Kalimee was glad to be back where he truly belonged. In a HEV about to engage in operations.
After stowing his gear, a BR55, an M6C pistol, and two M7 submachine guns, plus several grenades, he eyed the clock counting down to drop. Just twenty-five seconds to go.
Kalimee wondered how the new 'guys' were doing. Mehmep had probably never dropped from orbit in a pod, Nakumee deserted and had to kill a few to do it, so a little airtime wouldn't hurt her.
This thing's cramped. It was to be expected of an Elite in human quarters, his species normally went in standing up after all.
Zero. The initial rush of gee force caught Kalimee off guard, but after that it was just a nice, smooth ride, at least until they reached the atmosphere and the heat got intense. The Grunts would probably start wailing about now.
The HEVs entered the atmosphere.
SPARTAN-087 eyed the sky intently. The balls of fire streaking across the sky were not a good sign, it meant ODSTs, who else would the UNSC send to kill a Spartan? Their contempt for her and her kind was legendary.
"Kelly."
Kelly turned to see Doctor Halsey standing at the entrance to the cave complex, still wearing the now brown lab coat they had first seen her in back on Reach.
"Kelly I need your help moving some of this Forerunner machinery."
"Doctor, we need to move, the UNSC is here."
Dr. Halsey shook her head.
"No, Kelly, we've run away far too long, they will find us. Hopefully I will done what I needed to do.
Her and her stupid guilt. Doesn't she see they will kill us? Kelly reluctantly walked over to the Doctor and they brought the salvaged Forerunner junk into their hideout.
The cave was narrow at first but soon expanded into a high ceiling with exotic carvings and decorated computer terminals coating the walls.
They soon came to a giant chasm, bottomed by lava and molten rock, stretching thousands of meters down into the planet. The Doctor stopped at a console and after pushing a few buttons a white luminescant surface crossed the giant hole. A light bridge.
Once they were on the other side Dr. Halsey deactivated the bridge to slow down any pursuers, and they silently continued deeper into the cave.
She was almost to the Seraph now. All she had was one more hallway and she would be in the right floor of the hallway.
After pushing several Unggoy aside she ran through the automatic door.
She was disappointed to find that the Seraph was guarded by two Sangheili. They were in blue armor but so was her and she was only armed with a plasma pistol she had taken from an Unggoy. They had plasma rifles.
Two streams of plasma began to strike her shields as she darted from one end of the Seraph to another. After a couple minutes of firing a few potshots, hiding to let her shields recharge she finally summoned the courage to release a large bulb of plasma at one of the guards. She used the few seconds of confusion to jump into the Seraph's cockpit, shake off the other guard, shoot the controls for the hangar 'door' and flew out of the ship.
Kalimee perspired heavily as his pod raced down at great speed. Without energy shielding to act as a thermos, the temperature in the 305th's HEVs were greater than what some were used too. He couldn't help but wish he would just sweat away his troubles like moisture.
It was intriguing. They were his species, they were just...different. He did the only thing a curious, pre-trained Sangheili could do...he followed.
They led him through the city, the streets were crowded with all sorts of species. Sangheili, Unggoy, a few Kig-Yar. Kalimee wove his way through the crowd, careful to keep them in his sight.
They would occasionally open their quadruple jaws to speak in their all-to-low voices. Kalim was fascinated by this other...gender. It was like nothing he had ever encountered. It reminded him of the time, back when his father was a Field Commander, an Unggoy in the unit had randomly said, "Hard to tell, but me not female."
He was led into a back corridor, the females continued for a few hundred meters before turning abruptly and going through a set of small automatic doors.
Kalim stood just out of range of the door's motion sensors. His gaze turned to the readout on the door side.
"Female Refitting Chamber."
Kalim eventually got the courage to walk in. The stares were sharper than needler rounds. He had made a mistake.
Kalim ducked and was able to dodge the first inactive plasma grenade, but several struck him hard as he turned to leave. The young Sangheili ran down the alley as fast as his legs could carry him with the females in hot pursuit, those that were armored at least.
It was Kalim's misfortune to run right into a security patrol. He fell, taking several Unggoy with him. As he got up to continue his flight, the scarlet-clad Sangheili in command firmly grabbed Kalim's shoulder. He took a deep breath and looked up. The soldier did not look friendly one bit. Kalim looked around for a means of escape, but large crowds and armed Unggoy surrounded him.
"Where are you going, young one?" Kalim knew it was going to be a long day.