Karl woke up to a loud banging at his door, even for a second he forgot where he was and then quickly remembered. He lazily got up and walked towards the door sighing heavily as he opened it. He saw a large guard stare at him for a second and then say, "The lord requests your presence." As fast as he said it the guard turned and left. Karl yawned for a few seconds and then turned and closed he door with his leg.
He walked over to his armor and quickly put it on after putting on his helmet and hear the 'hiss' sound he knew it was on fully. He put his magnum in its holster as well as his knife and then left the room, 'didn't even get a drink of water' Karl thought to himself as he was walking down the hallway towards the great hall.
It didn't take him long since he memorized these halls about 50 times in his head when Soya showed him around.
When he entered he was met with about 5 plasma rifles pointed at him. Karl just looked around confused under his helmet and then they quickly holstered their weapons and went back to patrolling the room. Karl just shook his head and casually strolled towards Jaka who was talking with one of the guards who was wearing cold armor instead of the silver looking armor, 'probably the captain of the guards' Karl thought. They both looked at Karl when he reached the edge of the stairs the gold armor wearer turned and walked away and Karl watched him closely as he left.
"Human, I heard there was a fight yesterday." Jaka said roughly, "Why must there be such things in my keep?" Karl simply translated it to 'why was there a fight'. Karl sighed and took a step forward, "There was someone named Vaka and he wanted Soya's hand, when she declined he choked her, I tackled him. Then further challenged him to a proper fight which I won so he left her alone. Or he better." Karl said.
Jaka let out a audible sigh, "Human in our culture to fight another male over such a thing is because you want to also court that female." Karl let out his own audible sigh, "This was over a different reason, he tried to harm her and I also want to defend her interests not just her physical form. I am not interested in courting her Jaka." Karl said as he looked around nervously.
Jaka squinted at Karl and then he got up from his chair and walked towards Karl, Karl just stood there, but soon Jaka was next to Karl. "Follow me Karl, we will speak in private." Jaka said as he went to leave the court and motioned for his guards to stay in place. Karl followed close behind and sighed, 'for fuck's sake this will be an enjoyable conversation' he sarcastically said to himself.
Soon they were at the gardens that Karl went to yesterday. Jaka suddenly stopped near a tree and turned to face Karl. "I also heard there was not just a fight, what happened?" Karl just shrugged at this, "It was only the fight Jaka, but it is what ended the fight." Karl said. "Well tell me you fool." Jaka said in a joking voice. Karl just said casually, despite his heart racing, "Well apparently Soya admitted her love to me when Vaka was about to kill me, which he was so stunned I got the upper hand again. To be honest I asked her right after if it was true and she said it was, so then I figured it was not just a distraction to help me win."
He saw Jaka rubbing his chin. "How? How is such a thing possible, I knew there was something off about that girl. She never did want to court anyone, how long have you been in her life my boy?" Jaka said jokingly at the end. Karl sighed, "I don't really have any feelings that go past a partnership and friendship however. So don't worry about anything." Karl said as he knew what he was saying is true. Jaka just let out a growl, "I better not have to human." Jaka let out a laugh as well as Karl.
"Well human thank you for defending my daughter from that fool." Jaka said finally as he put a hand on Karl's shoulder. "No problem Jaka, just doing my job." Karl replied in a serious tone. Jaka then just turned and walked away, Karl just sat there for a bit and looked around.
He then felt a large impact on his back and went flying forward to the ground. "Ah, fuck!" Karl said out loud as he saw 4 black armored Sangheili come towards him. He then felt the burn on his back and known he had been hit by a plasma round, and he had forgotten to turn on his shields, 'Well it is too late for that now' Karl though to himself as he got up to his feet as quickly as he was knocked down. "This isn't a very fair fight." Karl taunted and then he saw they all drew energy swords and turned them on. '4 swords 1 guy, what a bunch of pussies' Karl though to himself as he was going to evaluate what he was going to do. "Oh wait a moment" Karl said to himself as he drew his own energy sword he took from Vaka yesterday. 'Now it's fair' Karl thought.
For a second time paused as Karl thought this could be his death, in this battle against 4 angry looking elites that were most likely well trained spec ops.
