Here's a chapter that I've been looking forward to writing for a while now, and I'm sure is a chapter all the Tali fans have been looking forward to reading for a while now. Enjoy!
...
1203 Hours, February 28th, 2683
SSV Normandy
Macedon system, Artemis Tau Cluster
...
It was about Noon the next day when Joker announced that they were approaching Sharjila, and Chief then immediately gave the order to prep the mako. Once again, various servicemen scrambled to get the mako in position. Ashley watched the scene as she began putting on her armor. She likened the servicemen to servants making ready the gladiator's chariot before he enters the colosseum.
Chief had sent Ashley a message earlier that he wanted her ready to go by the time the mako was, so here she was, putting on her armor and picking out her favorite weapons. Wrex and N'tho were getting suited up as well, as the Chief called on them too. It looked like Garrus and Kaidan would be benched this time around. While there was room in the mako for the whole team, it would be really cramped, not to mention a smaller team is easier to manage. So, the Chief would only be taking three people with him this time out.
Correction; he'll be taking four, if Tali has any say in it.
Even though Chief made no request for Tali, she was there getting outfitted for battle, same as the rest of them. Ashley hoped that by having Tali ready for battle right there on the spot would help her odds of getting to come along. Ashley was actually surprised by how Tali inspected each weapon before equipping it, like she knew them all by heart. And she gave off that distinctive aura that all soldiers of all species gave off; one of confidence and determination. She never would've thought Tali was a civvie if the Quarian hadn't told her so, and even then it was getting increasingly harder to believe.
Garrus was kneeling by one of the mako's tires, making sure the suspension was aligned right when the elevator door opened revealing the Master Chief himself, fully armored as usual and ready for a fight. Everyone on deck stopped and saluted, a salute the Chief returned before heading over to the weapons table and selecting his weapons.
"Alright, listen up." Chief began. "This should be an easy enough assignment. Get in, get the hostage, get out. We're looking at a pretty small band of pirates, so it's nothing this group can't handle. Sharjila has a very dense atmosphere so suits must be pressurized and we are not to leave the mako until we are within ten meters of the target facility. Everyone ready?"
"Yes sir!"
"Yep."
"You got it!"
"Ready and waiting!"
...Chief heard four assents of acknowledgement. He should've only heard three. All was not right in the kingdom.
He turned and looked at the four. There were Ashley, Wrex and N'tho, fully armed and armored as they should be. There was Tali, fully armed but not really fully armored since it's hard to wear armor over that suit; or at least, the Chief would imagine so. The spartan walked up to the Quarian and stood in front of her, scrutinizing her. Tali simply stood, rigid as a two-by-four, as any soldier should be in the presence of a superior officer.
"...Tali, what are you doing here?" Chief asked.
"Sir! I'm here to lend my combat expertise for the Sharjila mission SIR!" Tali said. Human military officers loved it when you started and finished every sentence you say with 'sir.' At least, that's what she thought.
Chief paused. Then, he shook his head. "Tali, go back to Engineering."
"Chief! I can fight!" Tali protested.
"Permission to speak sir?" Ashley asked.
"Granted." Chief replied.
"I've been showing her a few moves in-between missions, sir. She's actually pretty good." Ashley said.
"You mean you've been encouraging this?" Chief asked.
"Well, yes but-"
"Save it." Chief replied. He turned back to Tali. "You don't have any real training. You've got no business carrying a rifle."
"I was required to go through MANY self-defense courses before I was allowed to embark on pilgrimage." Tali pointed out.
"Once again. You don't have any real training."
"Are you saying that Quarian combat training is insufficient?" she asked with an accusing finger.
"No. I'm saying your combat training is insufficient. I'm sure there are plenty of combat-capable Quarians out there, but as far as I can see, you're not one of them."
The argument would've gone on, and probably would've gotten a whole lot nastier, if the two didn't hear a deep voice clearing its throat. Chief and Tali turned to see Wrex raising his hand. "I say we bring the Quarian with us, if it'll get her to shut up." the Krogan suggested.
"I'm not going to babysit a civvie during this whole mission." Chief stated.
"Then don't." Wrex rebuked. "She knows the risks. If she gets her head blown off, it's her own damn fault."
Chief looked back at Tali. "Look Chief. I'll admit it. I'm no soldier." the Quarian began. "But the reason I joined you was because...part of me WANTS to be a soldier. Everyone in the galaxy thinks my people are weak. Fighting along side you can prove them wrong. I know that Saren poses a threat to the entire galaxy and I want to help, but I feel...USELESS doing nothing but monitoring the Normandy's eezo-core all day long. You saw me throw a grenade and jump into cover behind a crate in that alleyway on the Citadel. I've got potential and you know it. Please. Just give me a chance to prove myself. That's all I'm asking of you. A chance."
There was a silence that hung in the air.
