To thine own eyes: Major Thel 'Lodamee.
Upon calculation of your heretical acts, and your successful assistance in exposing Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee: The High Council has deemed only one possible outcome for you.
This Demon known as the "Master Chief" was within your grasp, yet you failed to kill him.
But a Sangheili Major that is able to outmatch the lead Demon in melee combat is definitely a valuable instrument for the Covenant that should not be wasted.
But even so, we cannot allow to you continue your service.
Forgive me; I am getting ahead of myself. I should first start with the fate of Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee.
Upon finding considerable and irrefutable proof that you were about to execute the Demon, but was prevented so by the cowardice of Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee: we have decided that the execution of Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee is the most logical action.
While your evasion of execution is certain, you will not be able to make a claim to execute Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee yourself.
But you will still be able to watch his execution if you so desire.
Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee's execution will be decapitation and gutting; his head will be paraded around High Charity's streets on the edge of a pike, and his body shall be strung up by its' entrails on the pillars of ultimate punishment.
I hope this satisfies your most understandable hatred and rage at Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee.
Now to your fate:
Your execution for crimes out of your control will severely agitate the Sangheili Councilors that are advising and pleading for me and the high Prophet of Truth and Regret to do otherwise.
But even though your execution will not happen, we have still decided to remove your spot on the Great Journey, and the Sangheili Councilors have declared that you have no honor.
Returning you to service as a Major in the Covenant military is unacceptable and impossible. So is the possibility of you being assigned the position of Arbiter.
But your skills in combat will be utilized to the absolute maximum of our abilities to do so.
You are being promoted to the rank of Sangheili Ultra, and will be assigned as a leader of a team under the service of the Ministry of Reliquary Dominion.
The team your being assigned to has yet to be announced. But know that the possibility of being assigned to the team stationed in the Second Fleet of Divine Trinity is high. This is good for you as the fleets' Commander, Fleet-Master Vale Nar 'Sarasee, has already shown an interest in you.
I bid you good tidings, and reassure you that this service will help you reclaim both your honor, and your spot on the Great Journey.
By my own hands: High Prophet of Mercy.
November 8, 2547 [1204 Hours] Human Military Calendar.
Aboard UNSC Kryptonite Dropship 77-Troop Carrier: Charlie 4-0, Preparing To Leave UNSC Kryptonite's Hanger-Bay On Priority Mission.
Thel 'Lodam...
The Human by the name of Tom Harvad took a deep, nervous breath as he leaned back into his seat, and opened his mouth to speak -of what? I did not know "And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied, 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way'. So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night, and He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East."
I narrowed my eyes at what I had just heard, and clicked my mandibles together in confusion. It was highly possible that he just repeated a religious poem; resurfacing the fact that the Prophets have lied more about the Humans.
The Prophets told the Covenant that Humanity had no Gods; they were too pathetic and weak to know what true religion was, and even care. They also stated that Humanity's literature work was nothing but a record of their pathetic and disgusting history; nothing more, nothing less. I had no idea that Humanity was capable of such a similar art, and be very skilled at that art as well.
"Who was that?" The Human by the name of Lex Collins asked Tom, taking a seat on the row of seats opposite where Tom, Mary Trinksy, and Peter Call were seated.
Clicking my mandibles in annoyance at my foolish admiration of the Humans, I gripped my carbine harder while gritting my hidden mandibles as I moved through the Human dropships' bay to the doorway that led to the cockpit where I leaned my carbine against the seat to my side before leaning myself on the wall to the right of the doorway that led to the cockpit.
Tom did not answer straight away as he and the rest of the Humans were watching me with cautious eyes as I moved to my new position. But once they were sure I was not going to cause whatever trouble they had in mind, they redirected their eyes were Tom cleared his throat to reply "The Gate of the Year - Minnie Louise Haskins."
