Hidalgo, Blue Sky Capital, Weiran System, 01/08/2526
Vol POV
"You appear paranoid," Yr notes from inside the phantom.
I stop tapping my knee and glance at him, "Oh you know," I reply, "I'm going into my first actual firefight. I'm doing just fine."
He snorts and reassuringly says, "As the leader of the squad, my honor is reliant upon our combined survival. I will do all in my power to see that you are alive by the end of the day."
I roll my eyes, "very reassuring," I start bouncing my knee again, trying to distract my mind. The phantom shakes from beneath me, and I wonder if that's just the pilot having to avoid buildings or rockets.
I turn back to Yr, "what's the plan once we land?"
"I briefed you, did I not?" Yr replies, "we are to take control of one of the human buildings that they have been using for ambushes."
"I know," I say, "but what's the plan for taking over the building? You said yourself that they are using guerilla warfare, we can't just assume they are going to let us shoot them to death. We have to have some plan to counter them."
He pauses, "I will not stoop to their level," he answers, "if we are to take the building we will do it via skill, not treachery."
I shrug, "I doubt the humans will be judging your honor. I'd much rather leave a fight with bruised honor than dead."
Yr lets out a laugh, "you'll get far in life with that mantra," he stops and adds a second later, "but you will also find it hard to climb ranks that way."
"I think I'll find a way," I duly note. The phantom shifts and there's a loud noise that blares through the cabin.
The noise signals that we're close to our destination. Yr notices this as well and walks over to one of the closed gravity lits. I step behind him and watch the gravity lift.
The phantom tilts as we decelerate. A different, more striking noise plays throughout the phantom, with the gravity well opening up moments after. Yr glances through the gravity well, and jumps out.
I look through the gravity well, see Yr walk out of the way and jump down as well. I step out of the way and the rest of the squad jumps down. Bahad is the second to last to jump down, he greets me with a, "mornin' ya ugly bastard," and walks out of the way.
While this is going on phantoms are flying around the entire city, dropping off their respective squads to their building, as banshees fly in between the buildings, firing on any human they spot. I would be impressed with the coordination required to simultaneously clear an entire city, but it just feels off.
Maybe if we weren't killing humans I would appreciate this more.
I walk over to the edge of the building and glance over the edge. There has to be at least twenty floors, most likely even closer to thirty.
I turn to Yr, "We don't have to clear the entire building, right?"
His mandibles flutter and he gives me a half smile, "come on. We better get started."
I groan and walk over to the rest of the squad. There's a stairwell leading from the roof to the inside of the building. The lock has already been burned off and the other squad has just disappeared into the building.
I unholster my plasma rifle and keep it ready. Keeping my energy sword on my waist for the time being.
Yr motions for the Unggoy of the squad to enter first. I can see Bahad tense up as he walks into the building first. Being cannon fodder must be fun.
I listen for the sound of gunfire, but nothing happens.
The Kig-yar enter after the Unggoy, with me right after them. The building is obviously some corporate building, with cubicles lining the entire wall. It even looks as if it was just abandoned, with desks covered with items unique to each one.
The other squad is heading to the right of the building. Ideally they clear the right side of the building, we clear the left. Eventually we should meet up in the middle of the building with the squads who are working their way from the bottom.
Nothing is ever ideal though.
Yr walks next to me and motions us forward. The Unggoy of the squad, lead the way, walking down an unexplored hallway.
Amusingly enough the first thing we reach is the bathroom, although the members of my squad don't recognize the figures representing each bathroom.
Yr motions for me to clear the women's restroom while he does the other.
I push the door open and aim my plasma rifle at eye level, sweeping the bathroom. It's pitch black. I switch the light next to the side of the door, and suddenly the room is engulfed in a warm light.
I make my way over to the stalls and open each one, checking to make sure no one is hiding in them.
I head back to the rest of the squad, "room's clear," I say as I leave the bathroom.
"This is gonna take a while, isn't it?" I ask Yr as I leave the bathroom.
He gives the same half-smile but doesn't respond.
Right. We're on a mission now, no small talk.
We continue down the hall, there's a room at the end that overlooks part of the city. The door is wide open, showing a desk with it's back to the window. It's some important room, located away from the rest of the cubicles.
The unggoy of the squad head into the room first, and the rest of the squad follow suit. The room is empty.
"Do we even know if humans are in this building?" I ask Yr.
"Complaining isn't going to make this happen any faster," he exasperatess, "but to answer your question. Yes, we have records of attacks coming from this very building."
"Hm," I hum as I walk around the room. Whoever used this room is most likely high up on the company food chain. There's a bunch of baubles and images around the room, with a lot of the images being some sort of company reward.
Bahad is staring at something on the desk, intently.
Considering the fact we're in a warzone I'm curious, "What are you looking at," I ask as I walk over to him.
"Eh, nothin'," he simply replies.
There's a stack of paper on the desk. Only several sheets thick, but still there. Written over the page in translucent letters are the large red words, 'CONFIDENTIAL'.
I skim the papers. It's some agricultural project that this company wants to start. I think. My english skills have deteriorated over the years, but I'm still able to get the gist.
I think the confidential part comes in where they are trying to cut corners money wise. Scummy, but nothing important. Unless I am planning to take this company to court.
Is interstellar court even a thing?
"You see anythin'?" Bahad asks from next to me.
"Not really," I reply as I put the papers back on the desk. There's two drawers in the desk. I open the top one. There's a bunch of tools in there, more blank paper, and even an unused cigar. Classy.
I shut the drawer and try to open the lower one. This one is locked. I hold my plasma rifle up to the drawer and let both of the teeth touch the electronic lock. Almost immediately the lock starts smoking and slowly heating up, as little bits of plasma flake off from the gun in lightning bolts.
Eventually there's a small hole in the lock and I try to open the drawer again. This time there's no resistance. There's another stack of papers in this one. I skim over this one as well. It's some correspondence between two people. They're both high up in the company by the way they are talking. They are talking about some old records of some underground structure.
They mention some sort of family bunker, saying it may be related. The last couple pages are just data. Lots of graphs, plots and data charts. Stuff that I can look at and say I understand, but basically have no idea what they are supposed to represent.
