Sangheili District, Second Cloister, Covenant Holy City: High Charity, 02/23/2525

Age 19

I remember back when I was on Earth, when I was about 10, for Halloween I wanted to be a medieval knight. I can't really remember why, beyond the fact that I thought knights were cool, but I was so intent on being a knight that I pestered my parents day in and day out until they bought me an actual sword and helmet as an early christmas present.

My mom helped me sew a shirt with some cotton over it, and we even had a little coat of arms we made on my chest. I loved it, at least until I actually had to wear it for Halloween and I realized something. Armor is really annoying to wear. As soon as I had put on that armor I wanted to take it off.

So I was always kind of hesitant when I realized that most Sangheili wore armor day in and day out. To most Sangheili their armor is the same as your favorite suit or dress. If you're going to have dinner with another family, chances are the parents are wearing their armor, if they have a meeting, then armor. Hell most Sangheili will even wear armor for going out to grab groceries, to them their armor is just that important.

So I always just kind of thought that Sangheili just eventually get used to how annoying it is to wear armor. It wouldn't be the first time I realized that I didn't like how Sangheili did something only to just be told, "to get over it."

But, as I stand in my home, putting on the armor in preparation to leave to join the Covenant, I am disappointed at my lack of instant dislike towards wearing armor. I'm so adamant about hating everything about the Covenant that it's hard for me to want to give them any credit.

The suit of armor is uncomfortably comfortable. Don't get me wrong, I can't exactly do gymnastics in armor, but I feel less like I am putting on a suit of armor and more like I am putting on really thick clothes.

I could easily forget that I am wearing armor and just default to that Sangheili just like to wear cool stuff. It's odd. The idea that Sangheili are just constantly playing dressup and trying to appear tough.

Maybe I'm just thinking too much about how well armor feels to wear.

I grab the grip on the side of the front chestplate and slide it over the undersuit. It grabs onto the suit with what I think is magnets. The chestplate hums and then clicks as it connects with the rest of the armor I have put on, the lights on the armor emitting a faint light.

I grab the helmet from my bed. I stare into it for a second, I can see my dull reflection on the polished steel. My reflection stares back at me.

I'm getting way too emotional over putting on armor.

I put on the helmet, and clasp the latches on. It fits rather snugly on my head and doesn't get in eyesight unless I am looking on the ground. I shake my head to verify that it's actually fully on. Besides feeling like I have a small animal sitting on my head, the helmet doesn't shift at all.

I walk around my room experimentally testing the armor, as if walking would somehow activate some hidden mechanism within the armor.

Once satisfied that I in fact put the armor on correctly I do one last thing. I walk back over to the corner of the room, somehow it seems smaller now. It's difficult, but I pry off the plating on the wall. I fish in the wall and pull out my datapad. It's been a bit since I have used it, I started realizing that detailing every little thing I'm doing is becoming more of a headache and used that as an excuse to no longer update my diary.

I had also used it to send messages to my brother. But we haven't talked in a while.

I slide it into a pocket on the side of my armor. Normally it would be used for rations or extra weaponry, but as of now I'm using it to store my diary, if my father found out he would be delightfully amused and disappointed at the same time.

I exit my room and head to the main entrance of the house. My father stands next to the door, fully clad in his Ultra Armor. Standing in front of him, I realize how much I still have to go. I'm still only an Sangheili Minor, I've yet to actually get in a real firefight. Even the way he holds himself just says that he earned his armor.

My father looks me over, most likely verifying that I actually put the armor on correctly. He nods in approval, "wear that armor with pride Vol, it's the start of a larger journey."

"Thanks," I deadpan.

He misses my sarcasm and reaches for his side. He fishes off the energy sword from his hilt and holds it out to me, "As I promised," he says, "I said as soon as you join the Covenant I will give you your own energy sword. This is your responsibility, I expect you to take good care of this blade."

I grab it out of his hand. Despite having held it many times during practice it feels different. It feels less like a practice tool and more like an actual weapon. Provided I don't die soon I will most likely use this energy sword to kill someone.

Always nice to have happy thoughts.

I holster the blade and look at my father, he seems somber. As much as he wants to maintain his stoic appearance I can see the conflict within him.

It was quite obvious that he missed having Taso around, and as troubled as our relationship is I doubt he wants me to leave either. Yet at the same time he is equally happy to see both of his children actually join the Covenant. He speaks up, "whether or not you acknowledge this. I want you to know I'm proud of you."