"It's always the 21st century shit with you," The Human by the name of Dominic Tedforn remarked in an annoyed tone "I mean," Dominic let out a scoff "do you know anything other than 21st century crap?" I wondered what a century was, but easily guessed it must had been a certain Human age; how long ago the age was, I did not know, nor care.
Lex let out a sigh of annoyance "Leave him alone, Thorn." "Thorn" must had been some type of alternative name for him since it had the "TH" sound instead of the "F" sound; perhaps -and very likely- the name was some type of jest.
"Most modern stuff fails to live up to the beauty of classics," Tom replied to Dominic "due to this, I often avoid them; save one."
"Go ahead." Lex gestured for him to continue. I thankfully did not mind their topic, and did not find it annoying. What I did find annoying was my failure at trying to resist listening in on the conversation. But until Anve, Suras, the bastard Kig-Yar, and the combat ready Unggoy finished gearing up, and got here, I was forced to listen to the Human chatter. This group of Humans spoke of better and more logical topics than the other groups of Humans. And they were frankly less loud, aggressive, and friendlier to each other -save Dominic who was quite aggressive.
Tom was about to speak up when Suras and Kri followed by two Unggoy appeared up the ramp and hurried to take their seats with Kri gripping his beam rifle and standing by the ramp of the Human dropship and the two Unggoys -consisting of one wielding a needler with a plasma pistol on his right thigh and two plasma grenades on his back hips, and the other wielding a plasma rifle with a plasma pistol on his right thigh with two plasma grenades on his back thigh- both seated themselves next to Suras who was seated at the very end of the left row of seats, near the ramp. Suras himself was wielding a plasma repeater with a needler on his right thigh, and an energy sword on his left with four plasma grenades on the back of his hips. I guessed that Anve and the other two Unggoy were still preparing.
As soon as Suras, Kri, and the two Unggoy were all seated, and the Humans were confident that there was no trouble, they redirected their eyes back to their conversation. Tom continued: "I don't really want to repeat it, ma'am." I heard the sound of heavy emotion in the tone of Tom; this upset him for some reason.
"Why?" Lex questioned him. It was something that I was curious about. But not enough to warrant me raising the question -I had no need to anyway; the Humans would always raise the questions themselves.
Strangely enough, it was Peter who answered Lex's question -not Tom himself "It's a poem done by his father."
Tom looked up to face Peter, there was no annoyance in his face at Peter answering Lex's question. "Sorry." Lex apologized, remorse in her tone.
"Your father was a poet?" Mary asked Tom, curiosity in her voice. "Was" must had meant that his father was dead; likely by the hand of the fake Covenant.
"Yes -a war poet," Tom confirmed "You're probably thinking that I get my inspiration from him. You're right; he was one of the few modern war poets that kept to the art," Tom let out a sigh "I often find modern-day war poems are filled with propaganda and tales of false heroic deeds; my father kept to the truth with speaking the truth."
"The Reclaimers indulge in poetry?" Suras mused, rubbing his lower mandibles "More lies by the Prophets?"
I decided to join in "Explains why all Human cultural analyzers were San 'Shyuum." The entirety of the dropships' bay turned to look at me, wondering why I decided to join in. I decided to not indulge them, and let them continue to wonder.
"You're planning on becoming a poet yourself?" Lex asked Tom to have him raise his head to face her. I found Tom to be quite shy. Though I could not linger on this thought as I did not know Human personality enough to make such a judgement.
"Yes," Tom confirmed with a nod "That's if I make it home; if any of us make it home."
I decided to break in there and then "Could you be more doubtful?" I snapped my hidden mandibles at him in irritation at his ignorance "Want to go home so much that you shall fight at the best of your abilities," Everyone turned to look at me, narrowing their eyes in confusion -no doubt the Humans were surprised by my obviously wise words "And put aside you pathetic, doubtful thoughts, and function as a proper warrior should."
