8: Alien Honor
November 10, 2552 Sol Relative Time
Southeast Africa, Earth
A rustle in the bushes caught Doug's attention, and he swung his rifle, but before he could take aim Chief Raynord had already gripped the barrel and angled it down. Doug was astonished by his speed, and at the fact that he couldn't pull the weapon free from his grip.
"Stay calm, he's with me." Chief Raynord said as they watched a massive Elite in black armor enter the area. Upon the Elite's upper chest were three parallel bars of purple light. A Mirratord officer. "Gridolee... he has twin blades." Chief Raynord stated, turning to face the wounded Zimivee.
"And he is nearly dead." Gridolee answered as he knelt beside Zimivee. "But alive enough to fight on." Gridolee examined Zimivee's wounds, not commenting on the fact that he was wearing Mirratord single blades. As if reacting to Gridolee's sudden arrival, though, Zimivee opened his eyes again, and looked up at him.
A puzzled expression crossed his features for a moment, and his mandibles parted in a hoarse rasp; "… Mün?"
Gridolee froze for a moment, reflecting on the name. "You have me mistaken for another. More so, how do you know that name?" Gridolee leaned toward the wound in Zimivee's chest, seeing that the wound needed to be closed.
Zimivee shook his head, noncomprehending- he was awake, but not precisely coherent. "Your timing is the worst… where have you been hiding, old man?"
Indeed he did know Mün, Gridolee thought to himself. Gridolee knew Mün by name only, a warrior of the Mirratord that had died in combat some months ago. Gridolee aided Zimivee to his back and began to work on the wound with a heated syringe and a small medical device that would assist in healing the internal wounds. He was thankful the humans had such a device, but naturally the pain would be tremendous. He would have to induce sleep in order to give the injured Zimivee a field treatment. "What is your name, young one?" Gridolee knew that the warrior would be partially unconscious before he could fully answer.
Zimivee blinked at him, his eyes glazed. "… Hoku." It was obvious he nolonger knew where he was, but he seemed to be responding to something that had happened long ago. Someone had asked him that before, when circumstances were different. "Just… Hoku." It wouldn't be long before he faded out completely.
Chief Raynord approached from cover. His all black ODST modified armor cloaking him in the shadows of the thick treeline. "Is he alright?"
"He will live." Gridolee replied as he began to seal the wound.
"We need to move." Chief Raynord looked over his shoulder, toward the red marker he had placed on his HUD, as the Brute patrol began to slowly approach. "How much time do you need?"
"His internal injuries are stable, but his structure is ... unique." Gridolee paused for a moment. "I will need more time."
"You don't have it." Chief Raynord turned on his radio. "Med EVAC, now. Get a stretcher here." He turned back to Gridolee. "Close him up and we can work on him at the base."
Gridolee nodded stiffly as he realized the Chief was right. The familiar hum of reverse gravity generators was already sounding in the distance. Two Marines trotted into the area with a stretcher, and began to lift Zimivee's unconscious form to the Pelican nearby. Raynord stood and ran toward Doug, Steve and the little Grunt, Shay.
"Private."
"Sir." Doug nodded. "They hit us as we were..." Doug hadn't really thought about how he would explain his decision to a superior. "…moving to meet up with other Elite forces."
Chief Raynord looked at the young Private and shook his head. "You can explain later. Is he mobile enough to make it to the Pelican?" He motioned at Steve.
Doug turned to see the indicated. Steve gave a loose thumbs up, and soft moan with the gesture. "He's in pain, but mobile." Doug answered.
"Hit him with morphine and carry him to the ship." Chief Raynord then turned to Shay. "For now, you fall in with my Grunt patrols."
Shay gave him a curious glare, and made an obscure noise behind his mask, before looking at Steve. "What be morphine?" Looking back at the Chief, he added, "And why you Elite colored funny?"
Chief Raynord stood and adjusted his assault rifle. "Migpap, get out here and get him in line. We have to move." From the brush appeared a pack of four grunts in black armor.
The lead grunt approached and sniffed Shay. "Me Migpap. Me pack elder, you fall in and go to honorable human ship. We leave before brutes come."
Shay stared at them with wide eyes for a long moment before ducking his head and falling in- if there was one thing he wasn't, it was a pack leader.
Migpap lead the group to the ramp as Doug aided Steve up it. In the center of the Pelican's bay lay Zimivee's unconscious form, while the Marines strapped him in. It would be a quick trip to the base, but Doug was already torn about how he would explain to Corporal Tyrone why he was with the Elite when they were attacked. Shay waddled up the ramp at the rear of the group of Grunts and Doug watched him annoyingly follow the pack. It was clear that Shay wasn't happy about this set up.
