Chapter 6

The four soldiers, though still carrying side arms and assault rifles slung over their shoulder, were armed with military style batons. Alexander Lucien spun it in his dexterous fingers, his eyes focused on one of his fellow soldiers. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah," the others grunted in approximate unison.

They entered the prison, Lucien still spinning his baton with a blatant lack of interest. His free hand undid the lock of the cell and the four soldiers entered. They didn't say anything, they all simply began beating their captive down, not bothering to release Commander Zardock Zulfar, he was kept firmly in chains. When the soldiers were satisfied the Elite wouldn't show any resistance, they unshackled him from the wall and began to drag him away.

Corporal Nicole Nichols carried herself with an air of dominance, even as she entered the interrogation cell. The Elite prisoner was almost two and half feet taller, with an infinitely larger build. Even stripped of his white armor and weapons, he was her superior in every way. Nicole grinned evilly. Yet he was the one in chains.

The corporal sat down and put her feet on the table that separated her from the Elite. Removing her gloves, and drawing a small knife from her belt, she began to clean her nails. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Corporal Nicole Nichols of the United Nations Space Command. And judging by the armor you were wearing when we captured you, you are a Special Operations Commander of the Covenant. That is quite an accomplishment, to receive such a rank. Course, I supposed a bullet to the head will put anyone down, no matter what rank they are. You're lucky your helmet absorbed most of the damage. Its what I get for carrying a .22."

The alien said nothing shuffled a moment, perhaps testing the strength of his bindings. His arms were bound behind his back with heavy chains, strong enough to restrain an enraged elephant. Without his armor, he wore nothing more than the all-over gray-green, skin-tight body suit. The exact material it was constructed of was unknown, but analysis showed it to be bulletproof. It would have been confistacted as well, but Nicole couldn't have the Elite naked before her.

"I know you can understand me. There's no point in playing dumb. The only thing keeping you alive right now, is my patience, which is wearing thin."

The Elite continued to stay quiet. Its beady black eyes constantly shifted from one side of the room to the other, as if it was searching for some way to escape its confines. Of course, he found none. Nicole had made sure of that.

"I think you should know, that by my order, I could have you tortured: every portruding limb would be cut off, your mandible ripped from their sockets. But we've tried that already with past prisoners. The Grunts succumb easy enough, usually we just have to threaten them and they'll tell us whatever we want. Not that they ever know anything. The Jackals are usually the same way, cowardly little bastards. We've never been able to take a Hunter or Brute alive, so I don't know how loyal they'd stay to your ideals.

"When we try it with you Elites, you just don't give in. Even after you see all those pieces of yourselves, you're stone. Its something to be admired really."

"What do you want me to say?" the Elite asked. His voice was deep and gruff and sent a shiver up Nicole's spine. She cursed herself for showing fear before her prisoner.

"You're alive, only by my order. Most of the soldiers at this base would have you and yours hung by your entrails and paraded through the base. But in the end it is my decesion, as I am the commanding officer. I think you're useful. You could show a little gratitude."

"Why? You keep me alive not out of the goodness of your heart, but because you believe I am useful. Therefore, I owe you no gratitude."

It was still amazing to see an Elite speak with such fluid english, his words so perfectly formed.

"You shall get nothing from me," the Elite grumbled.

"Not tonight at least." The colonel rose from her seat and went to leave the room. "The guards will escort you to your cell shortly. We will talk more tommorow."

Coporal Nicole Nichols slipped out the door and proceeded down the hallway to her private quarters. There, she contacted her superior officer: Gunnery Sergeant David Allan. His bearded face appeared on the hologram.

"Sir," she said saluting.

"At ease," was the hologram's response. "Have the defenses held?"

"Yes sir. The Covenant have yet to discover our base. Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"Sir, we've observed some internal fighting with the Covenant here. The lines appear to be drawn between the Brutes, Jackals, and Drones and the Elites, Grunts and Hunters. Its almost like they've forgotten about us."

"Yes," nodded the Gunnery Sergeant. "This has been occuring through out the universe."

"The Elites seem to be on the run in this civil war. In twenty four hours, we've been able to capture at least two dozen. With your permission, rather than executing them, I would like to keep them for interogation purposes."

"Denied," was her superior's quick response.

It took Nicole a moment to let the shock settle. She finally said, "With all respect sir, this is a prime oppurtunity. Think of what we could learn."

"And think if this is a trap, colonel. Put nothing past the enemy, no deception is too dispicable, no crime too ungodly. The more Elites you put in the same place, the more dangerous they become. Execute them as you aquire them soldier."

"Understood sir," she saluted, before the holgram disappeared with a flash. And when the light had faded and she was sure the communication was cut, she said aloud, "Fuck you."

Thank you for the reviews everyone. To answer you're question, Fat Dude, I was originally going to have the commander not kill any humans. I decided that didn't seem realilistic though. The treaty hasn't been established yet in the Halo universe. The second game didn't end with an actual treaty, only the Arbiter and his squad decided not to kill the humans so that they could together kill the Brutes.

The bottom line is the commander is still at war. He was protecting two of his comrades when a squad of marines came. The marines would have killed him, given the chance. Nicole tried.

Again everyone, thank you for the reviews.