Tom slowly and sadly nodded in reply, and was about to say something when Anve and the other two Unggoy appeared up the ramp and hurried to their positions. Anve had a carbine in his hands with a Human "Rocket launcher" on his back, a plasma rifle on his right thigh, and his energy sword on his left with four plasma grenades and a spike grenade clipped onto the back of his hip. The Unggoy each had a plasma rifle with a plasma pistol holstered on their right thigh and two plasma grenades clipped onto the back of their hips.
I was confused as to why Anve was carting around a Human weapon, and to what the Humans had to do to convince him to cart it around if that was the case.
Last to come in was the Human by the name of Dean White who was carting his Human "Assault rifle" with a Human "Battle rifle" on his back and a Human pistol holstered on his right thing with ammo and grenade pouches covering his belts and vest.
I found Human armor primitive. The use of cloth material must had been due to the limited availability of the resources required to make armor similar to that of the Covenant species' armor. They did have armor plating, though. But it looked heavy. And due to their use of weapons that required ammo clips, they had to cart around their ammo pouches and belts which made them even bulkier. Jiralhanae often carried around ammo pouches and belts due to their use of primitive weapons that required ammo clips. But it was never to this magnetite due to their size.
Sangheili, of course, required ammo clips for certain weapons like the carbine. But ammo pouches were not required, and the clips would be connected to the magnetic strips along our armor. This helped to prevent fumbling to get the required ammo clip, and also allowed no unnecessary belts and pouches to cover our armor; armor was a useful way to intimidate the Human foe, and it needed to be fully seen.
"Clad, we're all aboard." Dean spoke through the "COM" that we were all connected up to thanks to the Huragok's helpful modification to our armors' communication systems.
"Rodger that, sir. Preparing take-off procedures." Tuscany replied over the COM.
The sound of the ramps creaking as they raised made me grit my mandibles in irritation. I gritted my mandibles harder when I realized that without the ramps lowered, there was no way me and my soldiers could jump out of the dropship if the Humans betray us -which I doubted they would do, but it was still a risk that I was cautious about.
Dean let out a sigh as he took his- "Him?" "Her?" "He?" "His?" Why was I referring to the Humans like this? I personally decided that I would only give them the title of gender if they earned my respect -like the Demon did. Was I abandoning this already? Are my Diverted brothers thinking the same? I was a person of logic -even when I did not seem it. And it was illogical to refer to Humans as "It" out of blind, false hatred. I decided I would talk to my Diverted later about this; see what they thought about it.
The dropship rumbled; I could only guess what was happening; likely lifting off the ground.
I did not like being trapped in here with the Humans. Thankfully it would not be for long. The Human ship may had been slow, but a Human dropship would be able to reach the "Kryptonite's" destination in less than an hour. This would not be the case as the exit the Kryptonite was heading to was not the dropships' destination. We thankfully did not need a large exit for the dropship to leave the all-service tunnel; there were smaller tunnels that Enforcers and Sentinels used. The plan was for the Monitor to open up a maintenance hatch for the dropship to leave the tunnel before quickly closing it again. It was the same plan that was used when the Demon was sent to the Library.
Returning into the all-service tunnel would be just as simple as long as the ships looking for us do not spot us leaving the tunnel. But they thankfully did not the last couple of times we did so. Albeit our luck had been diminishing at a rapid pace, so things could change for the worse.
Things were, however, also changing for the better. The Human Captain had seemed to have suddenly recovered from her state of pain. Though she can still not leave her bed, and needed constant tending to. But she could speak, and even give commands. She originally did not want for this mission to be carried out. But finally agreed to it after the Humans convinced her that the herbs would reduce the agonizing pain she was still in, and there was the possibility of encountering Qrs 'Jaragsai -who would hopefully listen to me.
But the biggest positive of the Human Captain's sudden awaken from her forced and most painful slumber was that the Demon's pain must had ended. The Captain has stated that she can't feel that the Demon is dead through her connection with him that she had because she was his twin sibling. So the Demon was still alive.
