Sorry guys, this one's a little lengthy! Blade decides to teach the Covenant POWs about Earth, can she do it? Enjoy! Disclaimer: I own nothing from Halo: Combat Evolved or from any of the books.
Chapter Thirty-One: New Education
March 28, 2553 0900 hours
Wilkerson Prison Facility
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
Having a long ways to go before full recovery from her prison ordeal, and wanting to keep from dwelling on Alaya's memories, Laura decided to kill time and try teaching the Covenant prisoners English. After consulting with General West, she was brought to a meeting area in a wheelchair, and the POW's were led in. Yipin, the little Grunt who had helped her escape the Covenant cruiser when she was captured, gave a small bark of delight and ran up to her; actually, with the breathing mask and armor, the little guy was waddling more so than running.
"Hello, Yipin. It's good to see you again." Even though she knew the little Grunt didn't understand her words, the tone of her voice said the message just as clearly; by the excited barks coming from Yipin, Laura knew her message had been understood. The rest of the prisoners, which consisted of several Elites, a few Grunts besides Yipin, and a Prophet, stayed back and watched warily. She recognized the Prophet as being the one they'd nabbed on the Retribution, and smirked at the ugly look to cross his already-ugly face. When Laura approached them, wheeling herself over, an Elite slapped her across the face. The soldiers in the room raised their weapons; Laura saw them taking aim at the prisoners and ordered them to stand down.
"Lower those weapons, people. We're not going to get anywhere by shooting at each other." The soldiers reluctantly complied, but kept their fingers close to the trigger in case one of the aliens tried something. Laura shook her head to clear the ringing from her ears, wheeling herself away from the Prophet and the Elites. Noticing Yipin's face, what little she could see beneath the breathing mask, she swore she could see concern in the little Grunt's eyes.
"I'm all right. But you won't be for long if we don't see to your immediate needs," she said as she motioned one of the Marines over. He kept his finger on the trigger, looking warily at the Covenant.
"We do have methane available for the Grunts?" The Marine's jaw dropped in surprise, thinking that Blade would be the last person concerned about the POWs well-being, but he managed a response.
"Uh, no ma'am, not in the immediate area. I can have someone bring some here in about ten minutes or so." Laura scowled, privately thinking that someone should have thought of this sooner.
"I guess it'll have to do. Bring it in here as soon as possible-we may need it at any point in time. Who knows how much methane they have left in their tanks?" The soldier nodded and left.
Laura turned back to her 'students' and spoke, knowing that the Elites, and possibly the Prophet, were equipped with translators that could understand human speech. "By now you've realized that we don't intend to do you any harm, especially since you've been well-treated during your captivity. I thought it would be a good idea for you to learn a bit more about Earth, to pass the time if nothing else. Besides, as one of our wise men once said, it's wise to study the ways of one's adversary." She wheeled herself around to retrieve a book from the rolling shelves she'd had brought earlier. Flipping through the pages, she stopped at a poem written by Emily Dickinson, Success is Counted Sweetest:
'Success is counted sweetest,
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated-dying-
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!'
Putting down the book, she looked at the POW's, her eyes alight with something they recognized as zeal, but out of place on a human countenance. She spoke quietly to them.
"Emily Dickinson was considered an odd person, a recluse, someone who never left the home she lived in. No one truly understands her even now, when she's been dead for over a thousand years. But she still survives through her poetry, which is easy to understand if you look hard enough." She rolled herself over there again, pleasantly surprised when none of them hit her. "Good, we're making progress. Shall we begin the lessons?"
Several hours later, Laura headed back to her hospital bed, tired but happy; they were fast learners, and in one day she had managed to teach them the entire English alphabet. Their translators were a big help, but they were surprised to learn that there were over a thousand different languages on Earth. "I don't even know all of them, but I know of them," she'd said. "I'm teaching you English because that one is the most common, and pretty much everyone on Earth speaks it as a standard language." Even Yipin was learning the words: he'd actually tried to say her name, but didn't get it out completely. Laura smiled at the attempt, finding Loa to be an amusing nickname. The Prophet seemed to learn the fastest, and Laura decided to give him a bit of a challenge. Since he appears to be able to read, let's give him something interesting to think about. When she was wheeled into the 'schoolroom' the next day, she noticed the Prophet had left the usual group of Elites and was perusing the bookshelves, his antigravity belt causing him to bob up and down and bringing a faint smile to her lips.