"Oh come on, Chief." Cortana said. "Let's bring her along. I've got a good feeling about her."
Chief sighed. "You've got co-pilot." he said at last. "You do what I tell you, when I tell you, and when bullets start flying, I highly recommend keeping your head down. And I think I'll follow Wrex's advice and assume no responsibility whatsoever if you do something stupid. Am I clear?"
Tali straightened and, even though he was trying to be stern, Chief saw the edges of a smile through her visor. "Crystal sir!"
"Good. Now everybody get in the mako." Chief ordered.
...
The mako plowed on through the silica dust-covered plains of Sharjila, getting inexorably closer to what they hoped was the pirate base where Dahlia Dantius was being held. Ashley operated the guns, Wrex and N'tho were riding in the back, Tali was the co-pilot, and Chief as usual was driving.
Their ride had been a monotonous one; ten minutes of doing nothing but driving with naught but the occasional bump in the road to make the trip at all interesting. It didn't help that they were currently in the middle of nowhere. Between the rocky brown dirt and the sickly brownish-green sky, Sharjila looked like a world that was well and truly dead. And as if the polluted look of the environment didn't put them off enough, high-speed surface winds laden with abrasive silica dust had been ravaging the landscape since well before they touched down. According to the codex, this planet was supposed to have an extensive silicon-based, oxygen-breathing ecology. But they had yet to see any of the native flora or fauna and, honestly, they found it hard to imagine any sort of life as being able to thrive in a place like this.
Chief's eyes darted to the rear camera viewer, which showed the back of the mako. Wrex's foot was hopping; likely a sign that he was getting antzy. N'tho was pressing some buttons on his omni-tool. Chief's ears then started picking up extremely faint music coming from the back. Apparently, the elite had an MP3 on his omni-tool, which he just activated. His vision darted back to the path ahead of him. Still nothing but planet. He checked the turret cam. Ashley's eyes were still down the cannon's sights, but she didn't look terribly alert. Finally, Chief turned to Tali, who was monitoring the various radar and motion sensor layouts. He heard the tiniest sigh escape from the Quarian.
The squad was officially bored, and the spartan could hardly blame them.
"Oh ancestors be praised!" Tali suddenly exclaimed. "I'm picking up comm chatter!"
"Quarian, if this is your idea of a joke..." Wrex growled out a warning.
"No! Really! The chatter doesn't match any known comm registrations. I think we've got pirates!" the machinist went on.
"About damn time!" Ashley cheered from the gunner seat.
"Same here!" Wrex called.
"Huh? What's goin' on?" N'tho asked as he deactivated his MP3.
"Closing in on possible pirate signal." Chief quickly explained.
"Signal is...Northeast! Up those hills. We'll have to circle arou-"
Tali was interrupted by Chief making a hard right in the desired direction and headed off the relatively flat plains and up the rocky hills. What followed was the single most unpleasant riding experience anyone (except the Chief) in that vehicle ever had. The terrain became so jagged that the mako was bumping up and down and side to side and to and fro and every which-direction you can imagine. The Chief slammed on the breaks, bringing the mako to a stop.
"Is it over?" Tali shyly asked, refusing to let go of the control panel until she was absolutely sure.
"Oh crap." Ashley said. "My head...I think I might be bleeding."
"Get your foot outta my face, squidhead!" Wrex growled.
"Get your face outta my foot, dinofrog!" N'tho growled back.
"Everyone cut the chatter. We've stopped." Chief ordered. The spartan pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the mako's camera zoomed in on the pirate base. He now realized that calling it a 'base' was generous. 'Warehouse' was more appropriate. It was a tall, long, block-shaped structure with an overhang near the base which concealed the door. He recognized it as a standard large prefab warehouse; mostly used for storage purposes on frontier colony worlds. There were about a dozen armed guards patrolling the perimeter and three guard towers. Two towers were standing on opposite sides of the front area while the third was nestled amongst the cliffs behind the warehouse.
Chief furrowed his brow in thought. The guards were nothing against the mako, and the towers could be taken out with good enough aim on Ashley's part. It would be quick, clean, and easy.
"Alright, Williams." Chief began. "Painting a target for you. Hit it whenever you're ready." Chief said as he painted the guard tower at the back cliffs. He gripped the wheel and his foot hovered over the gas pedal. Ashley aimed the turret at the tower and fired the cannon, lighting up the back guard tower in fire and smoke.
Then, Chief slammed on the gas pedal.
The mako surged forward and Wrex and N'tho once again found themselves bumping against just about everything in the vehicles back compartment. Tali once again gripped the edges of the control console and made silent prayers to her ancestors to not let this insane Human's driving kill her. Ashley was the only one not perturbed by the Chief's driving as she was busy spraying the ground with machine gun fire, sending the guards scurrying. She fired her cannon at the second guard tower, then lined up a shot at the third. It too went up in smoke as the mako passed.
