My loyal readers, I have returned!
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This one is quite long. And, regretfully, lacks the violence we all have come to know and love. That will come soon enough. I promise! Also, I'll be giving a proper introduction to two OCs in this chapter. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with them so if anyone would like to make a suggestion, you're more than welcome.
And now with no further gilding the lily, I give you…
The Return of Zamamee and Yayap
Chapter 4
Zamamee examined his surroundings. He was waiting in the main medical center of High Charity. The over all atmosphere was meant to be relaxing but it did little to calm his troubled mind. Six days had passed since the bloody war on Halo and the sting of defeat still clung to everyone's spirits. For now, he was preparing for the examination the medic had promised him. He couldn't shake a foreboding feeling about it. He felt a little childish for being afraid of the doctor but given the circumstances who could blame him? His injuries, potentially fatal wounds, had vanished in a matter of hours. Maybe less. How the Hell do you test something like that! There was no telling what they were going to do to him! He was snapped out of his thoughts by a light pat on the shoulder. He looked to his left and spotted Yayap. The Grunt, having sensed his friend's apprehension, had offered to accompany him. Zamamee smiled, or as best he could with his ruined mouth, and gave Yayap a gentle pat on the head. His presence was actually a big comfort. He never thought he'd see the day he'd look to a Grunt for strength. He sighed and continued waiting. Another problem facing him was that he was bored out of his mind. Zamamee was not a patient man and just sitting there for such a long time was driving him to the brink! He considered checking his PDA. (personal data assistant) Everyone in the Covenant had one. It held their personal information and could be used as in I.D. Also, the ones owned by soldiers could be used to receive detailed reports of any and all military action by Covenant forces. He'd turned the damn thing off days earlier. They had been getting nothing but bad news as of late. However, bored as he was, he was considering turning it back on. After a few moments deliberation, he flicked the on switch. As expected, the device was flooded with new logs. He picked a recent one and a recorded voice came through.
"We have recently received orders from the Prophet of Regret himself to prepare for a massive search of a recently discovered solar system. He says that there is reason to believe that an artifact related to the Great Journey is located there. He has called 35 fleets to rendezvous at the refit station Unyielding Hierophant. This is over 400 ships. Why we are deploying such a massive force is a mystery. To search one system of planets should only require a very small fleet. Ten to fifteen ships would be more than adequate. There are rumors that the reason we are using such a large force is that this system is close to or even part of the humans' territory. In my opinion, this is ridiculous. In every encounter with the humans, there has never been a record of them traveling anywhere near this region of space. Perhaps the hierarchs are growing paranoid, but then how can we comprehend their thinking. End log." Zamamee digested this information before checking a more recent entry. The same voice spoke out, only this time it sounded tired and devoid of life.
"Reports are still coming in. The Unyielding Hierophant has been destroyed. We cannot get completely accurate reports because the computer network suffered a critical systems failure shortly before the station exploded; at first we believed that this was the cause of the explosion. However, we have recently pieced together confirmed reports that a strike team of five humans, all matching the description of the Demon who attacked the Fleet of Particular Justice, infiltrated the station. Also, surviving ships reported that the rogue ship, Ascendant Justice, rammed into the station. The humans on board issued a challenge to the fleet. They claimed they possessed a sacred icon and even showed it to them. We now believe it was a forgery and we're certain it was a trap. Because of this maneuver, nearly the entire fleet was within blast radius of the station. Only twelve cruisers and a handful of drop ships and seraphs survived. The death toll is catastrophic. It is estimated to be in the billions. Despite this, the Prophet of Regret has ordered that a second force be assembled. He says he will lead this one personally. (Sighs) I pray it turns out better than this operation. End log." Zamamee and Yayap were in shock. This was one of the biggest disasters in the history of the Covenant! However, one particular piece of information was stuck in their heads.
'Five? There's five of them?' This was bad. Very bad.
"Lord Zamamee!" His head shot up when he heard someone call his name. He looked to the door and saw a Grunt in white armor standing over the threshold.
