Sorry for the delay. But here's an extra long chapter.

Chapter 10

Three warriors in total: Exilius, who was driving; Iza, who was sitting in the back near the turret; and the human major who wanted to come, sitting in the passenger seat. All she was armed with was a pistol. That struck Exilius as odd. He had actually considered arming her with something, so if it came to a shootout, she wouldn't be dead weight. But since he wasn't sure where she would be shooting, he thought better of it. He would rather her not armed at all then her armed with a shotgun. He hated shotguns. He feared them, having seen the devastation they were capable of.

And they feared sniper rifles, which was why Exilius had elected to bring the Kig-Yar as opposed to anyone else. If a sniper decided to come along, hopefully Iza could kill him in turn.

They drove in silence. That's what Exilius wanted. One ear listened to the grumble and trudge of the engine of the vehicle, and the other to the dead air of his radio. Iza was sleeping in the back by the sound of his soft snoring and heavy breathing. And Teresa seemed to be on a radio of her own. Every so often she would casually place her fingers on her helmet and shift it into her ear, so she could better hear the orders and so Exilius couldn't. Exilius heard little more than mumbling.

"South west, three hundred feet," Teresa suddenly spoke up.

Exilius turned to her, growling loudly.

"There is a human base there, one of ONI's secret places. The Jiralhanae may have grown curious about it and spent too much time in there. When night fell, they elected to stay the time instead of risking travel. Whatever the reason, it is worth investigating."

Exilius ground the vehicle to a halt. The jostling of the vehicle roused Iza from his sleep. He groggily sat up, yawning once and then looking to the front of the two. "Put a gun on her," Exilius ordered and Iza, quick to comply, drew one of his pistols and pressed it to the back of her helmet. Exilius noted the slight heave of the human's breast as she took a sharp breath, and heard a small slur under her breath.

"I realize that you are suspicious," Teresa said, trying to sound level. More than hearing her voice shift and shake, Exilius could smell her. Amazing bladder control, this human had, but she was still sweating far more than she had been at first. "You're not the only one suspicious though."

"Hey, Miss Spooky," Iza said. "You really don't want to play games with the chieftain. He's not exactly a social Brute."

Teresa sighed. "Look, I don't know what you want me to say. Don't investigate the base if you don't want. I was just pointing it out."

"Talk faster, human. Chieftain is getting pissed," Iza said.

Teresa sighed. "The Sangheili are being awfully secretive. And it might be best if we have another base of operations set up. Something to fall back on." She pointed. "South west, three hundred feet."

Exilius thought to himself, then started the engine again. He turned the wheel and headed in the offered direction. Iza kept the gun trained on the human's skull, something that made Exilius smile for some strange reason. Teresa explained that the base was one of ONI's covert strongholds. In the event of an invasion, key personal would be evaced here to await passage out of the danger area. Exilius could only guess how many had called this place home during the glassing.

When Exilius pulled the vehicle to a stop, Teresa casually climbed out. The soft snow caused her to sink down to her boots, and she had some difficult trudging along. Iza had the same problem, but Exilius' strength let him mostly push through without a problem.

Teresa bent over, and her hands traced through the thick snow. She finally pulled a large chain out, and handed it to Exilius. "Pull," she said. Exilius grumbled softly, but wrapping the chain around his forearm, he gave a hard yank. A cellar door began to open in the snow, and with another hard yank and taking the chains with his other hand, he gave another hard pull. With a third pull, the hidden door was open. "I'll take point," Exilius said. "Iza, keep a gun on the human."

Exilius looked down into the passage. There would not be much room for him to fit, but if he squeezed out he should be able to manage. He assumed this was an emergency entrance more than anything. But what caught Exilius' attention was that he did not look down into a dark abyss, but rather a well lit hallway. If this were an emergency base, why were the lights activated? As he started the slow climb down into the base, he cast a quick glare at Teresa. Iza was keeping the weapon trained on her. "If anything happens, everyone dies, starting with you," he warned, before resuming the descent.

Humans had very big hallways. Exilius didn't know why that stuck out to him, but he was happy he could stand full and tall in the base, and if he did have to fight, he would probably have the room for his hammer.

Teresa's boot's stomped behind him as she landed off the ladder. Iza climbed down last, and quickly drew his pistol to keep it on Teresa. "According to the blueprints," Teresa said. "The armory is in the south wing, the mess is on the way. If you'd like to see what you can pillage, we can start there. The radio room is in the east area, if you would like to update your brothers."

"You memorized the blueprints?" Exilius asked.

Teresa paused, thinking, then said, "It's just how ONI make their bases. I'm just taking a wild guess."

Exilius quickly took Teresa by the throat and lifted her off the ground by the throat. He pushed her, struggling and scraping, against the hand. "You're lying."

