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Chapter XIV – Decoy
As Duthaz opened his orange eyes slowly he realized he had fallen asleep on a control panel. Akena was already awake but didn't bother to wake him. The younger Sangheili was having a com conversation, Duthaz blinked his eyes tiredly and absently listened to the conversation Akena was having while waking up and recovering from the strained injury.
"I know… I know… It's nothing important though, I'm sure he'll get better soon. What…? Oh… Yes. Ah well I'll have to go now, my tactical officer is awake. Sure, I'll speak to you soon again.", Akena finished off the small talk and closed the COM link.
"Morning 'Kinomanee.", Akena started.
Duthaz sat up, "Ah… Hi….", he murmured and looked at the digital clocks on the panel, 9,80 units, five to nine AM human standard.
He felt a yawn come up but restrained himself from doing so, "Who were you talking to, didn't sound like mission control.", he said, smiling faintly.
Akena's face lightened a little, "No it was my home front, my sister just had a child.", he said calmly.
Duthaz frowned slightly, unable to believe his calmness in their war, calling home to check upon an ill nephew just seemed out of the question for the soldiers Duthaz had under his command as a shipmaster. He shook the thoughts out of his head.
"I see…", he said.
A short silence.
"How old are you exactly Akena…", Duthaz suddenly asked the young Sangheili.
Akena stared at the former shipmaster, somewhat bewildered, "I'm twenty-one…", he said.
Duthaz nodded and turned to the panel, "So did you think about the decoy theory?", Duthaz suddenly asked changing the subject abruptly.
Confused, Akena stared at Duthaz, "Uh, yeah I ran a scan this morning, no results as of yet, with the speed it's going right now this might take until two PM human time.".
"We might not have that much time…", Duthaz said and stared around the bridge.
Akena rose from the chair and walked to the computer performing the scan, "So far, I have three cruisers done, that's about thirteen to go…", he said.
Duthaz' attention was caught immediately, "Show me the results of those three…", he said and waited for the image on his screen.
The young Sangheili nodded and sent him the images of the three ships.
"Just as I thought… empty….", Duthaz said.
"What?!", Chakuth's voice spoke.
Both Akena and Duthaz looked back to find the Unggoy general standing in the entrance to the bridge. Akena saluted, Duthaz crossed his arms.
"Like I said, the cruisers are empty, it's a decoy.", Duthaz said.
Chakuth's eyes immediately shifted from shocked to what Duthaz identified as deep thought or plotting. The Unggoy's thoughts never took long to form, the small brain in the general's head worked like the fastest ship Duthaz had ever seen.
"Wake my team, I'm investigating, Duthaz I need you to stay here and be my external navigator, you know what these ships look like best, but one of us needs to stand by and perform short progressive life-form scans.", Chakuth spoke.
Duthaz nodded and stared at Akena for a few seconds, "Yeah, sure.", he answered.
Chakuth nodded back at the two and walked out of the door he came in.
Akena smiled, he almost radiated, "Amazing, isn't he.", he said and turned to open the ship's COM link.
"Calling General Zhetey's team, ensemble at the hangar!", Akena shouted through the COM.
Chakuth already sat in the pilots seat of the Phantom as Miph walked in and placed a hand on Chakuth's shoulder, "Did you sleep well?".
An elongated sigh, "Better than I thought…", Chakuth replied and initiated the systems, "Are Vemeth and Calith aboard yet?", he added to it.
Miph nodded and sat down in the navigator's seat, "Who's flying this thing anyway…?", he asked suddenly.
"Calith is, as far as I know.", Chakuth answered and inserted his record and password for his own navigational preferences into the machine.
"Calith can fly a Phantom?", Miph asked and stared at the complicated controls the ship had.
"Yes I can fly all small carrier crafts except for the Banshee, all ground reconnaissance vehicles are piece of cake as well, leave it to me.", he said, smiling.
Miph stared at Calith for a little while, "Awesome…", he then said and grinned under his mask, "Be sure to teach me after this war!", he added to it.
Chakuth stared at Miph, then at back, his team was loaded and ready to go, "Miph, head to the passenger room and strap yourself in, we're leaving soon.", he said as he fastened the magnetic belts.
Miph nodded and ran back, closing the bulkhead behind him.
"Ok general, where do you want to be.", Calith asked him and gave the younger Unggoy a friendly stare.
Chakuth entered a few default flight paths, then turned to him, "The nearest empty cruiser would do.", he said.
Akena closed the visual link to the hangar and sat back, "They're off.", he said and stared at the full Cruiser scans.
Duthaz stretched and folded his arms behind his head, "I'll start the progressive life-form scan of the first cruiser they're headed to.", he said and opened the COM link to Chakuth's Phantom.
"Hey Zhetey, I'm starting the first scan, should be done when you board it.", he said.
First some static, then Chakuth's voice, "Very well, thanks Duthaz.", it sounded, then it died out.
The moment Chakuth's team set foot into the first cruiser, Chakuth's holopad cried for attention. The general stopped, grabbed his holopad opened the connection, "Go ahead Duthaz.", Chakuth said.
"Okay, left to you there should be a entrance to a bigger hallway, enter it.", it sounded.
Chakuth's hand touched the cold pad next to the door, and the bulkhead slid open.
The moment Chakuth laid eyes on the monstrosities behind the sealed door he wished he had never been brave enough to investigate…
Xehn's eyes widened, the entire hall was flood-infected, lifeless bodies of all sorts of Covenant races spread the floor in a spree of infected material and rotten flesh.
He instinctively crouched to his battle-stance and hefted his shield to his chest. He was the first to set a foot into the mass of death and trot through the disgusting mess.
"This is insane… what happened here…?", he asked, his voice translated.
