Chapter 5: The Dark one

Location: 500 meters below the planet's surface in the drilling chamber.

Ral'm'Hondow

"Why are we keeping that heretic alive, Ship Master?" Cano asked emphatically, pacing back and forth, his heavy gold armour clanking off the ground as he let out his frustration. "He has shamed himself beyond redemption."

While Cano ranted, Ral stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, feet apart and head held high watching Cano vent.

"Yes, it is true what say about him being shamed" Ral finally answered, adding "But he has information that I would very much like to have. And killing him is impractical."

Cano stopped pacing and turned to face Ral. "If its info you want, then why haven't you beaten it out of him?" Cano finished, tensing up his shoulders and tightening his jaws.

"That method has already been used. He is too strong willed to be broken that way." Ral brought up his armoured hand and started scratching his chin, adding "And he seems to enjoy the physical punishment."

Cano crossed his armoured arms across his chest plate and pondered "If not physical… then what?"

It was Ral's turn to start pacing, keeping his right hand on his chin and his left under his right elbow. He paced, slow and calm, bringing his thoughts to life. "I have a suspicion that he has some sort of a relationship with one of the Keg Yar." Ral started gesturing as he spoke. "He went into an outrage when I threatened his female Keg Yar friend. Which leads me to believe that's where his weakness lies."

Cano put a hand on his chin and looked like he was in deep thought. "That explains why the Keg Yar female shot one of the Sangheili holding him. He had pulled out his blade after the heretic spat in my face and as soon as he did that, the female killed him as if in fear of the heretic getting hurt." Cano also added "The heretic seemed rather angry after that, shouting the name…Neaola."

Ral stopped pacing and faced his friend, rather pleased. "You have done well Cano, your information has filled in the gaps. Now we just need to find this…Neaola."

"My Sangheili kill team was sent to find this Keg Yar, they haven't called in yet," Cano said.

Ral didn't like the sound of that. "They haven't called in? Well then, this means I'm going to have to send out one of the Spec Ops to see what has happened to the kill team." Ral spoke into a speaker on his wrist and said, "This is Ship Master Ral calling Specialist Vam'm'Ranal."

After a few seconds a deep shallow voice came through. "This is Vam, what is thy biding Ship Master?"

"I have a task worthy of one with your skills" Ral smiled "I need you to hunt down and capture a Keg Yar female named Neaola. It is imperative you bring her to me alive, this mission depends on it."

"Your will is my command, Ship Master."

Location: 358 meters below the planet's surface in the dark tunnels.

Jackson 001

Jackson let Neaola take the lead since she knew this place better than he did. It was dark in the tunnel they were going down, so Jackson had to turn on his helmet's headlights so he didn't trip over tools or dead bodies. The light bouncing off of the icy walls made it feel eerie. Sil had also brought a hand held torch with her, and kept it pointed at her brown leather boots so she didn't trip up. The Keg Yar on the other hand didn't need lights to see. Their large eyes were perfectly adapted to low light environments, so at least they could see what was up ahead. The two Grunts, Flip Yum and Nip Nap, where in the middle of the group having some sort of conversation in they're own kind's language, while Jackson and Sil took up the rear. Jackson was worried about Sil. She had been quiet ever since they ran into Neaola and broke the bad news about her father's death.

"Are you ok Sil?" Jackson asked, seeing the depressed look on her face.

"Huh…Oh yeah, I'm fine" was Sil's reply, still looking at the icy floor.

"No you're not fine" Jackson stated, as he gestured in Sil's direction. "You've been like this ever since you told Neaola of her father's death. So don't tell me you're just fine."

"What do you want me to say?" Sil demanded, her four jaws tight with anger. "Should I say I'm completely thrilled that I told someone their father is dead?"

"No, that's not what I mean." Jackson stepped in front of Sil and stopped her from going further. "I mean you shouldn't feel bad for telling someone the truth, even if it's a bad truth. Stop doing this to yourself Sil, it's not your fault."

Jackson saw Sil let a single tear fall down her cheek. "What would I do without you here to comfort me?" she said, smiling just a little as she looked at him.