"Come Yayap."
"Yes sir." They walked to the door where the Grunt greeted them.
"Right this way, my Lord." The Grunt had a soft voice and it was less squeaky than most Zamamee had heard. For this reason, he assumed it was female. His thoughts were interrupted by a surprised squeak from Yayap. He turned and saw that the medic was getting well within Yayap's personal space. He chuckled slightly.
'Definitely female.' The Grunt suddenly ran ahead of them.
"I have to tell the others to get ready. Just keep going straight. I'll be waiting at the door." With that, she ran down the hall as fast as she could.
"ComeYayap. We mustn't keep your "girlfriend" waiting." He laughed as Yayap's face turned blue.
"Oh shut up, Zamamee!" Zamamee just laughed harder and kept walking. What Yayap didn't tell him was that this had been happening pretty often as of late. Yayap was the first Grunt in the history of the Covenant to genuinely earn an Elite's respect. This had turned him into something of a hero among his people. While this did have its benefits, Yayap knew from experience that recognition could be a bad thing. In this case, every so often he'd notice a group of Jackals giving him the eye. It was no big secret that the Jackals despised the Grunts (needless to say, the feeling was mutual) and seeing one in good standing with an Elite was more than they could bear.
"Over here!" Yayap looked up to see the medic waving them toward a door. They walked in and were a little surprised to find themselves in a surgical center. Zamamee could feel his fear returning.
'This won't end well.' The room was filled with medical officers of varying species. One of whom led him to the operating bed in the center of the room."Welcome!" He looked around for the one who spoke and was surprised to see the same Elite he'd met on board Righteous Fury standing behind him.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise." She smiled and directed him to sit on the side of the bed. "What are you doing here?"
"Since I'm the one who technically discovered your condition, I was put in charge of studying it. My name's Mera Jasumee, by the way."
"Zuka Zamamee." They bowed their heads to each other before she started looking through the trays of medical instruments. Yayap, who had been standing next to Zamamee's bed, felt a tug on his shoulder. He turned to see the same Grunt who had greeted them at the door.
"I'm sorry but non-medical personnel have to wait outside." He was a bit shocked by this information.
"But…!"
"Do it, Yayap." H turned to look at Zamamee and was about to object but he cut him off. "Go on! I'll be fine." Yayap sighed and bowed his head.
"As you wish." With that, the two Grunts left the room. Jasumee found what she was looking for and turned to address the other medics.
"I'm happy to see that so many of you could make it. I am pleased to inform you that we are about to take part in what may very well be the medical discovery of the millennium! I present to you, my discovery!"
Outside, Yayap and the other medic were waiting for the examination to conclude. Yayap shot her a glance.
"Shouldn't you be inside with the others?"
"I have to make sure you don't sneak in. Besides, I can just review everyone else's notes." Yayap nodded and kept waiting. A few minutes of silence passed. "Umm, look, I'm sorry about earlier. Someone dared me to do it." He looked at her, puzzled. "You know, in the hallway?"
"Oh. It's all right. Really."
"I, uh…guess we got off on the wrong foot so let's start over." She extended her hand. "Hello. My name is Anyaw." He accepted the handshake.
"Yayap. It's nice to meet you, Anyaw."
"Likewise." They fell silent for a moment. Yayap was very relieved by her apology. The last thing he needed was another love struck girl following him around. Not that she wasn't attractive. By Grunt standards she was a rather impressive specimen. But all the girls he'd seen lately were getting a bit clingy for his tastes. "So…" He was snapped out of his thoughts by her voice. "…is it true?"
"What do you mean?"
"Does he really consider you his equal?"
"Oh…yeah. Of course the two of us have been through a lot together. And I sort of saved his life…twice."
"Wow!"
"Yeah. He's a really nice guy actually. But he can be a little rough around the edges." She giggled.
"He sounds like a good friend."