The Monarch and the Monitor wasted no time in scanning the ring for the Demon's location. But could not find him -much to the dismay of the Human Captain. I was worried that the Human Captain might put aside leaving this ring in an effort to find the Demon. But she managed to convince us that she would let the Demon die a thousand times before she risked Humanity. She was lying. I could pick up the tone in her voice; something was wrong. She hated her race even more than I did. And upon asking the Monarch to hack into the Humans' ships' systems, and finding out why, I did not blame her, and the dark truth came to me.
I might of needed to kill her.
It took thirty moments for us to arrive.
From what the Human pilot had told us over the COM, there was an opening in the tree canopy which would allow the dropship to lower itself down into the forest where this herb was located.
I pushed myself off the wall I was leaning on, bent over and picked up my carbine, and approached the ramp where all the others were mustering.
"No contacts on sensor," Amber informed us. This may had been reassuring for the Humans, but it was not for me "I have nothing."
"Active camo makes one immune to your sensors," Anve informed the Humans, his voice echoing over the COM "so there is still the chance that Qrs 'Jaragsai is there."
"Will he be as friendly as you say?" Lex asked Anve.
I was the one to answer "Qrs has a habit of observing his target before attacking. If he observes us long enough, he will figure out who I am, and may attempt to contact me; this is what I hope."
"And if not?" Dean questioned me.
They would not like my answer, but I answered never-the-less "Then we are all dead; no exceptions; there is not a single person here that can kill Qrs or his warriors."
"Then we ain't sticking around; we're not gonna take that risk. We get the herb, then we get out." Dean told me in a stern tone, one that refused argument. I wanted to remain there for a few moments to see if Qrs turns up. But he had a point. And hence, I reluctantly clicked my mandibles in acknowledgement.
The ramp for the Human dropship lowered with me, Suras, and Anve immediately jumping out to hit the ground with a thump.
The Humans did not jump after us as the dropship was still too high for them to jump down without breaking any bones. Kri could, but he decided to remain in the dropship and provide tactical sniper fire. I accused him of being a coward when he told us his plan. But he retorted by saying that it was a tactical decision. This was false for Kri was too dumb to make a tactical decision.
I observed the area. There was fallen logs and large rocks spread around the area that would provide some useful cover if a firefight was to break out. But the long grass provided the perfect cover for ambushing Kig-Yar. But hopefully a fight would not break out as the herb we were looking for was right there.
"Suras, scan the grass," I waved for Suras to move out with him immediately following my orders "Anve," I pointed towards a large towering boulder "provide field over-watch from there."
"Affirmative, Ultra." Anve immediately complied.
The sounds of the six Human feet and four Unggoy feet thumping on the ground as they jumped out of the dropship reassured me that I was covered.
"Collins, support Suras," Dean ordered Lex over the COM "Trinsky, get up on that boulder over there," Dean waved towards the designated boulder with Mary immediately heading over to it "The rest of you, on me." five lights on my HUD blinked green. The Huragok told us -through the translation of the Monarch- that these lights stood for silent complies; Affirmative, Negative, and so on. I found this to actually be smart, and lingered on the thought as to why we had not adopted such a system.
I kept my carbine trained towards the rocks, logs, tree stumps, and trees that the enemy could be hiding behind, moving slowly with the Humans backing me up "Wreckage-one, this is Charlie 4-0," a voice sounded off over the COM "I can't keep the bird floating here; we're lifting out and will continue to scan for hostiles on the sensors; Kri's dropping down, so don't jump -how copy? Over."
I raised my weapon at the sound of leaves rustling, and saw it was just Kri jumping through the tree canopies, his beam rifle raised forward. Dean replied "Charlie 4-0, this is Wreckage-one -solid copy. Out."
I slowly approached the herb. It looked very alien with blue and red petals on it, and thorns along its' stalk "Monarch, is this the herb?" I questioned the Monarch over the COM who was watching through my visor's live-feed -another thing the Huragok installed.