"Contacts!" Iza shouted. Exilius looked to the side, down the hallway, and noticed several figures in white turning the corner. The initial soldiers dropped to their knees. The humans who then turned the corner stood straight. A standard formation for humans with numbers, and down a hallway without cover. Exilius dropped the humans and instead grabbed Iza in his arms. Exilius turned, showing his back to the humans and holding the Kig-Yar at his front as the bullets began peppering his shields and thick armor. He growled and groaned at the onslaught. Looking to his side, he noticed a doorway, and clenching his left fist, he swung his armored arm against it. Human doors are designed to slide gently into the wall to reduce space. Exilius' swing caused the door to pound into the room. But all that really mattered was there was an escape. He ducked and slipped through the narrow threshold, before setting Iza down. Iza was clinging to him however, and a little roughly Exilius pulled him off and threw him aside. A storage room, Exilius guessed. But one that was not in use, as it was mostly empty.

Exilius drew his Spiker and leaned out the doorway, spraying fire into the humans. He ducked back into the doorway as the humans reloaded and returned fire. He looked back into the room to see that Iza had tackled Teresa, and was pressing his weapon into her face, shouting and screaming about a trap.

Exilius took Iza around the middle and lifted him up again. Teresa was given only the briefest moments of relief, before Exilius' foot came down to rest on her chest, threatening to crush her. "Iza, suppressive fire. Human, you either tell me what happened or you become a stain on my foot."

"I don't know," Teresa sad shouted. "Kazanna, what the fuck are you doing? You said this base was fucking empty! Why don't you get out here and talk to the fucking Kong? He's going to fucking kill me!"

"Chieftain, the humans have shields," Iza said. "I mean…actual shields!"

"Chieftain," Teresa said. "Kazanna is in my helmet. She didn't want to be locked up on the ship. That's how I knew about this base. But I swear to you, this base is supposed to be inactive. I, nor Kazanna, know who the fuck those humans are."

"Chieftain!" Iza screamed, retreating into the room as the humans in white suddenly filled the threshold. They carried odd shields. These shields were rectangular in design, with semi-cylindrical bodies, and were almost as tall as the humans who carried them. They must have been made out of some sort of metal or armored material, because even as Iza backed away, he kept firing at them, and the bullets only dug into shield instead of reaching through to the squishy humans on the other side.

With a loud roar, Exilius threw his Spiker aside. Though his hammer was carried on his back, he did not draw it. He only roared and charged. Iza had the sense to roll to his side to avoid the trampling feet. The humans, perhaps slowed down due to their shields or perhaps the size of the shield gave them a false sense of confidence, did not move, and were abruptly thrown aside or crushed as Exilius charged forward into them.

Teresa got to her feet. She looked around, and spying a ventilation shaft, grabbed hold of Iza and pulled him along. "Help me up," she said. Iza hissed a warning at her. "Lace your fingers, like this." Teresa placed her boot in Iza's hand, and then stood. Iza groaned under the weight, especially as she placed her other foot on his shoulder.

"You ever think of losing some weight!" he barked. Teresa pulled out her knife and jammed it between the ventilation grate and the wall. She twisted and worked the blade, finally breaking the grate off, and quickly lifted herself in. Iza looked back at the chieftain, who was ripping and stomping in a blind fury. As much afraid of him as the humans, Iza decided it would be safer for now to follow the lieutenant.

They scrounged through the shafts for some time, and Iza wondered if she actually knew where she was going, but he figured the voice in her helmet was giving her guidance. He did not much like the sight of the soles of her boots, and he wanted to ask where she was going, but he didn't. He had learned long ago not to question orders. Just do what he had to do, what he was told. Probably why he had lived as long as he had.

Teresa stopped when she came upon one of the grates just beneath her head. She looked down into it, then over her shoulder to Iza. She lifted her hand and held up three fingers, before Iza nodded. Teresa continued forward a few feet until her toes were resting on the grate. Iza was confused, but she took a knife from the back of her belt and began very slowly cutting a hole in the solid metal of the shaft. There was a loud whine and crinkling of the metal on metal. Iza held his breath and shut his eyes closed tight. He was sure that any moment the shaft would be alive with gunfire. But no, nothing came about. Inch by inch, she opened the hole until it was enough she could draw her pistol and put the barrel through the hole. She took the knife by the blade and passed it back to Iza, but he never took it. Instead, he crawled forward until he could see through the grate at the humans down below. "I'll take the one sitting at the controls," Teresa whispered. "Take the two guards out at the door."

Iza nodded and took up his second pistol. He almost rested them on the grate, carefully lining the sights with the human's helmeted skulls, through the obstruction of the grate. They dressed like those black clad shock troopers Iza had seen before, Helljumpers, only their uniform was a solid white. Camouflage for the arctic environment? Perhaps, but what did it really matter? A human was a human, a kill was a kill.

Teresa shot first. A moment after the gunshot echoed painfully through the shaft, Iza squeezed both triggers simultaneously. The humans dropped to the ground. Rotating the gun so he was holding the barrel, Iza smashed the butt onto the grate. After three hits, the grate broke in. He crawled out, rather clumsily falling onto the floor of the room. It was painful, but he recovered, and skimmed the room for anyone else. He shot a fourth human who was hiding under the table, and that must have been the last human there. "Area clear, Ms. Shooty. Where are we?"

Teresa climbed out of the shaft. She reached behind her helmet to take out a small chip. She quickly put it into one of the room's computer. A moment later, a hologram projector on the dashboard came to life, and a small orange figure stretched out.