"He's a great friend." She was about to speak when the moment was broken by a howl of agony. "What the…!" Yayap went to open the door but Anyaw stopped him.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine." Under her breath she added in a worried tone. "I think."
Zamamee clutched his shoulder. She'd stabbed him! She'd sliced his shoulder wide open with a scalpel! In a rage, he grabbed her, brought her face within an inch of his and roared," ARE YOU INSANE!" to this, she simply and calmly asked one question.
"Does your shoulder still hurt?"
"Of course it…!" That was when he noticed that the receptors in his shoulder had stopped sending signals to his brain. "It doesn't." He released her and she took a cloth and began cleaning the blood off his shoulder. When it was gone, he could clearly see that his shoulder was completely healed. There was no cut, no scar, no physical evidence what so ever that the wound had ever been there. The other medics stared slack jawed for a moment before they began frantically typing into their holo-pads. He sat shocked for a moment before he said one word. "How?"
"I thought you'd never ask." She pulled out her holo-pad and an image of a DNA strand appeared. "This is from a blood sample I took from myself. It is the basic genetic code of an Elite. Every Elite has it." She typed something and a second DNA strand appeared. "This is from your blood." She typed some more and a scan program activated. It analyzed the two strands for a moment before the words INSUFFICIENT MATCH came up.
"How is that possible?"
"I can answer that. You see, after analyzing the data, I was able to identify the inconsistencies." A few spots on his DNA strand were highlighted. "After that, it was a matter of figuring out what it was. After an exhaustive examination I was able to conclude that this is the genetic material of a creature we have recently come into contact with." The highlighted portions of his DNA were removed and analyzed. Afterwards, a second scan program began a series of tests until the message MATCH FOUND appeared on the screen. The computer virtually constructed the animal. When it was complete, he could only stare in shock. It was a Flood Combat Form! "Shocking, huh? I spent the entire week trying to figure this one out. And after reading your reports, I think I know. You reported that when you fought the Demon, he attacked you with a pair of plasma grenades, correct?"
"Yes. It was probably blind luck that I survived."
"Well that luck must have held. Moving on, you also reported that shortly after regaining consciousness, you were attacked by a Flood Infection Form, is that right?"
"That's correct."
"Well I think I have the answer to the question of the day. The reason for your condition is that when you were caught in the grenade blast, you received a form of plasma poisoning."
"I've never heard of anything like that."
"It's not a common occurrence. Reason being, normally when you're hit with that much plasma, there's not much left to contract the condition."
"And the Flood?"
"I'm getting to that. You see, the way an Infection Form works is it uses a penetrator to latch on to the victim's spine and take control of their nervous system. From there, it alters their cellular and metabolic processes to transform them into a Combat Form or Carrier Form. However, because of the poisoning, your nervous system was a scrambled mess. So the Infection Form couldn't infect you properly. Also, in the time it took the Flood Form to realize this, your body had time to figure out what was attacking it, adapt to it, and finally, find a way to use it. Your body began absorbing the Flood Form's genetic material, likely killing it. This gave you several of the traits seen in a Combat Form. The most note able being you're regenerative powers." Zamamee digested this new information.
'Either I have every guardian spirit in the galaxy on my side or I'm the luckiest being in the entire universe!'
"So, any questions?"
"No. Nothing. I guess I'll be leaving now."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that just yet."
"What?"
"You see, I told the Prophets about my findings and the Prophet of Mercy wishes to know the full extent of your new abilities."
"Meaning?" At that, she wheeled out a tray filled with what, to him, could be described as torture devices. "Oh no."
Yayap and Anyaw had been waiting about two hours when the door finally opened. Zamamee staggered out, Jasumee half carrying him.
"Lord Zamamee!" Yayap ran up to his friend. "Are you alright?" Zamamee looked at him.
"Terrific. Any more stupid questions?" Yayap chuckled.
"Yep. You're alright."
And that was chapter four! Please read and review. Also, if you haven't already, read mudmag's fic, The Grunt that killed the Demon. You will laugh your ass off!