Steve, drugged up from Morphine, smiled at Doug as he gingerly sat on the bench with a medic. "That little fella saved my life back there... yup. I owe him one." Steve slurred.
"Yeah, mate." Doug said. "Zimivee saved me as well." Doug sat down and exhaled heavily as the events of the last hour sunk in.
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"You feel it, don't you? I have hurt you, and now you feel the depth of your error in allowing my strike to hit you. There is more to this lesson than merely not allowing my strikes to land, Hoku. You must understand how to handle your pain. A true enemy would not give pause if you collapse. He would kill you, honorably or not. This is the way of war. Do you understand what I am saying?"
Shaking, the battered youth nodded.
"Look at me, and speak your answers, Hoku."
His features pinched, but he tried his best to straighten his posture. It didn't work. Defeated, Hoku sagged to the floor of the sparring arena. "I cannot."
His mentor stepped forward, and lifted his head so their gazes met. "Hoku, I cannot teach you if you do not learn. Your injuries are neither fatal nor crippling, and yet you sit on the floor without regard to what I am telling you."
"Pain is not a conjuring of the mind, Master." Hoku replied, hoarse. "It is a synapse firing messages of damages through the nerves to the brain. It is for the purpose of self-preservation, all so the afflicted creature does not damage itself further needlessly."
"I understand the means by which pain happens, young one." He laughed, lightly, a little amused by the retort. "But you fail to grasp my point. I neither said to disregard your pain nor that it was just a mindset. Indeed it is pain that is used to break minds, when enemies take prisoners for the sake of information. I want you to realize that your pain is not a greater thing than you are. I want you to see that this sensation you feel now in light of the damage rendered doesn't have to be more damaging than it already is. The pain stopped you from fighting me, didn't it?"
Hoku paused, to consider. "Yes…"
"And you opened death's door by disregarding your opponent, who, I might add, did not suffer the same distraction."
Hoku sighed. "Yes."
"Do you see, then? Finally?"
"No, I think I only have a vague idea of the general concept of which you speak." Hoku offered. "I know I am weak, Master, and that is why you are the one teaching me, but not what the concept of the reactions to pain has to do with this."
His mentor slapped him upside the head. "You are not weak!! You are fragile, but you are not weak. You could be so much more, but you just won't see it."
"Won't!" Hoku wailed, clutching now at his head also. "Master, I can't! I don't know where to look and you aren't pointing!"
He sighed, exasperated. "Hoku, you don't understand what I am attempting to teach you because you don't believe in yourself. I took you under my wing because I believed in you. I believed I could make something of you, something more than what you are now."
Suffering, Hoku squinted up at his mentor. "What does belief have to do with it?"
"Belief has everything to do with it, child! You will never see what is right before your very eyes until you believe you have the capability to open them!"
"I believe I could do better, Master, I just can't seem to accomplish it." Hoku said, simply. "I know why I am not beaten into a shape like the other children, and I understand why I'm here, why you are teaching me yourself. But everyday you take me in here and drill these ideas into my head and the motions we go through… and everyday I fail miserably! Don't you see? I don't like this circle I am stuck in. I want out. I want to do better, I want to grow past this. I want to learn it, I want to do something more!" He shoved his battered body from the floor, and staggered to his small hooves. "I hate being fragile! I want to be like the other children, Master, and I can't be. I can only manage the weakest effort and try to make it do."
His mentor crossed his arms, watching him pick himself up. "Hoku, this isn't about who was born as what. You will be whatever you make of yourself. No more, no less. End of discussion."
"No!" Hoku protested, clawing the fighting staff from the floor where he had dropped it. "No, this is not the end of the discussion!" His feeble attempt to hit his mentor with it was parried without the elder Sangheili even needing to take his own staff in both hands. The fact frustrated him, and he swung again, this time being threaded to the other side, harmless, but in a fashion to make him over extend if he wasn't prepared. Hoku withdrew, and cracked the staff across his mentor's with a little more force, but the amount of effort it took made his shoulders hurt.
A frustrated, pained cry escaped him, aware what he was doing to himself. He had only just outgrown the stage where a touch that was too firm would break his skin, but his musculature was still bonded poorly and overexertion caused them to tear.
"This discussion isn't over until you explain to me what you mean, and I understand it!" Hoku stated, forcefully. "You aren't going to decide what happens when anymore! You aren't leaving this building or this room until I learn what I want to know, and that is final!" He slammed his staff down on his mentor's, then swung it over to the side and brought the low end up, catching the adult warrior for the very first time in his life with a solid blow- straight to the mandibles.