"I see you've taken an interest in human literature," Laura's words caught the Prophet by surprise.
"I am merely bored with sitting each day." The words seemed uneasy in his mouth, but they were spoken almost perfectly--and haughtily, she noticed.
"Perhaps I can find something that will interest you," Laura said as she perused a datapad. Finding what she wanted, she handed the pad to her 'student'. "I believe you'll find these quite interesting. However, you will only be able to read what has been uploaded on the datapad--if you try to use it to access anything else, it will shut down."
"What are these?"
"Files on the various religions among humanity. Seeing as you yourself are a religious leader, I figured this would provide some unique insight on what you consider vermin." Her dark eyes held the Prophet's for a long while, as she pulled a silver-filigree cross set with turquoise from under her shirt. "My religion has this as its symbol. Others have different symbols and icons, but it gives their followers meaning. As I said, you may find it interesting."
Allowing the Prophet to peruse the data at his own pace, Laura began to teach the Elites and Grunts; while she had the Elites reading about Earth history, she tried to help the Grunts along with learning English. A warbling laugh from one of the Elites caused her to look up, frowning.
"You waste time. Grunts too foolish to learn." The Elite chortled again.
"No one is too foolish to learn, some just need to learn at their own speed. Perhaps you consider them fools because you never tried to teach them yourself. Besides, if they truly are too foolish to learn, how did you teach them to fight?" Her arguments were sound and her voice was calm, stopping the Elite mid-warble. A tugging on her sleeve caused her to look down; Yipin was holding a thin book in his claws.
"Loa, ead lease?" Laura had learned enough of the Grunt's attempts at English to understand his request: Laura, read please? She smiled down at the little Grunt.
"Of course I'll read to you, Yipin. Why don't you bring all of your kin, so I can read to them too?" As Yipin scampered off, Laura smiled to herself. Yipin is quite a fast learner, but he needs more help with his speech. When the Grunts gathered around her in a semi-circle, the Elites and the Prophet watched as Laura read Pinocchio to the little aliens in a clear voice. When she finished, she explained the story as well as she could, her tone kindly and patient. The Prophet noticed a spark of previously unperceived intelligence kindling in the Grunts' eyes, especially in the one called Yipin; he noted that Yipin always tried his best to translate Laura's words to his fellow Grunts, which often helped the others understand. What surprised him most was the strange human's patience and kindly ways; he'd seen holographic records of this same human slay other Covenant soldiers seemingly without remorse.
Turning back to the datapad she'd given him, the Prophet continued to peruse through the religions and cultures of humanity. I had no idea there were so many! These humans are truly unusual, for vermin. He noted stories of religious crusades, human sacrifices for the blessings of violent gods, terrorist acts by religious fanatics, the rise and fall of empires where religion had been central, religions of ancient human tribes long extinct, and religions that still existed in the present. Making sure the camera hidden in his robes was recording everything, in order to send a secret message to his brethren when he had the opportunity, the Prophet continued to read about Earth cultures, eyes widening with each new discovery. By the time the human clad in white came to take Laura away, the Prophet was truly puzzled. He floated toward Laura and the white human, uncaring that the other human was afraid of him.
"Why did you have me read this?"
"Because I thought it would help you understand that our cultures and governments are not so different. Perhaps it was the wrong thing to do, but it felt right." She looked him in the eye, her dark eyes holding his own with an intense gaze. "I've heard it said that understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, my side, and the truth. Yet if both sides believe their point of view is the truth, what is the real truth? Who will see it if it ever is revealed?" With that, she motioned to the other human. "Nurse, I'm tired."
"Yes, ma'am. It's high time you went back to rest. At this rate you'll never get any better, you'll only get worse."
"You are ill?" one of the Elites asked, his warbling words still understandable. The other POW's turned to listen.
"Ill, no. In pain, yes. I was tortured by Brutes while a prisoner on a Covenant ship." Laura grimaced at the looks of disgust and outrage on the faces of her Elite pupils. "Yipin could probably tell the full tale, since he came from that very ship." Her face paled as a fresh wave of pain hit, and the nurse wheeled her out of the room.