"Affirmative," The Monarch confirmed in its' metallic voice over the COM "Only one plant should be enough. But I recommend you take as much as you can."
"Affirmative," Dean replied over the COM at the Monarch's recommendation as he and his men positioned themselves next to me, gazing at the herb that was on the grassy ground "Harvad, you have the satchel, collect what you can."
"I'm trying to convince myself that me being the herbalist has nothing to do with me growing up on a farm." Tom grumbled as he bent over and began carefully picking the herbs and placing it in his satchel that hung from his shoulder.
Mary's status light just went red just about the same time the Monarch alerted and us by saying "Hostile contact." and me -along with everyone else- immediately raised our weapons towards the boulder Mary was assigned to "Harvad, continue collecting the herb." Dean ordered Tom who had raised his weapon at the boulder. Tom immediately replied by slinging his weapon back over his back and returning his focus back to the herbs.
"Suras, Collins, anything in the grass?" Dean asked over the COM as he, I, Dominic, and two Unggoy slowly approached the towering boulder with the rustling of leaves signalling that Kri was making his way to a snipering position that allowed him to have a clear shot on the boulder.
"Nothing, sir," Lex replied "Heat sensors ain't picking anything up either."
"Wreckage-one, this is Charlie 4-0. We have nothing as well -how copy? Over." Tuscany informed us over the COM.
"Charlie 4-0, this is Wreckage-one -solid copy. Keep an eye out -how copy? Over."
"Wreckage-one, this is Charlie 4-0 -solid copy. Out."
I realized the Monarch may had known what had happened, and quickly raised him over the COM "Monarch, did you see what happened?"
"Negative," The Monarch replied "The attack came from behind, and I cannot conclude how the Reclaimer was eliminated."
"Damn it." Dean muttered. I was surprised at the ability these warriors had at keeping themselves under control after the loss of one of their comrades. It was admiring -to an extent. Pushing these thoughts aside, I raised Anve "Anve, anything?"
"Negative, Ultra," Anve replied "But I might see something if I shift my position."
I immediately replied "Negative; remain where you are until you have no choice but to move, or I order you otherwise."
"Affir- DAMN!"
"Anve!" I exclaimed, fear rising through my blood as to his fate. But as an effective soldier, I remained stable, and snapped my aim around to face the boulder Anve was stationed at to see him being thrown over to us by something I could not see.
"Jiralhanae." The Monarch informed us as Anve landed on the ground before me with a thump, letting out a grunt of pain. I quickly helped him up and handed him the plasma rifle I had holstered on my right thigh which he immediately took.
"Everyone, retreat back to the LZ," Dean ordered.
"Anve, Suras, Unggoy! Get back to the dropship's landing zone, now!" I ordered my brothers. The Human may had told everyone to retreat back to the dropships' landing zone, but Anve, Suras, and the Unggoy would not comply with the Human's orders unless I reinforced it.
"White, this is Clad. Spirit inbound -how copy? Over." Clad reported in over the COM.
"Clad, White -solid copy. Get back to the LZ to pick us up -now! How copy? Over."
"White, this is Clad -solid copy. ETA to arrival: -50 secs -how copy? Over."
"Clad this is White -solid copy. Out."
"HARVAD'S BEEN HIT!" Peter alerted us over the COM.
Carbine and needler rifle rounds began appearing out of nowhere with some hitting my shields "SHIT!" Dean yelled in rage upon hearing the news of Tom being hit, and immediately redirected himself and began running over to Tom who was lying on the ground behind a boulder near where the herbs were with Peter covering him.
"Lance, rally on me." I ordered my warriors as I, Anve, and the Unggoy that were following me shifted from running to the landing zone to towards the boulder that Dean and Dominic were rushing to.
I slid into cover as my shields began to beep in alarm, and quickly observed that Tom was hit by a carbine round in the leg -he was going to die. I wasted no time, and grabbed Dean's arm "He is already dead -we must go."