He jerked back, and cupped his injury in his hand, a little astounded at the fact that it was there. Stressed, breathing heavy and sure he'd totally ruined his shoulders, Hoku could only stand there and watch, hoping his temper tantrum hadn't earned him any punishment. His fragile body had had just about all it could handle. His mentor met his gaze, then, and past the bloodied mandibles, grinned as if struck with humor. "So you aren't hopeless after all."
"I… I did not mean to…" Hoku began, tentative.
He was waved off. "No, that… you adapted, and that was part of what I was actually aiming for." He wiped the blood away, tasting what remained as he closed the gap between them. Hoku held still, watching the floor a few dozen feet in front of him as his mentor walked in a circle around him, examining the stress and damage rendered. "You need to mind your limits, Hoku, you've pushed yourself too far again."
"I cannot win if I do not try, Master." He answered, simply.
"You cannot win if you die, either. Remember that." He came back around to his front, and stood there facing him. Resting the butt end of his fighting staff on the floor, he continued. "Hoku, one of the first things the Academy teaches young aspiring Watchmen is that fear has no place in the hearts of true warriors. This is one of the greater flaws in their system. You see, fear has its uses… and its place. Don't let it get out of place, but never try to disregard or ignore it. Everything exists for a purpose, and everything can be used for the greater ambitions of any who know how to use their resources. Fear, Hoku, is much akin to pain. Pain is often accompanied by it, because when cut down and crippled, a warrior then can see his death, and no one wants to die a horrible death, young one. Pain, like fear, has its place, but you mustn't let it rule you."
Hoku nodded. "Yes, Master."
"When you pulled yourself from the floor, you bottled your pain within rage. You used your anger at me for denying you the lesson to redirect your attention- and while it worked, anger is far too volatile and dangerous for this to become an acceptable practice. You cannot hate all those that oppose you, Hoku." He rested a hand lightly on the youth's shoulder. "Someday, you may yet be called to end a life of one you know personally, one you want with all your hearts to preserve… one you cannot save. This is a necessary evil wrought of living as we do, Hoku, and there are boundaries we dare not cross where that evil stops being necessary and becomes wanton. Do not go that road. Pain, fear, contempt… all have their place, but none of them belong in control. Focus. Your feelings, both physical and emotional, are your own, are a part of you, and you cannot deny them. You control them, Hoku. You and you alone. Do you understand this?"
"I… not really, Master. Not all of it. But I follow you so far." Hoku said.
"Good." He took his hand from Hoku's shoulder and stepped back a pace. "Your arms are a part of you. You control their motions, what they do and when… even why. Similarly, your pain can be controlled. Even if it seeks to drown you, you can still- if you try- keep your head. Feel it, Hoku. You must let yourself feel it. Do not wish for it to cease, because it is a fool's hope for immediate reprieve and we all know as much. Let it flow through you, let it spread and dim- until there is nothing to temper and you again are the master of your own. Pain, fear, hate. Mastery of this is not a battle-calm. Battle is not calm. Nor should you be. But in control is a must."
"I understand, Master." Hoku told him. "But it still hurts."
"It will." He answered, smiling past his broken lip. Unlike Hoku's, his bones were strong, and he could have taken much more damage than that. Doubtless it only stung a little, whereas such a blow to Hoku's own head would have collapsed his skull and killed him instantly. He felt a twinge of bitterness at the fact, but had long ago learned to accept what was truth and not scorn it- it only complicated his lessons. "In time, the pain of infliction will lessen on it's own, and leave you only with the pain of existence- at which point the impact trauma to your flesh has gone, and the natural healing process has begun. If the injury is not too severe, when it is done healing, you will feel no pain at all. You will, however, have a rather ugly scar to deal with."
"Why?"
"Because scarring is something the body does when presented with a deep injury it cannot rebuild to the old standard. We all do that, Hoku."
"Will that become a scar?" Hoku touched his own mandible in reference to his mentor's.
"No, young one." He touched it, lightly, and looked at his fingers after. "You only broke the skin."
"But you didn't break mine." Hoku protested, his breath still slightly harsh.
"Not this time, no." He agreed. But your bones have broken, and unless we get them straightened, they won't heal in the correct position."
"And the lesson?"
His mentor laughed. "Consider it learned."
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Gridolee leaned closer to the unconscious Zimivee after hearing Doug speak. "So, Hoku Zimivee. One who has no past has come this far. You have some explaining to do, brother." Gridolee examined the wound and noticed that it was healing very well. He then watched as Chief Raynord and Black Ops 08 climbed into the Pelican.