"Well" Jackson said wiping the tear away with his gloved thumb, "You'd be a puddle on the floor with the amount you're crying."

He was about to say more when he heard Neaola calling him. "HUMAN, ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?" her voice echoed down the tunnel.

Jackson and Sil caught up with Neaola and her two Keg Yar followers, who's names he hadn't heard yet, and the two Grunts. "Are you two done talking?" Neaola sneered "Or were you kissing? I couldn't tell."

Jackson saw a look of disgust flash across Sil's face. "Eeeew no, he's my uncle, not my… Boyfriend!"

Neaola looked shocked "Oh… Well… that explains a bit." The other two Keg Yar chuckled to themselves at this awkward conversion. "And what are you two laughing at?" Neaola spat, showing her teeth.

The two Keg Yar just shrugged and one of them said "Sorry boss it's just been a long time since we had these sort of conversions."

Rolling her eyes, Neaola waved her hand and was about to start walking when Jackson grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. "Hey what are you…?"

Jackson put a finger to his helmet where his mouth would be, as a signal to stop talking. The group went silent as Jackson turned his head slowly left and right looking for something in the dark. "We're not alone down here," he said in a whisper, moving up in front and aiming his plasma repeater down the tunnel. He stood like that for a full 2 minutes before pulling out a flare and igniting it. He threw it down the tunnel, only for it to bounce off an invisible surface. Jackson only caught a glimpse as the invisible field flashed off and on. It was a Sangheili in black Spec Ops armour with red lenses in its helmet. Jackson open fire and hit nothing but air. "Shit!" Jackson thought. "Bastard's quick." Before Jackson could react, the invisible Sangheili slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. He rolled onto his stomach and fired a few shots in to the blur in the air. Jackson's shots were dead on as the force field surrounding the Sangheili vanished, revealing his full features. The Sangheili's long pointy helmet almost touched the ceiling, his arms, chest, and legs where covered in heavy black plating, his helmet's lenses were glowing blood red, and white religious markings covered his black armour. He wasn't armed with any weapons, but Jackson knew the Sangheili didn't need them. In one move he did a roundhouse kick, sending the group sprawling all over the place. Jackson watched Sil bring her gun up, only for it to be snatched out of her hand by the Sangheili, who then brought its open hand up and struck her in the chest, sending her tumbling head over heels. Then the two Grunts tried to tackle the Sangheili's legs, only for the two to be kicked off. The Sangheili then turned to face the Keg Yar, who were just starting to regain their balance. He lunged at the two males, disarming them and tripping them up again. Neaola brought up her own gun just as she got to her feet, only for the Sangheili to grab it and bend the barrel, rendering the gun useless. It shot out its open hand and grabbed her by the throat and held her in the air. This whole thing took less than 8 seconds.

"Are you Neaola?" came the deep rasping voice of the Sangheili.

"Who wants…to know?" Neaola replied struggling in the strong grip of the Sangheili.

Jackson got to his feet and went to fire, but the big alien turned to face him using Neaola as a live shield. "Let her go." Jackson demanded looking behind the alien to see Sil laying on the floor unconscious.

The Sangheili moved forward, keeping Neaola in Jackson's line of fire. "I can not do as you ask human" came the rather pleasant reply.

"I'm not asking." Jackson countered. "I'm demanding you let her go."

The Sangheili moved past Jackson, now still keeping Neaola in line with his gun. "Even if I wanted to, I can not." There was something sad about the alien's tone, like he didn't want this but had no choice.

The Sangheili was way past Jackson now, heading back down the tunnel. Jackson watched as the Sangheili and Neaola went past the flare and vanished in the darkness.

Location: 358 meters below the planet's surface in the dark tunnels.

30 minutes later

Sil

"What…happened?" Sil groaned as she came to. When her vision cleared, she met the faces of Flip and Nip looking down on her.

"You hit your head." Flip said "It look like it hurt."

Sil also noticed her head was lying on her uncle's backpack. She looked to the side and saw the two Keg Yar males were sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. That's when she remembered the Sangheili. Sil sat up and tried to get to her feet when a hand came down on her shoulder and pushed her back down. "Hey, what are you doing?" Sil protested. "What happened to that Sangheili, and where is Neaola?"

