Chapter 30: Exfiltration
Groaning as I landed roughly on the grassy ground, I felt a surge of adrenaline fill me with a keen alertness that I've only ever felt on a battlefield. My heart was beating loudly in my ears, pumping blood through my veins as tried and tested warrior instincts flared to life. Reflexively, one hand went to my sword even as I quickly rolled on the ground to get myself back to my feet.
Assessing the situation fully, I focused my attention on all the information I had access to.
Blue electric flare from my shields, still strong. Sword in hand, keep away from flammable dry grass incase I need it. Screaming and shouting somewhere. Two humans struggling on the ground nearby, one holding the other down. Gunfire, alien and plasma…
"Ambush! Dishonorable worms!"
"~Oh my god! Run!~"
"Rally to the shipmistress!"
"~Everyone into the house, now!~"
"Bwoooo!"
Picking out the most pertinent details I could from the situation first, I heard Byrne's voice extremely close by. He sounded angry, so when I turned my head in the direction, I wasn't too surprised to see him pointing a sidearm at the back of a wriggling man's head below him as he pressed the human into the dirt below.
"~Stay down! Hands behind your back!~"
The man who shot me.
"You shot my sister!"
It seems I wasn't the only one who remembered that little fact either.
Sadly for me, it seems even the scant few seconds it took for me to shake off the sudden introduction my face had to the ground was a bit too long for my liking. I could only watch as Timore lifted one of the two struggling humans off the ground effortlessly with one hand, like a child would play with a doll. Flinging him to the side carelessly, he grabbed the other one with both hands and hefted him clear over his head. Both arms above him, I watched in silent horror as the beastial rage the jiralhanae were known for showed itself in my normally gentle and kind friend.
Adrenaline filling my veins at that moment, I watched almost in slow motion as Timore's muscles rippled under his armor. I idly wondered why he didn't use his hammer, the now long forgotten weapon tossed aside as he opted for a much simpler method of inflicting his violence.
The man flailed his comparatively tiny limbs against the iron grip nearly ten feet in the air, struggling against the restraints of two massive hands holding him in place. Sadly, it wouldn't help him any as Timore decided to drastically aid the gravity of this world in it's endless pull back to the surface.
Slam!
The man was dead on impact with the ground. I knew from experience and by the sound of bones shattering from the impact of the blow that there was no coming back from something like that.
Not even a moment later, the rage monster my friend had become turned its attention to the other human he tossed aside mere moments before. Closing the distance with surprising speed, Timore snagged the marine into a one armed grip of iron.
Byrne, for his part, only struggled for a moment before dropping his weapon to the grassy ground and opening both hands disarmingly towards the furiously snarling jiralhanae.
Timore examined the hands for a moment with murder still clear in his eyes, but at that point I finally was able to fully react.
"Stop!"
Timore stiffened for a moment, turning his head away from the human he was holding up in his hand. Judging by the grunts of pain from the green garbed man, he wasn't being too kind with him.
"They shot the shipmistress!"
"~Everyone inside! Go, go, go!~"
"Dishonorable cowards! Face your opponents with honor!"
"~Our bullets are doing nothing, 'sarge!~"
The scattered yells from my warriors mixed with gunfire caught my attention again, causing me to whip my attention back towards the food tents. An area that was peaceful only moments ago… was now complete and utter chaos.
Human warriors and civilians headed by Johnson were retreating toward the only cover they could, the mansion. Sadly for them, in the face of several angry sangheili swordsmen and kig yar snipers, they were sitting ducks. Thankfully, it looked like my warriors were only setting up a perimeter as they moved to rally to me.
All of them were cloaked in purple electric shields from a closely drifting Floats, the purple protective shell flaring as the gunfire from retreating humans was shrugged off harmlessly. The kig yar appeared to all have activated their point defense gauntlets, acting like a secondary circular shield wall against the projectiles from nearby humans, protecting the far more deadly sangheili from a large enough volley of gunfire to get through their doubly strong shielding.
Sadly for the humans, they had no such shields.
Particle beams and plasma rounds pierced into the flesh of those poor souls caught in the crossfire with no resistance even as my warriors slowly made their way toward me. My keen eyes easily spotting a few dead or dying humans on the ground in smouldering heaps already, caught in the wrong place at the worst time. The efficiency and deadly focus my warriors were showing was proving to be more than a match for any of these humans to deal with.
I would be impressed by their impromptu tactics, idly noting that the teamwork and strategy was something I hammered into them personally. Each strategy was something I taught them over the last few years from the personal training of my warriors on their combat drills. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy the fruits of my labor now, as they were only being used for horror and destruction.
I didn't know what went so wrong. I didn't know why this happened. I didn't know how things got so out of hand so quickly. I didn't know if this actually was an ambush or not. I didn't know anything…
My keen eyes scanned the scene, looking for any confirmation that this was an ambush. Quickly discerning that the human warriors were in a full retreat, I ruled that thought out immediately. This wasn't the act of an organized ambush then… What is it?