But something sticks out. There's coordinates at the end: 47.615042, -122.198301.
I don't have any way of figuring out where that leads to, or even converting into coordinates that the Covenant would understand, but I slide that piece of paper into a slot in my armor anyways, in case it is ever of use later.
Bahad looks at me curiously, "what's that you just found?"
"Eh," I reply, "probably nothing important. Just following a hunch."
He pauses, and whispers, "can you read that?" as a volume that only I can hear.
I pause. I forgot that to Bahad, English is nothing more than scribbles on a paper. I debate telling him the truth, but ultimately just respond with, "there's data here. I don't know what it represents, but it may be important."
That seems to placate him as he nods and walks away.
There's a deep rumbling in the building. Shaking the entire floor violently. For a second I wonder if the building is tipping over and I am going to die before I even get in a gunfight. However, as soon as it starts it ends.
I glance over to Yr who is waiting for me to finish up, "what was that?" I ask.
He doesn't answer the question, but simply says, "let's move."
So fighting has started then. Lovely.
We head back to the stairwell, the other squad is nowhere to be seen. They must have gone ahead of us.
As we enter the stairwell we can hear the sound of bullet and plasma fire from below. We follow the sounds a couple floors down until the gunfire reaches a near unbearable level.
We eventually come upon the other squad. There's a long hallway with bullets flying down, as the other squad takes cover behind the hallway's corner.
The entire thing is beautifully chaotic. With the sprinklers spraying water down, as plasma bolts fly down from our end and bullets fly down from the otherside. A single stray bullet bounces off my shield and into a nearby wall.
I can see two Unggoy bodies in the hallway, as well a dead Kig-Yar. Blood is slowly leaking out of their lifeless bodies covering the otherwise dull floor with different shades of bright blue and purple.
I bite my lower mandible. I'm no stranger to death, but I'm not comfortable either.
We take cover near the other squad as Yr asks the other major, "what happened?"
The other squad leader grimaces, and at this point I notice a bullet wound in his left arm, "heathens ambushed us," he glances down the hallway with barely concealed rage, "dishonorable infidels. They ambushed us and are holding a choke point."
I peek into the hallway, I can barely see some human shaped figures poking out from different desks on the other side. A bullet ricochets off my shield where my head is and I pull my head back.
Yr responds, "fear not," he turns to face the two Kig-Yar of our squad. They look uneasy as he says his next sentence, "form up in front of us. We break the stalemate and drive the cowards from their position."
The Kig-Yar glance at each other, obviously not liking their chances in the hallway.
"Wait," I say, glancing down the hallway yet again. Both squad leaders give me a dirty look, "If I may. This is a death trap. They want us to push them. We're not going to win without casualties."
Yr gives me a side glance, obviously unhappy with me undermining his authority, "does it matter?"
I take a deep breath and continue, trying to ignore his callous disregard of our squadmates' lives, "just give me a chance. There's going to be multiple stairwells per floor. I'm willing to bet that there's another stairwell on their side of the building. We don't need to push them here, we just need another team to go around so we can break the stalemate."
There's a moment of silence among both squads as what I say settles in. It's distinctly un-Covenant. In a battle where sheer overwhelming firepower is the normal tactic, flanking tends to be a lot less used by the majority of the Covenant forces.
But as alien as the plan seems to them, I can see them slowly warming up to the idea. We aren't cheating a fight, just changing the rules.
Yr glances at the other squad leader, "are you still capable of fighting?"
The other squad leader raises both his arms, dual plasma rifles at the ready, he responds, "is that even a question?"
Yr nods and turns to me, "we're going to flush them out," he faces the rest of the squad, "you are to obey his orders," he says to them, gesturing to the other squad leader, "wait for us to distract them before you push."
The other squad leader nods and Yr motions for me to follow as we head to the stairwell we came from.
We head up a single floor and head to the otherside of the building. The bullets are muffled, but are still easily audible. As long as they don't stop we should be fine.
"You are… unusual," Yr notes, as we make our way across the office. Now that we are alone he seems more open to small talk.
"Is that supposed to be good or bad?" I respond.
"Neither," he says, "I'm simply making an observation."
I hesitate, "well, what do you observe."
"Let me be blunt," he says, "you don't care enough about honor. You care too much about lesser species. You show promise as a warrior yet seem to avoid fights. It's equally frustrating and… interesting."
I let out a small laugh. To most other sangheili, being called dishonorable is akin to the most heinous insult you can receive. It's obvious that despite his brutal honesty, Yr is still trying to speak his opinions in a way that won't make me hate him.
"Yeah," I simply respond, "to me staying alive is far more important. Honor is irrelevant as an individual if you aren't alive to appreciate it."
We come upon another door with an image of a stairwell imprinted on the wall next to the door. Yr motions for me to quiet, as he slowly opens the door, aiming his plasma rifle into the stairwell as he does so.
Almost immediately the sound of gunfire goes from a dull background noise to loud ear-damaging bangs.
We slowly make our way down the stairwell. The door to the floor where the humans are on is propped open, but from my angle I can't see any combatants.
We make our way onto either side of the door as Yr peeks into the room. He grabs a plasma grenade from his waist, makes sure I notice what he's doing, ignites it, and tosses it into the room.
Almost immediately I hear a voice yell from inside the room in English, "BEHIND US!"
The sound of gunfire roars as it is combined with the exploding plasma grenade and shouting.
As that happens Yr charges into the room, plasma rifle in one hand and energy sword in the other. Despite the fact he doesn't check, I'm supposed to follow him in.
My hearts are pounding in my chest. I feel clammy and my body feels like it's doing its best to resist my brain. I push away the fear and follow Yr into the room.
And it's chaotic as all hell.
The lights are turned off, so, even with enhanced eyesight, most of what I see are just shapes with vague colors. The only consistent source of light in the room is Yr's energy sword, which I can see being used to decapitate some random poor person.
The cubicles in this room provide some visual cover, so I crouch down and try to focus my thoughts despite the cacophony of noises.
I mentally count down and push out from my hiding spot, and am immediately faced with a human, staring at me with wide eyes and shotgun aiming directly at my chest.