"Neaola's gone Sil" came the voice of uncle Jack. "The Sangheili took her."

Sil looked to her other side to see uncle Jack sitting right next to her. "If that's true, how are we still alive?" To Sil's surprise no one was killed, in fact no one was badly injured either, a few bumps and bruises, but otherwise fine.

"No idea" her uncle replied. "At first I thought we got lucky, then I realised what happened was on purpose. That Sangheili was skilled enough to kill any of us and yet, he didn't kill anyone." He was now looking at Sil. "It just doesn't add up."

"Maybe" Sil offered, "He just didn't want to kill anyone. I mean he had reason to, but he didn't."

"Still" Sil's uncle said, "Why did he only take Neaola?"

It was now one of the Keg Yar male's turns to speak "You want to know why he took her?" The male with a long scar down his reptile face and glowing blue spines on his head, peachy skin and red eyes, got to his feet and went over to stand in front of Sil and her uncle.

"And your name is?" uncle jack asked.

The male turned and looked at Sil's uncle and answered, "My name is Char, that one sitting there is Raskal" he also added "And I'd like it very much if you'd help me save my sister and her husband."

Location: 500 meters below the planet's surface in the drilling chamber.

1 hour later

Chackrol Roscal

Chackrol watched in horror as a Sangheili in black armour walked in with Neaola on his shoulder. "NO!" Chackrol screamed in rage at the Sangheili carrying his wife. Pulling at his clamps, wishing he could tear the Sangheili apart.

"Ah, specialist Ranal." Ral mocked in a cheerful voice, bring his hand up in greeting. "How nice of you to join us, and you brought the female."

The black armoured Sangheili put Neaola down, and to Chackrol's surprise she was unharmed. "Not a scratch, like you ordered, Ship Master." the Sanheili said in a deep shallow voice.

Ral took Neaola by the arm and dragged her over to Chackrol. "Neaola!" Chackrol called to his wife, "How did they get you?"

Neaola looked at him with a sad look in her blue eyes. "I'm sorry Chackrol," she said "I wasn't strong enough."

"Good." Ral sneered letting the evil fill his voice. "Now that greetings are aside, lets talk about what you're doing down here."

Chackrol didn't say a word as he glared at Ral. "Forget it" Chackrol spat.

"If you want to play it that way," Ral stated as he put his hand around Neaola's throat and started to apply pressure. "Then I'm happy to oblige."

"Stop!" Chackrol pleaded as Neaola started to choke, kicking her legs about in panic and clawing at Ral's armoured hand. "Stop!" he pleaded again, as Neaola started to move faster now, her chokes getting louder and her eyes rolling back in her head. "Stop, I'll tell you!" Ral released Neaola and let her crumple to the floor, she gasped as she breathed in air and started coughing violently as she lay on her back.

"I knew you would break." Ral chuckled, putting his hands behind his back. "Cano, I believe you wished for some pay back for the time Chackrol spat in your face."

Cano walked up beside Ral and brought a heavy boot down on Neaola's stomach causing her to cry out in immense pain. "You BASTARD!" Chackrol screamed in rage as Neaola writhed around in pain. "I said I'll tell you, stop hurting her."

Cano laughed as he watched Neaola clutch her stomach and curl up in a ball shape. "Ha! These rats are pathetic. It is disgusting to think you love one so much you 'd say anything just so we will stop hurting her."

He was about to kick her when the black armoured Sanheili blocked him. "That's enough" the Sanheili said staying in front of Cano.

"How dare you interfere!" Cano snarled, pulling the hilt of his energy blade out and held it. "You have no right to stop me."

Ral just looked amused as Cano raged. "He's right Cano, you 've made your point."

Cano look at Ral in rage. "But.."

Ral cut him off. "You've made your point, now leave."

Chackrol saw the murder in Ral's eyes as he said that. Cano took one last look at Vam and then stormed off. "Take the female and put her with the other Keg Yar" Ral ordered.

"As you wish, Ship Master" Vam said, bowing. He gently scooped Neaola up and held her in his arms. He took one look at Chackrol and nodded before carrying Neaola away.