Dean used his free hand to push my hand off his arm and cocked his head over to Peter as if asking me to look at him. I decided to wait, and watched as Peter pulled some type of medical gun and placed it near the wound on Tom's leg where he pulled the medical guns' trigger to have Tom's limbs reflex as he let out a loud grunt of pain.
"We've adapted to your stupid weapons." Dean informed me. And I instantly knew that Rek would say "That explains a lot!' if he was here.
Tom was groaning in pain. But that did not stop Peter from scooping him up and placing him over his shoulders. I noticed that both Suras, Kri, and Lex had rejoined us, and were leaning out of cover, shooting at the enemy contacts "Lance, retreat back to the landing zone."
I was about to exit my crouched position when a beam round took Peter in the head, sending him flying back into the boulder as he dropped Tom.
"NO!" Dean exclaimed. I snapped my head around to see where the shot came from only to see the Spirit come down through the opening in the tree canopy, lowering its' bay doors to drop off the soldiers aboard; a few Kig-Yar snipers were hanging off of the Spirits' railings, aiming their weapons at us.
One fired, its' beam hit me and depleted my shields. I and the others returned fire, quickly killing the Kig-Yar before they could get a proper aim.
"You," I craned my head around to see Dean pointing at Suras before pointing at the pain stricken Tom "carry him -NOW!"
I immediately interjected "No," Dean turned to look at me, the fire of hatred in his eyes "We are already dead. Send your dropship away before they are doomed too, and execute your wounded comrade so he is not captured and tortured." When I was finished speaking, I dropped my carbine, spun around, drew and activated my energy sword, and charged towards the enemy warriors that had just dropped out of the Spirit's bays.
The dropped off warriors turned to face me; it was a Unggoy Lance being led by a Sangheili Ultra. The Ultra saw me, observed that I was ready to duel, and put his gloved hand up to stop his Lance from firing before holstering his plasma rifle and drawing his energy sword before he began to charge towards me.
"ULTRA!" Anve yelled after me.
"THEL! STOP!" Suras also yelled with the Ultra about to duel me stopping in his tracks.
"Thel 'Lodamee?" The Ultra questioned me. A million feelings just erupted in me. But the most recognizable one was hope.
"Yes-yes," I confirmed, removing my helmet so he could see my face "You know who I am? Please, you must heed my warning; I am no heretic."
I heard what sounded like active camouflage deactivating, and I craned my head around to see seven Brute Stalkers surrounding the Humans and my warriors, spikers, maulers, needler rifles, and carbines raised at them.
"Wait" The Ultra ordered the Brutes, but spoke in a voice that the Stalkers would not be able to hear, and was oddly not facing the Brutes, but facing something next to him that I could not see. That was until a Brute Captain Stalker decloaked next to the Ultra.
"Keeping Humans and heretics alive is heresy." The Captain Stalker reminded the Ultra in his deep voice; I wanted to kill the pathetic creature right now for its' foolish choice of loyalty to the bastard San 'Shyuum.
The Ultra clicked his mandibles in annoyance at the Captain Stalker "I know that. But Thel 'Lodamee has been missing for segments; the Fleet-Master will want to speak with him as soon as possible." The Ultra told the Captain Stalker.
Seven more Brute Stalkers decloaked around the Ultra. The Ultra and his Lance seemingly did not know they were there as they all jumped when the Brutes appeared "So be it." The Captain Stalker growled, and the Stalkers all opened fire on the Ultra and his Lance.
I roared in rage as I charged at the Captain Stalker, and sliced him in half with my energy sword, his red blood spilling over my armor and skin, cooling me of the heat inside me to some degree.
I spun around to face the Stalker that was finishing off the dead Ultra, and charged at him, slicing his paw off before he could raise his spiker to shoot me before slicing his head off to have red blood squirt all over my face.