My plasma rifle is aimed at his head, and I go to pull the trigger.
Yet, I don't.
I see myself in the human with the shotgun, the same scared human I once was, completely unprepared for combat.
Can I so callously take a life without any regret?
BANG
The shotgun sends me stumbling back a few feet. My energy shields instantly break under the sheer firepower of the shotgun as several pellets bounce off my armor.
I can see the human pull the pump back, and suddenly I am grounded again as time seems to slow down.
My hesitation to kill him is immediately replaced with desperation to save my own life. I charge at the human, grab the barrel of the shotgun and push it to the side.
BANG
The shotgun fires, tearing a large chunk of the wall off.
I pull the shotgun towards me, and simultaneously kick the human away. Tearing the shotgun from his grip.
I pump the shotgun and aim it at the human who stares with me in terror.
For an even shorter moment I hesitate. But this time, I am now reminded of how I almost died. How I don't get any second chances. This was bound to happen, I just need to accept it.
For the first time in 19 years I speak in English, "I'm sorry."
I close my eyes and pull the trigger.
BANG
I open my eyes. The human's chest is gone, instead replaced with blood spouting everywhere. His ribs are easily visible, revealing his internal organs which look like red mush.
I look away from the body. There's another human aiming an assault rifle at me.
My shields are still down.
I duck back into the cubicles as the assault rifle rips part of the desk to shreds. I hold the shotgun in one hand as I hold the plasma rifle in my other hand. My shields come back and I peek over the cubicle.
I see the same human aiming in my direction. I aim the plasma rifle at him, push away any hesitation, and fire a stream of plasma bolts.
He goes down with a scream as three plasma bolts hit his chest.
I search the room for another target, but the fight's already over.
While I was busy, Yr was clearing out the rest of the humans, as the other squad pushed in from the hallway clearing out any resistance from their direction.
The actual fight itself lasted barely more than a minute.
I take a deep breath and try to calm my nerves. I'm jittery, and barely can look straight now. The anxiety and fear that I should have experienced comes crashing down on me as adrenaline wears off.
Yr walks up to me, "you're injured," he notes.
"What?" I respond. I look down at myself. My own blood is leaking from my armor. I look at my shoulder. Apparently not all the shotgun pellets missed or ricocheted. I didn't even notice.
Yr examines my wound from in front of me and asks, "nothing vital appears to be damaged. Do you feel alright?"
I take a deep breath, as I continue trying to calm myself. I can barely feel the wound now as a dull distant throbbing, "I think… I think I'm fine."
Yr nods, "well done then. Tell me if you feel anything wrong."
Yr goes back to the rest of the squad leaving me in this corner of the room by myself. The body of the first human I killed is still in front of me.
He's long dead at this point, as even the blood is no longer flowing from his body and starting to coagulate.
He's not wearing any armor. He probably isn't even a soldier. Just someone trying to defend his home.
I feel remorse for an innocent life taken, but as much as I feel sorrow, I also feel satisfaction. It was either me or him, and when push came to shove, I ultimately was able to keep myself alive. I hate the satisfaction, but I can't help but accept it.
I look at the body again. Mangled flesh, limbs and bones greet me back.
I look away and go back to join my squad. First firefight out of the way, and it could have gone far worse.
I took a life… but it was necessary. Morals be damned I was never going to get through my life without killing someone. I may as well come to terms with it sooner rather than later.
Maria POV
From her deep slumber Maria can hear the distant sounds of the door to her personal room being opened.
For a second she wonders if she is just dreaming this until a blinding light illuminates her room. In response she grabs a pillow and buries her head under it, hoping to hide herself from the light.
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakery," Austin says walking into the room, and sitting on Maria's bed.
Maria groans and twists herself so that she can barely see Austin from her cover within the pillow, "hng," she groans as she struggles to make speak full words, "do we actually have bacon?"
"No," Austin admits, "if I were to be accurate I would say, 'Wakey Wakey MRE's and preserved food', but that doesn't quite roll off the tongue."
Maria groans yet again and buries herself deep into her pillow. Maybe if she just ignores Austin for long enough he would just leave.
"You can groan all you want, I'm not going," Austin replies, "like it or not everyone in the bunker is wondering what comes next, and they're all looking towards you for instruction."
Oh yeah, they were under attack. Maria could almost forget in her sleep. Suddenly she has another reason why she just doesn't want to get out of bed.
So Maria groans yet again.
"Are you done yet?" Austin jokes, "or is this some failed attempt at communication? It's mid-day, you need to get out of bed."
Maria grabs her other pillow and throws it in the vague direction Austin is in, "Yeah I'm waking up," Maria finally says, "just gimme a bit."
"I didn't want to do this," Austin mutters from under his breath.
Before Maria can decipher what he's talking about he walks up to her and hits her with the same pillow she just threw at him. It's completely harmless, but Maria immediately springs awake and glares at Austin, "you bastard," the sheer vitriol dripping from her voice.
"You're awake now," Austin notes, "good. Now get some breakfast and meet me afterwards."
He walks away from the bed, and leaves the room, turning off the lights as he leaves as if he's taunting Maria. Maria debates ignoring Austin and going back to sleep, but throws away the idea after a moment of deliberation.
Maria cleans herself up, clothes herself, and heads to the cafeteria,
Maria's reaction to the food is… disappointment. Just a day ago she could have gone down the road and grabbed a taco from a nearby fast food place. It was quick, easy and took less than five minutes. Now she was forced to eat rations until she either dies or goes insane.
Lovely.
Maria tries her best to ignore the food as she eats it, instead focusing on what comes ahead. Everyone in the bunker is safe for the moment, but that only goes so far. Relying upon the distant hope that the aliens would just leave them alone would be foolish. They need to find some way to ensure their survival.
Suddenly Maria isn't hungry anymore.
Maria tosses what's left of the food away and leaves the tray for someone else to clean. She heads to Austin's room, guessing he's somewhere near there.
Instead she finds his kids. Hannah is beaming at the sight of her, while Aiden is a bit more hesitant after yesterday's excursion.
