Hello Lovelies! I hope you love this chapter. It certainly took longer than it was supposed to, but alas, story of my life. How is everyone doing lately; pandemic still got yall going stir crazy?

Chapter 20 – Captivity

Right before Tyriks would have contacted the shield, a blow came from his right, knocking him slightly off balance. The offender was too small to accomplish much other than make him pause and anger him further. He looked down to find the lesser vandal who had caused all of this sprawled across the ground after colliding with him. How dare he get in the way?

"Captain," he said while rising to a kneeling position, "shield, destructive," and he removed his left, lower gauntlet, to throw at the shield. On contact, it was completely obliterated, which caused a chittering of surprise to reverberate throughout the lab. The creature's trap had been executed perfectly; if the vandal hadn't interfered, he would be dead right now.

The shield caused disintegration, but of a kind he had never seen before. Starting at the contact site, ripples in the nuur moved outward like rings and the entire shield pulsed as though alive, as though it fed off the destruction. "Vandal, explain," he commanded to the fallen still crouched at his feet. This situation had escalated quickly and was just as unfavorable as he had always worried it might be.

"Female's shield, nuur'khu shields differ. Nuur'az states female creates but shield self-sustains. Anything that touches, energy is drained, absorbed. Item destroyed." Energy based shields were problematic to begin with and this one seemed more complicated than most. He could not pierce it as anything he tried to use would be destroyed on contact. Shooting it would likely have little effect as well. The best option was to overload it; however, in this case, the power source seemed to be both the nuur'khu, which he had no access to, and the shield itself.

Tyriks stalked the nuur'khu from the outside, weapons up, growling his ire for all to hear. His rage was directed at the nuur'khu, but he was truly angry with himself for allowing this situation to occur in the first place. Fortuitously, the shield was translucent enough for him to see through and the servitor had not yet been harmed. For how many moments that would last, he did not know; he needed to find a way past the shield and quickly.

He growled again, louder this time, his frustration growing the more moments his servitor remained trapped behind the shield. How had he allowed this to happen and why hadn't it attacked yet? Did the shield take concentration to maintain? Was it taxing to create? The creature did not appear to be under stress; it simply knelt on the ground and gazed at the servitor. Furthermore, why hadn't the servitor tried to defend itself?

"Shock rifles," he demanded, a thought occurring to him.

"Captain…" replied Loksis, clearly confused.

"Now," he clicked, flicking a silent command of where to put them as he moved to his worktop. Nuur could be cancelled out with an overwhelming application of more nuur, although the same type was preferable. Shooting the shield would not have a considerable effect because the impacts were too small, but if he rigged a few shock rifles together he could hit the shield with a coordinated burst. "Teleportation module," he chittered to no fallen in particular, expecting his command to be followed. It was.

Tyriks worked quickly, wiring the rifles together and soldering them into the module. The module was required to activate the shock rifles in unison; it would fire a charge directly into the circuits pushing them past capacity and creating a controlled explosion of nuur.

"Captain, it moves," stated Loksis. He looked away from his work to find the creature's claw pressed against the side of the servitor. He trilled aggressively, his anger almost blinding him at seeing the creature touching his servitor. The claw slid between them facing up and then began to glow, undoubtedly some form of attack.

Within a few more moments, he finished the wiring, set the activation unit, and threw it. The contraption slammed into the shield with a burst of electricity, bolts of nuur skittering across the surface, engulfing it completely. Sparks shot outward into the lab causing all save himself to find cover. Minor burns did not phase him; he needed his servitor safe.

For many moments nothing happened. Tyriks watched as the rifles were destroyed and contemplated the unlikelihood that he had miscalculated.

Then, suddenly, the shield was gone.

He had a moment to register that he had not been too late, both the creature and servitor still gazing at each other, before he lunged forward. This time, it would die.

For the second time in so few moments, he was stopped mid hunt this time by a communication blast from the servitor to all the fallen; it wanted them to halt their attacks. He warbled in anger and exasperation, an act well below his station, but he had had about all he could take in this moment. "Explain," and he couldn't keep the rage from his vocals. The growling and hunting pheromones from the other vandals were permeating the air, riling him up further. While they would not disobey a servitor, he had no such qualms. He paused now only out of respect.

