This planet's wildlife was intriguing. Why were these animals so aggressive? Why did they recklessly attack whatever crossed their paths? Why was this behavior prevalent across so many different species? Normally, such questions would have thrown Xal's curious mind into overdrive with hypotheses and excitement. But under current circumstances? The old Sangheili could feel only exasperation, he was doing his best to outmaneuver his newest foes, but his lack of experience with the "Atlesian Dropship", as he called it, coupled with the precise, deliberate flight of these wasp-like creatures that harried him so, made for a heavily punctured hull and damaged engines. The fact that Xal had only slept for a few minutes at a time for over five days didn't help much either, but Xal's adrenaline saw to that problem. He would not be in the air much longer, but he was able to see land, so it wasn't all bad, any landing one could walk away from was a good landing and all that. Human aircraft never landed on purpose anyway.
Any hopes Xal may have had for a controlled landing were dashed as one of the larger wasps punched a hole through one the ship's engines. The ground came upon him fast, and everything went dark.
3 hours later
Xal blinked away his unconsciousness. He was alive, he was still tired and his head hurt, but he was alive. Somewhat disappointing, but he couldn't actually complain. He could, however, complain about the infernal chiming coming from the dropship's dashboard and from the stolen "data pad". Xal's eyes widened in sudden realization, there were only a few things that the noises could mean: he was being tracked, he was being hailed, or the aircraft was giving him a damage report. He activated the data pad and saw only a pulsing red glow, no icons, no words or numbers, just a glow; that narrowed down his possibilities quite a bit. He would need to leave this vehicle and device behind, Xal could only just contain his frustration. How many days had he wasted on that base and the people within it? Too many, and now he had nothing to show for it.
For the Nth time since he modified the Order's code for modern use, he contemplated abandoning it entirely, it wouldn't be able to bite him in the ass ever again. The Silent Shadow no longer existed after all, no matter if his old squad disagreed, but alas, Xal could not bring himself to lose that last shred of nobility, members of the Silent Shadow never killed according to their own wills; during the time of the Covenant, they served the Hierarchs as daggers in the night, after the Great Schism, the remaining sqauds scattered to the wind, finding new purpose wherever they could. Xal and his squad served the Arbiter and the Swords of Sanghelios for a time, but now Xal served his contracts, not the contract givers, only the contracts, his squad served on his family's scientific expeditions, many more of the Order's former members fell into line with pirates and practitioners of the Covenant religion, some simply followed their First Blades wherever they went.
Xal, now finished reminiscing on history, opened the ship's bay doors, failing to check his motion tracker. As soon as the doors opened, one of those black canine creatures pounced on him, knocking him to the floor. Xal held the held the beast's jaws at bay with a hand around its neck and delivered a quick hook, knocking out any teeth his fist came into contact with. Xal then reversed their positions and crushed the creature's skull with a downward punch. He was alert now. His motion tracker alerted him to five more contacts; he wouldn't use his active camouflage for this fight, it would be better if the creatures could see him, so that they may flee or come forward. Xal grabbed the leg of his most recent kill and dragged the dissolving carcass outside, intimidation tactics were generally more effective when someone was carrying a corpse.
Alas, the wolf-like creatures weren't very smart and leaped at him the moment his hooves touched the dirt. Xal rolled under closest of the jumpers and narrowly escaped being dog piled, he would chuckle at his pun later; he put his sword through the back of a very confused canine and beheaded another before they could react to his evasive maneuver. When the remaining wolves did react however, they remained unimpressive, the creatures recklessly charged into his blade and died before they even hit the ground, normal pack hunters would have accepted the loss and fled after so many pack members being killed, but this planet's wildlife continued to perplex him.
Xal's sleep deprived brain momentarily glazed over while he tried to think; he almost didn't hear the aircraft rapidly approaching his position, two more dropships, same pattern as the one he stole. So he was being tracked. Xal engaged his camouflage and slunk into the tree line, hiding beneath the canopy. Who did Atlas send to capture him? Soldiers? Machines? The question stayed his feet and opened the door to more bad decisions. There wasn't enough space for them to land, so they didn't, the dropships opened their doors and discharged their respective payloads. One dropped four of those black armored androids, the other dropped three more androids and a person of interest, the white haired woman that played second to General Ironwood. The woman's air support left, possibly so they could land and conserve fuel. Xal wondered whether or not he should feel insulted or flattered, one fighter of unknown skill and seven machines was hardly a task force, especially after all the conversations he heard about their base's security being the best on the planet.