"Good to see you kiddos," Maria greets, "but do you know where your father wandered off to?"
Hannah jumps up to answer, "he said he's going to the control room to wait for you and your boyfriend."
Maria frowns, "thank you sweetie. And he's not my boyfriend."
She walks away before Hannah gets a chance to respond. She heads down a more abandoned hallway, ending up to where the control room is. As she steps in, she sees Austin and Alex waiting for her.
There's numerous computer screens lining the far wall, with most of them displaying surveillance cameras throughout the bunker. Through the screens she can see people doing their own thing. There's almost a bit of pride welling up in Maria at the sight of such a well oiled group running the albeit small bunker together.
Below the computers are numerous terminals, all with different data and options floating on the screen. There's a table that would normally go in front of the computers, pulled out in the middle of the room to form a makeshift discussion table.
"So," Maria starts, walking in and sitting down on a chair, "where do we begin?"
Austin looks up and says, "I'll go first. I did what I could to get a general census from people. Internally things are looking alright."
"Alright," Maria asks, "what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Austin takes a deep breath, "by alright I mean things could be going far worse. I'm considering sleep deprivation and paranoia as natural responses to what's going on."
"So what's actually going on," Maria demands.
Austin sighs, "people are settling in, but they're fidgety. It's only a matter of time before they start getting restless."
"Well I'm not sure if there's much we can do about that," Maria notes.
Maria glances at Alex. The same flask he drank out of from the previous day is lying on his chest as he leans back in his chair with his eyes closed.
"Alex! Are you asleep?" Maria demands.
Alex jerks up, "What? No."
"What were we talking about then," Maria asks.
Alex smacks his lips a couple of times and takes a swig from his flask before answering, "something about people, doing things, and they can't sleep. Right?"
Maria considers berating him but just lets out an audible groan. "Do us a favor and pay attention," Maria sighs, and turns back to Austin, "back on point. At the current rate how long can we feasibly survive?"
Austin grimaces, "at best. Maybe a couple months."
"At worst?"
"A couple days."
"Shit," Maria mutters. She runs her hands through her hair and tries to focus, "while I don't like it as a plan we could always use alcohol to calm people down. Give us some time to figure things out."
She looks over at Alex. His eyes flutter as he struggles to keep himself awake, "Alex," she starts, "what points do you have to add to this conversation?"
He blinks, yawns and lazily replies, "I grabbed the rest of the supplies and caved in the tunnel from the manor."
"What's our inventory?"
"Enough to field a small army," Alex replies.
"Can you guys stop with the generalities? Tell me what we have!"
Alex takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes, "Well. We have exactly 28 MA5D Assault Rifles, with 217 spare magazines and 12,579 rounds of…"
"Okay, okay, okay," Maria interrupts him, "I'm sorry for being rude, but now's not the time. What do I need to know about the weapons we have. What are our capabilities?"
He shrugs, "I don't know because I'm not sure how our weapons compare to theirs. If I were to be honest, not much. Lots of small arms, not much heavy weaponry. But we do have enough explosives to bury half of Hidalgo if needed."
"Hopefully it never comes to that," Maria says, "let's keep our explosives focused on the enemies."
Maria pauses, trying to think of other ideas, "what about the spaceport? I know we constantly have delivery ships coming in and out One of them has to work. We could use explosives as a distraction and try to escape."
Austin counters, "while I like the idea it's too dangerous. I went scouting with a friend yesterday, they have an anti-air turret set up. We'll be vaporized before we even break the atmosphere."
Maria pauses, "when you say scouting, what do you mean?"
"We watched it for several minutes before we were discovered. They have multiple squads defending it as well as a couple of vehicles," Austin explains.
"What about weaknesses? If we wanted to disable the turret, where should we strike?" Maria asks.
Austin bites his lip, "it seems very top heavy, maybe if we break the foundations it will fall upon itself. Besides that there looks to be some sort of power source in the center of the turret. I'm willing to bet that if we destroy it the turret will be out of commission."
Maria looks at Alex, "we do have a lot of explosives. We could always send a team out to destroy the turret while we ferry everyone else to the spaceport."
Austin shakes his head, "even if that did work at best we would get to orbit before being destroyed. We need a distraction, something big enough that we can escape. That's assuming our weaponry can even damage their armor."
Maria replies, "explosives seemed to work pretty well against the banshee."
"Hold up," Austin says piping in, "you shot down a banshee. When did this happen?"
Maria replies, "yesterday, when I was picking up your son."
While Maria can obviously tell the discomfort coming from Austin about the idea of her dangerous weapons nearby Austin's son, he doesn't say anything as he realizes there wasn't much they could do otherwise.
"Speaking of," Maria speaks up, "I forgot to tell you, but your son found some alien ruins yesterday."
Austin looks down in shame, "he told me. My apologies for the danger my son put you through."
Maria shakes her head, "you don't understand. I think this is important, danger or not somehow these alien ruins are involved."
"What point are you trying to make here?" Austin asks.
"There's a third party in play here," Maria declares.
"And how is that important?" Austin asks.
"Besides the fact it's the only lead we have," she replies, "it explains why we are being attacked."
Both Austin and Alex give Maria a confused glance. Austin says, "I don't think I follow."
Maria leans forward and says, "think about it. It all makes sense."
"Take a second to breathe, what are you trying to say here?" Alex stresses.
Maria groans and continues, "what happens with all the other colonies that were attacked. We lose orbital control and they glass the planet from orbit. Hell that's the reason why I asked Alex if he was willing to share his bunker in the first place."
"But, instead of orbital bombardment, what do we get instead?" Maria pauses for a second for dramatic effect, "an honest to god classic invasion. Think about it, why would they do that? Because they know about the alien ruins, and they don't want to damage them."
Austin rests his face in his hand for a second as he shakes his head, "okay. Let's pretend you're right. What do we do then? We know why they're here, so what now? We send them a message saying, 'hey we found what you guys are looking for. Please don't genocide us.'"
Maria shakes her head, "if it were that easy then they wouldn't have attacked us without warning. If you ask me, there's something in the ruins, something that they want, and that they don't want us to get."
"So what are you proposing?"