Chakuth stared around not even knowing what to say. Miph was trembling and Calith and Vemeth were also at a loss of words.
Kahlanx followed his brother into the room and stayed as close as he could.
"I need to know when this ship arrived here…", Chakuth said, his voice trembling a few times.
Xehn stared around, "Ask Duthaz where the bridge is… the navigational computer should hold the data shouldn't it?", he said and softly prodded a mass of tissue on the wall.
Chakuth was about to nod when the floor moved, the flood infestations on the wall and ceiling started throbbing in a fashion that nearly made Miph throw up.
"Did you just… touch something..?", Chakuth whispered and stared at a very alert Xehn.
"What the he…" – "Shhh…", Miph was interrupted by Xehn, who moved closer to the door to a next compartment.
"There is something behind this door…", he said quietly and removed his hand from it.
"Do we want to know…?", Miph asked and took a few steps back.
Xehn stared at Kahlanx, nodded at him and opened the bulkhead.
At the sight of the Flood-infected elite all but Xehn startled enough to jump back, "I'll handle this…", Xehn said and held his shield up.
The creature roared, a deformed and tortured scream, before it charged at Xehn with an enormous leap.
The Lekgolo didn't waste a single second, the moment it came in distance he stepped forward and smashed the shield into it's chest, shattering what was left of the bones and deforming it more. As it lay on the ground, twitching and gurgling, Xehn charged his Fuel rod gun and fired it at the heap of rotten mass. In the explosion the creature evaporated entirely, leaving no trace for anyone to know such an abomination ever existed. But as Xehn saw how another eight staggered out of the darkness, he realized the cruiser was to far in deterioration to save.
"What's going on in there?! Chakuth, answer me!", Duthaz shouted as he heard the hiss and blast of a Lekgolo's Fuel rod gun.
He growled and clenched his fists on the console, all he heard were distorted voices, some screams and horrible growls.
Akena stared at Duthaz, obviously worried.
"So there is something down there… why didn't the scans pick it up?", he murmured to himself while deep in thought.
After a loud bang and the frantic howl of an overdriven engine of a phantom Chakuth's voice yelled through the com.
"Something really bad is in there, whatever it is, destroy that ship, there is no way to figure out what they are, where they came from or… just… blow it up!", his voice sounded obviously shocked.
Duthaz narrowed his eyes and noticed how Akena was calling the weaponry crewmen to their posts.
"Something is very wrong here… those cruisers should have arrived here not to long ago, just about a day or so after the Forerunner ship arrived here… and they came straight from High Charity…", he spoke to himself as he opened notation program and noted his findings.
He heard how the main cannon roared to life and warmed up for a blast as he searched through the frequency addresses in the computer, no High Charity listed.
The Zealous Liberator shook, the plasma cannon had fired and took a direct hit in the middle of the unshielded hull of the infected cruiser.
Duthaz rose, grabbed his rifle and walked out of the bridge, "I'll be back…", he said as he closed the bulkhead behind him.
The phantom's landing was sloppy and hasted, Duthaz could tell.
Once Chakuth ran out he stepped forward, "Welcome back Zhetey, how was your first encounter with the Flood?", he spoke in a calm manner.
Chakuth's dark eyes primed at Duthaz, "Those things are the Flood? Where did they come from?!".
Duthaz didn't move a muscle, "My best guess… is High Charity…", he said.
He then shifted his position, "I think now is a good idea to head to High Charity and have the humans handle the cruisers from Earth.", he added to it.
The Unggoy general stared at the ground for a few seconds, "Why should we head there… what do you expect to find?", he asked the Sangheili.
"Answers… What are they planning, any kind of answer as to what Truth is trying to achieve will help end this war…", Duthaz replied.
Chakuth nodded, "Alright, we'll head for High Charity.", he said and walked past Duthaz, followed by the three other Unggoy and Kahlanx, Xehn remained.
"Your ideas on this… Lekgolo…?", Duthaz asked.
Xehn raised his head, "My thoughts are irrelevant at this point… I have my own worries to deal with… Oh… and my name is Xehn…", the Lekgolo said before walking past him.
Duthaz stared at Xehn for a while then followed his team to the bridge.
"Okay Akena, we plot a course to High Charity.", Chakuth said as he logged into the network.
The Sangheili shipmaster smiled and nodded, "Yes sir!", he spoke and stared at his controls, "High Charity it is.".
Chakuth entered the coordinates while deep in thought about the consequences of his decisions, he sighed and shook off his usual doom thinking and focussed on the codes.
"Forgive me for asking though, Chakuth. What do you intend to find on High Charity?", Akena asked him while staring at the input from Chakuth's computer.
The Unggoy looked back at him, "Answers…", he replied and prepared for the journey.
Xehn stood motionless in the hall, staring out the window, thinking. He didn't react until Kahlanx placed a hand on his shoulder to wake him up.
"What's bothering you…?", he asked quietly.
Xehn sighed, "Our history… Every single detail of how we came to be as we are lies in that hellhole… I'm not to sure if I want to know these 'answers' Chakuth so dearly seeks…", he spoke and closed his eyes.
Kahlanx remained silent for a few seconds before replying, "Perhaps embracing our past is better than trying to ignore it…", he said almost whispering as he placed a hand on the thick glass.
Xehn opened his eyes and stared at his little brother, "Did you embrace your past… Did you get to live with the fact we never even knew where we originated from? To never know who our parents were…", he asked him.
Kahlanx shrugged, "Never knowing is better than having known once and having to miss it…", he spoke.
The older Lekgolo remained silent, his brother made a point, but the wounds were to fresh to sew shut, he winced at the sight of his crime and looked away, silently.
End Note: Yeah... so I updated, woot XD goes to update some more ;D