And yet, the pale woman moved unnaturally fast for a human, had survived inside the blast radius of a plasma grenade, and summoned an ice spike of all things to silence him, she was a curiosity, one of Xal's more pronounced weaknesses. Pros: she had no air support, neither she or her machines could detect him, and he had a multitude of escape routes. Cons: Xal hadn't had any sort of meaningful rest in nearly a week, he was sluggish from age and exhaustion, and he knew not of his potential opponent's strengths or weaknesses. He could just leave, but what if there were more like the woman searching for him, humans with strange abilities and enhancements? Picking a fight right now could very well be the "safest" way for him to learn more of potential foes, true strength comes from knowing an enemy's weakness, after all.
The pursuit of knowledge compelled Xal to act, his training ensured his approach was as quiet as the softest of breaths. He snuck behind the first android and bisected it with a fast upward swipe, he deactivated his sword before the machine fell for maximum stealth efficiency. The robot's destruction alerted the rest of the group to his presence, the woman scowled and the rest of the machines continued scanning the environment for their enemy. It seemed that whatever sensory systems the robots had were not advanced enough to counteract his armor's numerous stealth systems. Xal circled the group and struck when the highest number of backs were turned to him; he leaped forward, stabbing one machine before pulling out and slashing at another. All "eyes" were immediately on his sword, the only thing visible about him. The robots' arms became chain guns and spun to life, hailing an impressive volume of fire on Xal's position, or his sword, rather.
Xal made sure he kept his blade as far away from his center as possible as he rushed the rest of the machines, striking down two more with his blade and firing at the last two with his plasma pistol. Xal had done his best to dodge the bullets the robots continually fired at him since the fight started, but the volume was too great for him to avoid entirely, each round briefly revealing him. He didn't know how big a deal that was until the woman struck him square in the chest, taking down his shields, and sending him to the ground. Luckily, he managed to do enough damage to disable the last machines, so he only had one more combatant to deal with, the object of his interest, the pale woman.
This was it, no more camouflage, no more machines, just a simple one on one. What's the worst that could happen?
(Line Break)
Daisy was lost in thought. She had encountered a new sapient species, who were decidedly not Covenant and so far appeared to be non hostile, they spoke English, and looked remarkably human other than the cat ears and inhuman eye colors. And they were the sweetest people Daisy had met in her entire life. She was weak around Kali and Ghira and she didn't know why. That was a problem, she was used to keeping her guard up, any crack in her emotional walls and Halsey or some other ONI bastard could sneak in and take even more from her, but then why was she so comfortable around the Belladonnas. Come on, Daisy, you're a genius, you have the papers to prove it!
Before she could mull on the subject much longer, Kali and Ghira came back in with a tray of food and a tea tray, respectively. They had given her last night and half of today to think, but Daisy had slept through most of that, feeling weirdly comfortable in this house, comfortable enough to initiate conversation, even. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"Yes, that is something we need to discuss." Ghira rumbled, setting the tea tray down. "Why did you feel the need to threaten my wife and I?" Ghira was calm as he poured the tea and handed Daisy a cup.
If she were anyone else, the giant man's calm demeanor, mixed with his incriminating words, would have frightened her, but she wasn't just anyone, Daisy was a Spartan. "I've had bad experiences with non-humans." She stated simply, accepting the tea with equal calmness. "I didn't know what to think, I spent my entire life being beaten and shot at, it's hard to trust new people, I lost my cool." None of that was classified, as long as "entire life" was written off as exaggeration.
"Don't worry about it, dear, I forgive you, Ghira does too." Kali looked at her husband smiled. "Right, Ghira?" There was a hint of danger in the Faunus woman's tone.
Ghira sighed, his massive shoulders sagging a bit. "Yes, honey, I forgive her." The man looked back to Daisy. "You said you spent your entire life fighting?" Daisy saw where this was going. "How old are you?"
"That's classified." Daisy didn't want to get into this again, Crowther already gave her hell over the Spartans' age, he was right, but that didn't mean it wasn't a frustrating situation. She could probably tell them, of course, she wasn't in UNSC space as far as she could tell.
"Classified?" Ghira asked, straightening in his chair. "Are you from Atlas?" A flash of worry streaked across the man's face for a brief moment.
"No, I'm not from Atlas." Actual answers defeated the purpose of something being classified, but Daisy didn't want to risk starting some kind of war on a different planet. That would be bad. She shouldn't have even told them she was a human... There were humans here!
When Daisy asked the Belladonnas if they were human, yesterday, they didn't bat an eye, they knew exactly what she was talking about. But it was also really weird, they didn't seem to know about the UNSC, which had become synonymous with humanity, instead asking if she were from this "Atlas" place, and Daisy was sure she would have heard about non hostile aliens. Daisy was becoming excited. "Is there a UNSC presence on this planet?"
Ghira raised one of his eyebrows and looked over to Kali, who merely shrugged her shoulders. "We don't know what that is." That one sentence. That one, wonderful, horrible sentence, sent Daisy's brain on a trip. A grin enveloped her face and she began to laugh, tears soon followed. She was free! She could figure out what that meant later, she was free!