Despite coming from a fully armored Sangheili it is surprisingly soft. I respond, "thanks," I hold my breath, I want to say more but I'm at a loss of words, "I… I… thanks."

It's a horrible answer, but despite the fact his face is covered yet I can still see the amused smile. I've always been awkward when it comes to serious moments and it's happened enough for my father to both recognize it and find it amusing.

He speaks up, "nevertheless, you're shipping off soon. Let's leave for the hangar, being late would be disastrous."

"I, uh, yeah," I respond, "let's go."

We leave for the hangar, I remember going on the same path when Taso left. The walk was delightfully awkward back then, in the worst possible way.

But now I don't feel that discomfort. For the first time walking through High Charity I almost feel at home. As weird as it sounds, now that I'm one of the armored Sangheili in the city and it just feels like it finally clicked. I'm no longer an outsider, members of other races give passing nods of respect as my father and I walk by, some even step out of our way. Most of the time beforehand I would just get odd looks and would be ignored.

While there are an abundance of Sangheili on High Charity most children tend to be raised down planetside so as a child I was always sort of an outsider.

And I got lucky enough to be a Sangheili, I can't imagine what the hell I would do if I was reincarnated as a Unngoy or Kig-Yar.

After a couple minutes of silent walking, we reach the hangar. The last time I was here was when I saw my brother off to join the Covenant. Now… it feels more busy. Guess all out war does kind of stir up the military.

My father turns to look at me, "Make sure you report to the armory when you arrive on the ship. If you get lost you can use your suit which should direct you."

I turn to face him, "I'm not leaving quite yet. The phantom coming to pick me up isn't even here."

"Am I not allowed to give advice?" he asks. It's without any malice and it's obvious he's telling me things because he cares.

"Sorry," I instinctively reply, "didn't mean to be rude there."

He gives me a look, "You're worried aren't you."

I cross my arms, "Yeah I'm about to ship out to fight in a war. I'm a little bit worried," I respond.

"You will be fine," he rests a hand on my shoulder, "you are my son. If anything you are more stubborn than me, you will find your way."

As much as I don't want to admit it, I must have come off as pretty stubborn. I essentially brute forced my way through a childhood because I didn't want to do it all over again. Half of the time when my father tried to have a heart-to-heart moment with me I would just shrug it off because it felt too uncomfortable.

I never gave my father a chance to be a father for me. It's something I always knew but never internalized. It's part of the reason why Taso was unintentionally the favorite child, he actually got to raise Taso. For all intents and purposes I could have been adopted at age 5 and it really wouldn't have changed anything.

Most Sangheili children don't get to know their parents at all. I was some sort of lucky exception and I sort of didn't do anything with it.

I suppose things could never be normal.

"Yeah," I reply, "I'll be fine. Hopefully."

A phantom touches down at the end of the hangar. I think it's mine, my father notices the same thing and straightens up.

"I think it's about time I say goodbye," I say, turning to face him.

My father holds out his hand, I grab it and he pulls me close, and we wrap our arms around each other's back. It's not quite a hug but it's the closest thing Sangheili do to each other.

"The next time we meet," my father whispers into my ear, "we will no longer be father and son, but equals."

He lets go, yet holds me and looks me in the eyes for a second. "This is the start of your story, my son. I wish you the best of luck."

I nod, "Goodbye father…" I pause, turn around to walk away, but add at the last second, "thanks for everything you've done."

The hangar was abuzz with noise. The war was still escalating, with people on High Charity just starting to realize that this war isn't going to be easy. Total genocide of an entire spacefaring species proves to be difficult, who would've thought.

And here I am walking headfirst into the war.

There's a San'Shyuum standing next to the phantom, he is looking at some terminal, on some pedestal in front of him. As I walk up to him he faces me, "name?" he demands.

"Vol 'Zotanee."

He taps on the terminal, "You're registered," he motions for me to get on the phantom. The side hatch is open leaving just enough space for two Sangheili to squeeze through. I step on and find a nice dark corner for myself to hide in. There's several Sangheili already on the phantom in varying states of prayer and apathy, most of them barely even register my presence.

Most of them are like me, and have no idea where they are going.

Honestly, details of where I am going to operate are annoyingly sparse. I know the phantom I am heading on is going to dock with the CCS-class Battlecruiser Illuminate Elegy. Once I'm on that I'm going… somewhere to fight… probably humans.