The next day being Sunday, the Covenant prisoners were surprised when Laura wasn't in the room for their lessons; what they saw was a strange human male with the human female in white that Laura had called Nurse.
"She wasn't in her room, and her wheelchair was gone. I have no idea where she could be." Nurse seemed a bit more worried than when the Prophet had last seen her.
"Have you asked her mother? She may have some insights as to where our truant patient might have gone." The male's voice, though it sounded amused, gave off a sense of command and military presence.
"I've already asked. Dr. Gedeon has no clue, Laura being an enigma on a regular basis." Any further speech was interrupted by the arrival of a third human with a datapad, this one also a female. This human was taller than the other two, with dark, intense green eyes and short red hair, almost the color of the humans' blood.
"Sir, was Laura cleared to leave the hospital earlier?" The newcomer's voice was soft, but hinted at deadly strength and quiet confidence.
"No, why?"
"I think you'd better see this." The red-haired female handed him the pad, and the Prophet noticed the man's eyes widen.
"What is going on, where is our teacher?" the Prophet asked as he floated over, his voice containing a touch of concern, as well as being less haughty than on previous days. The green-eyed female, at a nod from the male, went to a viewscreen and connected the datapad to it, the result providing a picture. Laura was seated in her wheelchair in a wide hall, ornately decorated and carved. Prominently displayed on one wall over an altar was a cross, with a figure of a human male nailed to it; the Prophet remembered from his reading that some human religions spoke of a savior, a son of a god who allowed himself to be killed to save the souls of the humans. The Prophet found it difficult to understand how a god would willingly sacrifice himself for vermin, though Laura had tried to explain it once: the god of the humans was merciful and wise, as well as swift to righteous anger. Laura held a thick book in her hands, and was singing in praise. There was a light in her eyes that took them by surprise, giving her a look of wisdom and life that they'd not seen while she was teaching them the ways of Earth.
"Is this a live feed?" the man asked. The tall woman nodded.
"Will followed her to the building. According to a sign out front, it's Saint Joseph Catholic Church." For some odd reason, the man found this amusing.
"Of all they places we'd thought Laura could be, a church wasn't even on the list. How long has she been there?"
"About an hour, I think." Looking at the screen, everyone in the room noticed the hall emptying out. Laura stopped and exchanged a few pleasantries with some of the other humans, then continued wheeling herself away.
The human male turned off the viewscreen and looked at the two females. "Well, you can call Dr. Gedeon and tell her Laura went to church on us, and that she's on her way back." The female in white left, but the other stayed behind.
Almost at that exact moment, Laura wheeled into the room, saw the group and the expressions on their faces, and stopped dead with an embarrassed look on her face.
"I had no idea you were a religious person, Laura," the man commented.
"Something my parents tried to instill in me early on, General West." She shot a pointed glance at the datapad in the man's hand. "I had a feeling it was too easy to slip out. Who followed me?"
"One of the Spartans." The red-haired female said nothing, but a faint smile appeared on her face, a smile that was almost invisible. Laura noticed it and shook her head, a few strands of dark hair falling in front of her eyes.
"Figures. Well, since everybody's here, I guess we'll start class."
Laura spent the better part of the afternoon working with the Covenant; the Prophet noticed that the human she'd called General West remained to observe, while the other female left. When one of the Elites asked about the hall she'd been in, she explained that that was her church, her place of worship for her religion. At this point the Prophet jumped in to assist with the discussion, his own newly-acquired knowledge making it simpler for the Elites to understand. Laura decided it was time for the Elites to start learning about human religions, and gave them appropriate reading materials while she worked with the Grunts on English. She was pleased to see that they were picking up the language fairly well, and Yipin positively made her day when he finally said 'Laura' instead of 'Loa' when he asked her to read to them. She was tired and exhausted, but happy, until the door opened.
The human that entered was different from the others the POW's had seen. There was a cold look in his eyes, and his face looked ugly from his scowl. He walked toward Laura, who sat still in her wheelchair, seemingly unafraid of this ugly stranger.
"So, you're wasting valuable time and resources consorting with the enemy, Blade?" His voice was laced with venomous hatred, and his words confused the Covenant--why did he call her Blade?
"I wouldn't exactly call it a waste, Ackerson. Teaching them a little about Earth isn't going to hurt. Besides, it may help to end the war in the long run--isn't that worth any expenditure of time and resources?" She watched coolly as his face reddened in anger.