A high pitched scream, alien to me, drew my attention to the fruit stands.
Or what used to be fruit stands.
My sharp eyesight caught the woman who sold me the melons not too long ago, crouched over two young humans as she used her body to attempt to block any fire that could be raining down upon them. Bullets and plasma rounds whizzed over her, missing the woman by mere inches as my warriors exchanged fire with the green clad humans.
If this wasn't an ambush, then I need to take control of this situation. Right now.
Quickly switching my communications array as fast as I could, I yelled into everyone's ears as loudly as possible.
"Cease fire! Everyone stop!"
The firing slowed, taking a few moments for everyone to stop firing into the crowd of retreating humans. Johnson took advantage of the reprieve quickly enough, pulling as many people as he could behind the mansion and quickly setting up a defensive area.
And then all that could be heard were groans of pain and screams from the civilians. The stench of death and iron blood could be smelled soaking the air with an oppressive weight. Doing my best to ignore it, I finally got to my feet fully and began to bark orders.
"Warriors! Rally to me! Hold your fire unless I say otherwise!"
Quickly, my warriors formed a circle around me. A kig-yar phalanx with a small lance of sangheili sharpshooters above them.
"Nath!"
For the first time since I met the ruuhtian, I heard him speak with his signature confidence gone and a nervous crack in his voice.
"Y-yes boss?"
Spotting my friend, I point to him with a firm talon even as I step into the middle of the shield wall set up by the former contestants.
"Call for immediate extraction. We are retreating back to the ship."
"Shipmistress! Look!"
Hearing a t'vaoan shouting for my attention, my head whips around quickly to spot what could possibly be going wrong now.
Seeing two of the human warriors with their hands up making their way toward the impromptu warzone, I watch as they move to collect their wounded and pull them to safety.
Scanning the bloodbath, I could spot at least ten people on the ground with serious injuries. I could tell outright that not everyone would make it, but at the very least there were a few I knew Floats could help with.
And I can't leave these people like this.
Quickly coming up with a plan, I look back toward the two humans that Timore still had in a vice grip.
"Floats!"
The trembling engineer made a noise that sounded like a mix between a squeak of fright and a groan of despair before slowly floating up to me with his head dipped extremely low.
"Can you heal the injured?"
Grumbles of discontent came from the sangheili nearby as a ranger responded to my words.
"Shipmistress, we need no such care. It is dishon-"
Snarling towards the interruption, I gesture with a hand toward the massacre.
"Their injured! I already know from the fact that that shot barely dented my shield reserves, that none of you are hurt at all!"
Silence came from my words as they sank in, realization washing over them that they just participated in a very one sided firefight.
"I… Wouldn't say t-that boss…"
Whipping back around to Nath, I tilted my head.
"What do you…"
It was then that I noticed he was holding his gut, his large cloudy eyes focused on his hand as he moved it away from his body.
His bloody hand.
My blood froze as he seemingly examined just how bad his wound was by moving his head closer to the affected area. The moment he moved to examine his wound however, his life's blood seemed to take that moment to escape his body in alarming quantities. Collapsing onto the ground, I watch in horror as he falls into the dirt below with a thud.
"Bwooooouuu!"
Quicker than I could react, the engineer was over to the wounded ruuhtian. Watching as the strange glowing aura seeps into my downed friend, I could only hope that the damage wasn't so bad that Floats couldn't fix it.
"These savages broke an agreement of peace! We should slaughter them for this treachery!"
Growls of agreement from my warriors came up, each of them wishing for more blood than had already been spilt.
I couldn't let it continue. This had gone too far already, the murder of what was most likely innocent civilians was already too heavy on my mind. I felt anger, true and pure at the position I was now in, forced to work through a horrific situation caused by someone else's making… and for what?
Slamming a foot onto the ground, I yell out with as much authority as I could muster.
"No!"
The warriors that were not watching the perimeter all were surprised by my outburst. Several sangheili all shifted a bit, staring at me. I was sure this was the first time I've ever lost my temper in front of my warriors, but at the moment I didn't care.
"My orders for a situation like this are clear! Hold the defensive line and wait for evacuation!"
Not bothering to wait for their protests, I switch my communications on. Hailing the phantom pilot, I practically scream into the device.
"Pilot, requesting immediate emergency extraction! Get here, now!"
"At once, shipmistress!"
"Oh gods… It hurts!"
Hearing Nath's pained groans on the floor, I felt my blood boil once again. Walking over, I kneel down next to the form of my blood stained friend and examine him more closely.
Seeing him like this shattered my heart. It was obvious that he lost a lot of blood at this point, as I could see a small purple puddle forming even in the dry dirt below him. Floats was sealing the wound at this point, a sign that he was doing his best, but the glint of a bloody metallic projectile cradled in one of his tentacles caused another bout of rage to bubble up within me.