The phantom quickly fills up in a matter of minutes until I start questioning the phantom's ability to fly, I'm eventually pushed further into the back corner of the phantom, resting against the wall to keep stable. Once the phantom is filled to the brim the doors close and for several seconds there's an unbearable silence as we all wait for something to happen.

I feel the slight lurch as the phantom lifts off of High Charity and enables its own gravity field. With a lack of windows it's difficult to tell where exactly I am. There's a sort of loud humming in the background from the engine, it's barely audible yet constantly there.

Since I can't tell where the hell I am, I simply close my eyes, and focus on the gentle rocking of the ship. I feel like I'm going to have to tune out a lot the next couple of years.

I should also get used to being in a Phantom.

There's no turning back for me. From this point I'm going to have to survive by my wits, until either my tour ends or I die. I'm so dead.

The sound of talking breaks me out of my thoughts. I look up and see that the doors to the sides of the phantom have already opened up and the first elites are making their way out. I honestly couldn't tell that we landed.

I follow the group off the phantom. I know I'm supposed to report to the armory to receive my equipment and assignment, but I have no idea where the armory is from my location.

That coupled with the fact that this ship is large enough to have multiple hangars, and I'm kind of just following the crowd to figure out where to go. I know my suit should automatically link with the ship and tell me where things are, but I don't want to just wander off in what I think the correct direction is.

There's a couple Unngoy carrying some crates from another phantom. I walk up to them and ask, "Excuse me, do y'all know where the armory is?"

They jump slightly and turn to face me, putting their boxes on the ground in the process. I realize just how much taller I am than them in full armor. The one closer to me shakily points to a door which some of the Sangheili are walking to, "through that door, head up, and first door on your left."

I reply, "thanks."

They nod and immediately get back to work, picking up the boxes they had dropped to answer me and making their way to another exit.

I make my way over to the crowd and squeeze my way through the door, and jog my way in front of the crowd of Sangheili slowly moving their way towards the armory. I head up a ramp in front of me, which leads to a T-junction. I take a left and head through the first door I see hoping it is the armory.

I step into the armory, and promptly take a step back out, letting a huragok float past me. He's holding a damaged carbine in one tentacle and heading to what looks to be a worktable.

Once the huragok passes, I walk inside and suddenly realize how busy the armory is. Most of the new arrivals, including me, aren't fully equipped and need to come to the armory to get new equipment.

Fortunately I managed to squeeze away before I think most of the new recruits are going to arrive so I make my way to an empty table. There's a Sangheili Major standing behind the desk facing the wall fiddling with some plasma rifles along the wall.

There's a small pedestal next to the desk with a circular hologram on the top. I lay my hand on top of the hologram and the circle on the hologram flashes and starts filling up. A second later the hologram chimes and the major turns around to face me. He looks at a terminal on his side of the table and says, "Vol 'Zotanee, you are to receive a Type-25 Plasma Rifle," he grabs one off the wall behind him, inspects it for a second and hands it to me. He glances back at the screen with my info and asks, "It says you brought an energy sword with you?

I nod and pull the energy sword I got from my father off my waist and lay it on the table. The major holds it over the same hologram. Once again the circle fills up and flashes once done, I can barely see from my angle as the terminal pulls up a new screen, most likely the stored info within the energy sword.

He reads the screen for a couple of seconds, as I stand here and just watch him. Once he seems satisfied he puts it back on the table, "your sword has no malfunctions. After every month you are to bring it for maintenance checks."

He glances at the screen once again, "it also says you're a journeyman weapon master."

I blink. That's unexpected, I didn't think anyone knew of my weapons experience besides… Kurc. Ah, it makes sense now, I know he has a couple of connections within the Covenant from when he was more active, he must have pulled some strings to get me the title of journeyman weapon master despite the fact I haven't taken a formal test.

"Uh, yeah, I've had some experience," I reply, "does that mean anything?"

"Right now? No," he responds, "but the Covenant is more willing to hand more expensive weaponry to Sangheili who knows how said weaponry works. Prove yourself and you might find yourself with much more than a plasma rifle soon."

I nod, "thanks for the advice. Is this all the equipment I'm getting?"

"Yes," he says. I go to grab my energy sword but before I can pull it away he puts his hand on mine, stopping me from pulling back, "Before you leave. No discharge of weapons on the ship without permission, do so and you'll be punished appropriately. If any of your equipment malfunctions, come here and we'll decide if you need a replacement. Finally if you lose your equipment on the battlefield you are to destroy it if possible, if not it is your duty to recover said equipment."

