Chapter 5 – When The Time Is Right
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. If you do then I'm onto a winner.
Spartan 152 burst into the room to find the remains of chaos. It looked like a mess being cleared up. A small crowd stood in a semi-circle by a wall. Bodies were already being cleared up when she came.
"Sir, it happened pretty fast," a Spartan informed her.
"I see," Spartan 152 murmured.
"And sir," the Spartan called his voice becoming dismal. "We found the Sergeant and several others."
"I take it they weren't in the best condition ever," Spartan 152 said.
"They were dead, sir," the other replied. "But we did find a Spartan, wounded, but alive."
"Oh? How are they?" Spartan 152 asked.
"A small spinal fracture," the Spartan reported. "The intruders left in a Heron, Sir. However they left someone behind…"
Suddenly the whole construct shook. The Spartan looked from the ceiling to Spartan 152.
"They're firing," he said.
Spartan 152 paused to think for a moment.
"Retreat," she ordered.
"But, Sir…"
"That's an order!" she yelled. "Get everyone on a Heron, a Warthog, something, and move out."
"What of the Elite?" a Spartan asked.
"Oh we're not leaving that behind," Spartan 152 replied.
"YOU WHAT!"
Alecto winced as the Prophet shouted unbelievingly.
"All our effort and hard work and you did what!" Trust screeched. "You were right there and you left her?"
"Yes, Mighty Prophet Trust, but I did it in all good faith," Alecto told them.
"Calm down Noble Trust!" Honour said watching the enraged Prophet. "If we can establish communications…"
"They're not that stupid," Trust growled.
"True," Patience mused. "However she is still allied to us only now she's past their outer defence."
"Mighty Patience, sometimes you think very much like a tactician," Honour noted aloud with a frown.
Patience smiled. "That I do."
Alecto stood with Megaera in the large room looking between the Prophets. Trust sighed then looked accusingly at General Fulamee.
"How could you let this happen?" he asked. "We put this operation under your command and we loose one."
"I did all I could. My forces and I searched the construct and…" General Fulamee answered.
"Why didn't your forces pursue them?" Trust asked, anger mounting.
"They did! But we lost them in an oncoming blizzard," General Fulamee replied.
Megaera leaned on a table running her hand through the hologram. It showed the stars in the vacuum of space. Megaera paused before changing the image to that of a demon.
Alecto walked over to the table and watched as Megaera studied it's features. She brought up another demon, the modern type.
"What are you looking at?" Alecto asked.
"Note the differences between the two," she replied. "How their armour has changed, advanced. They end up with things we had only through the forerunners and now…invisibility."
Alecto grunted and withdrew from the image.
"Mimics, the lot of them," she growled. "Foul beasts from the pits of hell!"
Alecto slammed her fist on the table causing the image to flicker before vanishing. Megaera sat up, ignoring the rash gesture. She kept on gazing into space going over things in her mind.
"They're advancing," she mused. "Far quicker than us."
Megaera looked up at Aletco who was gripping the edge of a chair.
"We're on the loosing side," she stated.
"Well we might as well fight for it, make it last longer," Alecto said. "Do our duty."
Tisiphone woke. It seemed so sudden, a shock to the system. All of a sudden she was awake, not at all tired. Her helmet had been removed. She was in the boundaries of an illuminated rectangle. However she couldn't move her arms or legs, and she couldn't detect what the cause was.
A sudden rush of anger swept through her as she remembered the last moments she was awake.
"Filth," she growled. "It will be me who slaughters each and every one of you!"
"Doesn't look like that to me," a voice said.
Tisiphone stretched as best she could to look around the dark room. Then she relaxed. Fine I shall play your little game.
"When the time is right," she replied.
"It's on the ship?" Captain Kalon asked an excited grin appearing on his face.
"Yessir," Spartan 152 answered.
"Oh do show…" the Captain said but an arm stopped him from proceeding.
"I am your commanding officer, in future do not do anything without my go ahead," General Jameson growled.
"Yes, Sir," Captain Kalon sighed.
"Captain!"
"Sir yes sir!" the Captain retried.
"That's better," General Jameson said. "I do not tolerate insubordination in my fleet."
He turned to Spartan 152 standing beside Master Chief. Behind the General Captain Kalon rolled his eyes. Underneath her visor Spartan 152 raised an eyebrow.
"Is it secure?" the General asked.
"Yessir," Spartan 152 informed him.
"Then let's meet our new arrival," he concluded, glancing back at the Captain.
General Dean Jameson walked into a bright room to see two men working at some controls. In the centre of the room a heavily armoured Elite struggled to free itself from invisible bonds. It hovered above a rectangular block, white light shone from the block.
Captain Kalon circled the captive several times.
"It's magnificent," he said.
"Ingenious," the General murmured.
"The machine or the prisoner?" a man working the controls asked.
"Machine." General Jameson replied.
"Prisoner." Captain Kalon answered.
"I see…" the man said.
"We used the same technology from the Ghosts to make this," the other man told them and came up beside the General. "Ironic, isn't it?"
"Mm," the General said. "Can it hear us?"
"That device is completely soundproof, and all it can see is darkness until we say otherwise," the man informed them proudly.
"I want to talk to it," the General told them. "Let it see us as well."
"Right away, Sir," the man replied and leapt to the controls. "When you're ready."