Chief Raynord radioed. "Let's go! Fast as you can." The bird climbed and just as she cleared the tree's canopy a Phantom roared into view. Mathew swung the hitch chain gun into position at the rear and began to fire at the floating Covenant troop carrier. Shells pinged as they were tossed from the chain gun and the full metal casings rattled on the Pelican's deck. The Pelican accelerated as the pilot gave a shout.
"Hang on everybody!" She screamed as the Pelican banked hard and twisted over the tree line. Plasma showered towards the ship as the Phantom gave chase. "You [i don't [/i want to mess with me today!" She shouted as she inverted one of the Pelican's engines and spun the ship 180 degrees. "Weapons hot!"
The co-pilot shouted. "Safeties off! Fuses lit!"
Four wing-mounted rockets screamed as contrails of smoke made lines toward the pursuing Phantom. The pilot then spun the Pelican once again and sped away as the rockets impacted the Brute's Phantom, shattered its hull, and pulverized it. The Covenant ship nosed and began to hum loudly, but it exploded before it hit the ground.
The pilot gave a shout as she exhaled over the cockpit speaker. "Semper Fi, Marines. We're clear for now."
Eric yelled forward. "ETA?"
"Ten till dust off, Chief. Smoke 'em if you got 'em." Every head nodded and cheered as they made due course to the nearby base.
Migpap sat near Shay and looked at him curiously. "Why you armor ranger colored?"
Shay looked back at him. "Me armor no be mine. Me took it from dead Grunt." He shifted, slightly, and raised his torso so his rather polished chest could be seen from under the green tank he wore. "This be what we both look like after spend time in big sandy area." Shrugging, Shay hunched forward again, eyeing the other occupants of the Pelican warily. "Me no wanted to be big shiny target."
Migpap sat where he stood and nodded as Shay looked around. "Where you serve? You pack follow Brutes or Elites?"
"Me pack all dead. Me used to follow Brutes… but me follows him now." Shay pointed at Zimivee. "What there be left of him, anyway. He no like me much, though, so that may not stay either. Who you follow?"
Migpap leaned forward and stated, "Me follow Messiah. Me follow the great one that will lead us home." The other grunts nearby nodded happily at Migpap's words, agreeing to his statment. "He mighty warrior and big for a grunt."
Shay looked at them all, a puzzled expression on his face. "Messiah? You be serious?" He asked, incredulous.
"You not know?" Migpap scratched his head. "He Grunt leader. He talk with elite council and lead elites in battle." Migpap waved his arms happily, showing his enjoyment of talking about the King of the Grunts. "Me fight for him. But Brute Grunts think he fake. They not follow him."
Gridolee overheard the conversation. "It is true. He is an honorable warrior. For a grunt, he has earned the respect that has been given to him. He has even earned the privilege of being called a member of the Mirratord." Doug sat quietly in his seat as he watched Steve fight his exhaustion. All this talk of grunts and leaders and kings wasn't enough to distract him from the idea that soon he would be face to face with Corporal Tyrone.
Migpap continued. "See? You see?" He happily said to Shay. "Lieutenant Gridolee say he mighty warrior. You meet him one day, then you see."
Shay shook his head to clear it. "Me need think about this. You no seem to be lying to me… but me still no find it easy to imagine." He shrugged. "No hurt in meeting, yes? Maybe we meet someday."
The pelican's speaker buzzed. "LZ ahead. Prep for fast entry." Chief Raynord quickly moved to the cockpit.
"Radio?" He asked.
"No reply." She said nervously. "It's too quiet down there, Chief."
The co-pilot added. "Tangent went into cover at vector one-kilo. They sent in some scouts, but still no contacts." Chief Raynord looked back to Doug and waved the man forward. Doug stepped up to the Blacks Ops Senior Chief and looked out the forward portal.
"Is your base listening?" Chief Raynord questioned.
"Yes sir. LZ is usually clear to keep Covenant flybys confused of our location. But no way we'd be this quiet if two Pelicans came into view."
Chief Raynord patted Doug on the shoulder. "Get tactical. Lead a scout team to survey the terrain. Eyes and ears only."
Doug nervously shot back, "Yes sir."
Chief Raynord then looked to the Pilot. "Take us Tangent's locale, set us down and go dark. This base may be a ghost town."
"Roger that." She replied. "Tangent, this is Foxtrot, we are on our way to you. Hold position and set up a defense zone."
The line barked back in her ear. "Copy, Foxtrot. Still no word from my scouts, but they may be on radio silence."
Chief Raynord added on the line. "How's the good Doctor, Tangent?"
"Comfy as a baby in a crib." He replied. "I'll keep the science team safe, sir."