His cloudy eyes looked up to me from below, widening as he weakly lifted an arm.
"Golden wings… Sohm? It's so… You're beautiful… Flying free…"
A sharp spike of fear rose up within me as the strange muttering of my friend started. Looking desperately up towards Floats, I could see the engineer focused on his wound.
"Floats?" I heard my voice crack, but I didn't care. "Is he going to…"
The engineer didn't even look up from his work as he signed a few words in my direction.
"He is suffering from blood loss, but he will make it."
Pure, exhausted relief filled me as I released the breath I didn't know I was holding.
Sadly, it wasn't long before that relief turned back into the focused authoritative seriousness that I knew I needed to have right now.
Whipping my head around, I found Timore still standing there with a human held up in his iron grip. Pushing off the ground with a hand, I felt a dirty squelching noise as I felt something wet.
A thick coppery scent along with a glint of deep purple covering my talons was all I needed to know about what it was. Shaking my head back into focus, I made my way towards my infuriated jiralhanae friend. Almost placing a bloody hand on the arm that was holding Byrne up, I thought better of it as I dropped it back to my side before I spoke up softly.
"Release him."
A deep, feral growl was released from my friend. One that honestly terrified me for a moment, as I have only heard this noise once before from the feral brutes that charged me on my first mission so long ago.
"They shot you."
Hearing the human begin to groan in pain as Timore squeezed his massive hand harder, I realized just how urgent this situation was. I didn't care about basic hygiene anymore, wishing only to end the possibility of more bloodshed. Reaching up, I grip the massive arm sternly but comfortingly as I put a bit more emotion in my voice in order to calm him down.
"I'm unhurt, and I'm… somewhat sure this one had nothing to do with it. Please brother, put him down."
That shocked him out of his rage. His ruby eyes finally lost a bit of his primal rage as he looked down to me. A quick moment came and went before the green clad human warrior was lowered to the grassy floor below.
Rubbing his rib cage in pain for a moment, the human looked over to me thankfully.
"~Thanks.~"
Grabbing the human by his arm, I practically dragged him through the ranks of my soldiers. Breaching through the line of defense, I popped out the other side with the man in tow.
Looking around, I saw the destruction that one bullet caused. Several obviously dead men and women strewn about the area. Not moments before, this place was filled with joyous laughter and polite challenge. Now? Now it was a field of death.
My sharp hearing caught the signature sound of a phantom's engine in the distance. We were out of time. I couldn't let Floats help these people, as any time spent here could be dangerous for anyone involved. No, I needed everyone to return back to the ship.
Even if that means I can't heal them… No matter how much I wish to.
Giving the human a light shove, I gestured for him to return to his people.
"~Go.~"
Byrne nodded solemnly, the normally sarcastic human showing his warrior side as he turned on his heel to make his way to the group. He took only a few steps before turning back around. Looking past me through the gap in my warriors, he spoke up.
"~What about him?~"
He didn't need to tell me who he was talking about. However, after a few moments of thinking about it, I didn't have an answer.
Turning around to look at the unmoving heap of blue cloth, I realized I needed to look around Timore, who was now following me protectively once again. Shifting my weight to the side to get a better look at the corpse, I growl in anger.
Whoever this man was, he's probably not affiliated with the rest of them. He just shot me, but what can I do with him now that he's dead?
He ruined everything. Several people were dead because of the actions he took not even a few moments ago. The fragile peace we established is now a distant memory… And now he is dead too.
He tried to kill me… why?
I needed answers, and I wasn't getting any by staring angrily at his body. Sadly, I didn't know exactly what to do with it either.
Not much I can do now anyway.
Responding to the marine, I leave him with only five words.
"~We will leave him here.~"
With that said, I made my way back through the phalanx of kig-yar. I listened closely through the groans of pain and the sound of our two phantoms came screaming through the air to hear a few of the humans shouting nearby. I idly recognized them to be Al-Cygni and Byrne.
"~-went wrong? You were supposed to guard her, soldier!~"
What the…?
Going over all the information I had access to, I realized that Byrne reacted to the threat far more quickly than anyone else did. Looking over the phalanx, I spotted a tipped over table that they were taking cover behind.
"~Ma'am, it was one of Thune's officers.~"
My eyes widened before narrowing.
Thune?
I couldn't believe the man would do such a thing. He seemed so genuine in his attempts at peace… no. I don't believe he would try and kill me.
So who would?
I balled my fists even as I listened to the phantoms coming into position overhead. Sure enough, two bright beams of light opened up below the drop ships, and my warriors all parted ways in order to allow me to enter first.
