Stomping through the Covenant base was a zealot, enraged snorts escaping his mouth as he neared the command center. Any and all soldiers who were in his path scuttled away from him, fearful of his wrath. The golden armored zealot stormed into the command center, seeing two Ultra's and a t'vaoan champion discussing something.

With a roar, interrupting them, the zealot pointed at one Ultra and yelled, "How are these heretics not dead yet!? They attacked this very base! You promised me their heads!"

The tallest Ultra turned to the other two and gave a dismissive wave, prompting them both to leave the room. Once the door shut behind them, the Ultra turned back and said, "Zealot 'Doga, a pleasure. I see you heard of the attack."

Storming to the center holo-table, he slammed his hands down on it and said, "It has been two months! Two months since this heretic killed her officer and ran off, releasing dozens of imprisoned kig-yar alongside her! Then, a human joins her!? A t'vaoan and a human, these are the two simple creatures you have been incapable of eliminating!"

The Ultra placed a data-pad down on the table, then calmly said, "We have been sweeping the nearby area constantly ever since they stole supplies weeks ago. Every possible shelter nearby has been sweeped and confirmed empty. Plus, they constantly catch us off-guard. Maybe if you weren't so paranoid about securing the artifact extraction site, we could've had more troops here to secure the base."

Roaring, the zealot brought his fists back down on the table and yelled, "I am not paranoid! The only reason we are still on this miserable rock is because of this artifact, so of course we would spend the most resources defending it! But you are risking the artifact by not killing these heretics!"

Grunting, the Ultra crossed his arms, "The artifact is miles away, too far for these two enemies to travel. Based on what we've observed, they have been focused on survival, not destroying or stealing some artifact. So the way I see it, the best place to spend resources at the moment is here, where the only current threat on this side of the planet is located."

The two sangheili stared daggers into each other, then the zealot stepped away from the counter and growled, "You have the resources you need to kill two simple creatures. So why aren't you attacking them?"

His patience dissipating, the Ultra sighed, "Not only do we not have their location, but they've proven effective at picking off patrols that do run into them. While I want these heretics dead as much as you do, I do not want to risk the lives of my sangheili brethren. You want to rush in and kill them when we do not even know where they hide. I foresee such a plan having too many warriors picked off. We have to be slow and methodical, figure out where they are so such an assault can be effective."

The zealot crossed his arms and snorted, "And you've checked all possible shelters?"

Nodding, the Ultra explained, "I had my champion find and scout each possible shelter, from every kind of cave to the abandoned human bases. They are most likely either staying on the move or have a very well hidden shelter. All I know is at the current pace, the extraction of the artifact will go smoothly and without threat."

Unconvinced, the zealot huffed, "You think you make sense, and I will not sit here and say your ways are ineffective, given your rank…"

The zealot strode close to the Ultra, trying to tower over him despite being only a tad taller, "...but I want things done my way. To me, the artifact is being threatened by these heretics' existence, and I demand that they are eliminated now!"

Unphased, the Ultra grunted and said, "With all due respect, I was given strict command over this sector by the shipmaster himself, and can only be replaced by someone of his choosing. If you were a zealot deployed to command this sector by him, I would listen to your orders, but this region is under my command. I must exercise my command properly, and despite your rank, I will not allow you to interrupt the system we have that keeps your artifact safe."

Growling, the zealot placed his face so close to the Ultra's helmet they almost touched, "You are crossing me, Bota."

Staying firm, the Ultra nodded, "I am, simply because I have the authority to."

A snort of air escaped the zealot's mouth, then he stepped backward and said, "You have my respect, Bota, but if you will not deal with these heretics my way, I will."

Nodding, the Ultra explained, "You can do as you wish as long as you do so with your own troops. Though I will warn of their effectiveness."

Spinning around, the zealot chuffed, "That warning will mean little. I am a zealot, a rank only the greatest warriors reach. A human and a t'vaoan don't stand a chance."

With that, the zealot left the control room, the door hissing behind him. Almost as if on cue, the opposite door slid open and the champion entered the room.

Turning to the Ultra, the champion said, "I assume he is not happy, boss."

Shaking his head, the Ultra turned to their champion and said, "He never is…" the Ultra quickly glanced around the room to see if they were completely alone, "...and Zulh, have you found the heretic's shelter?"

Nodding, the champion said, "Of course. It's a human base, an hour or so journey from here. They believe they hide their tracks well, which they do for most trackers, but not for me."