Just like the ocean predator for which it was named, the armored vehicle circled around for another strike. The machine gun peppered the ground, catching various pirates who were too slow, too dumb, or both to get out of the way. Another cannon blast created a crater and sent another newly-dead body flying through the air. Two more pirates were crushed by the mako's washing machine-sized tires, resulting in a further bumpier ride. The mako stopped at the edge of the perimeter and fired a final cannon blast, killing the last three guards.
Ashley winked green twice. All clear. Chief turned to Tali and pushed her on the shoulder, snapping her from her fright-induced paralysis. Wrex and N'tho were once again threatening each other with bodily harm if they didn't get off each other. "Alright. Pressurize suits if you haven't already. We're heading in." Chief ordered.
...
When they entered, the five of them came into an entrance hallway. Once the door outside closed, a VI asked them to please not depressurized their suits until the hallway was properly matched up with the pressure of the main housing room, a process that would take about ten minutes. Chief decided to spend that time checking his weapons. N'tho and Ashley did the same, while Tali checked to see if all her combat programs on her omni-tool were still working. Wrex however, decided to spend the time differently.
"So N'tho." Wrex said. "If you and Chief got in a fight, who'd you think would win?"
"Er..." the elite said, not really prepared for the question.
"If you don't know, then Chief would win. You need to be decisive to win a fight, squidhead." the Krogan pointed out.
N'tho glared daggers at the merc. "Oh yeah? Well, what if YOU and Chief got into a fight?"
Chief rolled his eyes. Wrex being a species known for its savagery and N'tho being a species known for glassing Reach, Chief was worried that these two might turn on him. Turns out, they were far more likely to go after each other.
"It'd be a tough fight..." Wrex said as he rubbed his mask's chin in thought. "But I think I'd win."
"I'm right here, you know." Chief said as he disassembled his assault rifle and making sure each part worked correctly.
"I know." Wrex said as he turned to the spartan. "You and I are pretty equal in terms of raw physical strength, but I've got something you don't; biotics. I think that would give me an edge over you."
"Only if you can hit me." Chief pointed out. "I may not be a biotic like you are, but I'm faster and more agile than any enemy you've ever fought. I could run circles around you and you'd never be able to hit me."
"A good warp can stop anything in its tracks. Even you."
"Nerve strikes can disable biotics."
"Which don't work on Krogan. Redundant nervous systems, remember? Tried to take out that Krogan biotic on Therum with nerve strikes and THAT didn't turn out too well, now did it?"
"Every nervous system can be shut down. I've been studying Krogan anatomy since that encounter on Therum, and I'm now fairly certain I could disable you in close quarters."
"Only if you can get close to me. How many times must I say 'biotics' before it gets through that thick skull of yours? I slap you with a stasis field, and that holds you in place long enough to get myself in a fortified position from which I can fill you with bullets."
"Once again; only if you can hit me. Stasis fields don't last forever, and once it wore off, I'd be up and moving. Speed? Agility? Don't Krogan take those factors into account?"
"Doesn't matter how fast you run into a stone wall; you're still gonna break a bone. Speed is irrelevant."
"I know several hundred dead elites and brutes that argue otherwise."
"Keelah." Tali groaned. "Will you two just whip them out and measure them already?"
Not for the first time, Tali suddenly became acutely aware of her bad habit of talking before thinking when everyone's gaze turned towards her. Wrex and N'tho chuckled, apparently getting the joke. Whereas Chief just stared at her. Again, it was impossible to tell, but she was fairly certain that he was giving her one of those looks that could kill. Ashley snorted with the beginning of laughter, but a quick glare from the spartan quickly silenced her.
"Ideal pressure has now been attained." the VI announced. "You may now take off your suits. Have a pleasant day."
With that, the door control went from red to green, signifying it could now be opened. Tali sighed in relief. She would be spared the spartan's wrath, if only for now. Chief took up position by the door, the rest of the squad following suite.
He held up three fingers.
Then two. Tali and Wrex whipped out their shotguns. N'tho took out not one, but two plasma SMG's in each hand. Ashley and the Chief readied their assault rifles.
The spartan then held up one finger and then made a fist signifying zero. He hit the door control, the door opened and the five of them rushed in, flying bullets welcoming them into the pirate base.
The chamber was very large; stacks upon stacks of crates lined the warehouse with long aisles in between. Chief had fought in environments like this before, and in his experience, it was a double-edged sword. One the one hand, you had lots of places to take cover and plan ambushes. On the other hand, so did the opposition. Chief knew they'd probably be here a while.
The five all took cover behind a low stack of crates. Chief took note of the layout as he popped out of cover to fire off some burst shots. The pirate force was racially mixed; a fairly even ratio of Humans, Turians Kig-Yar, and Unggoy as well as new aliens Chief hadn't thus far encountered. They had the same basic body shape as Humans, but had yellow skin, sharp teeth, bald heads and, most noticeable of all, four eyes instead of two. Apparently, pirates aren't the sort to discriminate.