Not that I moved to enter. Gesturing to Floats, I quickly signal for them to enter first. Looking my friends over a bit more closely, I see that Nath's eyes were closed. Floats was holding him, somehow remaining aloft as the engineer carried my wounded friend to the ship.
"Everyone on. I need a moment to think."
Not caring about what my warriors might say, I return my attention to the humans.
"~-you think it was the insurrectionists? I thought we did a background check on-~"
"~We did, but has that stopped them before?~"
Them?
I was still furious at the attempt on my life, but letting anger cloud my judgement was a waste of time. I needed information. I needed to find out why this happened, and it was obvious that asking politely at this point was out of the question.
So how can I get what I need to know from them?
I needed a way to listen in. To hear their own theories as to what went wrong. To spy on them without their knowledge, as it was clear they had some sort of idea as to what happened.
Sadly, I didn't have any way to use human informants. I couldn't pay someone off with Gekz, as they didn't use our money in the first place. There was no way to get any information from them by traditional means…
Which leaves infiltration.
I couldn't use any of my own warriors, as none of them knew the language enough to translate. This left only myself, and I wasn't about to abandon my ship to partake in a lone scouting run after an attempted assassination.
There was only one solution that I could think of.
Reaching down, I unclip my hologram and active camouflage module. Walking over to the crumpled and broken body of the man who tried to kill me, I reach into his pockets and place the equipment.
My task done, I look down to the man that attempted to end my life, now broken on the ground before me.
He called me a monster… Why? What did I ever do to him?
"Shipmistress!"
Looking over, I saw as the last few remaining warriors were waving me onto the phantom. Knowing that it was time to go, I nod and make my way towards the gravity lift. Watching them make way for me to enter, I step into the blue beam of light. Feeling the familiar sensation of weightlessness take me, I take one last glance of the destruction from my spot in the air. Knowing what would undoubtedly come from this event, I felt my rage subside, replaced with an overwhelming sadness.
(\\\(*v*)/)
"Gods damn it!" I screamed, smashing my fist into a nearby crate. Watching as the supplies carefully balanced atop the crate toppled to the ground, I growled fiercely at the inanimate objects.
Predictably, the displaced equipment was unphased by my show of aggression.
Despite all I knew from the situation, I felt nothing but anger. The more I stewed on the situation in the quick flight back, the more I found it hard to justify my attempts to salvage what was left.
The secretive humans, the assassination attempt, the infuriating lack of information, Nath's bloody and limp body...
Why should I try to stop the war?
At that moment, I caught myself. Flashes of the bombings back home, the horrors I've seen over the years of my service, did none of it mean anything?
The thought that I might do nothing to stop an apocalyptic war caused me to become nauseous. I promised myself years ago that I wouldn't be complicit with anything like that. I wouldn't stand by while innocent people died. I wouldn't!
And I won't let some idiot with a gun stop me!
Looking up from the destruction I was causing with a newfound confidence, I watched as Floats made his way towards the kig yar sector with a still bloody but thankfully stable Nath held out in front of him. The workers stopped what they were doing at both the sight of the wounded ruuhtian, and my own outburst before dropping their tasks all together to listen in.
This was the most silent I've ever heard my hangar bay. All around me were my warriors, quiet as could be as they watched me break my stoic and composed facade I normally put up in front of them.
Not that I particularly cared at the moment.
The flight back was tense, giving me plenty of time to think about the repercussions of the attempted assassination.
Talks of peace were off the table now. Even if the human government didn't have a part to play in the attack, it was quite clear that my crew's safety isn't guaranteed among them. Racial stereotypes among my crew have already begun to crop up, with the sangheili chatting amongst themselves in the hangar being the most vocal about the "cowardly and dishonorable nature" of the humans as a whole now. Tensions were rising to a boiling point, aboard my ship as rumors of a possible retaliatory strike could be heard even now.
And it's only been thirty units!
I was officially in over my head. I somehow made things worse in an attempt to make things better. I needed to make a plan right now that could work to mitigate some of the diplomatic disaster that just occurred, and as of now in my angered state, I couldn't think of anything.
And I still need to manage the excavation of the Forerunner artifact in the ice!
"Shipmistress? Please respond."
Hearing the sound of my sensor's officer in my ear, I growl violently as I stare at the toppled mess of supplies on the ground near my feet. It took me a moment to recompose myself, but after a quick moment of rational thinking, I was able to bring myself back to reality.
This angry mood was getting me nowhere. I just needed to take things like this one at a time. Taking in a deep calming breath, I activate my communications array.
"Yes, officer? What is it?"
"You asked me to inform you if a ship entered the atmosphere. One has."
Shifting a bit, I made my way over to the open shield wall that made up the hangar bay. Looking out over the starry horizon, I didn't spot anything… not that I particularly expected to.
"A ship, no bigger than a storm cutter, has entered the atmosphere and is heading for the alien city. Scans show no shielding or external weaponry worthy of note."