"Good, if we keep that base as all clear they will be of low risk."

Tilting their head, the champion approached the Ultra and asked, "While I know your moral choice, may I ask why you are trying to help these two as well? We both know once the artifact is safely extracted we will simply glass this planet and leave. In the end, they will die."

Chuckling, the Ultra shook his head and said, "Have a little faith. Plus, I made a promise to help any heretics I can. So, I am doing so."

He watched Zuhl nod his head, then the t'vaoan asked, "So, what do we do about the zealot"

Bota crossed his arms with a sigh, then looked down at his scout and said, "All we can do is hope. I am doing all I can without raising suspicion. We can only hope they are as effective against him as they've been against our troops."

#

McArthy slowly opened his eyes with a soft yawn, blinking a few times to readjust to the light. In all of his time stuck on this planet so far, he had never felt as warm as now. But, with the slightest movement of his body, he knew why.

Cuddling next to him, them both sitting against the wall, was Mim. She seemed awake, slowly moving her beak back and forth across his neck. His cheeks flared up red, but he wasn't opposed to the comfort. If he remembered last night properly, the way he yelled at her, she deserved to have her way today.

With a light chuckle, he pulled his arm back a little from around her and asked, "You're awake, right?"

Suddenly, Mim's face shot up from his neck, staring at him. There was surprise in her eyes, but she simply nodded her head, "Mhm."

Smiling, McArthy leaned his head against the wall and said, "You feel that? The air in here, it's not freezing."

With a small giggle, Mim pulled back a little and said, "No need for the heat lamp, hm?"

Shaking his head, McArthy chuckled, "It's not that warm in here. But now the heat lamp isn't required anymore, though I would still prefer it to be on."

McArthy finally pulled himself fully from Mim, her small hiss falling on deaf ears as he stood up and stretched. He was sore from the fight yesterday, but he actually felt pretty good. Maybe letting all that stuff off his chest for once helped. Weird, he's never told anyone that much before, and the person he did it to was a skirmisher of all people.

Not like that mattered.

He traced his hands over his armor as he walked up to the table, pushing his helmet aside and planted his backpack on the table, and promptly opened it. He could hear as Mim let out a squawking yawn behind him as she stretched.

She walked next to him as he pulled the few items out of the sack, then he turned to her and asked, "So, what's the plan? Gonna go get something to eat? Just try to relax, even though we've both been relaxing for a little over a week at this point."

With a chirp, Mim walked around him to his other side and said, "I would not call that relaxing for you. In pain and all."

McArthy chuckled, "I mean, I kinda just laid there, even though I was hurt I'd call that relaxing."

Her eyelids sunk, making him chuckle harder, then she wisped away towards the other counter. Out of the corner of his eye, McArthy watched as she took her armor off and set it on the counter next to her weapons. He was planning on looking away, feeling rude, but he was frozen for a few seconds as he looked at her. There was a ray of sunlight coming through the window that was hitting her just right, making her feathers give off a warm glow as she rose with her last piece of armor and set it down on the counter.

With her armor off, she stretched again, this time McArthy ripping his eyes away from her and looking back down at his stuff. He pulled the journal up and looked at it, thinking about how far her English has come. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes spin towards him and stride over next to him, placing a hand on her hip as she peered over his shoulder.

Waving the book in the air, McArthy tilted his head back to look at Mim and asked, "This reminds me, wanna finish your story?"

Mim's eyes widened, then she nodded her head, "Of course. We got… caught up."

McArthy chuckled with a nod, "You left me in suspense."

Chirping, Mim walked back to the mattresses and took a seat, McArthy lowering himself next to her. She instantly scooted closer to him, catching him off guard, then took the journal and said, "I will start from the beginning."

#

Metal cranking and soft grunts filled the silent room as a t'vaoan worker repaired the communications console against the wall. The t'vaoan set their current tool down, then picked up another that let out a hot hiss, then brought it forward to use on the console. It wasn't much longer until the holographic lights on the top of the console lit up, then it began producing noises. With a sigh of satisfaction, the t'vaoan picked up their tools and shut the panel to the console, then stood up and simply listened to the communications.