"They don't know where the ruins are yet, at least I think they don't. If we can figure out what they are looking for, and get it for ourselves, then maybe we can actually survive," she stops and glances at Alex, "and if that doesn't work. Then we blow the entire compound sky high as a fuck you. Get that distraction we need to escape."
"So what?" Austin demands, "we risk our lives on this random lead that may not even pan out? I say it's too dangerous."
Maria groans, "think of it this way. Either we starve to death, or we get attacked. We were followed back to the manor, so whether we like it or not, they know we are hiding. It's only a matter of time before we get discovered."
"Fine," Austin concedes, "let's say I agree with you. How do you suppose we even get back to the ruins. We can't exactly go on a sunday stroll anymore."
Maria faces Alex, who is starting to doze off again. She snaps at him to get his attention and asks him, "You said there's 3 separate entrances besides the main one, right?"
"Yeah," he says, nodding in tandem.
"You closed the one from the manor, so that leaves 2 hidden entrances," Maria continues, "I leave under the cover of night, and use one of the mongooses we have in storage to get there."
"And what?" Austin continues, "just hope that they don't spot you and vaporize you instantly?"
"As opposed to what else?" Maria demands, "I'm trying to make suggestions here! I don't know about you, but given the option I don't want to die here. I'd rather try to gain some ground before we no longer have a chance."
"I understand your motivation," Austin replies, "but I don't think this is the way it should be done. We need to focus on the now, and not on these random leads."
"What 'now' is there to focus on?" Maria exasperates, "trying to keep our sanity while we slowly bleed resources? We need a better plan than that."
"We all heard the transmissions from the local militia. They barely stood a chance. Sometimes the best plan is no plan," Austin says, "we're lucky enough to be alive, let's focus on keeping it that way."
Maria groans loudly and gives an ultimatum, "listen, I appreciate the concern, but I don't agree with you. Later this night I am going to check out the ruins, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."
Austin rubs his face with his hands and inhales deeply, "I don't agree with your plan, I don't like your plan, and I think your plan is incredibly stupid," he inhales sharply again and continues, "but I'm coming with you."
"Wait, why? You literally just said that you think my plan is garbage," Maria asks.
"Because someone needs to make sure you don't get yourself killed," Austin explains.
"Is this up for debate?"
"No."
Vol POV
As I sit on top of the hill, with a faint fire crackling next to me, the burning city in front of me hurts to see.
You know. There are some parts of sangheili culture I really dislike, and there's none more infuriating right now than the idea that sangheili don't like doctors.
Once the adrenaline wore off I realized that, while not fatal, the bullet wound I got still hurts like hell. Who would have guessed? And because the wound is on my arm, whenever I used that arm, which is a fucking lot, it hurts like hell.
I check the wound again. It's closed at this point, and I don't think it got infected. At least it could be worse.
"What are you doing here?" Yr says, walking up the side of the hill, "you're supposed to be in the base right now."
I turn my head to glance at him, I toss another stick in the fire and reply, "do you care?"
"Well," he starts, and pauses seemingly unsure of what to say, "what are you doing?"
I shrug, "enjoying the moment."
He walks up to me and crouches next to the fire. It's probably odd to him, he never grew up camping back on Earth, he doesn't share the same nostalgia that I do. "How did you even start a fire?" he eventually asks.
I hold my plasma rifle in the air, "take a guess. This thing is practically a bomb."
He sits down next to the fire, and watches the burning city with me. I'm lucky enough that Yr is lax as a leader, allowing me leeway to do my own thing.
He watches the city with a joyful indifference, "beautiful is it not?" he asks.
"Hmm," I respond, not wanting to get into an argument about morals, "it's certainly… colorful."
A moment of silence falls between us. I toss another stick in the fire as the wind picks up. I can't remember the last time I genuinely had a moment to myself.
I mean, Yr's here now, but even then. High Charity never rests, while I enjoyed the interconnected cultural hub that High Charity is, I almost forget about the peace in silence. I've been around so many people I almost forget what it's like to be by myself.
And now more than ever I need a moment to myself. After what happened earlier today I think I would lose my mind if I had to spend anymore time surrounded by the Covenant.
"What drives you?" Yr says, breaking the silence.
I give him a look, "what are you trying to ask?"
"I'm not trying to insult you," he replies, "it's just… you confuse me. You don't seem to care about honor and seem to dislike combat, despite your skill. You're different from any other sangheili I've ever met. And as much as I try to understand your motivations, I find it difficult."
"I…" I start, but hesitate. There's so much I could say here, so much I want to. I want to be able to confide in him about my secrets, but I know I can't. I don't trust him. Yet.
I continue, "I don't like fighting because I view it as pointless. I don't care about honor, or rank or any other of the stuff that most sangheili stress about. I just want to stay alive."
"Why," he continues, "if you want to stay alive, it implies that you have something to stay alive for. What is it?"
I look at the burning city once again. The skyline is so similar to the big metropolises back on Earth, albeit heavily scaled down.
"I'm alive… because I want to return home," I say.
It's obvious that Yr is unsatisfied with my answer, but I make it clear that I'm not going to elaborate any more. I examine him, he obviously doesn't find the same relaxation I find in this situation.
And yet… he's still here.
He's making such an attempt to get to know me despite my hesitations. It's nice, if not slightly unusual.
It takes a moment for me to understand why.
"What happened?" I ask, "who did I replace?"
Yr sighs. It's obvious I hit a soft spot for him.
"You don't have to share if you don't want to," I say softly.
He doesn't say anything for a second. He eventually starts, "his name was Kell 'Harumee. He was…" he pauses and organizes his thoughts, "a brilliant fighter. Capable, strong, honorable, it was a pleasure to get the chance to work with him."
He laughs a bit and continues, "you two are a lot alike actually. Despite your proclivities."
"What happened to him though?" I ask.
Yr sighs again, "we were dealing with pirates, honorless vermin. They ambushed us, and we were outnumbered and outgunned. It was my first mission leading a squad, and it was my duty to keep the team alive, but… I hesitated."
"But Kell," Yr brightens up a bit talking about his former squadmate, "he was ready. He threw himself at the enemy, knowing he would most likely not survive."