"Now then," Ral chuckled "Where were we?"

Location: 500 meters below the planet's surface out of the drilling chamber.

Neaola Roscal

Neaola was in so much pain, the spot that the gold Sangheili put his boot on felt like it was on fire. She felt lightheaded, but could see well enough to see the black Sangheili's head, his eyes glowing a deep red and white markings covered his helmet. "Why?" Neaola asked in a pained voice. "Why did you stop him?"

The armoured Sangheili looked left, then right, and then put Neaola down gently on the floor. He looked at her through his red lenses and whispered, "You're no longer needed by the Ship Master." He gave her a knife that was hidden in his armour and added, "I was never here, you broke out yourself, and the others as well."

Before Neaola could ask what the hell he was playing at, the Sangheili went invisible and quickly slipped away. "What the hell just happened?" Neaola said to herself, looking at the knife. It was small and jagged, with white markings on its hilt. Why did he give this to her, and why did he leave her here? It didn't matter, she was free and she needed a way to free Chackrol. Neaola got to her feet and winced as fresh pain shot through her stomach. "I wonder how much damage that gold bastard caused to my insides?" she thought, still holding her stomach.

She limped her way down one passage, peeked around a corner and saw a makeshift holding cell, full of Keg Yar. There was also a Sangheili guarding it, one of those blue bastards, and he looked tired. Neaola looked back the way she came and saw nothing, so she took the knife, blade down, and chipped a piece of ice out of the wall. "I just hope this works." Neaola thought as she looked around the corner again. The Sangheili wasn't looking so she chucked the piece of ice down the other tunnel and it made an echoing clatter. The Sangheili turned his head and started looking down the other tunnel. He also started walking the same way trying to see in the dark. Neaola moved quickly, despite the pain, and jumped on the Sangheili's back. She stabbed him 5 times in the neck before he toppled to the floor, his purple blood pooling around him. Neaola got to her feet, went over to the cell and found the rest of her Keg Yar kin.

"Neaola?" one of them said, getting up and moving to the bars. "What are you doing here? In fact how did you get here?"

Neaola looked for some sort of lock, but found nothing. "No time to explain. How do I get you out?"

The green skinned Keg Yar just shrugged. "Its welded shut, no way out."

Neaola thought hard. How was she going to get them out? "Oh" she thought looking at the dead Sanheili. "Energy sword, that'll work." Still clutching her stomach, she went over to the Sangheili's body and pulled out its energy sword. With that, she turned it on and went back to the bars.

"Ok, stand back." Neaola brought up the blade, and with two swings she cut the cell bars to pieces. "Ok, come on we need to…" More pain shot through Neaola's body, causing her to fall over, still holding her stomach.

"Neaola, what's wrong?!" The green skinned Keg Yar was over her now, trying to see if she had any wounds. "You have no wounds, so where does it hurt?"

"My stomach" she gasped in pain. "I don't know why but it hurts so much." Even though the gold Sangheili stood on her, she shouldn't be in this much pain.

While the green Keg Yar helped her, others spread out looking for something they could use as weapons. "Well, lucky for you I'm the doctor here, so lets take a look." The doctor put his hand on Neaola's stomach and started to feel for anything. When he got to her lower stomach she cried out, as pain shot through her body. "Oh my" the doctor gasped looking very worried "This wasn't what I expected?"

"What?" Neaola asked seeing the concern on the doctors face "Why are you looking at me like that?"

The doctor rubbed the back of his neck, looking lost for words. "Um how do I put this, in a way you wont freak out."

Neaola looked at him in confusion now, not getting where he was going with this. "What is it doc?!" she asked still on her back and looking at her stomach. "What's wrong?"

"Are you married to any one?" the doctor asked, getting on Neaola's nerves now.

"Why would…yes I am…why?" She was getting worried now "What are you telling me?"

The doctor put a hand on her shoulder, and said the words she never expected to hear. "Neaola… You're pregnant."

Neaola looked at him, her eyes wide and her mouth was slowly opening in shock. Then she finally screamed. "WHAT!"