Now that I knew what I was looking for, I could actually see a small speck of light descending from above as it made its way to the human concrete jungle. Snorting, I paid the ship no more mind.
I doubt there is anything that can threaten us on that ship…
"Thank you officer. Please continue monitoring the situation as best you can."
"By your command."
Cutting the communications line, I turn back around with the intention to make my way back to my quarters…
… Only to see several hundred warriors crowding the hangar bay with their attention firmly on me.
It was unnerving seeing my warriors like this. Dead silent, mixed races standing shoulder to shoulder, their unblinking and focused attention on me. Not even a whisper could be heard as the only ones that were filing in from elsewhere aboard my ship came through.
I knew how I looked. My hands were still purple from the blood of my friend, feathers unkempt and armor covered in dirt from my impromptu introduction to the dusty Harvest ground. Angry and frazzled as I stood near the toppled remains of supplies I didn't even care to fully examine.
I looked like crap.
Spotting several of my friends easily enough from my spot near the hangar door, I realized that far more of the crew was here than I initially thought.
Aris and her clansmates were all present, silently looking at me with horror from a nearby methane charging station. Ussa could be seen from atop one of the operational balconies above, the gold armor standing out next to the blue minors he was standing next to. Timore blended into the crowd well, but the black armored behemoth was easy enough to spot leaning against the phantom we arrived in with his arms crossed atop the head of his hammer once again.
It seemed like everyone was here, all looking at me with worry in their eyes. Everyone from unggoy workers to the small contingent of special operators onboard were seemingly as tense as could be, awaiting some unknown signal from me.
Quickly realizing that they all didn't have a clue what happened, I knew I needed to speak up.
"Warriors of the Covenant… My subordinates… My friends… I'm sorry."
Soft muttering came up from the crowd. No one quite knew what I was talking about. Deciding to enlighten them all about the situation, I broke the news as easily as I could.
"Moments ago, the competition that was arranged between the aliens of this planet and our warriors was… interrupted… when one of the aliens attempted an assassination."
Instant outrage washed over me as a tidal wave of sound erupted from the crowd. Calls for blood could be heard easily from the kig-yar crowd, as ferocious war cries from the sangheili rose up.
I let them have their moment of rage. It was a moment that was warranted, and within reason. Waiting for a long while, I sat in silence as my subordinates, people whom I saw as my family, vented their rage at the one who dared attack their leader.
Throughout the outrage around me, my mind wandered. All around me were warriors, lusting at the idea of exacting revenge for the slight against us.
Against me.
The idea that I would be the catalyst for such potential destruction sickened me. The idea of my name on the lips of my friends, becoming the rallying cry of something awful turning my stomach before it could even happen.
I didn't know what I needed to say or do to fix this, but I knew I needed to try. I couldn't let this continue, spiraling down into the depths of the blood for blood mentality. I felt a primal urge, deep within me to protect anyone I could from the horrors that would come from war.
Somehow, my thoughts returned to the Oracle, Mendicant Bias and our discussion so long ago about the mantle of responsibility.
"But it doesn't matter. I wouldn't have this ship if I let myself fall to this anger…"
Surprise rang through the crowd, the outrage disappearing as it was replaced with confusion. It looked like everyone's attention was on me, hanging on my next words.
I idly wondered if I was the worst public speaker in the galaxy. It seems that every time I was in this situation, I had nothing prepared…
"Many if you are probably aware that the Oracle spoke to me, though I have not told anyone about what it said to me..."
Chuckling at the memory, I found a bit of amusement in hindsight about the situation. Shifting my weight from foot to foot as I try to organize my thoughts, I take a deep breath before continuing.
"Funnily enough, it never asked me about the ship, nor my qualifications on how to lead it. No, it only asked about my thoughts on the mantle of responsibility. He said the mantle is an ideal from our gods, saying that the guardianship of all sentient life among the galaxy belongs to those whose evolution is most complete."
Murmurs from the more religious people rose up and fell as I looked over the group, waiting for them to quiet down. Looking up, I made direct eye contact with Ussa, ready to watch the zealot's reaction to my next words.
"I said it was dumb."
I watched as surprise rose up, along with some outraged growls. Surely this was the first time that anyone in the Covenant has heard of someone back talking an Oracle before. Oddly enough, Ussa didn't even flinch at the words.
I wonder why.
Raising my hand, I quiet my warriors down.
"Looking back now… I think it was a test, as instead of smiting me down as it surely could, it asked me to explain why I said such a thing. I couldn't help but wonder if that question is our core test, our way to ascend above where we are now to what we might become next."
Switching my gaze back over to my warriors, I stand firm in my beliefs that my next words were true. Sure, I didn't believe that we would become gods, but I firmly believed that we could become something far better than what we are now.
Our own Great Journey, so that we might become worthy of holding such a mantle together!