Karl side stepped the first sangheili who charged at him and rolled out of the way of the other and slashed it's ankle. The third one tackled Karl as soon as he got up from the roll. It pinned Karl to the ground but not his arms and Karl stabbed the sword into the elite's chest. It's eyes widened a moment and then fell shut, Karl turned his head as he saw another one coming in towards him. Karl heaved the body towards the 4th one's strike and heard it cut the corpse on top of him. Karl quickly got out fro under it and stood up again. He quickly looked around and saw all 3 of them were regrouped again.
Karl was the one to go on the offensive this time as he charged the group and tackled the one on the far right side. It quickly stumbled as Karl impacted him, but did not fall, but then Karl stabbed his sword into it's stomach and quickly pulled out to block another one's attack. He then felt a hot burning come from his stomach and looked down to see the one he had stabbed stabbed him. Karl could not quit now, he wasn't protecting Soya he was protecting himself now. Karl kicked that one with a rear kick and the sword went out of his stomach, he could feel the air seeping into his wounds and hoped the hot sword had cauterized it. Karl turned his attention to the two charging him at once and ducked under both their attacks, Karl used this to his advantage and sliced one of their arms off. It screamed in pain and fell to the ground now holding it's large gaping wound. Karl would do the same but he was in the fight of his life right now.
The last elite tackled Karl from behind and he fell to the ground. Karl felt more scorching heat hit his right shoulder, he guessed the elite had forgotten where a human heart was. Karl would of laughed but he had no strength to. He thought of everyone who was killed by elites and soon he head butted the elite sitting on top of him and he quickly turned around and kick the elite in the chest as it was recovering from the mandible shattering headbutt. Karl pulled out his magnum and quickly shot it in the head, it was a surprisingly loud gunshot because it was so quiet in the gardens. Karl had no strength to get up.
Karl just lay there on the ground bleeding heavily from what it felt like. 'I am not going to fucking die on this planet' Karl though to himself as he struggled to stand but eventually did. He then just noticed he helmet was cracked near the nose, which was likely from the impact when he hit the ground. Karl limped his way while holding his stomach about 5 feet and then fell again. He could hear footsteps but between his heavy breathing and hisses of pain he could not distinguish them.
"Oh, no..." Was all he heard in the most distressed voice he could possibly think of. "Jede, go get the guard now!" He heard a voice again. He then distinguished it as Soya's. Karl felt himself being rolled over. Karl couldn't really do anything except be rolled over. He then saw Soya over him putting pressure on his wounds. "What happened?" She said quickly and worriedly. Karl just looked to the right a bit and pointed all he could with his right arm. He saw her look up for a bit and squint then she must have seen the bodies because she lost all color in her face, Karl could tell they had very similar emotions to humans. 'Maybe they are more human than I am' Karl thought with an internal chuckle.
Karl was just trying to stay awake as long as possible using all of his training and experience as a soldier to keep himself awake and aware. He then felt something grab his hand, he had really no choice but to accept the comforting gesture. It actually was a nice feeling and he used whatever she felt for him to stay alive, as an inspiration, if she lost Karl she might never have a life for a long time. In a way Karl was still protecting her.
She then let go of Karl's hand and Karl could hear why as he heard what sounded like 100 of them, but he heard Jede shouting commands in their language and he was quickly lifted from the ground as he felt about 4 different people pick him up. That was when Karl could not open his eyes anymore and he quickly shut them as he felt the beam of pain from head to toe shoot through his body and then everything went black as he finally lost consciousness.
Two days later...
Karl opened his eyes slowly and noticed there wasn't really any pain, but when he tried to move a little it hit him like a freight train and he instantly just stayed still. He looked at his wounds, which were now bandaged. He still felt very weak and guessed he had not been knocked out for very long. Karl let out a slow breath and continued to do that until someone walked into the room. Almost on instinct he went for a weapon but he didn't move, he in no position to move.
He saw it was Soya who walked into the room and when she saw he was awake she rushed over to him as fast as possible. "By the gods you are alive." She said happily and she sat down next to Karl. Karl just squinted and noticed he was shirtless but still had his armored pants on. He really didn't care though. Karl looked around for a bit before he spotted all of his gear. "Soya can you grab that pouch on the left side of my belt." Karl said as he pointed to his gear. She nodded and got up and walked over to his gear. She got the pouch off the belt and handed it to Karl. "Thank you." He said as he opened it and took out a stick of morphine quickly stabbing it into his leg.