"He sacrificed himself, so that y'all could escape, didn't he?" I surmise.
"Exactly," Yr says, "it should have been me. Kell gave his life without hesitation, while I was too afraid to do anything."
"You can't control everything," I say trying to placate Yr, "especially death. I would know."
As much as Yr would like to have me think otherwise, I can almost feel the genuine sadness emanating from him. As strong willed as he is, he's still emotionally naive. Sangheili don't like to talk their problems out, they either fight or ignore it.
He's hurting from a loss, and he doesn't know what to do otherwise than just focus on being honorable, with almost suicidal abandon.
"We'll survive this," I say, "I'll be sure of it."
Yr looks at me, "I don't need you to protect me."
"You're right," I say, giving him a smile, "but I choose to do it anyway."
Yr gives a bleak smile, "you and Kell would have gotten along really well," he gazes off into the distance, "how is the wound looking?" he eventually says, changing the topic.
"The wound's closed and not infected," I reply, "it's just uncomfortable."
Yr relaxes a bit, "good to hear," he stands up.
He gazes at the city once again, as if it would appear different from a standing position. He eventually shakes his head, turns to me and says, "Me and some other sangheili were planning to train together later today. It's not terribly serious, and is more a social thing to keep our minds focused. Do you want to join us?"
I hesitate. Part of me really wants to just stay here indefinitely. Forgetting that I'm even in the Covenant and enjoying a life without fear. In my mind it almost seems so easy. Forgetting everything that has happened and finding a new way to live my second life.
But, that's obviously not going to happen.
I stand up, stamp out the fire and reply, "sure, I'll join y'all."
Maria POV
"Are you sure you just want to leave the mongoose here?" Austin notes.
"As opposed to what?" Maria asks, "we leave the mongoose in front of the ruins. At that point we might as well just put a large arrow pointing to the ruins."
"They could be waiting for us to lead them to the ruins," Austin continues.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure they see us and immediately come to the conclusion that we will lead to them to whatever butt fuck nowhere ruin they want," Maria replies, "if they found us, we would be dead. If they already found us, then it really doesn't matter anyways."
The mongoose sits on the edge of the forest, close enough to the open field to be seen from a fair distance, yet deep enough in the forest to be covered by the canopy. Austin grabs another assault rifle magazine stored in one of the compartments, takes a step back and inspects at the mongoose with displeasure.
"What if they just find it anyways and destroy it?" Austin asks.
"Then we'll get to have that sunday stroll you really wanted to have," Maria replies, "in the middle of the night, while being invaded."
Austin goes to complain again, but Maria interrupts him, "stop complaining. You're worse than your kids. Now let's go."
Austin frowns but doesn't complain anymore, "you know my kids look up to you, especially Hannah."
Maria laughs, as she makes her way over a collapsed log, "I'm the last person you want them to grow up to be like."
"Doesn't matter in their eyes, though," Austin replies, stepping over the same overturned log, "to them you're the gun toting badass mother they always wanted but never had."
Maria pauses. She had never really been looking for a permanent relationship, and especially wanted to avoid having kids. But, as much as she would like to swear otherwise, Austin's kids have grown on her.
So much has happened to her in so little time. It's odd. It's scary.
Austin sees her stop and says, "I don't want to force you to be anything you're not. I'm thankful for what you've done to help my kids, but if you're uncomfortable around them you can just tell me."
"It's okay," Maria replies softly, "it's kind of just amazing how quick things went to shit. I was glad when I left the UNSC and didn't need to worry about dying anymore. But now… I feel like I'm just on autopilot. I don't want to internalize what's going on for fear that I won't know what to do."
She turns back to Austin and gives him a pained smile, "your adorable kids are the least of my problems."
"Why did you leave the UNSC?" Austin asks, "you seem so confident in combat, yet you seem to dislike anything fighting."
Maria shrugs, "it's not that I don't like fighting, it's just… What does fighting achieve? It's always a last resort when things go to shit."
Austin chortles a bit, "it's not often you meet an ex-military pacifist."
Maria corrects, "I'm not a pacifist. I fight if needed, but only then. I just didn't like constantly having to worry about why I'm fighting. I left the UNSC because I wanted to find purpose in life outside of being a soldier."
"And that's why you moved to Blue Sky?" Austin asks.
"Pretty much," Maria replies, "I basically moved here for the same reason you brought your kids. Blue Sky was a small agricultural colony most people haven't even heard of, I wanted a community where I wasn't just another number."
Maria holds up a hand before Austin can continue, "while I'm enjoying this conversation, we're getting close."
She gestured to tire tracks deep in the now dried mud from when Maria had escaped a day ago. It's hard to see with almost no light, but it's still visible.
They make the rest of the trip in relative silence, as the sounds of the surrounding wildlife overtake them.
Eventually they make it. To the same weathered hill, with hidden ruins revealed in the wall.
Maria lets out a sharp breath, as Austin just stares and gazes at the strange metal. "Well," Maria starts, "here we go."
She takes a tentative step towards the ruins. There's no front door, and with it instead having some opening into the interior. As they step in Maria turns on a flashlight, using it instead of the dim ambient light.
They walk to the end of the room. There's a path on the left, heading deeper into the earth. There's almost a faint buzzing in the air, like the entire ruin is still alive and breathing.
"Well, I guess the only way forward is down," Maria notes.
Austin spins around as he follows Maria, taking in the sights, "I guess so," he replies.
There's a triangular doorway with no actual door at the bottom of the ramp.
"I don't like this," Maria says, brushing her hand on the cool metal as she walks through the doorway.
"It was your idea," Austin counters.
Maria gives him a joking glare, "don't make me leave you in here."
"That would be un-ideal," Austin responds.
Maria doesn't respond, instead focusing on the path ahead. They come upon another doorway. This one leads to a platform. However, instead of a wall, the platform extends over an abyss.
Maria glances over the edge, she can't see the bottom. The room has to be easily 30 feet in diameter, with other platforms jutting out at different locations. The effort required to construct this must have been astronomical.
"Holy shit," Maria says, "this was under us the whole time?"
"Well," Austin says, "apparently."