"You have no right to talk to me about what's worth what. I know how much the end of the war would be worth."
"Then why don't you get back out to the frontlines and help to end it? Or do you not care whether Earth falls or not? What insidious agenda keeps you here, when you could be out there saving lives? I can tell you right now, your reputation and ambitions won't matter a whit when you're dead." Laura's voice remained calm, but her hands were clenched in cold fury.
"Careful, Blade," the ugly human sneered, obviously trying to control his anger. "No need to make any more mistakes. Of course, I suppose it would be easy for a mistake to make mistakes." The words hung in the room, leaving everyone shocked except Laura, whose face paled. Yipin was the first of them to take action: he ran up and started shouting at the human called Ackerson. The little Grunt didn't quite understand all of the ugly human's words, but he perceived that the ugly one was insulting his teacher, and that bothered him quite a bit.
"Leave Laura lone. She my friend!" His English was still not very good, but his words couldn't have been plainer. Ackerson's face paled, and he raised his foot in preparation to kick the little Grunt.
Laura guessed what was coming, but there was no time to call out a warning. She did the only thing she could think of to do: bracing herself for the pain she knew would be coming, she threw herself out of her wheelchair and took Ackerson's kick in her side, almost exactly where the Brute staff had stabbed her. She landed hard on her other side, crying out from the intensity of the pain; Yipin remembered hearing a similar sound on his old ship, but this one did not sound nearly as painful. West stood up in shock, most of the Elites circled the Prophet while three stood in front of Laura, and the Grunts (except Yipin) scattered in confusion. The soldiers lining the walls brought their rifles up, waiting for an order of some sort, while two guards moved toward the door in case they needed to go for backup.
"Ackerson, what the hell do you think you're doing?" West bellowed from the corner. Ackerson spun around with a fearful look in his eyes--he hadn't expected the general to be there. He looked from the general, to the Covenant, to Laura lying on the floor, holding her sides in pain. Slowly, after about five minutes, she braced herself against the wall and stood up, uncaring of the pain as she took slow, deliberate steps towards the man who'd kicked her. The Covenant noticed her tall, upright figure and saw a nobility in her stature; the Prophet himself realized that she and the other human female, the one with red hair and green eyes, were of the same caste, as near as he could perceive it.
"By all rights, I should be allowed to kill you right here, Colonel or no. But so help me if you ever attack one of my students ever again, I will kill you and enjoy it, even if I have to force the pleasure out."
"Is that a threat, Blade? I could have you court-martialed for this!"
"Fine, do so, by all means. But your case would fail, since you would first have to prove my existence, which is something ONI has denied for years, and since we have a number of witnesses against you." She gestured to the soldiers around the room, the Covenant, and West. "I suggest you leave and not come back." Ackerson stood there angrily for several seconds trying to come up with a sharp retort, but he took one look at her face and decided to leave. When he finally did, Laura started to lose her balance from the pain; two of her Elite students came up beside her and helped her back to her wheelchair before she fell.
"Shall I get a doctor, Laura?" West asked quietly after taking one look at her face.
"As much as I hate to bother one of them, you probably should. It's really hurting. I know I probably shouldn't have done what I did, but it was the right thing to do; I didn't think I had another choice." West put one hand on her shoulder.
"Ackerson was out of line even coming down here. This has gone far enough, in fact it's gone too far. I'll report this to the Security Council; they need to know what he's trying to do. Laura, with your permission I'd like to tell them everything."
"Since when do you need my permission, General West? I trust you, and that should be reassurance enough. Do what you think is right." Laura tried to paste a smile on her face, trying to hide the pain.
As West left the room, she noticed the looks of concern on her pupils' faces. Her continuing attempts to smile brought only a pained grimace to her lips.
"I'll be all right, don't worry. The doctors haven't failed to fix me up yet. Although, I wonder why you would fear for a human's life." She tried to wheel herself closer to the bookshelf, but the pain was too much for her strength.
"Who was the ugly human that was here? Why does he hate you, and who is Blade?" The Prophet's voice stumbled over the words.
"Colonel Ackerson never liked me, and we've pretty much been at odds since we met. He thinks he's my superior officer, but the only thing superior about him is his rank; I doubt he ever did an honest day's work in his entire life!" She laughed mirthlessly, so different from the other times they'd heard her laughing; in comparison, it was like seeing an enraged beast where there had once been a docile creature.