"Picking up enemy COM chatter." Cortana reported. "Triangulating signal...coming from way over on the other side of the warehouse."
Chief looked and saw two snipers on the balcony on the far end of the warehouse, both of them Kig-Yar, unsurprisingly. Standing between them was, oddly enough, an Asari. She was fully armored and had a finger to the side of her helmet.
"That must be their leader. You know what to do." Cortana said.
Chief tried to line up a shot on the Asari. Unfortunately, she noticed.
The Asari commander surrounded herself in a biotic barrier, the bullets Chief firing at her harmlessly bouncing off. She stretched out her hand towards Chief, and the SPARTAN-II suddenly found himself knocked to the ground. His shield was beeping, indicating it was completely out, other beeps indicating that his suit's integrity had been partially comprised, and he generally felt like a hunter just punched him in the gut.
He quickly realized that he had been hit by a biotic warp. He was starting to get annoyed with fighting biotics.
After waiting for his shields to recharge, he popped out of cover to lay down some fire again, this time noting that there were avenues for advancement on either side. An aisle to the far left, and an aisle to the far right. He ducked back into cover as a plan quickly formed in his head.
"N'tho, take the far left aisle. Wrex, take the far right. Flank them." Chief ordered. N'tho and Wrex both winked green before setting off to do their work.
Wrex grinned as he ran down the aisle. He was grinning because, apparently, the pirates opted for a similar tactic and tried to use the aisles on the far sides to flank their pinned down enemies. Now, a couple of Turians were charging forward, assault rifles blazing. Wrex liked the idea of playing chicken with a couple of dumb Turians.
He wrapped himself in a biotic barrier to make himself more bulletproof and took out his pistol and began firing. The pistol fire was meant to lull the Krogan's soon-to-be-kills into a false sense of superiority; surely their combined assault rifle fire was more than a match for his puny little pistol.
What they didn't count on, or were too dumb to realize, was that Wrex had a trick up his sleeve. He thrust his blue aura-covered hand forward, sending one Turian pirate flying all the way to the other side of the room. His partner turned to take note and then turned back to find a charging Krogan that wouldn't stop. He tried to pull the trigger, but this rifle had overheated. Once he was in arm's length, Wrex pistol-whipped the pirate right across the jaw. He then grabbed him by the side of his head and started slamming his skull into a crate over and over. He did this about half a dozen times before he noticed blue blood oozing out of cracks in his skull. The Krogan dropped the body, took out his shotgun, and pumped a couple of rounds into the Turian's chest for good measure.
Meanwhile, N'tho was using the natural talents of his race much like Wrex was. While Wrex took advantage of his brute strength and nigh-invulnerability as a Krogan, N'tho took advantage of his nimble speed and graceful agility as a Sangheili. N'tho leapt into cover as a Kig-Yar and a Batarian opened fire on him. Rather than fire back, N'tho actually chose to climb on top of the tall row of crates he had been hiding behind and threw a plasma grenade down on them. The ball of plasma adhered itself to the Batarian's chest, giving him just enough time to shriek out an expletive before the grenade detonated. N'tho then whipped out his two Plasma SMG's and starting raining green fire down on the main pirate force. While he was doing this, his favorite song just popped up on his MP3, and given the circumstances, he just couldn't resist singing along aloud.
I'm dual-wielding my SMG's!
I'm gonna go on a killing spree!
You'd better not try to mess with me!
Cuz I'm dual-wielding my SMG's!
By now, a few of the pirates took notice of the obnoxious elite and began firing on him. N'tho leapt down from his perch behind another crate on the floor, waited a second for his shields to recharge, and then popped out of cover to unleash more plasma.
I don't need the rockets to enable me to own.
I'll dual-wield my SMG's and take you all alone!
N'tho ducked back into cover, waited another second for his shields to recharge, then made a dash across open ground perpendicular to the pirates' position, SMG's blazing.
I don't need grenades, a sniper or a sword!
My cases' rounds will take you out like Ghengis and his horde!
Cuz I'm dual-wielding my SMG's!
I'm gonna go on a killing spree!
You'd better not try to mess with me!
Cuz I'm dual-wielding my SMG's!
Meanwhile, while Wrex and N'tho were flanking the pirates Chief, Ashley and Tali were advancing straight down the middle. It was slow going; firing, ducking back into cover, risking getting shot by vaulting over or roadie walking around your crate to take cover behind a crate that was further up. They were counting on Wrex and N'tho to thin out the pirates' numbers from the sides and make advancing easier.