The servitor finally moved, turning away from the creature and approaching him instead. The creature also turned, standing up simultaneously, and the elder fallen closed in around it, weapons drawn high. Another communication blast was sent to all of them, / Female, no harm intended. /

The servitor was unusually calm considering the situation; in fact, it almost seemed content. The reaction confused him and the words more so; of course, it had intended harm. The shield was indicative of that.

It also did not escape his notice that for the first time, the servitor referred to it as 'female' and not 'creature'. Something significant had happened behind the shield to make the servitor act this way, but he had no moments to ponder what that could have been as it sent another transmission, this time only to him, / Satisfied. Make agreement. /

/ Unacceptable. Explain occurrence behind shield. /

/ We communed. /

/ What means this? /, he asked as he had no idea what it meant by that.

/ Pair, great value. Make agreement. /

/ It spoke? /

/ Explain in future moment. Make agreement, / it insisted for the third time.

More than ever he wanted to deny the pair. The disturbing fact that it was mating one of his fallen was the least of his concerns now. He was not enthused by anything he had witnessed in the last few moments, their bold actions nor their ability to outmaneuver him. This agreement seemed rash.

However, Tyriks had never been one to act rashly. The servitor had been with him many moments and its advice had always been sound; in this, he would trust its judgement. Making his decision, he ordered the elders to stand down with a series of wordless clicks. The weapons lowered, albeit sluggishly; they were not enthused by this situation either. "Nuur'az," he said sharply, and the elders moved so he could see past them. "We accept agreement, with stipulations."

The creature smiled then, broadly and obviously content with his answer much to his displeasure. She lifted her left claw up and with a gentle shove forward, the nuur'az appeared. "We figured there might be. Name them and we will negotiate."

"Never," and he stalked toward them the threat evident in his words, "touch my servitor again."

/ Tyriks— / "What if it requests—"

"Enough!" He growled now looming over the pair, an imposing figure compared to their diminutive forms, and his gaze focused intently on the creature's. He did not desire to hear declarations or questions, from them or the servitor. They were far too insolent for his liking; he expected obedience.

The nuur'az shrank back from him, burrowing itself into its owner's arms clearly understanding how deadly serious he was. It looked between him and the servitor for a moment before it said quietly, "Agreed."

He hardly trusted the words but was satisfied for now. Backing off a few steps, he plowed ahead with the remaining terms, "Access to that vandal, exchanged for any information we desire and examination."

There was no response for a moment, the nuur'az seemingly thoroughly shaken, of which he approved. "A-access to any fallen in your crew and examination that does not cause bodily harm. We get to decide what is bodily harm, not you."

"No," he growled. "Access to that vandal alone." He would not allow any other fallen to know of their presence let alone allow them to touch others in his crew. "No others in my crew will know of your presence here."

"Okay. Access to any fallen in this room right now."

Tyriks clicked his irritation. He did not like that they sought to expand their influence for what other reason was there to meet others in his crew. However, he could trust the elders in this room and decided it was tolerable. "Agreed. No harm, also accepted. However, explanation of potential harm will be required to forego specific studies."

"That's reasonable."

"Second stipulation, no use of nuur, weaponry, physical attack, other unknowns. No harm against any fallen."

"Okay. What if you ask us to use nuur or something else as part of an examination?"

"No unapproved usage. My approval only."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Last stipulation, from this moment, you will both remain in burrow, in confinement."

"Confinement? For how long?"

"Indefinitely."

"No, we do not accept. We cannot stay here forever."

"You will not be allowed to leave with knowledge of our location. This is non-negotiable."

"We cannot stay here," the nuur'az repeated. "The female doesn't eat anything other than a specific formula. We can't make it here."

"The creature will eat what we provide."

"She won't. I've tried, many times. She refuses to eat anything other than her formula."

"Eat or starve," he said pointedly. The nuur'az seemed not to understand their position. Without this stipulation, there was no agreement and if there was no agreement, they died. They were never leaving the burrow.