As usual, the chatter she heard once fixing these consoles weren't Covenant, but human. After a repair, the consoles always seemed to default and pick up human frequencies, and an officer would always have to come in to reset them to the right frequency. Until then, the t'vaoan got to simply listen to the strange human language. It was certainly fascinating and they were able to pick up a couple of words, but other than that, there was nothing else interesting to do around here.

Unfortunately, the t'vaoan's peace was interrupted as the door slid open and three armored t'vaoans walked in. All of them immediately laid eyes on the one, making it huff and turning to them, arms crossed.

Snickering amongst each other, the t'vaoan in the front approached the lone kig-yar and said, "Well, if it isn't Mim. Listening to humans again, I see. How are they, since you can understand their primitive language."

Rolling her eyes, Mim gestured to the console and said, "I barely understand the language. But even then, everything that I hear from them sounds more intelligent than anything you three have ever muttered."

One of the t'vaoan behind the lead one snickered, then elbowed the lead one and said, "She got you…"

The lead t'vaoan elbowed back and said, "She insulted all of us, dimwit."

With a sigh, Mim turned back to the console and said, "Case in point."

Grunting, the lead t'vaoan grabbed Mim's arm, "Oh we aren't done. I'm not willing to take shit from a kig-yar barely any taller than an unggoy."

Unphased by his grip, Mim turned back to him with a chuckle, "Funny, coming from someone with the intelligence of one."

Both of the t'vaoan lackeys "ooed" from behind their friend, making his feathers quake with rage. Before he could say another word, the door behind them slid open again.

"You three! I thought you were ordered to patrol the sector, what are you doing here?"

Without even looking back at the voice, the three t'vaoans bolted out the opposite door, one shouting behind them, "Sorry, sir!"

Mim watched them leave with a chuckle, then turned to see the origin of the voice. Standing in the doorway was a green armored t'vaoan commando, who huffed as they watched the door slide shut. Turning to Mim, the commando couldn't help but chuckle with the shake of his head.

Walking towards Mim, he gestured to the console, "I assume it's fixed."

Mim nodded, patting the console, "Just needs to be reset."

The commando put his hands on his hips with a sigh as he looked at the console, then he swung his head to look at Mim and said, "You always were the fastest engineer. Glad you got stationed here."

With a groan, MIm threw her tools onto the center table, "You're glad, but I'm bored. I joined the military for a very specific reason, and all I've been is an engineer, a glorified repairman. So safe from combat."

Turning to look at Mim, the commando shrugged his shoulders, "Still, you should be glad you got stationed with someone you know."

Mim jumped and sat on the table next to her tools, then said, "That, and I'm finally off that fucking ship. I hate ships, staying in one for that long just gets to me."

She gripped one of her tools, raising it up and saying, "But it just feels so… meaningless. Yeah, I fix the stuff you use to fight our enemies, but I want to do it myself too. I just want… something."

With a sigh, the commando dipped his head, "Well, you might've become a soldier if you weren't the only one in your training group to do as well as you did with the engineering tests. Maybe you should've flunked those tests on purpose."

"I still hate that being the reason. Any soldier should be able to dismantle their weapon and put it back together. I could do that and solder. So, now I'm stuck in bases fixing the shit our big sangheili bosses break."

Chuckling, the commando gestured to the doorway the three t'vaoans ran off through, "You know, if you really want to be a soldier, I could put in a request. I do need a hand keeping those three in check, and you do a fantastic job showing them who's boss."

Mim froze, dropping the tool onto the table, then she leaped off the center table and landed in front of the commando.

"Would you really? I-I mean, wouldn't I have to start off as a minor? I wouldn't…"

With a hearty chuckle, the commando gestured for her to calm and said, "Woah there, don't get so excited. For one, we don't know if they'll accept. Two, yes, I could easily get you the position of major. Given your track record, my suggestion, and given their track record, you're far more qualified for a leading position."

Nodding her head, Mim steadied her breathing, "Yes, sorry, I got excited. But, even if they don't accept the request, thank you. Gods, even the possibility of me getting a promotion gave me more energy than I've had in days."

The commando laughed as he put his hand on her shoulder, "Ah, it's not a problem, kid. You've been deprived of the action you want for too long. Now, let me actually go make that request. I'll find you when I get an answer."

Mim nodded with excitement, then watched the commando give her a quick salute as he walked back to from where he had come from. Giddy, Mim squawked as she grabbed her tools, shoved them into her belt, then bolted out of the room.