Ashley was holding her own very well, as Chief expected. So well in fact, that it made Chief wonder how Ashley never got promoted past Gunnery Chief. He looked up her files and they were nigh-spotless. Damn good weapon scores, damn good CQC scores, the fact that she was still stuck on Eden Prime's colonial defense force was astounding to him. Surprisingly, Tali was no slouch either. While definitely not as combat proficient as Ashley or the Chief, she was doing a competent enough job with her shotgun, which was apparently her most preferred weapon. Additionally, she occasionally thrust out her omni-tool and, somehow, it temporarily disabled enemy shields and weapons, making Tali a good support unit. Perhaps he did underestimate her. Overall, the fight was going smoothly enough.
That was, up until he heard a roar. A roar that the spartan came to be intimately familiar with in the final days of the Human-Covenant War.
"Everyone, get down!" Chief yelped as he pulled Tali, who had been firing her shotgun, back into cover. Just in time, too. Seven spikes flew through the empty air that Tali's head had been in just seconds ago, embedding themselves in the crate behind them. The spikes smoked as the scent of burning hair filled the Chief's nostrils. Ashley peeked out.
"We've got a brute." she reported.
Of all the Covenant races, the Jiralhenae, aka brutes, were by far the most savage, the most aggressive and even the most sadistic. They quickly developed a truly terrifying reputation among the UNSC, mostly due to the rumors of what they did to prisoners. Traumatized marines would tell stories of how the brutes were cannibals and not only killed, but then ate any prisoners they captured alive. And they were the lucky ones. The ones who weren't so lucky were skinned alive. During the lesser-known Battle of Crassus, brutes skinned alive any Humans they captured, and broadcast their bloodcurdling screams over loudspeakers in an attempt to demoralize the defending Humans.
This merciless savagery was reflected in their weapons. While the weapons of the rest of Covenant were colorful and elegant, brute weaponry cared little for aesthetics. With weapons like the Type-2 antipersonnel fragmentation grenade, the Type-25 Carbine, and of course the infamous gravity hammer, brute weaponry seemed to be designed to not only kill the enemy, but do so in the nastiest and goriest way possible.
So, when Chief was told that brutes were NOT among the former Covenant races to make peace with Humans, he wasn't surprised. It wasn't easy to imagine them making peace with anyone. The spartan knew that he'd wind up in a fight with brutes again sooner or later, so at least he would be a little bit familiar with how to fight this one.
Superheated spikes continued to fly through the air, bringing the trio's advance to a dead stop. "Chief, I'm picking up eight hostiles. I think they're setting up some kind of heavy weapon." Cortana reported.
Chief peaked out of cover to see a pack of Unggoy busily setting up a very large looking M-80 mounted Revenant machine gun, a Batarian looking on with an evil look in his eyes. Tali peaked around the corner and noticed this as well and turned to the Chief.
"If you can draw their fire for a moment, I think I can disable that gun!" Tali yelled.
"Do it!" Chief yelled back before popping out of cover and unleashing a hail of fire on the brute, immediately catching the gorilla-like alien's attention. He ducked back into cover as spikes whizzed through the air, then blind fired as Tali pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool, then pointed it towards the machine gun. The omni-tool flashed white and whined for a second.
With a burst of smoke and sparks, the machine gun was rendered inoperable before the Unggoy coud even set it up. The Batarian yelled curses at them, but Tali whipped out a tech grenade and threw it. The blast took out the shields of the group, giving Tail the window she needed. Tali raised her assault rifle and fired on the Batarian. His body was convulsing from the bullets riddling his body before finally falling over when Tali released the trigger. The Quarian then set her sights on one of the Unggoy and fired, taking it down in short order before her rifle overheated.
"She killed Yapyap!" one of the Unggoy shouted as the half-dozen or so of them opened fire on Tali. She ducked back into cover and began typing on her omni-tool again. Her shields glowed as her overshield activated. She pressed a few more buttons and popped back out of cover to 'fire' an overload, rendering most of the Unggoy without their own shields. Tali raised her rifle and fired fully auto. Realizing how helpless they now were, the grunts went into a panic, yelping and waving their arms as they ran to cover. Tali managed to kill three before the other three made it back behind the crates again.
Meanwhile, one of the Human pirates was attempting a flanking maneuver. He ducked in one of the side aisles and took a peek. He noticed a plasma grenade just sitting there on the ground. He smiled. THAT could cause some damage. He rushed over to it.
One left. One right. Firing at your head.
Your quest for all the power weapons soon will leave you dead!
The pirate turned to the source of the singing, only to receive a face full of hot green plasma. N'tho rushed out of the aisle and fired blindly at any pirates he saw.
For crying out loud! You have an SMG!
They're free for all!
In a brawl!
They just might save your life!
Oh, I'm dual-wielding my SMG's!
I'm gonna goOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHH!"
N'tho soon found himself flung into the air by a biotic throw. The Asari Commander had officially entered the brawl. The elite flew through the air and then finally landed by Chief, Ashley and Tali. "Hey guys." he coughed.