He looks me in the eyes to make sure I am listening to him, I simply say, "understood," and he lets his hand off of mine. I grab the energy sword and attach it to my waist, and attach the plasma rifle on the other side.

The quartermaster continues once I properly holster my weapons, "you are to report to Yr 'Mdazumee. He is both your squad leader and commanding officer until stated otherwise, you are to obey his orders without hesitation. Understood?"

"Understood."

He nods, "Terminal says he's currently in the western sparring gym, I suggest you introduce yourself to him when you have the time. Besides that you are free to go."

"Thank you," I respond, giving a partial bow.

I turn around and am faced with another minor. He must have gotten in line behind me while I was getting my equipment. I step to the side, let him pass and leave the armory.

I open up the small terminal on my wrist. I pull up a directory and type in 'Western Sparring Gym'. It pauses for a second before giving me directions. Down the hall on my left, make a right at the end of the hall. Continue until I reach the hanger and enter the left hand side entrance on the second floor.

I make my way to the hanger. As I reach the door it opens on its own and a group of Unggoy walk past, upon seeing me they step to the side and let me through. I give a small nod in thanks, to which they seem slightly surprised, and I make my way past them into the hanger.

There are still a couple phantoms making their way into the hanger, carrying fresh Sangheili Minors to be sent into war. I stand there for half-a-minute admiring the efficiency at which they are able to bring in phantoms, unload them and send them back out.

Once there isn't too much going on I make my way through the center of the hanger, drawing the sidelong glance of a couple of Unggoy acting guards in the hanger. I walk up the ramp and to the door the terminal says the sparring gym is located.

The sparring gym is surprisingly empty compared to how busy the hangar and armory was. There's a Sangheili Ultra in the back right corner practicing with an energy sword, drawing a couple onlookers who talk to each other while watching him practice.

On my left there's a Sangheili Major practicing with one of the sparring sticks on the dummy. I stand behind him several feet back and wait for him to finish the kata.

My first impressions? He's definitely skilled, he has definitely done this kata hundreds of times before and it shows, each movement building into the next strike before I know what it is. If I were to nitpick I can notice a couple small errors, a weak grip on the stick when mid-jab which allows the stick to move in his hands, the occasional moment where he cannot see the dummy because he overextended a step, and a couple more mistakes. Stuff that really doesn't matter all that much, but does prove that he has much more to learn, and even more to master.

He finishes the kata and holds the stick right next to the dummy's head, ready to give a knockout blow if needed.

I fake a cough and he turns around, "Yr' Mdazumee?" I ask.

"Yes," he responds. He takes the second to look me over, obviously examining me, "I assume you are Vol 'Zotanee?"

"Yes sir."

"Good," he tosses me the stick he was using to spar. I catch it in one hand, "I was in need of a sparring partner, you will suffice."

I pause. While I'm not terribly surprised that he would immediately ask me to spar, it does throw me for a slight loop. He's going to be far tougher than the troglodytes back at the sparring boot camp, he proven himself capable enough to get promoted once, and among Sangheili that has to mean he is an effective warrior.

He returns from the front of the front of the room with another sparring stick, he gestures towards a sparring mat on the far left side of the room. I follow him there and he stands at one end while I go to the other, "rules?" I ask.

"Victory by disarmament, incapacitation, or removal from the mat. No surrendering, we go until one of us wins," he replies.

Ah lovely, this is going to be fun getting my ass handed to me.

"3, 2, 1 start," he counts down. As soon as he finishes he drops down into a low stance, holding the stick outwards at a 45 degree angle. I use a slightly higher stance and angle my stick horizontal towards his head.

We slowly start circling each other, holding the sticks out, with each end being less than a foot from each other.

Yr speaks up, "so you're from High Charity?" he asks.

I pause in surprise, he must have read my profile, or he just assumed that because we're orbiting High Charity I must have come from there. Yr takes the moment while I pause to lunge at me, aiming his stick right at my lower mandibles and slightly above my neck. I recover from my momentary surprise, step to the left and try to strike him. Yr deflects the attack with ease and tries swinging the other end of his stick to hit my head while I'm exposed.

I duck, take a step back and return the fight to a neutral state.

I now take the time to respond to his question, "yeah. Spent my entire life in High Charity. Never quite liked living on a space station."