"I said that it isn't just the responsibility of those who are deemed more evolved, but all of our responsibility to ensure life prospers! It is our duty to ensure that those around us thrive, be us sangheili, kig-yar, unggoy, or san'shyuum, as life itself is the thing in this galaxy worth protecting the most!"
Clenching my fist, I gesture over my shoulder out the shield door behind me. I knew behind me was the outline of the human city, looming large in the distance as a symbol of those that did me harm moments ago.
"The alien who shot me is dead, broken on the dirt he stood on, killed mere moments after his ill-planned attack. He tried to stop what we were doing, our attempt at peace! He tried to start a war, ending our goal of protecting those on this planet from the horrors of war! He tried, and he failed, and I'm sorry."
Dead silence was all I was met with. I couldn't tell what anyone was thinking, but I didn't care. I needed to say this for myself at this point.
"I almost let my anger cloud my judgement and lead me astray. I almost let myself fall into the trap of vengeance. I almost forgot what I believed in, the belief that let me become your Shipmistress… At that moment, whether you saw it or not, I failed you all, and I'm sorry."
Turning around, I look out over the human city once again. The starry night sky overhead illuminating the cloudless night with the beauty of the galaxy above. It all seemed so peaceful now that everything was over. Taking in a deep breath, I felt the tension leaving my muscles as I let myself relax for the first time since I was shot.
"I wonder if this is just another test?" I said, musing more to myself then the others. Sure, I knew this situation wasn't ordained by any gods above, but a test it was nonetheless. A way for my circumstances to test if my ideals were truly what I thought they were.
"My mentor told me once that change brings out the worst in us. That when someone chooses to fight you, it is a battle of ideals… That you can either choose to stand for your own, or be trampled under theirs."
Spinning back around, I held a fist up over my head.
"Well I refuse to let my ideals be trampled! I will not change who I am because of that alien's hate! I know what I fight for! I fight with honor to protect those that can't protect themselves! I fight with ferocity to uphold the trust the Oracle placed in me to give me this position in the first place! I fight to be the leader I hope you all will be proud of, so we might all be worthy to fight side by side on our Journey together!"
Deafening cheers rose up from everyone, even as I held my fist up over my head. All around me, the challenging roars of sangheili warriors were mixed with the silly growls of unggoy, all ready for any challenge that might come next.
In that moment, I knew that whatever came next, I was finally ready for.
(\\\(*v*)/)
"Sure up our defenses. Maintain shields and make sure no stealthy assault can pierce through our scouts without notice."
"Yes, shipmistress!"
Nodding in confidence that nothing will go horribly wrong as the night shift takes over, I turn and make my way to my room. To everyone else, I was finally getting some rest after double checking everything was still operating properly on my ship.
Hearing the signature hum of the door behind me, I immediately try to connect with my hologram.
Sure, I'm all about fighting honorably, but I'm a special operations commando at heart.
Watching as my optics shifted from my room to become linked with the spherical device, I look around for a moment to find out exactly where I was.
It seems I was on a table in a large room lined with shelves of strange items. My spherical form was sitting atop a sterile metallic table in the middle of the room, with tools all around "me". Conveniently, the active camouflage module was right next to me, still glowing blue with the sure sign that it was still operational.
Convenient!
Not wanting to activate the full hologram of myself just yet, I listen in for any strange noises. That might give away my position. If I wanted to do this right and get information from them, I needed to remain unseen.
Hearing nothing, my form appears out of nothingness as I reach over to the camouflage. Grabbing hold of it, my form, along with both modules, disappears into nothingness.
Standing up, I once more acclimate myself to the lack of sensory input the hologram gives me. It felt silly, like playing a video game, but thankfully it only took me a second to acclimate myself as I paced about the room.
Not a moment too soon either, as the door soon opened.
Freezing, I remain in place as I watch a woman in a strange white apron flick the light switch on. Watching her eyes go wide, she began to search about the room, even looking below the table frantically before scurrying out of the room in a sprint.
She even left the door open! How nice of her.
Slipping out into a white and sterile looking hallway, I made my way after the woman rather quickly. Surely she was going to someone of authority if she was working on these objects?
A few more turns later, she arrived at a secure looking metallic door, pressing a button on a panel just to the right of it. Judging from its composition, I could tell that whatever was behind it surely had to be important!
Waiting for a moment silently behind the female, I listen as a soft bell rings through the hallway and the door opens to reveal…
… an enclosed empty box of a room?
Stepping inside behind the woman, I watch as she presses another button and the door shuts us inside. The moment the door shut, a soft and peaceful music began playing from some unseen speaker as my unknowing companion tapped her foot impatiently.
What is this…?
When the door shut completely, I began to examine the inside of the compartment. Finding the small panel of buttons that the woman was working with, I found a glowing button with a number four next to it.