"Thank heavens, I was really getting annoyed being cooped up in there." Kazanna looked to Iza and smiled softly. "Hello again. Right, down to business." She touched a hand to her ear in a gesture that she was using the radio. "Chieftain, this is Kazanna. I'm inside the bases system. Chieftain, please believe me. This is not a trap on my behalf. This base was abandoned when we lost Harvest. I have no idea who these white ODSTs are, but…"

"Shut up and help me kill these things!" The chieftain's voice boomed through the room's speakers, making Iza cover his ears lest he be rendered deaf.

Kazanna swallowed. "Iza, Teresa. You…take the weapons that these men and women were carrying. If we do not aid the chieftain, those humans will kill him."

"How can the humans kill the chieftain?" Iza asked softly.

Kazanna looked to them. "Just head over to him. I'll give you directions. I'm still wrestling for control of the doorways, but I have solid control of the cameras."

XXX

Bits and pieces of Exilius' armor only barely clung to his skinsuit. Sticking out of his body was any number of combat knives, and he was riddled with gunfire. And when Iza and Teresa turned the corner, the humans had engulfed him in a pile. Iza and Teresa both paused as to what to do, how to help him.

If they could see Exilius' eye, they could see the usual green hue had given way to a deeper, darker color, mingled with shades of red. He gave a deep, long roar, placing two hands down underneath him and pushing himself off the ground, while the white ODSTs clung and beat at him. With another roar, he had placed a foot underneath him. And with one massive push, he had thrown some of the bodies off him.

Iza drew the battle rifle he had taken from one of the dead, and aimed, shot several bullets into the humans who were hanging from Exilius' back and arms. Upon seeing both Iza and Teresa, the white ODSTs instead retreated down the hallway. One of the humans was not so fast. Exilius had grabbed him around the middle in both hands, and twisted him into a bloodied mess.

The Jiralhanae turned, eyes red with anger and hate, and Iza genuinely feared that he would become Exilius' new victim. Bit the Jiralhanae shakily took a step forward, before slouching against the wall and sinking to the ground, panting and breathing heavy, a pool of blood quickly spreading out from underneath him.

"Chieftain, this is Kazanna. I'm projecting through the base's speakers. The humans are retreating. They seem to be organzing in the central control room. You've got thirty four hostiles there. Judging by the fact that they retreated, I assume they are guarding something important, so you should be able to rest.

Exilius hazily looked to one of the camera. "Contact the base. Give them these coordinates, and tell them to bring a platoon. When all the humans have settled in their control room, seal the doors."

Kazanna swallowed. "Yes chieftain, I will get right on that." She sighed, getting better control of the system and placing the dumb AI that ran this base into quarantine. "Chieftain, I will just ask that you and your men not execute the soldiers that are held in base. If for no other reason, they can be used for interrogation.

Exilius growled under his breath, but nodded, which Kazanna saw over the cameras. She quickly organized a radio transmission, and waited for the weather to settle enough that the message could get through.

XXX

It was three hours later that Captain Arrimus and his squad came over the barren white landscape. Arrinus climbed out of the Warthog transport vehicle, and his subordinate Jiralhanae and five Unggoy climbed out of the back. They quickly climbed down the entrance and were greeted by Teresa and Iza.

"The first thing the white ODSTs did was break all the cameras in that room," Kazanna explained through the radios. "They've been wrestling with my control since two hours ago, when they suddenly stopped. I assume they were trying to worm out any important information. Anything I have needs to be deciphered, but I do have files."

The Jiralhanae captain growled lowly. "Where is the chieftain?"

"He was moved to one of the medical rooms. I guided Iza and Teresa how to stabilize him, though, I must admit he is in very bad shape. I had an agreement with him however. The humans have been locked in the central control room. I have seen to it that none have escaped. I ask you to honor your chieftain's contract, and spare at least a few of the humans, if only for the sake of interrogation. Captain, I beg of you. Don't slaughter these men."

The captain looked to Iza. "This is the chieftain's will?"

Iza nodded slowly.

"Then for him, I swill spare a few."

Exilius insisted on coming, even though he was badly hurt and could barely stand. When the Jiralhanae and Unggoy were at the door, Kazanna took a moment to undo the locks she had placed on the entry. Then, as quick as the motors would allow, she opened the door. There were no gunshot that came next, no roars of battles or screams of death. "What is happening?" Kazanna demanded. "I can't get one of the cameras in there. What the fuck is happening?"

Captain Arrimus gave a loud roar in response, and by the sound of it, he had punched a wall. "They're dead," he muttered. "All dead. By the rings, they all must have shot each other. Monsters. Unggoy, find what you can."

"No, they would have destroyed anything," said Exilius. "Unggoy, each of you, take one of the human corpses. I want them brought back. Kazanna, prepare the self destruct. I want this base destroyed."

"Chieftain, perhaps we can keep this base. If I keep digging, I might find something that they forget to delete."

"I will not give the enemy an edge, I will not let this blight stand. This base will be destroyed. This resource will be lost. And if there are more humans out there, and they come to this base, they will see what we will do to them."