"Do we even have time to explore it all?" Maria asks herself.
"We aren't if we spend all our time gawking," Austin replies.
Maria stands at the edge for a couple seconds. There isn't even a railing, who knows what's even at the bottom.
She takes a deep breath and says, "you're right. Let's go."
They continue along the path. The ledge curves around, and leads to another ramp heading even deeper into the depths below.
They enter another room, with only a single other triangular closed door on the other side. This one is more compact, there's a large pedestal in the middle of the room with what looks to be a holographic terminal in it. Above the terminal, and hanging from the roof, is what appears to be an eye. It's definitely mechanical, but the unsettling part to Maria is that it is obviously watching them.
"Well, this has to be important," Maria says.
Austin doesn't reply and instead stares hesitantly at the eye following them, "which is why we should leave."
Maria gives him a glance, "where's your sense of adventure, we're probably the first humans to find this, and all you want to do is leave."
"Hey, if I had a choice I would be living on a farm with my children away from any danger," he gestures to the eye, "I didn't sign up for a genocidal war, or weird alien ruins."
"Well, it's too late to undo the war, so we might as well explore the 'weird alien ruins'," Maria replies.
Austin grumbles at himself but doesn't say anything else.
Maria walks up to the terminal in the middle of the room, the eye following her every step.
As she gets to the middle a voice speaks from inside the room, "Human," it says in perfect English, "why are you here."
The voice is distinctly mechanical. Coming from some unseen speakers hidden in the room. It echoes throughout the chamber almost giving the impression that the voice is from some deific being.
Maria holds her breath, "Uh, hello?" she responds, "who's there?"
The voice replies immediately, "I am the guardian of this facility. Why are you here?"
Maria looks up at the eye, while it doesn't move she can almost feel some being behind it. It clicks for her. The ancient alien ruins have an ancient alien AI protector.
"We are under attack," Maria says, "we're losing a war, badly. We're being killed off like animals. We came here looking for something to turn the tides."
"You will find nothing here," the voice replies, "this is an agricultural facility. I suggest you leave."
Maria hesitates. For a second her dreams come crashing down. But she holds her breath, "why are you here then?" Maria asks, "why is there an AI guarding agricultural ruins of all things?"
"I tolerate your ignorance because you simply don't know better," the voice replies, "you will find nothing here. You should leave."
Maria bristles, "or what? You say this is an agricultural facility, so then how are you going to remove me? My people are dying, do you understand that? I am not looking for some tech to scavenge and sell, I'm looking for a way to save everyone I can."
"Uh," Austin says from behind Maria, "let's not piss off the alien AI."
"Your companion is correct. Leave before I force you," the AI replies.
"Or what?" Maria demands, "you keep on threatening me, but you don't have anything to show for it."
Several hatches on the wall open up. Floating devices come out of some of the hatches, triangular in shape with a distinct blue eye in the middle. Held underneath is another glowing orange light.
"I will ask you again," the voice continues, "leave. This is the last warning."
Maria looks at the robots, floating around her. She glances back at Austin who is holding the assault rifle uncomfortably. If a fight starts they are too far away from cover to stand a chance.
"Fine," she gives in, "we're leaving," she says to Austin.
They walk back, with the robots following them. The walk back is equally tense and quiet, with both Maria and Austin resting their hands on their weapons all the way back.
Eventually they reach the surface again, and they leave the ruins, the robots watching them to make sure they leave.
The cool night breeze causes them to shiver as Maria glances back at the ruins with disdain.
"Well that was useless," Austin notes.
Maria frowns, "let's go. We'll talk later."
She starts walking back to the mongoose. Austin following her again. As they get further away Maria glances back at the ruins one last time.
Austin sees this and says, "well at least it could have gone worse."
A smile breaks out on Maria's face, "I don't know about you, but I'd consider that successful."
Austin sees her reaction and replies, "and now I'm confused."
Maria lets out a small laugh, "I told you that there are weapons hidden in there. I was right all along!"
Austin glances back at the ruins again incredulously. He counters, "what? You wanna head back and try to fight the robots? I'm sorry, but I like living."
Maria shakes her head, "didn't you see? There were far more openings for those robots to come from, yet most of them didn't spit one out."
"Maybe it didn't think it needed any more?" Austin guesses.
"Then why did all the hatches open?" Maria pressures, "face it. This ruin has been here for who knows how fucking long. As nice as it may look, it's probably in disarray."
"Again, I don't think you're thinking this through," Austin continues, "you're proposing we still go back and try to destroy all the robots. For all we know they might be invincible."
"I'm not saying we have to do that," Maria replies, "I'm saying it's an option, one we know is available. We can still blow the thing sky high if needed."
Austin gives her a curious look, "weren't you saying that you don't want to wait around and do nothing?"
She shrugs, "we aren't gonna solve all our problems in one day. I'm just glad that we made progress somewhere."
She glances at the horizon, "let's go. I want to get back before sunrise."
Vol POV
There's something I learned a lot as a sangheili, as much as I wouldn't want to admit it.
One of those things is how valuable silence is. Back on Earth it felt a lot like silence meant something was wrong. If you were in a conversation, silence meant that you are failing to be interesting.
On the other hand, sangheili know the value of silence. In silence you can focus. Silence doesn't mean boredom as much as it means thought.
This topic is apropos because of the deafening silence surrounding the sparring mat. As me and other sangheili watch the two spar, the only sound is the clashing of energy sticks and the shifting of armor.
The smaller one is wearing ranger armor, the mobility the armor provides is apparent as she is constantly trying to outmaneuver her opponent while trying to overwhelm him in strikes. Her combatant is a major I don't recognize. While he's struggling to make progress in the duel, it could end in an instant if he were to get a good strike.
If we were human we would be cheering on. But as sangheili talking in this case would be rude, it would demonstrate that you think that the combatants are so incompetent that anything else is more interesting.
And as someone who had to spend too much time focusing on sparring, I can at least appreciate the quality of the spar going on. There's a genuine difference between the average sangheili you would meet in training and one who has proven themselves on the battlefield. And it's genuinely exciting to watch.