~Two Days Later~
Daisy stepped out into the light for the first time in days, her happiness never ceasing for a moment. Ghira and Kali tried asking where she was from again while she laughing like a maniac, she told them it didn't matter because no one could make her go back, Daisy didn't think it was a very convincing argument, but the Belladonnas stopped asking her personal questions after that for whatever reason. And now here she was, in a Menagerie security uniform (it was the only thing they had on hand in her size), ready to see the rest of Kuo Kuana. She decided against wearing her armor into town, she was told that it was generally pretty safe here and people would just assume she was a Faunus.
As Daisy walked away from the Belladonna house, a short girl with a reddish brown ponytail stepped in front of her. "I've never seen you around here before." The diminutive girl said, getting into step by Daisy as she continued walking.
"I'm new in town." Daisy said, not allowing the spontaneous social interaction to sour her mood. Not that it was at all possible to kill Daisy's mood right now. Daisy slowed down when she noticed the other girl was struggling to keep up with her stride.
"Where'd you come in from?" The girl asked, relaxing into her own stride, but was with all the questions? Do people approach random strangers like this all the time? Was this civilian life?
"Desert." Daisy answered honestly, they were getting close to the main town now. Daisy could smell fish and salt water.
The girl pondered that for a moment. "Oh, what's your trait, if you don't mind me asking?" The girl was wearing a smile now, Daisy supposed that it wasn't all that strange, today was a very nice day after all.
Daisy assumed the girl was talking about was talking about a Faunus trait, Daisy, being human, didn't have one, but she could still answer semi-honestly. "I can see in the dark." It was true, and also happened to be something Faunus related, hard to prove in broad daylight, though. "Do I know you?" Daisy asked, her discomfort getting the better of her.
"My name's Ilia." The girl answered, the spots on her skin turning pink briefly. "You?"
"Daisy." They walked in silence for a little while. "Is approaching random strangers and asking questions how people around her greet each other?" It was an honest question.
"What? Oh, no, I just haven't seen you around here before and thought that you might be a, um, uh-" Daisy knew nervousness when she saw it, usually from marines. "I thought you were a human trying to cause trouble."
Daisy kept looking straight forward, they were walking by houses now, none of were as grand as the Chieftain's house, but they were livable. "Do humans come around here often?" Daisy asked, looking at Ilia.
"Not really, that examiner from Beacon Academy is the first in a few years." An Academy? Daisy might check that out. "It was nice to meet you, I have some other business to take care of, later." Daisy gave a short wave as Ilia walked away. Daisy thought she was pretty good at this whole socializing thing, and that was only the fourth civilian that Daisy ever talked to.
Daisy continued walking, waving at anyone who said hello or waved at her, taking in all the shops, realizing she didn't have money and walking away. Daisy was enjoying life, no UNSC, no Covenant, no war, just life. She kept walking until a well dressed black man waved her over to a booth. He was an older gentleman with a short, salt and pepper beard and a bald head. The closest thing she could link to the booth was a military recruitment desk (or a college advertisement booth, but Daisy never saw one before), with all it's brochures and applications and paraphernalia.
"Hey there young lady." He didn't sound very old. "I'm Nickel Green, I'm a scout and combat examiner for the Beacon Huntsman Academy." He handed her one of the brochures. Daisy skimmed it a little, not really understanding much about the subject matter.
"I won't have to join anything will I?" Daisy was apprehensive about joining a combat academy, that implied military service and Daisy just went AWOL a few days ago.
"Not at all, once you graduate, you'll receive a license that lets you take on jobs, no one's going to tell you what to do with it, though." Daisy was starting to get it, it sounded like a license for mercenary work.
"Any benefits?" Daisy might not take any applications, but this sounded like it could be interesting, she didn't want to join any military, but she was kind of proud that she was good at fighting.
"All kinds, you get glory and excitement all while getting paid pretty well." Nickel's face was wistful for a moment. "But the main benefit, is your team, you might not get along with them at first, you might think they're biggest bastards on the planet," The wistful look returned. "But after a few weeks, you'll learn they're the coolest people you'll ever meet, your best friends, like the family you've always looked for." The man stared off into space for a while before coming back down to earth. "That's my experience anyway, just sign an application and pass the combat exam and you're in."
This guy was really selling it for Daisy, she figured she'd be fine as long as she could avoid more exploding animals. "Is there a tuition?"
"Nope, trust me, the exam is rigorous, it's hard enough getting in without having to worry about money."
"I'll think about it." Daisy said, grabbing an application and a few more brochures.
"Don't take too long, I'm leaving on the next boat in a couple weeks."
(Line Break)
10,000 years! And I've finally sat my lazy ass down to write. And Daisy's 6'3" outside of armor, 6'0" was too short. I really do appreciate feedback, so please, comment.