Strange…
Moments later, another ding resounded as the door opened to reveal something strange. I could see that the white sterile and bland hallway was replaced with a warm and inviting one, lined with polished wood and several paintings of different strange humans. Throughout my examination, one thing became clear.
I just got confused by an elevator.
It made sense, as for my entire existence as a kig-yar, I have been using gravity lifts to move from floor to floor, but still.
I'm so glad no one saw that.
Shaking off the anger at my disappointing situational awareness, I continued to follow the female. Rounding another corner, she made her way to a large wooden door with a window. Bursting in like a maniac, she threw the door open and exclaimed to those inside.
"~The devices are gone!~"
Stepping in slowly behind her, I made my way to a corner of the room. A quick examination of those inside told me everything I needed to know about where I was.
Thune, Avery, and Al-Cygni were all sitting in chairs inside facing a fourth man who was behind a large wooden desk. I didn't recognize this human, but I could clearly see that he was wearing the same strange blue uniform of the man who shot me.
Thune stood up, his chair sliding backwards loudly.
"~Gone? What do you mean gone?~"
The strangely dressed female pointed frantically towards the hallway behind him.
"~I mean, someone took them from the evidence room! I left them for only a minute at best, and when I got back they were gone!~"
At that moment, the three humans I recognized all turned toward the man behind the desk. Avery spoke up first.
"~You were saying that you trust the motives of your officers, hm?~"
The man in the blue uniform's face blushed deep red as his anger showed clearly. Pressing a button on his desk, he shouted loudly to no one in particular.
"~Lock the building down! No one leaves!~"
A soft female voice came through the device, sounding a bit frightened as she responded.
"~Y-yes sir!~"
Slouching back into his seat, the man looked exhausted.
"~What a nightmare… To think that it would be one of our own that shoots first?~"
It seems that everyone didn't want to forget exactly what the female just said though. Al-Cygni gave the woman a strange look before asking a simple question.
"~Doctor Anders, care to explain why you left the devices unattended?~"
The now named Anders blushed a bit before rubbing an arm in embarrassment.
"~I… umm… needed to use the washroom.~"
Silence came and went before Avery snorted and everyone's attention returned to the man behind the desk.
"~Yes, well I'm sure they will turn up. My officers take security breaches like that very seriously.~"
"~Do they now? Do they really? Because we have nearly twenty news media camera angles saying otherwise!~"
The menacing voice surprisingly came from Thune, who shifted in his seat.
"~I trust you. Truly I do… I wouldn't have given you the position of chief of police if I didn't, but since we have arrived, I haven't heard a single explanation as to why one of your officers decided to shoot a peaceful diplomatic envoy in the face!~"
Standing up, the surprisingly tall Thune made his way
"~Someone from your department has endangered the lives of every single one of my constituents, my people on this planet! I need to know why!~"
An eerie silence came and went before the man sighed in defeat.
"~Tracing all known recordings of officer Haaken, we found he traveled to a nearby hotbed for insurrectionist activity a day before the event.~"
A fist impacting the soft armrest of a chair resounded through the room as everyone's eyes turned to Al-Cygni.
"~You are telling me that you let an officer that affiliates with terrorist insurgents, whom we are at war with, guard a diplomatic event of such utmost importance that if it goes wrong, the consequences on the human race as a whole will suffer?~"
I was stunned at what I was learning, but it seems as if the normally stern and organized woman wasn't done yet.
"~With the war going as badly as it has, it wouldn't surprise me if the URF has an archer missile pod aimed at their ship yet! Have any of the local insurgent groups taken responsibility for the attack yet?~"
Insurgent groups? War?! Missile pods?!?
"~What?!?~"
Everyone spun to my side of the room at my outburst, but at that point I didn't care. Every single bit of that information I just learned was something that should have been shared with me! I opened diplomatic ties with these people, shared every bit of information I could with these people in the attempt that they would return the favor, and now I find that they were hiding the fact that there could be terrorists aiming missile pods at my ship from me?
Deactivating my camouflage, I didn't flinch at the guns suddenly aimed at my now very visible holographic form. Pointing violently at Al-Cygni, I growl out my next words with as much viciousness as I could.
"~Aren't you missing something here? I shared as much of my situation with you, trusted you, I even went so far as to warn you about what a worst case scenario could be should things on my end go poorly, and you couldn't even bother to return the favor by telling me that you were at war?~"
Growling, I cut off the potential response that she might have had off with a snarl that could rival any wild predator. Continuing with my rant, I continue to make direct eye contact with Jillian.
"~I've been working as hard as I could, trying to piece together scraps of information about your people so not to accidentally start an incident, and yet here comes one that could have easily been solved if you had just…~"
The wind cut out of my figurative sails for a moment as I looked around the room. Two firearms were aimed in my direction still, as the surprise of my appearance startled all those present. Avery being the only one who holstered his sidearm already.