The spar ends in an instant. The smaller sangheili ducking below a swipe and maneuvering her energy sword in front of the competing sangheili's breastplate. While no injuries are in play the point is obvious. Were she wielding an energy sword, it would be easy to pierce the breastplate and kill him.
Suddenly all the sangheili watching spring back into life. General sounds of encouragement echoing through the clearing. While the sangheili who lost probably has a damaged honor, the nature of the sparring match tries to avoid serious interpersonal conflict.
They nod at each other and walk back to their respective groups.
Yr asks from next to me, "do you want to spar next?"
I shift my arm and it groans in protest, reminding me of my experience in combat earlier today, "I think I'll pass. I'm not really in the mood," I reply, and give him a side glance, "what about you? You invited me here."
He nods, happily accepting the challenge, "gladly," he says stepping into the sparring pit. The conversations slightly die down as he challenges someone to face him.
For a second everyone just watches, waiting for someone to accept the challenge. Eventually another minor steps up, as other sangheili cheer him on.
The camp quiets again and the next fight begins.
Yr immediately springs into action, trying to use his experience to overwhelm the newer sangheili.
Jab, slash, stab, parry. Yr almost makes sparring look easy. He carries himself with a practiced ease that I rarely ever see in most sparring matches. As much as I've sparred with him I've never seen him spar with anyone else.
I glance through him. The ranger who won the first sparring match is glancing at me. I can't see her face through the helmet, but I can tell she's examining me. It's almost uncomfortable.
I pretend to ignore her and focus back on the fight.
The less-experienced sangheili is being pushed around the sparring mat. While having a very capable defense, able to block all the attacks with ease, the competitor is being driven further back.
Eventually he has his back to the edge of the mat. Another step back and he would be out of bounds.
Yr capitalizes on this, pushing towards him. His competitor is able to stay on the mat, dodging to the side, but is pushed off balance. Yr pushes his advantage and disarms him, sending the stick clattering on the other side of the sparring mat.
The camp breaks back into conversation.
Yr gives a nod towards his opponent who returns it, and comes back to sit with me.
"Well done," I compliment him.
He sits down next to me, his mandibles are flared in an obvious smile, "what did you think?"
I roll my eyes, and sarcastically reply, "oh you know. Maybe one day you can hope to be as good as me."
He continues his grin, "Well, I dread the day our skills are comparable."
"You must live your days in constant fear then," I reply.
Yr doesn't reply, his gaze focusing past me. I turn around and see the same ranger who won the first fight walking up to us. She stands before us in a both relaxed and composed stature.
I glance over to Yr. He's relaxed. He knows her.
She looks at Yr, "I don't think you've introduced me to your new squadmate."
Yr focuses on her and his smile grows, "Ah. Vol, meet Zoya 'Kthamee," I nod and she returns it, "she's a brilliant warrior and tactician. I'm lucky to be able to call her a good friend."
"Ah," I reply, giving him a shit-eating grin, "good friends you say."
He gives me a dirty glance, "your imagination knows no bounds. We're merely friends."
Zoya replies, "He's not a bad option. Of all the incompetent cretins here, you are by far the least incompetent."
"Is that even a compliment?" I ask.
Yr replies, "it's the kindest phrase I've ever heard her say to me."
Zoya and I lock gazes again. She's still examining me, trying to figure me out, "What do you think? Am I one of these 'incompetent cretins'?" I ask.
She looks me over again, "yes," she simply states.
"Thanks," I sarcastically rebut.
I give her a look, "well then I'm afraid then you have me at a disadvantage," I examine her, "it's not everyday I meet a ranger, especially planetside. Aren't you often on fleet protection duty?"
"There's not much protecting to be done," she replies, "as long as we maintain orbital superiority I will devote my talents where they are needed."
Yr pokes my side, "she helped other squads during our mission today."
I nod, "well then I thank you for your assistance," I reply.
She turns her head around and glances back at the sparring mat. No one has jumped at the opportunity to spar.
"I'm bored," she states, "and am yearning for another match."
She looks back at me and continues, "Prove to me you're worth being on Yr's squad."
I hesitate, I've had enough fighting for the day, "I don't care much for sparring."
Yr claps me on the back encouragingly, "you're more capable than you think. Even then, it's only a friendly match."
I shrug, and shake my head, "my apologies. My injury is acting up. Maybe some other time." It's 100% an excuse, and both Yr and Zoya realize that, but I'm not just in the mood to fight right now.
Zoya is visibly disappointed. If she weren't wearing a helmet I may have withered under her gaze, but as it stands I can stare into the faceless helmet and feel nothing.
I stare at her boredly, and reply, "well, you want to know if I'm worthy to be on Yr's squad. When we leave this god forsaken planet we can spar then. Until then, I am going to focus on the matter on hand."
"You can't guarantee your survival," she rebuts.
"I can and I will," I state.
She relaxes if only a bit, "then I hope to meet you on the battlefield."
I glanced over my shoulder towards the burning city in the background, "I don't think there are going to be any more battles at this rate."
She responds, "then I'll hold you to your promise of a spar."
Two other sangheili step onto the mat. Our conversation dies down as they prepare for another fight. Zoya gives me another disappointed look and rejoins her fellow rangers.
And the next fight starts.
So I got a review basically saying that the Covenant species in my story speak too much like English. And while that is something I will work to improve on, at the same time there is a reason I am kind of avoiding doing that. I do want characters to have traits emblematic of their species, but at the same time I am going to use creative freedom in order to have characters have more varied personalities than. I could go on for another couple paragraphs, but I'll leave it here.
I also fixed some formatting errors in the previous chapters that appeared when uploading to FF. My Blue Sky info sheet looked so good in google docs and then got nearly messed up when I pasted it.
For the Forerunner ruins I used the Silent Cartographer from Halo CE as reference, and for the AI I used the Cold Storage AI from Halo 3 as reference.
Not much really happens this chapter, but I need something to bridge the previous and next chapter, so here y'all go.
Also this is the longest chapter yet, barely breaking the 10,000 word mark. It was actually a lot of fun to write, I think I've finally hit my stride for this story and it's becoming a lot more fun to write.
See y'all next time.