The General nodded and turned his attention to the struggling Elite being forced to face them. He grinned at the control the device had over the Elite.
"Covenant," he called.
Through the darkness Tisiphone heard her enemy call. She'd recognise that foul tongue anywhere. The shadow lifted and she saw a group standing nearby.
"Filth! Dirt from hell!" she screeched.
General Jameson grinned as he heard the Elite screech it's reply.
"I could say the same thing about you," he replied. "You don't exactly look like the rest, why's that?"
The Elite stayed quite, staring disdainfully at him. The General shuffled uncomfortably and changed the question.
"Spec Ops eh? What were you doing on Kellis II?" he asked.
The Elite started laughing, it had a deep, echoing laugh that irritated the General.
Tisiphone chortled at the Filth's sentence. How little he knew, did he not look into his captives.
"You fool. You think three mere Spec Ops would slay a hall full of you?" Tisiphone boomed. "Did your leader not listen to the message given? If your race is to feel pain there is none better to give it."
Master Chief tensed. A fury?
"Sir, may I?" he asked the General who nodded.
"By all means," he replied.
Master Chief looked back at the Elite.
"You are a Fury?" he asked.
The Elite laughed even more before stopping to reply.
"Correct," it said. "And I plan to kill each and every one of you, one way or another."
"Which one?" Spartan 152 asked. "There are three, which are you?"
Tisiphone stopped laughing to remember Alecto. She left me behind. And Megaera…
"You are not worthy of my cooperation," she told them half-heartedly. "Go now for you are wasting your time."
The annoyed General nodded and the men pulled up the barrier. Captain Kalon looked at the General, confused.
"Why stop? There is so much more you could squeeze out of it," he asked.
"You're confusing Elites with Grunts, Captain," the General told him. "Once they say they'll stop they stop."
The Captain's face turned from excitement to disappointment. The General looked at Spartan 152.
"How do you know about the Furies?" he asked.
"Greco-Roman mythology, Sir," she replied.
"Ah, something I know very little about," the General mused and started to walk out of the room. "What do you know of the Furies?"
"There are three, Sir, Tisiphone, Alecto and Megaera," Spartan 152 informed him. "They were goddesses of vengeance. Alecto, unceasing in anger. Megaera, jealous and Tisiphone, avenger of murder. As far as I can recall."
The General murmured thoughtfully at this information.
"Eumenides," Captain Kalon said.
Everyone looked at him as a smile spread across his face.
"Kind Ones," he translated.
Falcon woke up in a typical Covenant cell. His arm stung but was sealed with some form of bio foam. So the Covenant weren't completely foul.
"Hey, are you awake yet?"
Falcon looked across the way to where another Spartan sat slumped against the bars. Falcon walked as near to the Spartan as the cell would allow. He studied the bars for a minute and looked at the Spartan again.
"Why don't you pry the bars apart?" Falcon asked. "It should be a cinch."
The other Spartan laughed, " You think I haven't tried? Anyway there are guards in every nook and cranny, I couldn't handle all of them alone."
"True…" Falcon murmured.
"Who are you, then?" he asked.
"You first," Falcon replied.
"Secondary Chief," the Chief told him.
"Ah, Spartan 200," Falcon thought aloud. "Haven't seen you for what? Seven years?"
"Remind me who you are," the Chief said.
"Spartan 184 aka Falcon," Falcon informed him.
The Chief laughed setting a bunch of Jackals off screeching.
"I'd never have thought…" he chuckled.
Falcon glared grimly through the bars at the Chief. Of all the people he had to be stuck with. He hoped the Grunts would sooner eat him than to be stuck with such a soldier.
Why does he have to be here? I hope the Elites kick him into dust! He scowled.
"Are you still being a bad leader?" Falcon asked the Spartan. "Still blaming others for your mistakes?"
"At least I don't shoot my comrades," the Chief replied.
"Lucky I don't send soldiers under my command to act as bait," Falcon rejoined, "then order their murder."
"You shot him! You killed him!" the Chief shouted, standing up.
"And then you pin the blame on me," Falcon hissed.
"It was your fault," the Chief told him.
"Yet what was it we learnt in training? Hm?" Falcon asked.
The Chief slid down, sitting in a corner of his cell. Turning his back on Falcon.
"Always, no matter what, always obey your commander," Falcon said. "Ring a bell?"
The Chief said nothing, staring at the blank, purple-pink wall.
Patience watched the two demons converse, both obviously not happy to be with the other. He listened as the 'Falcon' pulled a string releasing a wave of guilt on the 'Chief'.
"Fascinating," Patience mumbled and looked at the other two Prophets beside him. "See how he talks in such a way that he hurts the other without nearing him."
"We see," Truth replied.
"Though I still find it despicable that you bother to watch them," Honour told Patience.
"Oh step out of the old times," sneered Patience. "This is a time for tactful thinking, not for letting pride get in the way all the time."
"Careful where you tread, Mighty Patience," Honour warned. "For the outcome will not be good if you challenge the gods."
"Oh I wouldn't dare," Patience hissed.
"What are we going to do about Tisiphone?" Trust asked quickly changing the subject.
"Trade," Honour answered breaking away from Patience's glare.
There you go, another chapter done. The usual please review and all that. Cheers for reading & reviewing.