Knowing I needed to tone it down a bit, I relaxed my holographic muscles a bit as I took in a deep breath from my room on my ship.
"~Trusted me.~"
Slowly, the other two guns were lowered as Avery was the first to relax back into his chair. Nodding my head in thanks at the show of trust, to which he only grunted in response.
"~Shipmistress! What are you doing here?~"
Turning to Thune, I opened my mouth to respond before I promptly shut it.
Oh right, I'm not supposed to be in here…
"~Uhm… Infiltration and information gathering?~"
I'm an idiot.
Silence came and went once again as the humans all registered my words. For a long few moments, we all sat around like idiots, unsure of how to continue. Thankfully a distraction came in the form of the woman I followed.
"~You're the one that took the devices!~"
Looking over, I saw the black haired woman pointing to the active camouflage module on my hip.
Dipping my head, I try to apologize. After all, I didn't mean to startle this human like I did.
"~Yes. I'm sorry if I caused you undue alarm, but I needed a way to find you all again. After all, I feel it is in my best interest to know why an apparent terrorist shot me in the face.~"
"~And why don't you share with us how you found our ship conveniently at the right time, or how you managed to get to Harvest in less than five minutes? Or maybe how you learned our language in a week! We aren't the only ones hiding things!~"
Turning back to Al-Cygni, I felt my mouth open at the comparison.
"~What are you even talking about? You feel as if you have the need to know everything about us, and yet you won't even share your own political situations? You should have trusted me!~"
Stepping forward, the small woman seemed to think herself much bigger as she challenged me outright by standing directly in front of me.
"~Trust? Why should we trust you when you sneak around unseen through our buildings, infiltrating.~"
"~Hey, hey! Easy now! We all want this to end peacefully.
Thune stepped between us and tried to push us away from each other. To his surprise though, his hand pressed into my holographic chest. I watched in a strange form of amusement as the man shivered from the sensation of touching a hard-light holographic image.
Letting the image flicker for a moment, I smile disarmingly in an attempt to help him calm the situation down.
"~Hologram.~"
"~Oh, so that's what the other device was… interesting…~"
Looking over to see the black haired woman scribbling onto a clipboard that I didn't know she had.
"~So what now?~"
Shaking my head to refocus myself, I returned my attention to the group to see Avery fiddling with his sidearm before turning to me.
"~The ball is obviously in your court now with what happened. There isn't much we can do to fix what went wrong… So what now?~"
Sighing, I shift my physical form back on the ship around, sitting down on my nest.
"~With what happened, I can't delay sending word back to High Charity. As of now, this situation is out of my hands… but that doesn't mean I'm going to let things stand as they are.~"
There is really only one thing I can do at this point. Try to downplay what happened and how far it went in order to start over again.
"~I will avoid mentioning what happened in my report back to the ministry, but that still leaves what will come. I worry that even with just that, they might declare war upon you anyway… The Covenant isn't known to do things in half measures.~"
Thune seemed a bit shaken at that, speaking to me in as deadly serious a tone as I'd ever heard from him.
"~What will be coming? Please, I need to know if my people are safe.~"
Looking sadly at the man, I told him the truth.
"~I don't know, but whatever it is… I'm sorry.~"
—Author's Note—
Hello everyone! I return from Cliffhangerville to award you with… This thing!
Y'all have no idea how hard it was to write this. Not from me writing it standpoint, but just trying to be real with it. The entire time I was writing, I was like "NOOO! Not the melon lady! Oh god, not Nath too! Crap! Everything is terrible now!" But I like to keep it real. A shootout at a diplomatic event with jackal snipers, elite warriors, and marines? Yeah, it wasn't pretty.
I'm prolly more sad about the shootout then you guys are.
Oh, and if you are wondering how/why Anders is already on Harvest? You will find out next chapter. :)
If anyone cares to get a visual of what Timore did to the officer, go to YouTube and type in "Caiatl slams Psion" it's the same move.
For those that are wondering about if I'm dead or not on this fic, I will tell you if it is dead. The way I write this is in strange bursts of inspiration. This morning (the day I'm posting it) the chapter was at 3400 words, now it is over 8000, and it was all because I had a bit of a block trying to figure out how Sohm infiltrates the police station. I thought of a camo hologram, and bam, chapter done. Something similar happens every time, like how it took me a month to figure out how to get Sohm and Mendicant together on chapter 18. It ain't dead, and if I plan on killing it or taking a hiatus, I'll let you know in a post. If nothing is said, assume writers block.
On that note, I would just like to take a moment to say from the bottom of my heart: thanks for reading! I'm honestly surprised that this fic has gone this far, and I'm so happy that you guys are enjoying it so far! Your reviews give me a lot of happiness each time I get one.
As always, read and review! If you enjoyed the chapter, consider giving me a follow and a favorite.