"We need to take that Asari, Chief." Cortana said.
"Wrex? You there?" Chief asked over Team COM.
Wrex winked orange twice, the "wait a minute" signal.
What followed after that was the sound of more gunfire and an explosion. "He's going to beat out our little skulls, take off our backpacks and hump us with his big...Krogany...bupkiss!" an Unggoy screamed. More gunfire, and then another explosion.
Wrex then winked green, ready for orders.
"You're furthest ahead, Wrex. Attack them from the rear. Get the Asari's attention."
Wrex winked green.
The old Krogan wrapped himself in another barrier before beginning his attack. He whipped out his shotgun and began firing at anything that moved. The sight of a Krogan boldly advancing forward with shotgun in hand, blasting away, was a terrifying enough sight to send the pirates scurrying to the center of the warehouse. This was just as the Chief planned. Soon, they'd have the pirates surrounded.
However, the Asari soon took notice of the Krogan and took action. She hit Wrex with a warp. The Krogan cringed as he was pushed backwards, his feet dragging on the floor, but his barrier held. He continued to blast away with his shotgun, eventually bringing her shields down to zero. The Asari then biotically threw the Krogan into a wall, just as his barrier wore off. She took out her assault rifle and took aim.
*BANG*
Purple blood suddenly gushed out of a hole in her forehead as shock permanently painted her face. She fell off of the crate she was standing on, limp as a rag doll.
"Nice shot." Cortana said as Chief took his eye off the sights of his smoking sniper rifle.
Then, all the pirates suddenly ducked behind the crates they were hiding behind and stopped shooting. "We surrender! Just stop shooting!" one of the Turians said.
"Well..." Tali said. "That's good."
It didn't pass by Chief that this was the first time in his entire career that an enemy he was fighting actually did the smart thing and surrendered to a SPARTAN-II. Insurrectionists and of course the Covenant were usually too zealous in nature to consider surrender, but then again, he wasn't fighting Insurrectionists or Covenant. He was fighting pirates, who were generally a more cowardly sort.
The four of them rose out of cover, rifles pointed at the pirates who had their hands up in the air in the universal surrender gesture. Wrex had them covered from behind, his arms flaring with biotics in case his shotgun didn't do enough to dissuade them from trying anything funny. At that point, it seemed like the mission was more or less over and a success. Now they just had to round up the pirates and find Dahlia. However, Chief did a quick head count and quickly realized something wasn't right.
"Where's the brute?" he asked.
The spartan got his answer in the form of a roar as the brute barreled past Tali (who was quick enough to leap out of the way of the monster) and charged right into the Chief. Ashley and N'tho were knocked over as the brute held onto the spartan up until he slammed Chief into the far left wall. A grenade explosion from the pirates between the Chief and his compatriots kept them from lending aid and pinned them again. Several Unggoy, emboldened by the turned tables, tossed several plasma grenades at Wrex, forcing him to run back into cover. The Krogan wasn't that quick, but was just quick enough to avoid getting stuck.
Meanwhile, Chief suddenly found himself in close quarters combat. Uncomfortably close quarters combat. So close that a shotgun wasn't very practical and only his own fists seemed to be a viable option. The brute swung his spiker around, intent on cleaving something off with its nightmarish blades. The Chief just seemed to flow around him, the brute's movements being too slow to land a decent hit. But Jiralhenae were one of the few sentient races in the galaxy who, even without any augmentations of any sort, could take a licking from a SPARTAN-II and keep on ticking. Chief landed punch after punch, but if the brute was getting injured, the gorilla-like alien didn't show it. Between the brute's inability to hit the Chief and the Chief's inability to hurt the brute, it was a fairly even standoff between the two.
Up until the brute kicked the feet out from under Chief that is. It was a cheap move that the spartan immediately cursed himself for failing to see coming. Chief tried to get back up, but the brute stomped on his chest, slamming him back down. The monster aimed his spiker right at the spartan's head, a sadistic grin on his face.
However, before he could pull the trigger, his shields suddenly flashed, then fizzled, sparks flying off his armor. He looked at his armor, confused as to why he no longer had shields.
Chief then heard a high-pitched, primal shriek of a war cry.
"AH-YIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYI!"
Out of seemingly nowhere, Tali rushed up to the brute, stopped, aimed her shotgun, and fired. The round went right into the brute's shoulder, blood flying out of his shoulder and a roar of pain flying out of his mouth. Tali then fired her shotgun a second time, into the brute's other shoulder. Then a third into his chest. And then a fourth, once again, into his chest. By this point, the brute's foot was off of Chief's chest. A fifth blast to the brute's chest and her shotgun overheated.