"He calls me Blade because I have some skill with knives," she spoke again, traces of angry laughter still in her voice. "And if he had his way he'd kill me now and have done with it, the arrogant fool. He has no idea. . ." her voice trailed off and she shook her head sadly, or so it seemed to the Prophet.
"No idea about what?"
"No idea why I fight, why I put up with his tactics. It's not ambition, or the glory of the kill, that keeps me going." Laura pulled a photograph out of her shirt pocket. "It's them."
The Prophet took the picture and stared at the humans in it: though all of them looked the same to his eyes at first, he eventually noticed differences in height, face, and build. A number of the humans had a strong resemblance to Laura, and he noticed that one of the human males looked half-starved, but still strong. Another thin human male was there as well; this one was older and less thin, but not by much. There was also an elderly human male and female, who possessed several facial characteristics similar to his teacher's; two young human children bore a stronger resemblance to her brother. The Prophet looked up in time to see the look of understanding in Laura's dark eyes.
"Yes. They are my family: my father and mother, my brothers, my younger brother's wife and their children. I'll do anything to protect them, even kill, but that doesn't mean I'll enjoy it. Not all humans are mindless, cold-blooded vermin as you would have yourselves believe; most of us have hearts and souls, and all are intelligent."
The door opened, and a female in a white coat and violet clothing beneath hurried in; The Prophet recognized her from the photograph Laura had showed him; this was the woman she had called her mother. She wasted no time in pulling out a data pad and scanning Laura with an unusual instrument.
"Laura Elizabeth, what did you do to yourself this time?" the woman lectured in an irritated tone of voice, but the Elites and the Prophet picked up on the worry in her tone.
"It's a long story, Mom. Just tell me how bad the damage is." Laura seemed reluctant to tell her mother exactly what had happened.
"You've got some additional damage to your injuries, and there's some minor internal bleeding as well. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were kicked in the ribs: that's the only reason for the damage pattern. But no one's kicked you." She shot her daughter a sharp look. "Or have they?"
Trust her to notice, Laura thought. Chagrined, she nodded.
"You should have been more careful. What on Earth were you thinking, getting out of your wheelchair in the first place?" Laura rolled her eyes behind her mother's back, clearly uneasy and irritated at the whole deal. Her mother finally finished lecturing and looked at her, the Covenant in the room clearly forgotten.
"It's safe to say you won't be doing any more teaching for a while. Bed rest and biofoam for at least three days."
"Mom, no! All the progress we've made here will be lost! I can't quit now!" Laura protested.
"That's an order," the woman replied sternly. Laura wilted visibly.
"Yes, Dr. Gedeon," she replied, her tone suddenly sharp and formal. She forced herself to roll out of the room, not looking back. The Prophet approached the older female, whom Laura had called Dr. Gedeon.
"Will she be all right?" he asked, concern audible in his voice.
"She'll survive. Laura's pulled herself through hell before, and will again no doubt." The old doctor sighed. "She's a survivor, but I still worry about her."
"It is a mother's duty to worry."
"That may be, but it's a human's duty to worry in general." A small smile appeared, though the female's eyes were grave and sad. "Where Laura's concerned, there are times when she worries too much, and times when she doesn't worry enough. She's so scared sometimes, and so angry, that it's hard to help her. We do what we can, though; she's earned a few people's respect here. If only it were enough." She closed her eyes, remembering all the things her daughter had been put through, the hell she'd suffered at ONI's hands. And no doubt there's even worse coming to her, she thought sadly.
The Prophet listened silently to the elderly woman's words, wondering exactly what she meant when she said, "If only it were enough." It seemed that the woman was in despair, but why? Is our teacher in danger of some sort? Judging by Laura's interaction with the ugly human earlier, it seemed so. Then he remembered the look in Laura's eyes when she was explaining her feud with the ugly human, Ackerson. She was angry and sad. The human must have hurt her in the past, more than she had said. For the first time, he pitied the strong human female that had captured and then educated him. The old alien knew now that she was more than the vermin he had thought her at first; Laura had won his respect, and the respect of the Elites and the Grunts, which was no easy task. Suddenly, he found himself doing something unexpected: he silently prayed for her salvation.