UNSC funded research trip," he walked over to the computer and typed in a name. It brought up a profile for an elderly man. "My father happens to be an admiral."
Julia looked from the picture to the Sergeant. "Well... Feb, I still don't think your plan is going to work, but why the hell not. At this point, anything is better than pretending nothing happened."
February appeared on a small holographic pad nearby, with a huge smile on her face. "Excellent, I'll start making the preparations for our trip."
November 25 2536 (ESTIMATED, IN SLIPSPACE), Covenant Frigate Rectitude
"Shipmaster, we are ready to move out of the void."
Enre 'Rocusee stood in the center of the bridge, looking out at the screens around him as the ship exited the void and returned to normal space. "Contact the shipyard, ask them for docking procedures."
There was a short pause, "Shipmaster, the shipyard is saying there will be a delay. They have had in rise in ships needing repair, and they are still trying to produce new ships."
Enre growled softly, "Very well. Move us out of the way. We shall wait. Inform the Priestess of our situation, I'm sure she will be most upset."
"Actually, Shipmaster, I was counting on this." Enre turned to see Nese standing in the doorway behind him. "I need time to prepare my crew and our Human guest for transport."
The Shipmaster nodded, "Very well, I will inform you when we get our docking position."
"I will be waiting, Shipmaster," Nese turned and left, letting the doors slide close behind her. She was slightly annoyed, she had already made the preparations to move Will onto the asteroid facility, this would just give her more time to work on her plan.
She entered her quarters and headed for the study. Will had wheeled himself out and was waiting for her, "Nese. Problems?"
"There is no open docking port, so we will have to wait. Is there something you needed?"
"I had a question, but it can wait."
She sat in her chair, "I have time now, ask your question."
Will shifted his weight in his wheelchair, and looked at her seriously. "Kev told me that Sol believes me to be manipulating you. More specifically, she's worried about a relationship building between us."
"A relationship?" Nese was confused. "You are not of my species, why would I take you as a mate?"
Will smiled a bit, "That's what I thought, but apparently Sol is taking our... Friendship if you will, as something else. She has assigned Kev to find out my plan and what I plan to do to you."
"What do you plan to do to me, Will?"
"Nothing, you've saved my life, and shown me a decent side of the Covenant. Once I have recovered enough to function without this chair, and without others helping me, I plan to leave." Nese was silent. "I will return to my people, give them a full briefing on my time here, on all that I have learned, and then return to my duty. Return to protecting Humanity from your genocidal campaign."
She still didn't answer. "I told this to Kev, and she choose to cover for me. She told Sol my plan was to go along with your plan, and take you as my mate."
"Why are you telling me this Will?"
He smiled, "Because, even though you kidnapped me and are constantly interrogating me, you are my friend. And I don't like to lie to my friends."
"What if I don't want you to leave? If I stop you from telling your people about me?"
Will was still smiling as he started to wheel away, "You won't, because Sol was right about one thing. Somehow, I did manipulate you, and now we're friends. Friends wouldn't hurt their friends." He wheeled himself off toward his room, and left Nese sitting there.
Kev wheeled herself out from where she had been hiding, "Priestess."
"Kev Jec... Is that true? Does Will plan on leaving us?"
Kev sat up straight, a serious look in her eye, "No. He plans on leaving you, I shall be going with him. I came to tell you that."
Nese watched as she too wheeled her wheelchair away slowly, leaving her all alone. Nese took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She knew she was getting to attached to Will. She should never have saved his life, she could just have easily found a new Human to interrogate. But she didn't, she let herself do what she wanted, and not what should have.
She stood slowly and headed for her room. Sol was waiting for her outside the study, "Priestess. Is something the matter?"
Nese just walked by without a glance toward her friend. She couldn't face Sol, not yet, not knowing what Will had told her. She needed some time to herself to come up with a new plan. She had till Will was recovered, which would be soon. "Until the ship docks," she said aloud, "Otherwise I let him go."
Author's Notes: Oh. My. God. Reach is the best Halo game to date. I love it SO MUCH! I don't want to rant too much about it, but I've been playing it everyday since I got it. Kat is my favorite character, for sure. Anyway, because of Reach I haven't been writing as much, which means I am rather behind. I haven't even started chapter 8 and here I am posting chapter 7, but don't worry, I'll get it out on schedule. Deadlines are the best motivation for me.
On a side note, I'm going back to school soon, and my classes start next Monday, which pretty much will restrict me to keeping this once a week schedule. Though I may have to change the Tuesday release, it depends on how things work on with my classes and my life-stuff. Anyway, see you next week!