Brutes were durable creatures though so, despite several shotgun blasts, the savage was still standing, albeit barely. Tali quicky amended that by whipping out her pistol and unloading it on the Jiralhenae's face, practically at point blank. The hate-filled monster's face became bloodier and more distorted with every shot fired. Finally, after twenty-one shots, the great brute roared no longer, falling to the floor in a great big lifeless heap.
Tali put away her pistol, then turned to the spartan. "Not bad for a civvie, huh?" she smugly asked.
"Of course you realize, she is never going to let you live this down." Cortana quickly observed.
Then, a snuffling sound was heard, and Tali spun around and aimed her shotgun at a group of five Unggoy who were trying to get the jump on her. The grunts instantly put their hands up.
"Your weapons. Toss them over here. Now." Tali ordered in a no-nonsense tone. The terrified grunts did as they were told. "Your grenades too." she added. Again, the grunts obeyed and tossed all their unused grenades at the Quarian's feet...all but one. Tali aimed down the sights of her shotgun and aimed at this grunt in particular. "All of them." she hissed.
The Unggoy she was aiming at gulped in a suddenly dry throat. He took his grenade out of his belt, and his thumb hovered over the detonator. This didn't go unnoticed by his comrades. "No, Jubjub!" one of his terrified compatriots pleaded in a low voice. "Don't be a hero! Just do what the scary suit lady says!"
Jubjub gulped and, ultimately, followed his comrade's advice, tossing the unarmed plasma grenade at Tali's feet. "Good." the Quarian said.
"Chief, you alright?" Ashley asked as she jogged over as the spartan got up and dusted himself off.
"I'm fine. Where are Wrex and N'tho?" Chief asked.
"N'tho's rounding up the remaining prisoners." the marine reported. "Wrex is upstairs looking for Dahlia."
"I'll herd these prisoners over to join with N'tho's." Tali said. She turned to the grunts. "Move it." she coldly ordered. The Unggoy obeyed and shuffled along, not wishing to upset the terrifying Quarian.
"Chief. I found something. And you're not going to like it." Wrex's voice reported over team COM. Chief sighed.
"On my way." the spartan replied. And with that, he made his way further down the aisle, up a staircase and onto the balcony. He walked through a door that led to an office of some kind. Wrex was at the desk, looking at the computer. The Krogan noticed the Chief coming in, and gestured for the Chief to look at the screen. Chief took a look.
/access sent message logs
To: Nassana Dantius
From: UNKNOWN
Hello, Nassana. It's me, Dahlia. How've you been?
You're probably wondering why I'm e-mailing you. After all, you and the rest of the family DID disown me two hundred years ago after I announced my differing choice in career. Even went so far as to erase me. My accounts, my computer's hard drive, even my birth certificate. All gone. Very impressive.
Why yes, I AM bitter about it. How'd you guess?
Alright, here's the thing. I've run into some trouble with a band of arms dealers. I'll spare you the details. All you need to know is, I need a million credits NOW, and you look to be my best option You've got a week to pay me via the account provided in this message.
If you don't pay me in the time alloted, I've got a program on my computer that will send everything I have; old accounts, computer's hard drive, my birth certificate, everything you THOUGHT was gone that pretty much confirms that you're a blood relative of a slaver who's been terrorizing the Artemis Tau Cluster. Bet your new Sangheili buddies wouldn't look too kindly on THAT would they?
Love ya sis!
-Dahlia
Chief's hand balled into a fist. Then, he punched the wall closest to him, leaving a noticeable dent. He'd been manipulated. Nassana Dantius, playing the role of someone in need, took advantage of his sense of ethics and tricked him into becoming her personal hitman. His gut was telling him something about this mission didn't feel right, and he should've listened.
"Go help the others." Chief ordered the Krogan. "I'll wrap things up here." Wrex nodded and left the room to help the others round up prisoners as well as search the crates for anything useful.
...
Before leaving, the team locked the remaining pirates inside their own warehouse and marked the area with a beacon. The Sangheili Empire would head on down to the planet, apprehend the pirates, and put them through their version of due process. Considering that the Arbiter was literally branded a heretic just for being supposedly incompetent, Chief did not envy those pirates for whatever grisly fate awaited them.
Chief headed down to Deck 3 to find it mostly empty. Garrus, Ashley and Requisitions Officer Lawrence were all off-duty. While Wrex was up on Deck 2 glaring at everyone in mess hall. The only one down there was Tali, who was practicing her shooting on the holographic dummies. Chief grabbed a pistol loaded with holographic rounds from the table and joined her.
A tense silence hung in the air between the two. Cortana was back in Chief's quarters, surfing the extranet and studying the codex, but told Chief about the holographic shooting gallery that Ashley had set up in the garage, and how it might be a good way to kill time. That, and she also nagged him about how he should try to apologize to Tali. Again. Chief didn't think much of it, thinking that Tali would be in engineering and that he probably wouldn't even see her while she was down there, so why talk to her? However, Tali was apparently off-duty herself at the moment. Not only that, but it was just he and her at the shooting range. Chief was beginning to wonder if the universe was trying to tell him something.