We circle each other yet again, and I dare ask, "Are you from a High Charity. Or did you grow up planetside?"

He fakes an attack, and I slightly react. He then responds, "I grew up on Duraan, a small colony on the fringes. Enlisted a little over a year ago." The fact that he didn't immediately reprimand me for asking a question means that he's not a complete ass.

I don't immediately remember ever hearing of a planet Duraan before, he wasn't lying when he said it's a fringe planet. Speaks to his skill as a warrior as most from fringe planets tend to be from lower clans, a promotion within a year of enlisting must mean that he did something to distinguish himself.

"Congratulations on the rapid promotion," I respond. I take a page out of his book and attack near the end of my statement, I do an overhead swing which he promptly blocks, I adjust my grip and try to hit him with the other end of my stick. At the same time Yr brings the stick down from his block. We both strike each other, me in his chest, and him on my shoulder. The armor blocks the brunt of my force, but Yr presses down with his strike putting me slightly off balance.

I dodge to the side, and he follows with a strike, trying to capitalize on my unbalance. I deflect said strike and we are back, yet again, to a neutral state.

"You must be excited for your first actual combat encounter," he says, "you'll finally have a chance to show off your combat prowess."

I snort in amusement and shake my head, "all I want out of my first fight is to stay alive. I can worry about showing off after that."

"Even if it delays your advancement within the Covenant?"

"I only get to worry about a promotion if I'm alive."

He lets out a small smile, "glad to see you're smarter than half of the recruits I've dealt with."

He goes in for another attack. He does a flurry of blows which I either deflect or block. I return a couple strikes, using the space gained via the attacks to rotate around him, on a more central position on the mat.

He recognizes this and attacks yet again. I go to dodge backwards yet again to reset the fight, but he hooks his staff in mine as I dodge back, sending me off balance. He uses that opening to push me further back with the end of his stick, while pulling my stick towards him.

Not expecting that, I try to pull back in to regain control of my stick. He must have expected that, because as I move in he moves his stick upwards and hits me on the jaw. With a momentary opening he strikes my hand, and pulls the sparring stick out of my hands with his own stick.

And just like that the fight is over.

I flex my jaw and nurse my lower left mandible, which he had struck. Yr hands me back my stick, "My advice," he starts, "you dodge too much. Stand your ground and gain control of the fight."

He reaches out his hand for me to shake. I pull my hand from nursing my jaw and shake his hand, he lets out a laugh and pats me on the back, "I can already tell we're gonna get along well," he jovially says.

He hands me his stick and heads over back to the rack. "I was planning on grabbing a meal after practice," he says, turning back to me once we reach the rack, I give him back his stick and he racks it, "you should come with me. You must be hungry."

I rack my stick and reply, "I don't exactly have any other plans."

He smiles, "good to hear," he walks over to the door and I follow, "I promise you the rations aren't as bad as you think."

We exit the sparring gym and back into the hanger. He walks down the ramp, from the second floor, and heads into one of the exits. I follow slightly behind him.

"My apologies for suddenly pulling you into a sparring session," he remarks as we enter another hallway, "I know you must be confused on your first day and the last thing you need was a fight with your superior officer."

I shrug despite the fact he doesn't see it, "I don't care all that much. So far military life hasn't been that different from normal life on High Charity. A lot of being told what to do."

He lets out an amused chuckle, "you will be told what to do a lot while in the Covenant. Best get used to it."

He opens a door in front of us and reveals an open room. There's tables along the entire floor as a line near the entrance with a bunch of food being served.

"Welcome to the mess hall," Yr says taking the second to glance back at me, making sure I'm still here, "you better get used to it as you will be coming here quite often."

Amusingly enough my mind immediately draws connections from my public school lunch in high-school and the mess hall on a Covenant warship. From the numerous tables designed to sit as many Sangheili as possible in the space given, and a practiced efficiency at which Sangheili come up and grab meals.

Yr walks over to the line and gets in on the end, I get in line behind him. "Not sure how it was in High Charity but meals here are pre prepared," he gestures around the line and I can see at the front as Sangheili Minor being handed a plate of what looks to be meat with a couple red vegetables on the side.

"When you get to the front of the line just scan yourself and you will be handed a meal. Try not to miss meals," he continues, gesturing as needed.

The line moves surprisingly quickly, with each Sangheili scanning themselves and being handed a meal in less than a couple of seconds. As we near the front a Sangheili Ultra walks up to the front of the line and makes a spot for himself.