#

Mim basically twirled in the mirror as she looked at herself wearing her major armor. Running her claws across the armor, she cackled with giddy joy. The only thing she disliked about the armor was the brownish color ruining the red. Of course, that was nothing she couldn't fix herself, given how good at fixing things she was.

Moving out of her quarters, she watched the door slide open to reveal the commando leaning across the hall on the wall, fiddling with his hologram. The commando looked up at her, then grinned and pushed himself off the wall.

With the clap of his hands, the commando walked in front of her, "Congratulations, major. So, how's it feel?"

Taking another spin, Mim chuckled loudly, "It feels great! A lot lighter than I expected."

The commando nodded as he began slowly walking down the hall, "I hear that a lot. But, don't fret, it's protective. Just means you can run faster, which will be helpful for you."

Mim walked next to him with a sideways look and asked, "What does that mean?"

"Oh, no offense, it's not under your control, you are just a bit short, so your strides will be shorter. The light armor will help maximize your speed instead of further hamper it."

Mim chattered her beak quietly, internally mocking the commando as they continued down the hall. They passed many sangheili, unggoy, and kig-yar as they made their way to the storage hangar. As they entered, Mim scanned the room quickly. Half of the weaponry, vehicles, and equipment in that room have been fixed by her already, some multiple times. But, now she wouldn't have to fix things anymore.

With a nudge, the commando gained her attention and pointed at the end of the hangar, "And those are the three idiots under your command."

Standing near the hangar door leading to the outside were the three t'vaoan minors, gathered in a circle. They seemed to be discussing something, whatever it was probably wasn't worth her time.

Giving her another nudge, the commando said, "They have orders to patrol the south sector of this region today. Whether you want to accompany them is your choice, but let's see how you take off the bat."

Mim nodded, quickly stretched her neck, "Alright, and I outrank them, so if they disobey me I can smack them."

Shrugging his shoulders, the commando said, "Up to you, major. They are your subordinates now."

Nodding, Mim straightened her back and approached the three t'vaoans. While they were bigger than her, she never was afraid of them, and now she outranked them. This should be easy.

The three t'vaoans noticed her approach, and there was an obvious amount of shock on their expressions as they watched her approach in major armor.

Stepping before the three, watching them all turn to face her, Mim raised herself some and said, "You three, you got some orders."

The t'vaoan on the right nudged the middle one, leaning their head to him, then asked, "When did the shortstack outrank us?"

Mim deadpanned to the t'vaoan on the right, watching as they whipped their head back forward with a gulp. With a small grin, she turned to the one in the middle and said, "You three are going to patrol the southern sector today."

Groaning, the middle one slouched and said, "But, we did that yesterday! And when did you get the authority to tell us what to do!"

"Today! But that doesn't matter. If I don't see you three out of this base and patrolling that sector in the next few minutes, I'll personally have to discipline you three."

This time, the t'vaoan on the left leaned to the middle one and whispered, "Is it weird I want her to discipline me?"

With a stomp of her foot, she made their heads all spin back to her, then she pointed out of the hangar and said, "Now!"

More out of confusion than obedience, the three scampered towards the hangar exit, then Mim called out to them, "And I expect a report to the command center every thirty minutes!"

She watched as the three minors disappeared out a door leading outside, then she released a long breath of relief. A chuckling came from behind her, making her return to see the commando approach.

With a light clap, he chuckled, "A good show, I'd say. I knew you were a natural."

Giving her feathers a quick rustle, Mim nodded, "I think I did so well because of the pent up rage for those three. So… what now?"

Chuckling, the commando waved for her to follow, "I'll show you the ropes of command. I was a major myself once. Plus, around here, things aren't too bad. The battle on this planet has been one-sided since the human's lost air superiority. But, you will certainly get that taste of action you wanted."

Nodding, she followed the commando back into the base, excited to learn her new duties as a major.

#

Bullets crashed into the tree Mim was hiding behind, tearing at the bark and racing past. The moment the bullets stopped, Mim spun around and lifted her carbine, firing a shot and watching a human body fly into the ground as her shot struck the human in the head.

Mim quickly ran down more trees as more bullets raced after her. The humans were currently retreating through the forest, having lost their initial position, and were now making their way to another supposed base. Fortunately, given their current pace, they weren't going to get close.

Stopping back another tree, listening as bullets struck the bark, she turned her head to see sangheili warriors and unggoy quickly running in to catch up to her. She had initially outran them to catch up to the retreating humans, and only now have they caught up to continue the fight.