"...Nice work down there today." Chief said, finally breaking the silence.
"Oh really?" Tali asked.
"Yeah really." Chief said as he shot a dummy in the head. "You were not only surprisingly good with guns, but you also had a very useful bag of tricks in that omni-tool that ended up being a real asset. That, and you were very commanding when you were collecting those prisoners."
"They were Unggoy." Tali said. "It doesn't really take much to intimidate them." She paused, then lowered her pistol. "Wait...are you apologizing?"
"No." Chief answered matter-of-factly. But the Quarian wasn't buying it.
"My, that answer came awfully fast." Tali said with that smug tone of hers again.
"Because it was the truth." Chief said as a new dummy illuminated into being.
"Whatever you say." Tali said. "So...now what?"
"What do you mean?" Chief asked.
"Sharjila was my chance to prove myself. So, does this mean I'm a part of your team now?"
"Yes." Chief said as he fired at the new dummy's head. Instant kill.
"R-really?" Tali stuttered a moment. "I mean, that answer came awfully fast..."
"Once again; because it was the truth." Chief stated.
"...Thank you." Tali said.
Chief smiled a little despite himself. Tali resumed her own target practice. Another few moments of silence. Then, a thought occurred to the Chief that, for some reason, he decided to voice openly.
"What kind of training you said you had?" Chief asked.
"Basic self-defense. Every Quarian gets it before heading off to pilgrimage." Tali replied.
"Huh." Chief said as he fired another few rounds.
"What?" Tali asked.
"Well, I was just thinking." Chief began. "If charging headfirst into a brute and then shooting him in the face at point blank range is a Quarian's idea of basic self-defense, I'd hate to get into a fight with actual Quarian military."
Tali burst out laughing at that. "Indeed you would." she said in between giggles once her laughter died down a little. "Indeed you would."
Chief smiled again. And that's when it occurred to him. He cracked a joke with Tali. He never did that with any non-spartan before, let alone a non-Human. He was starting to like Tali. Not tolerate, but genuinely like, even though she's an alien.
He remembered the Arbiter back during the Human-Covenant war; how the Sangheili were betrayed by the brutes and prophets and sided with the UNSC in the very last act of the war. The Arbiter fought beside the Chief and watched his back, and Chief watched the Arbiter's in turn. He tolerated the elite at first, and then eventually grew to respect him. But he never really got to like him. He never really got to see him as a friend. He supposed it was because the Arbiter and his race had simply done too much harm to humanity; such crimes are not easily forgiven or forgotten.
But this feisty young Quarian was different. He supposed the fact that the Quarians never did humanity ever harm was a big point in her favor. Then again, she was infinitely more annoying then the Arbiter. At leas the Arbiter did not insist on proving himself a worthy ally in the spartan's eyes. But Tali felt like she had something to prove and damned if anyone, even the Master Chief, was going to ignore her. Chief knew a few kids like that during basic training. He always did kind of liked them, if only because they displayed the same refusal to give up or fail that Chief himself had. He couldn't help but respect that kind of dogged persistence in them, and it seemed he had come to respect it in Tali. Hell, maybe even like her a little.
And so it was that, while the Arbiter was the first alien that Chief could call an ally, it was actually Tali'Zorah nar Rayya who was the first alien that Chief could honestly call a friend.
...
Codex Entry (Aliens - Non-Council Races): JIRALHENAE
In the era of the Covenant, the Jiralhenae and the Sangheili have long been at odds with each other, constantly competing for the favor of the San'Shyuum, the Covenant's ruling species. The San'Shyuum eventually made their decision on who to favor, ordering the Jiralhenae to wipe out the Sangheili, as the Sangheili's competence and faith have recently been called into question. This lead to the Sangheili siding with the UNSC and eventually emerging triumphant over their Jiralhenae foes at the Battle of Installation 00.
The Great Schism went on for seven more years until the Jiralhenae and remaining San'Shyuum were pushed to the Jiralhenae homeworld of Doisac, where roughly half of the Jiralhenae in the galaxy reside to this day, as the Sangheili Empire maintains a quarantine fleet in the planet's orbit. The other half of the Jiralhenae population became pirates that terrorized the other species of the Forerunner Cluster.
Today, most of these pirate Jiralhenae fled into the Terminus Systems soon after the First Contact War reached its conclusion. Their savagery and violence rivaled only by the Krogan, the Jiralhenae have quickly gained an infamous reputation for attacking any poorly-protected ships in the Attican Traverse without provocation. Survivors of these attacks are few.
...
And there we go. And for those of you who don't know what song N'tho was singing, just copy and paste the following link into your address search bar thingy.
.com/watch?v=6SmuVh4637