No one seems to care that much and I realize that this must be a common occurrence for higher ranking Sangheili.

Yr scans himself and grabs a meal from the Unngoy acting as lunch-lady behind the serving counter. He walks off to find a table, I assume, while I scan myself and grab a meal from the Unngoy's hands.

I step out of the line and see Yr waving at me from half way down the room-long table. I walk over on the other side of the table and sit down, just as he starts digging into his meal.

The meal itself is pretty standard from what I can tell. Some sort of faux-meat that is slightly too soggy for my personal preference, with some red mush acting as a vegetable. The faux-meat is slightly sweet and chewy but besides that is uninteresting. I try the vegetables, it is rather tasteless besides a distant bitter flavour. Probably very nutritious, not very tasty.

"Do you know where we are heading to?" I ask Yr in between bites.

He nods with his mouthful and waits until he swallows before he answers, "Yes, we're heading to a fringe human colony. Apparently some trace amounts of holy artifacts are planetside so we're trying to purge the planet for excavation."

I slightly flinch at the callousness at which he describes murder of humans, but he doesn't notice. I was slightly hoping that I wouldn't be heading to a human colony. I know that despite the full scale mobilization of the Covenant there are a few smaller fleets who are dealing with the slight increase of piracy due to shifted focus.

Looks like I'm not that lucky.

"Any idea of what we're going to do once we get there?"

He shakes his head, "that's up for the general to decide once we're there. The situation is changing fast enough anyways so that even if I did know it would probably be changed by the time we get there."

"What do you think we'll be facing?"

He pauses, "most likely we'll be attached to a platoon and sent on assault missions. At that point it's up to the local General. We could get guard duty, could be fighting on the front lines."

He gives me a serious look, "while I don't ask much of you I do ask that you stay focused in fights," he pauses and seems to be recalling some old memories, "don't panic. Don't get yourself killed unnecessarily. Listen to my orders and I'll do everything I can to keep you alive."

And just like he hadn't just gone onto a tangent about keeping myself alive he goes back to eating his dish.

"What about the rest of the squad," I ask, the only thing I've heard so far is that you're my squad leader."

He gives me a glance as he takes another bite and motions for me to give him a second to chew. I realize that I'm close to finishing the dish while he is further behind because he has been talking to me. I ask, "Am I asking too many questions?'

Yr laughs at my question, "sorry," he says, noticing my blank reaction at his laugh, "it's just amusing how new you are."

He swallows the rest of his bite and responds, "squads also might change by the time we reach planetside, but that's less likely to happen."

He pauses, takes a quick bite of the vegetables and continues, "right now we're the only Sangheili in the squad. Beyond that there's two Kig'Yar. They probably won't talk that much to you, but they're loyal and effective warriors so I don't mind," he takes another bite of the steak.

"We also had 5 Unngoy in the squad but we lost Yusuk during the last fight, and I don't know if we're getting a replacement so we're down to 4 right now. They're… how do I put it? They are very… clumsy but they will look up to you and listen to everything you say," he finishes up his plate just after I finish mine.

He continues, waving a single pronged fork around with a single hand, "While both the Kig'Yar and Unngoy will listen to you I do ask that you don't give them any commands and let me order them around."

I nod, "sounds easy enough."

He checks his terminal for a second. "Ah. I gotta go for a bit, I suggest you head to your bunk, we have separate rooms from the rest of the squad, so don't get confused," he turns around and faces the exit we came in, "bunks should be down there, find the 4-way junction, take a left, and it should be the 2nd room on the right."

He stands up and I grab his plate and prepare to take it to disposal. Before he walks away he puts his hand on my shoulder and stops me in my tracks, "you should know, you aren't the first Minor I've had to get to know," he looks me in the eyes, "I don't want to have to give this speech again, try to make sure you're the last new recruit I have to get."

I nod, and reply, "understood. I'll do my best."

He claps me on the back, "good. I'll see you later. Try not to get lost on the ship."

And with that he walks away towards the exit as if I wasn't just talking to him. I take both our trays over to the disposal, throw them away and walk out the nearby exit. I follow Yr's instructions, left at the 4-way and 2nd room on the right and find myself in the bunks.

It's quite apparent, as I walk through the door, that Sangheili accommodations are actually fairly different than humans. Instead the numerous bunk beds in a small room there are instead large cylinders coming out of the ground that are easily 20 feet in diameter. Squeezed into every possible spot on these cylinders and on the walls are these retractable pods that act as beds.