"But—" Its speech cut off abruptly and it gazed upward at its owner; the creature must have started speaking to it. "Even so," it said quietly, "what about bathing, sleeping, exercising? I highly doubt they have facilities set up for your needs. … What if they want to keep you in a cage?"

Tyriks brought their attention back to him with a scoff. "Will be confined to my quarters, no cages. Can do all aforementioned there."

"Your quarters? Uh, you don't expect her to…" but its words trailed off.

"To what, Nuur'az?"

"I mean, when you say she will stay in your room, you don't… you don't expect her to mate with you. That's not a requirement, right?"

Tyriks released a quiet trill of anger. How dare it suggest such a thing? He was an honored baron, a noble of his house; he would never force himself on a female. No fallen with even the slightest bit of worth would do such a thing. It was a grave insult to even suggest it and the demeanor of all the elders changed in response.

The pair realized their error if the female's response was any indication. Her claws enveloped the little machine, a protective shield from their eyes, and her own gaze flicked between them all. She was tense, ready to move.

"Watch yourself, Nuur'az. Fallen do not force females, nor do we barter them. Even a non-fallen like your owner would not be touched without consent."

"I intended no offense."

"You have given it regardless," he retorted.

"I-I apologize."

"What means this?"

"I withdraw the offense. It was a careless thing to suggest."

"Agreed," he stated willing to let the offense go this once given their ignorance. Although, it did show what they really thought of his kind despite their previous attempts at flattery. He expected as much from such honorless creatures.

"We accept this stipulation but want the right to have it reevaluated in the future."

"What means this?" he asked for the second time.

"If the female's health deteriorates, if you finally believe us when we say we mean no harm, or for whatever other reason, we want the right to discuss leaving again. This is not a finality."

"This is accepted." They could discuss it as many times as the pair desired, that did not mean his answer would ever change.

"Okay, so we have a deal?"

"Yes."

"Great. Anything else you need from us right now or can we go? The female needs to rest."

"Go. We will discuss more in the future." Tyriks issued a silent command to two of the elders. "They will guard you. My quarters through there," and he gestured at the far door.

"Thanks." The nuur'az turned toward the door, but the female did not follow suite. It was staring at the lesser vandals and while Tyriks was no expert, it would say the look was contemplative. "Female," asked the nuur'az in response to her steadfastness. Her gaze flicked to it and then back again. "Fine, I will ask." The nuur'az floated back toward them, but this time ended in front of the lesser vandals. "The female requests your names."

"Names?"

"Yes. I guess she is tired of calling you vandals one and two." The two in question exchanged looks and then glanced at him. He clicked his approval realizing up until that point, he hadn't even bothered to find out the name of the lesser vandal who had caused all of this.

"Female, I am named Lykrosis."

"I am Kreesis," followed the reaver. He paused for a moment before asking, "Are you named?"

"Uh, she is pretty sure she had a name at one point, but she can't remember it."

Tyriks almost snorted at the absurdity. Shaking his helm, he said, "Te na'ke Tx'liksa.

The female cocked her head at his words; the look was definitely contemplative. "What does 'Tx'liksa' mean?" asked the nuur'az. "Even the female does not understand, and her grasp of your language is far better than mine."

"Tx'liksa is of old. Means 'unknown'," and his words garnered a smile from the female.

"Interesting, she likes it," said the nuur'az sounding amused. "The female says you can call her that from now on." With that, the pair took their leave, and Tyriks was left to his own contemplation. Despite not understanding why the female wanted to take a fallen-originated name, it certainly suited her.

Bam! And there you have it, the beginning of what I am certain is going to be an interesting, and mostly likely, quite funny little set up called 'guardian in captivity'. We are also going to get a hell of a lot more Fallen lore and world-building.

Also, did anyone see the new trailer for Beyond Light? A fallen focused expansion, Bungie really knows how to win this writer's heart.

Fallen Language. Listed in order of appearance:

Nuur – weaponized light

Nuur'khu – lightbearers

Nuur'az – tool of light

Tx'liksa – unknown