I kicked the body of the dead Stalker out-of-the-way and spun around, ready to kill another Stalker only to see the remaining five Stalkers dead on the ground with arrows in them. Confusion flooded me, but I wasted no time in spinning around in order to charge in and assist the others only to see the Stalkers around them dead as well with them looking at the bodies in confusion.
I picked up my helmet that I dropped onto the ground, and raced over to them "What happened?" I questioned them, halting when I reached them.
Anve bent over and pulled the arrow out of the body of a Stalker. I was surprised to see that the tip of the steel arrows were holographic -not metal "Wreckage, this is Charlie 4-0," Clad voiced in over the COM "The Spirit's gone so we're moving in," I turned around and noticed the Spirit was gone; likely taking off after it saw the Brutes turn on the Lance "Fucker didn't even know we were there."
Fear rose through me "YOU DID NOT DESTROY IT!?" I exclaimed, my mandibles shaking it fear at the possible answer.
"Why wouldn't I?" Clad replied.
I bought my hand up to my head and smashed it into my forehead in annoyance "They saw the Brutes betray the Sangheili... they could have warned the Fleet-Master!" Anger rose in me.
"Sorry." Clad apologized in a remorseful tone. I was inclined to believe that He did not mean His actions. But I was still in rage at the thought of saving the Fleet-Master being taken away from me again.
"Captain," Tom wheezed "can we go home now?"
Dean waved to Suras before pointing at Tom "Pick him up."
I let out a huff as I turned to watch the dropship lower itself down through the opening in the tree canopy.
We had the herbs, and there were only two casualties that were Human. But no sign of Qrs... And what were these Stalkers doing here? Were they tracking us? And was this Spirit patrolling the area but picked up the ruckus of the Brutes engaging us? But most of all... who killed the Brutes?
I raised my head just in time to see a large creature drop out of the trees and land in front of me. I back-stepped and raised my blade as the others raised their weapons.
"Don't attack it!" The Monarch quickly broke in before we opened fire on it "The Monitor is telling me that the creature before you means no harm." I already figured that out after seeing the arrow quiver over its' back; it saved us.
It did not remain an it, and quickly turned into they as Several more of the creatures dropped out of the trees. They were about the size of a Sangheili, had legs like us but clawed feet with a single toe coming down from its' ankle to make its' leg seem as if it was split in half. Its' arms were similar to that of a Kig-Yar with long claws protruding from its' long fingers. It also had the head similar to the of the Kig-Yar from Ibie'sh, but the back of its' head was long, and reached back to its' shoulders. There was a pentagon shaped flap of skin that seemed to cover its' ear holes located just behind its' reptile like eyes. At the tip of the flaps of skin was a spine that went as far back as its' head did, and had a single red feather of the ends of the spines which must had meant it was a bird, but its' skin said otherwise -so did its' tail that resembled that of a Jailsra from Sanghelios that matched what Humans called "Felines" And at the edge of the tail was what looked like an energy blade tied to the tail, giving it an extra melee weapon.
The creatures had cloth that covered their entire bodies with belts, armor straps, and weapon sheaths covering their torso and legs and arms. They mostly all looked the same with some of the others having their metal like armor in different positions.
"Hang on," The Monarch told us "I'm questioning the Monitor now."
I stood very still. The creature did not return the action, and instead pushed past me where it approached the body of Peter.
"Back the fuck off." Dean warned the creature, raising his weapon at the creature. The creature simply raised its' hand to Dean, telling him to halt, before kneeling over the body Peter.
"Relax, Human," I told him, keeping my eyes of the creature as it touched the wound on Peter's head from where he was shot "There is nothing it could possibly do to your dead comrade that should warrant killing it over."
Dean let out a sigh and lowered his weapon as the creature rose, showing us its' blood covered hands.
"Yes, very pretty." Dominic said in an annoyed tone.
"Its' trying to tell us something." Anve observed.
"What?" Lex questioned "Blood?"
"No," I replied, knowing what it meant, not daring to resist the smile my mandibles were forming "the color... red..."