AN: Sorry this took so damn long, but I had a writer's block OO;;; to make it up, I'll add two chapters (:
Disclaimer: I no owney Halo XD... huuuu... All original characters are copyright to me.
Chapter VIII – Zealous Liberator
"Heresy!", the minor Prophets kept shouting as they were escorted to safety by the Jiralhanae.
"Stuff it…", Zehkaz said dryly as he stared at his bond-brother, then stared at Truth, who apparently wasn't scared at all.
"What do you hope to accomplish with this, Lekgolo. You'll never get off this ship.", he said quietly.
Zehkaz laughed softly and waited for the rescue-division to free Chakuth's team, "Don't worry Truth, we've got our way off.", he said as he pushed the end of his gun against Truth's fragile head. The Prophet narrowed his eyes and slightly winced at the cold steel of the weapon on his head.
Kahlanx looked at the leader of his kind, Zehkaz was almost a head taller than his brother Xehn, he had a reputation for being relentless and very strict. But Kahlanx knew him better then most Lekgolo, he was trained by him. As he rose from the ground he stared at the Unggoy and waited for their release.
Chakuth rubbed his wrists and stared at their saviours, all Behemoth classed Lekgolo, bigger, stronger and smarter then the usual breed. He smiled, thinking back to the short time spent in the prison, and the hope he never really gave up. He saw how the commander of the group communicated with Kahlanx and guided them away from the room.
The halls were total chaos, there were Kig-Yar and Yanme'e everywhere, they were in panic and occasionally got stepped on by one of the passing by Lekgolo.
They ran towards the hangar of the Forerunner vessel, and even though they didn't run very fast, every step they placed on the metal of the ship shook the ground and was a potential danger for everything that walked in their way.
After running past several parallel hallways they met up with an enormous group of Unggoy and more Lekgolo, they had been freed from their prisons and were also escorted off the ship. Duthaz stared around, he noticed that also a small group of Sangheili accompanied them, he felt a grin cross his face as he met up with a few of his old team mates.
The leader of the rescue division was Zehkaz' brother Ghazad Zhun Lihx, he wasn't as strong and tall as his brother but he had the intelligent side of the share, being the tactical genius of his bloodline he had a neck for rescue operations and leaded it for that reason.
"Xodus, take them to the ship.", he said to his bond brother and stopped, "We're being followed…", he said and signalled a few other Lekgolo to help him fight off the flock of Jiralhanae honour guards.
Ghazad charged his cannon and blasted right through the ornamental armour the head Jiralhanae wore. He growled and brought up his shield, charging it again.
The two other Lekgolo fired at the same time in a cross pattern, hitting the flanks of the group. "Make sure none of them follow, then clear a path for Zehkaz to follow!".
Chakuth was pushed forward with a group of Unggoy into an elevator, the chaos in the halls of the Forerunner ship confused him, and it had seemed he was suddenly regrouped with at least 100 other Unggoy on a cargo elevator to the hangar. He knew it was up to him to lead them in an orderly fashion to whatever ship the Lekgolo planned on taking them out with.
He stared at Kahlanx' head as the elevator slowly went down and swore he saw a pair of blue-green coloured eyes staring right back at him. The Unggoy blinked, and held his hand up to him, waving a bit.
The elevator ride was horribly long and it took much to long for most of the Unggoy, who had gotten nervous.
Chakuth had no idea how far the elevator reached down, it was as if the surrounding they were in wasn't even part of the ancient ship anymore. It looked a lot different. But he was very sure that they were still on the Forerunner ship, it didn't really look like any Covenant material either. Then the dense material that surrounded the elevator shaft made place for glass, and an enormous hangar came into view.
Chakuth looked down, and to his amazement he saw an enormous CCS classed cruiser, docked up with by some sort of funnel. He had never seen anything like it before, and it couldn't stop amazing him. Around the ship Sangheili in armours suited for space, operated and steadied the funnel attached to the end of the elevator.
As soon as the elevator had touched with the ground of the hangar Chakuth stepped into the funnel and turned back to face the other Unggoy.
"Okay brethren, please… no running or shoving, walk in an orderly fashion!", he said as he walked forward through the dimly lit space. Against his expectations it was quite big, Lekgolo could also fit through it, which was a reassuring thought.
When he set foot on harder ground than the material in the funnel, he stared around, the hallways of the cruiser were very luxurious and beautifully lit with dimmed purple-blue light. The floor was so clean he saw his reflection in it, the only thing he wondered was why it hadn't been used in battle. It seemed like it was a battle cruiser and not just any, but a very good and big one.
A Sangheili walked up to Chakuth giving him a crisp nod, "Chakuth Zhetey, I welcome you aboard the Zealous Liberator.".
Chakuth frowned, "Zealous Liberator…? I've never heard of that name in the Covenant fleet…", he said while a few more Sangheili walked up to him to guide the other Unggoy inside the ship and to their departments.
The Gold armoured Elite grinned faintly, "It must be because this is not a Covenant cruiser, it's a Sangheili craft, named after it's destined purpose. And here I stand on the finest ship the Sangheili have built, on it's way to liberate us from the greedy hands of the Prophets.". He turned around, "Please follow me to the bridge.", he said. Chakuth nodded and left the guiding of the Unggoy to the team of Sangheili.
"This ship is indeed anything better then I've seen before.", Chakuth said, "So it was built for the purpose of liberating the Sangheili from the Prophets?", he asked.
The Sangheili guiding him seemed to be the shipmaster, "No, actually it was built in order of a general in service of the Covenant armada.", he said entering the bridge of the ship.
"A general? Who was it?", Chakuth asked while staring around at the crew of the Zealous Liberator, all of them were Sangheili.