Karl let out a long drawn out sigh as he felt the pain washing away and he felt extremely relieved. He then put the used shot on a small desk next to him and noticed he was in his room. "So, what happened after I went out?" Karl asked. "After you fell unconscious we brought you here and bandaged you with what we and yourself had on you." Soya said. "Ever find out who those assholes were?" Karl asked another question. Soya let out a sigh and nodded, "They were a group called the black Hand, a notorious assassin group. You are lucky to be alive." Soya said. Karl nodded, "Looks like word got out here that I am here, or they new I was coming, I have only been here a few days." Karl said as he let out another drawn out breath.
"Oh and thanks for trying to help me, when I was just sitting there on the ground." Karl said with an actually not- himself- caring tone. He thought he saw Soya blushing but ignored it. "It was nothing Karl, after all the times you helped me I thought I could help you for once." Soya said.
Karl looked over to Soya and he took her hand, she was very surprised by this, but Karl looked he straight in the eyes. "This made me feel better too, been a while since I have held a hand." Karl said as he kept holding her hand. Soya sat down next to him again and they just sat there, her hand in his. It was then that Karl noticed her face more, how it looked much smoother than most other sangheili and sharper, not as rounded. He also noticed her eyes how they were a bright orange and full of care and compassion.
Karl then did something he though he would never do, he put a hand on the side of her face, she looked very surprised by this and could tell she was maybe excited or anticipating. Karl wouldn't keep her waiting and he put his hand behind her neck and pushed her in closer. "Put your mandibles together." Karl said softly, she did so and Karl kissed her softly at the tips of all 4 of them. Karl could say he felt something then. He for sure did, a moment he saw an alien as beautiful and ended up kissing her.
Karl pulled away after a few seconds and he saw Soya was heavily blushing and excited. "See told you I would eventually fall for you." Karl said as he chuckled a bit.
Karl then let go of her hand also and laid back down, "I think I better get some rest for a couple more hours, then I will get some food." Karl said as he closed his eyes again. "You can stay here if you want, I won't mind." Karl said before finally falling asleep.
Karl woke up and saw Soya was gone. He just sighed and got up very slowly. It was the he realized probably how much blood he lost and how badly damaged his insides were. But there were no human doctors here to help him he would have to get through it himself like he had many times. He had never really needed a doctor he had no time to be treated by one after battle, because most of the time he was either not wounded or barely wounded.
He got up and put his tactical shirt on and after that he put on his gloves. He also put on his tactical vest and balaclava, but not his shades because they were broken during his fight with Vaka. Karl slowly went to the bathroom and did his business, he was asleep for several days and he really had to go. He walked over to his arsenal and got an MRE from his bag and poured some water in it and heated it up. He ate the MRE and quickly downed what felt like a gallon of water. He needed to get his blood count back up and his strength and not eating was doing nothing good for him.
Karl got up and gripped his upper stomach tightly, 'I'm glad he missed my spine' Karl thought as he continued walking towards the door. He opened it to see Jede standing on the other side talking to Soya. Jede turned and faced Karl, "Just the man I was looking for" Jede said. Karl just shrugged, "What do you need?" Karl asked. "I was just coming to check up on your condition, you are walking which is progress." Jede said as he softly patted Karl on the shoulder. Karl didn't flinch even though it hurt a little, it was nothing worth whining over.
Karl turned his attention to Soya as Jede walked away. "A little help? I don't think I will be able to walk to the other side without falling." Karl said softly. "Of course." Soya said as Karl put his arm over he shoulder and she helped him walk to the gardens where extra guards were posted. Karl could still see some blood stains from yesterday's fight. "Oh and Karl." Soya said, Karl looked over "Hm?" He made that sound indicated 'what'. "One of them lived, and is being interrogated currently, so far he has said nothing to my father's soldiers." Soya said as she set Karl down next to a tree. Karl sat slowly and leg his legs sit far out. "I think I might pay him a visit considering he did try to kill me." Karl said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back.
Soya sat next to him and Karl put an arm around her. She leaned in close to him and put her head on his shoulder. They just sat there a while, in each other's company.
Chapter ten. That is a milestone for me, this story has developed a lot as you can see, I am sure you can tell where this story is going, but I will eventually get to the 'Alliance' part soon(not a sex joke at all). Anyways thank you all for reading and posting reviews it helps a lot. Make sure to point out any of my errors or spelling issues and they will be fixed. I do re read my chapters but I type and read fast so I might skip over shit.
Love,
Stevie