The humans quickly redirected their fire at the approaching soldiers, allowing Mim to squawk and race from her cover, quickly closing in on the humans. As the sangheili jumped and ran through a stream separating them from the humans, Mim was already at the enemy's flank, shooting at their sides.

Slowly and slowly, the retreating humans' numbers dropped, until it seemed only one remained. In a panic, the human was desperately running through the trees and up the small incline, most likely trying to race towards the base.

A sangheili minor was closing in on the human's rear, plasma rifle raised and ready to shoot down the running enemy. Before they could shoot, however, Mim dove from behind a tree and tackled the human, sending them into a roll until they stopped next to the tree.

Throwing the human's weapons away from their hands, Mim gripped him by the collar and heaved him up. She was proud of the catch, not expecting to have beaten the sangheili to the human. However, her pride was interrupted with a snarl as she turned with her captive to see a fuming sangheili minor.

However, upon seeing Mim as the human's captor, the sangheili calmed a little, only a little. Pointing at the human with their plasma rifle, the sangheili said, "That would be the fourth captured human, then."

Nodding, Mim gripped the human by the collar and arms, "Yup! Gotta get one with every fight! Don't know how useful they could be."

The sangheili turned around with a grunt, "Don't expect the ultra to be happier this time than he was the other three."

Mim shrugged as she followed the elite minor, "Ah, he'll have to deal with it. The human wasn't fighting anyway, just running, killing him would've been wrong."

Gazing towards the nearby troops with a quiet snarl, the sangheili shrugged, "To you, maybe."

Mim watched as the elite major began barking orders at the rest of the troops, ordering a sweep of the area. Mim simply walked past the major, the human in her grasp, garnering a gaze from the major. However, he paid no real mind and returned to his men as Mim began her trek back to the base.

It was a long journey, like most were when she had a prisoner, and the only thing she could listen to was the human saying things in their alien language. She recognized a few words, but nothing important. But, it was fun squawking out the one or two words she did know and see the human's reaction. As usual, it was priceless.

After an hour's journey, she reached the base's perimeter, soon walking towards one of the outer patrols. In this patrol were her three subordinates, one of which noticed her and began laughing.

As she got close, he said, "Hey! I knew you had a soft spot for the humans! What's this, the fourth one you brought back! How many times does the ultra have to tell you you can't keep one as a pet!"

Marching past, Mim turned to the elite major leading the patrol and said, "Swat that one, will you."

A viscous grin came over the major's mandibles, then he holstered his plasma rifle and said, "Gladly."

Turning back to the base with a chuckle, she listened as the t'vaoan yelped in an attempt to scramble away from the major. Luckily, that scramble was followed by a sharp slap, making her laugh.

She marched the human into the base, heading for the small brig inside. She walked down the long brig hall, which now had at least two dozen ruuhtians inside it. They were all deserters, guilty of friendly fire, or caught with human contraband. She had caught a few of them herself, which made their squawks and snarling worsen as she passed with the human in her grasp.

At the end of the brig was a control room, one holding the ultra, who was placed as second in command under the zealot in control of the base and its troops. He was the one she had to report to when she caught a human as a prisoner, and her last three encounters didn't end so well. While nervous about how this one will go, she wasn't willing to compromise her morals and kill an enemy with no fight left in them.

The door slid open, revealing a small control room, standing at its end being the ultra. The ultra turned to the sliding door, and loudly snarled upon seeing Mim and the human.

Mim purposely placed the human slightly behind her, gripping their arms together by the wrist to keep them from attacking her and to keep the ultra from them.

With a growl, the ultra took a step forward and roared, "I thought I made myself clear, kig-yar! No prisoners!"

Mim sighed, "But, sir, the human can prove more valuable alive. Plus, the way the fight went, it only made sense to capture him. He was basically defenseless."

The ultra stomped forward, making Mim take a step back, "I don't care about how valuable a human could be! The battle for this planet may very well be already won! I gave you simple and direct orders, kill the humans, and you are too dimwitted to follow those orders!"

"It's wrong to kill retreating soldiers! He was just trying to get to safety! He wasn't a threat to-"

Without getting to put her words in, the ultra swiped his arm, striking Mim and sending her into the wall. Before she could recover, the ultra grabbed his plasma rifle and pointed it forward. Mim leaped at him to push his arm away, but she was too slow as two plasma shot's struck the human in the face and chest.