The shipmaster walked up the slope to the higher part of the bridge and stared onto the holographic map. "It was General Charam Ikuda Zhetey, your father if I'm not mistaken.", the way the Sangheili brought it was so dry, it made Chakuth shiver.
"My father had this ship built! Why?", Chakuth asked, completely dumbfounded.
The Sangheili turned around and faced him with his hands on his back, "I can understand your disbelief and confusion Chakuth, but let me explain.", he started.
"General Charam lead the Unggoy forces back in the times when you were still on your home planet enjoying your childhood. He believed in a prophecy, one that held a very charismatic Unggoy, who will eventually free the Unggoy from the slavery of the Covenant and it's Prophets.".
"I met him when we were put together on one team. He lead a very talented group of Unggoy. One very unfaithful day, we fought in a battle we were doomed to lose, but Charam just didn't gave up. He continued fighting, even saved my life… Although it was at the cost of his. After I dragged him to safety, after I said I wanted to repay the debt I had for being saved by him, he made me promise something.", he said.
Chakuth listened intensely, he was never told how his father died exactly, just that he was shot by someone.
"He made me promise to make sure the Unggoy of the Prophecy he always spoke of got the help he needed to free the Unggoy race. I always thought Charam was the Unggoy of the prophecy, he was such an amazing leader and a little of a father figure to the younger Unggoy of his team. He was an incredible soldier… The last things he muttered were 'Save Chakuth, please help him with his journey.'. I thought he was just delirious, then I heard he had a son named Chakuth. At that time I realized what I had to do. And here I stand, in front of the High Commander of the Unggoy. Which is funny, because there are no generals left, meaning you are the only classified as one.", he spoke.
Chakuth's eyes widened, "Me?", he shouted in surprise.
The shipmaster grinned, "I have vowed to save you Chakuth, I have also promised your father to help you with your journey. That means that this ship is under your command.". he added to it.
"I ehm…", Chakuth started, he decided against finishing the sentence and softly bit his tongue.
"I guess it's still hard to believe for you, it's okay you will get used to it eventually.", the Sangheili spoke, "My name is Akena 'Anumee, this ship's master. But you will be in charge of the ship. I just make sure we get were we want to get.".
Kahlanx set foot into the Zealous Liberator the first thing he noticed was how good the ship was put together. It was certainly a very luxurious ship and well armed too. He was followed by a group of other Lekgolo as they were guided to the aft section of the ship. The Sangheili had told them that was the best place for Lekgolo to reside due to it's size of chambers.
He had heard a few Lekgolo talk about him but ignored it so far. It was insignificant chatter he didn't care about.
As he looked around the spacious room he stood in, he suddenly remembered a mission he and Xehn had been sent on. It also included a long travel on battle cruisers like the Zealous Liberator. He sighed, 'No more missions with Xehn…', he thought and sat down somewhere far away from the rest of the Lekgolo.
He listened to their conversations, to how they spoke over the rescue operation from Truth's grasp. Then the word Xehn came by and Kahlanx was immediately interested, "What about Xehn…", he asked.
"They say you're the Bond-Brother of Xehn Huth Kuthan… Is that true?", one asked.
Kahlanx signed, "Yeah I was, I am also more then just his bond brother, I'm also his biological brother.", He said staring at the ground.
The conversations died out, the Lekgolo that stood in the room stared at Kahlanx quietly.
"You were his brother? Do you mean he is dead?", one asked.
Kahlanx stared at him, "The humans killed him.", he said quietly as more Lekgolo walked into the room.
"Killed by humans!", a heavy voice sounded, "You have no faith in your brother whatsoever, now do you…?". Zehkaz walked towards Kahlanx, "Xehn can't be dead.". He stated dryly.
Kahlanx looked up at him, "What do you mean by that…", he asked.
"I mean, Xehn is not dead.", he said placing a hand on Kahlanx' shoulder. "How do you know he's not dead?", Kahlanx asked.
"That's easy young Kahlanx, I was called by him to form an alliance with the human race. Then I learned you were supposed to be back on the ship by that time. And I heard from some informants that you were held captive and sentenced for execution. In any way, your brother is still alive.", he said.
Kahlanx let out a sigh of relief, he felt the weight on his shoulders drop off and suddenly he could breathe normally again.
A sudden jerk in movement almost buckled over a few of the Lekgolo, the dark insides of the Forerunner ship replaced themselves for the broad space and the battered earth. Kahlanx stared at the human home planet, 'This war has to stop…', he thought as he watched how the once azure blue planet came closer into view.
Zehkaz stared at Kahlanx, then at his own brother, 'You're lucky to have been teamed up with your own biological brother Kahlanx, it makes working together so much more easy.', he spoke to himself.
Chakuth stared how Akena piloted the ship out of the hangar of the forerunner ship, accurate 3 dimensional images formed a map of their surroundings.
It was the only way for the ship to navigate, the bridge of the ship was in the middle of the ship, it had no windows, just a 3D star-map that showed everything it needed too.
The young Unggoy found it interesting how the vessel moved quite manoeuvrable regardless of it's size. Akena didn't speak a word, he was to fixed on the controls trying to get the to the planet as fast as it could. Chakuth stared at the Navigational board, a Sangheili sat behind it, he had blue armour, obviously a rookie.
He walked towards the Sangheili, "May I please…?", he proposed as he pointed at the board.
The Sangheili stared at him and nodded, "Go ahead.", he spoke quietly.
Chakuth stared at the board and took a closer look on the earth, homing in on the base they were sent to earlier.
He typed in the coordinates and sent them to Akena's controls, "Fly there, someone is waiting for us there… Besides, if we're gonna side up with the humans, the person to speak about it is there too.".
End Note: I know, it's a short chapter, but at least it explains a little about Chakuth's heritage. but dun worry, he will get his own chapter (:.