Basically you pull out your bed, climb in and it closes into the wall. Not very helpful if you have claustrophobia, but it seems to save a lot of space. There are only a couple of other Sangheili in the room with me, most others finding their beds like me and adjusting to their new sleeping quarters.

I check my terminal for my bed number. 214. I walk along the side of the wall until I find it. I run my hand in front of the bed, it chimes and the bed pulls itself out of the wall. As pods go it's spacious enough with just enough room to almost reach my hand out all the way if I were lying in it.

Guess this is my new home for a while.

I cross my arms and stare at Yr, "Okay. What are you doing?" I ask.

He pushes a crate from the corner with one hand and flips it over on its side. He sits down on it, testing its weight and stands back up. He turns to reply to me, "follow me. I will show you."

He walks along the barracks until he reaches bed 57. He waves his hand in front of it and it slides open. He reaches into the side and pulls… something out. It looks a bit like a mixture of a trumpet and a warhorn. It's this dull sandy opaque ovoid horn that snakes around on itself like an odd knot.

I remember seeing a couple Sangheili playing it back at the academy all those years ago. I never really got that interested back then because I was more trying to just get by everyday.

Yr looks at me, "do you know how to play?" he says holding out the horn.

I shake my head, "never got the chance to learn."

He shrugs, "I'm mostly self-taught, I will admit," he continues holding the horn close to his chest, "growing up I never got the chance to learn. My uncle said that it wasn't conductive as a warrior, so I had to learn by myself."

I look back at the crate he had overturned, "do you play over there?" I ask, pointing.

"Yeah, me and a couple other majors," he replies, "we met recently and we decided why not?"

I blink. That's… something I definitely did not expect to see on a Covenant ship. I can't remember the last time I really cared about music. I played the piano back when I was a human, but I probably lost all those skills in the past 19 years. "When do you generally start playing?" I ask.

He shrugs, "whenever Raga and Stiro return," he says, "sometimes they will be too busy to play, but normally they will be here in about half-an-hour. Hence why I was setting up."

"I wouldn't exactly peg you for a music lover," I joke.

"Everyone has their thing that keeps them sane while at war," he replies, "if you don't have one right now you will have one by the end of the year."

I shrug, "I'm a journeyman weapons master."

He gives me a look, "you do that for entertainment?"

"It's kept me sane so far," I reply, "I don't see why that would change."

"Let me get this straight," Yr pauses, "you repair weapons for fun?"

I give him an inquisitive look, "I mean yeah I guess."

"Sorry," he takes a second to regain his thoughts, "I'm just amused that you need weapons to fuel your hobby. And you're in the one place where it is incredibly easy to find weapons."

I shrug, "It's not just weapons. Most equipment that the Covenant uses I have some experience with," I glance at the plasma rifle on his waist, "if you want I could go through your stuff, clean stuff out and verify that everything is in working order."

He lets out a laugh, "you'll make a lot of friends with interests like that."

"I don't think the Covenant will be happy with me tearing apart their weapons," I comment.

"As long as the weapon works at the end and you didn't tamper with anything they don't care all that much," he replies.

He grabs his plasma rifle and hands it to me, "here I'll make a deal. My weapon has been firing slower recently, figure what the problem is or if I'm just paranoid, and I'll give you a song to listen to while you do that."

I grab the plasma rifle, and say "sure," I didn't exactly have any other plans right now and I could use the distraction.

Yr nods and walks over to the box, horn in hand. I follow him, there's another box in the corner where Yr grabbed his. I pull it over and set the plasma rifle down on it. I don't have any tools on me so I'll have to make do with what I got.

Yr tests the horn a bit before he starts playing.

The song is distinctly Sangheili. Simple, droning, somber, yet melodious. It's undoubtedly a war hymn yet feels triumphant while being depressing at the same time. It's odd, but it feels so very appropriate.

It's a song I'm okay going into war listening to.

Ok so when I said this chapter would be out in about a day I really meant two days because I had a lot of homework. Nonetheless here's this chapter.

1 - Next chapter and especially the chapter after that should be the first scenes of combat.

2 - Thanks for all the reviews.

3 - I could have edited this chapter further as well but I'm happy with how it is despite some problems I have with it.

4 - Hopefully next chapter should be out kind of soon.

See y'all next time.