Gripping the ultra's arm, she watched as the human's limp body flopped against the wall and slid downward. Her eyes were locked on the dead human, then the ultra shoved her off his arm.

Turning back to look at the ultra, he pointed his rifle at the human and loudly stated, "Every human you bring back has met the same fate! These worms don't deserve to live, so at least leave them to be killed by my brethren on the field you mindless t'vaoan!"

Mim rose to a slouched stance, still stuck looking at the human's grotesque body on the ground from the corner of her eyes. The moment she brought her full attention back to the ultra, she saw his rifle fly at her. He whipped her across the face with his rifle, sending her to her knees, then took a step so he stood directly over her.

With a snarl, he lowered himself to a crouch and said, "I was told you could kill, but it seems what you're good at is wasting my time by constantly saving these… creatures. It appears you were unprepared for your rank, I will be sure to have you swiftly returned to your prior position on the Seething Devotion, engineer."

Releasing a rasp, Mim raised her head a little, "You have no honor if you will kill an unarmed prisoner."

The ultra chuckled, "You are one to talk, kig-yar. How I see it, neither of your races are deserving of honorable behavior."

All the ultra heard next was a loud, raspy squawk, which was followed by the igniting of an energy sword. The ultra felt a blistering pain running through his chest, then lowered his eyes to see Mim gripping his own energy sword to his chest.

With a snarl, Mim said, "Fuck you."

The ultra only let out a long, shuttering gasp as the plasma rifle fell from his hand. Suddenly, the door to the control room slid open, making Mim whip her head to see the second ultra walk in, staring at her. As the door slid shut behind him, the dead ultra slid off the energy sword, slamming into the ground.

Frozen with fear, Mim could only watch as the ultra carefully shifted his eyes from her to the ultra. Even as he strode forward towards her, she couldn't move. She watched as he plucked the energy sword from her grip, then turned it off and lowered his hand.

Turning to her, the ultra said, "It appears you've made a… drastic choice, major."

Gulping, she could only nod her head, unwilling to meet his eyes.

The ultra then threw the energy sword next to the corpse, then pulled out his own and said, "Well then, it appears you don't have much time."

Mim very slowly felt her fear drain away, replaced by simple confusion, then she looked up at the ultra and asked, "W-what does that mean?"

Pointing at the door he came from, the ultra quickly said, "If you release the other kig-yar, you can better mask your escape. I will let you run, but I cannot help in your escape once anymore once you are gone, understand?"

Mim nodded her head, still confused, then the ultra pushed his back against the wall and said, "The moment you run out that door, I will contact everyone and label you a heretic."

She slowly approached the door when she asked, "W-why are you helping me? I-I…"

"Because, as it appears, you've come to a similar conclusion as I. Now go, and good luck."

Mim could only slowly nod her head, then watched as the door slid open in front of her. Too many thoughts, regrets, and emotions were running through her to process right now. She just killed her officer, and now all she could do was run. That was all she knew for a fact. Run.

Launching out of the room, Mim quickly bolted to the prison cells and played with their controls as she heard the ultra speak into the coms.

"This is Ultra Bota 'Rotumee, T'vaoan Major Mim 'Tol has just killed Ultra Moar 'Berom! She has just escaped my grasp and is about to escape through the brig! She is as of now being labeled a heretic! To be captured or killed!"

Suddenly, the cell doors opened, and Mim bolted ahead of the ragged ruuhtians as they made their escape as well. The moment the door to the brigs opened, a crowd of kig-yar plowed through, zipping around the sangheili who were responding to the calls. There were too many for the sangheili to properly fight, and the crowd of kig-yar was gone as quickly as they arrived.

Mim was barely able to keep herself ahead of the crowd, knowing some were going to want to chase her down for some revenge. Fortunately, she was still fast, and the moment the crowd made it outside, she bolted to the side of the base and used the crowd as a distraction. While the perimeter patrols and guards were quickly moving in to take care of the escaped prisoners, Mim raced around the edge of the base and quickly hopped over the barriers at the perimeter. Putting as much power down as possible, she bolted into the forest, no real plan in her head. All she knew was that she was on the run now, and there was no going back.

#

"And after that, I was hiding, running. Stayed out of sight as often as possible, scavenged what I could, and survived. I was so… lonely."

At this point, Mim had moved her head into his neck again, which made McArthy tense up some. Still, he didn't complain, then simply patted her shoulder and said, "Hey, at least you aren't so lonely anymore, huh? You got me! Whether that's good or not is up for debate, but, ya know, it's better than nothing."

Chuckling, Mim pulled herself from his neck and said, "It is better than most."

Leaning his head back onto the wall, he tapped his leg and asked, "So, you were trying to take humans in alive? And you got… four."

Mim nodded, then McArthy chuckled and said, "I think I heard about you over the coms at one point, then. Apparently a couple of those times, there were people left to tell the tale, and they told about a skirmisher that took a soldier in. Which was weird, given how the Covies seem pretty hellbent on just killing us all."

Mim cooed and asked, "Do you humans not take prisoners."

McArthy chuckled again, "I mean, we would like to, but marines trying to pin an elite or brute down to capture them wouldn't end well. Unggoy usually blow themselves up with plasma grenades before they surrender. Jackals, well, you either kill one or they speed away, too fast to catch. Plus, even if we could capture one, they either don't speak english or are just too religious to tell us anything. At least, that's my take on it."

Mim bobbed her head. His explanation was understandable enough, plus she couldn't blame humans for not capturing. The Covenant was trying to wipe humanity out, it's hard to hold any kind of pity or sympathy to a soldier with such a belief. Such thoughts made her lean into McArthy more, him probably being the only human to see her as something other than a genocidal maniac. She nuzzled her beak into his neck, being sure not to put too much pressure on him.

She watched her human blush, making her trill and open the book in her hands. She held it out for both of them to look in and asked, "So, how good is my english now?"

McArthy chuckled, "It's fantastic for how long we've been having lessons. I knew you were smart as fuck."

Mim couldn't help but giggle a little, then flipped through the journal and asked, "How much more will I need to learn?"

As she stopped at a certain page, McArthy shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, honestly, at this point there isn't much more I could teach you. I mean, other than contractions I guess, but you seemed to be figuring a few of those out. Now it just seems you need to get used to the language. Given time, you'll speak smoother. But, I will still do my duty and keep teaching you if that's what you want, seeing as you are looking into that book."

Shaking her head, Mim gestured to the page and said, "I am not looking in here for the words. I am looking at… this."

McArthy leaned forward to see the page and saw the drawing of the prototype device. Turning to Mim, he asked, "So, you want to find that thing?"

Nodding, Mim said, "It is the best chance at getting out of here."

Sighing, McArthy opened his hand to receive the journal and said, "Alright, I'll read up on how it works if you will look for it. Hopefully, it won't take too long to find. I mean, unless they took it with them, and given the condition of the base I doubt it, so it should be somewhere here."

Chuckling, Mim stood up and suggested, "Perhaps there is a hidden room or cabinet."

McArthy stood up, nodding his head, "Yeah, you might be onto something. Make sure you press your hand against every inch of the walls for a secret button or something."

Mim nodded her head with an amused huff, then turned around and walked towards the end of the room with the conference table. She turned to the two doors leading into the garage rooms, then turned towards the left one to enter the repair shop. As she walked into it, she laid her eyes on her favorite decorative piece of the room, being the jiralhanae skeleton lying against the wall.

She chuckled at the sight, then carefully searched every nook and cranny. If the drawing was correct, the device had some size to it, so it couldn't be hidden too well. Mim chuffed, knowing she would find it. She was actually a bit excited about it, if this prototype worked, they had a chance at getting off this stupid planet. And maybe, once they weren't being forced to focus on survival, she could properly win her human over. With his mind clear, he could finally see her advances for what they were.

Spurred by a new excitement, Mim hurried her searching, itching at the idea of escaping. She knew McArthy wanted off this rock too, so she had to find this prototype. It really was their only shot at freedom.

Hey guys! I'm here to talk about some stuff. You probably didn't expect a new chapter this soon, huh? Neither did I! Anyway, onto some stuff.

You may have noticed two random ass characters in this story, named Bota and Zuhl. If you want to know more about those characters, may I suggest reading Friendly Treachery, which is an in-progress story on my main account, Red-Raptor-Writing.

How long until the next chapter? I don't know. I may have it done in the same week again! Maybe not, probably not. I've just been really motivated to write in this story, so I'm getting a lot done. Alright, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and such, fav, follow, leave a review, any of that if you like, and I hope you have a good day or night!