TIME FRAME: This happened a few hours before the ceremony in Halo 2 Cairo Station Level.
Chapter 5: Reminiscence of the past.
"Wake up sleepy head!" said Stahn shaking Zen by the shoulder.
"I'm up! I'm up! What is it!?" said Zen bolting upright very fast, making Stahn jumped back from surprise.
"Good, I finally woken you up." said Stahn after recovering from the shock. Zen looked at him with his eyes still half closed.
"You wake me up for what?" Zen's speech was now somewhat slurred rather than his voice earlier.
"We have a ceremony to attend to."
"What ceremony?" asked Zen rubbing his eyes..
"The ceremony for the signing of the alliance." said Stahn.
"Oh, that ceremony." said Zen standing up.
"I was going to say to you that you need to wear something formal but seeing that..." he glanced at Zen's dresser; which was only occupied by army standard clothing. "…I suggest you should wear your armor; it looks more decent on you."
"Yes, Mom." said Zen heading towards his armor pile, which was in a corner.
Stahn just rolled his eyes and said "I'll wait for you outside ok?" And he left giving Zen the some privacy.
A few moments later the two started walking down the hall heading towards the ceremony hall. Along the way Zen saw different aliens heading towards the hall, chatting excitedly. He saw Grunts, Jackals and a few Elites; same with the humans.
"Hey Stahn." Zen whispered. "How did we become friends with them again?"
"I don't know exactly but they said it was a revelation which began with 3 elites. Anyways you can ask Nira, she knows it more than I do." A few seconds later they arrived at the ceremony hall which was filled with many people, aliens and humans. Zen and Stahn found a seat at the side and took their seats. Seeing as it was early, Stahn left Zen there saying he had to socialize with his other friends.
Zen sat there staring blankly into nothing, (a habit he developed when bored or thinking about something deep) and he didn't notice someone come up from behind him and he was snapped back to reality when the guy placed his hand on his shoulder. Zen looked up and saw that it was a Sangheili. It wasn't Nira, which he was expecting it to be, it was someone else. The elite was wearing a different sort of armor. It was almost the same with the regular elite armor except it was colored army green. At the left chest area, was written in bold white letters 'UNSC'. The elite's helmet was tucked under his other arm and that had the insignia of the UNSC on it.
"Judging from your armor, you must be the creator they speak of, I presume?" It asked him. It took a moment for Zen to realize what it asked him and then responded "Yes…uh… I am."
The elite sat next to him and let out a hand, "I am, Z'jo Evanam." Zen took his hand and did a handshake, "I am Zen Black." Zen took note of the last name 'Evanam.' He had heard it before but he was still to sleepy to make the connection. There was an awkward silence amongst the two but then Zen broke the ice.
"Um… Z'jo by any chance, was you the one they were talking about the heretic elite that saved us all?"
"Yes, I am Zen." Z'jo then let out a sigh.
"I'm guessing you want to know the story?" asked Z'jo, taking the question right from his mouth. Zen just nodded.
"Me and my father or step-father, were training that day." he looked at Zen who was about to ask but he responded "Our father died at an encounter with the humans back then. My step-father adopted the 3 of us and raised us like we were his children. So back again, the two of us were sparring at the training room that day…"
***FLASHBACK***
Time frame: A few days before the Halo incident.
'We were sparring that day; I was actually getting good at the energy sword.'
'Really?' asked Zen.
'Yeah, I'll show you some time. So anyway, he continued training me that day to the point that we were both exhausted; we took our break and sat down at a bench outside our house. There we had conversation about the future things to come, mostly about my future for that matter. Then we came a across the topic 'humans...'
"Um… Father, can I ask you a question?" ask Z'jo.
"What is it son?" said Thel Vadamee to his step-son.
"Why are we at war with the humans?" Thel released a sigh and then replied.
"Son we are at war with them because, they have solely refused to believe our religion. The Holy Prophets see their species as a threat to our religion especially the Great Journey. They have been marked as the sworn enemy of the Covenant."
"Why?" asked Z'jo. "Surely they must have misunderstood what the Great Journey is for. If they knew they would surely stop fighting."
"Z'jo." said Thel loudly making Z'jo pay attention more. "They are the enemy; I have tried to understand them a long time ago, but gave up; why? It's because they are very stubborn and believe that a man with power will save them. I ask them if they have any proof to this, they show me books with writings which were supposedly written by the prophets of their Gods. I read them myself but it only contains the worst kind of hearsay. No proof of their existence, just books and whatnot. We on the other hand have a proof, our technology. With that, it aided us in preaching, and stopped those who tried to stop us.
"But father." Z'jo pressed. "Did the humans ever say they want to stop the Great Journey? Maybe they are just lost in their own trans-"
"Z'jo!" Thel shouted. "It is heresy to say such things let alone, show mercy to humans."
"Listen to father, Z'jo." said another sangheili coming from behind them. It was Z'jo's younger brother Zide.
"Z'jo I don't want you to speak of this again. Do I make myself clear." asked Thel.
"Yes father." said Z'jo lowly.
'I was up and about all night, trying to make sense of it all. But I had other, more pressing issues to do the next day so I had to give it a rest. The next day we headed to the spaceport boarding the ship 'Conduct Unbecoming.' Ironic name isn't it?' asked Z'jo.
Zen couldn't help but smile even though he never caught the punch line.
'Sub commander, Novi Torvaree was the one who controlled it during the absence of my step-father due to the fact that he was training us.
My time on the ship was pretty much short, due to a… argument with my younger brother that led to something much worse… I was sitting at a crate, with my Neophyte armor, pondering on my own thoughts. When they entered…
Z'jo turned his head then stood when he saw his father in a large purple headdress, a long purple cape, and purple armor. Thel stepped closer to him and stared at him for a moment with stone cold eyes. Then to Z'jo's shock he hit him hard in the side of the face with the back of his hand. The sound reverberated on the hollow hangar bay, and it could be heard around the bay up to the second story. Z'jo rubbed the burning spot where his father's hand had struck him.
"Zide told me everything." his voice held no emotion. That big-mouth… thought Z'jo.
"Everyone's opinion is respected but yours is filled with nothing but treason and heresy. I have taught you everything I know about our culture and religion, but it seems nothing seems to have seeped into you. If it weren't up to me you be dead by now. But seeing as I am the one that has the authority, I will give you one more chance. You will go to High Charity and swear an oath on upholding our long lived culture."
Z'jo let out a fake laugh which seemed real to his step-father. "By all means necessary, you can force me to take that oath and other things, but you can never ever change my opinion about the matter and I will keep voicing it out until I understand why we have to do this."
"Z'jo listen to yourself-!" but Z'jo interrupted him.
"No, you listen to yourself." said Z'jo. "I refuse to be part of a civilization that kills people for no particular reason."
"Are you saying…?" choked Thel. "Are you saying you're a…?" His step father could not finish the sentence. Z'jo finished the sentence for him.
"Well what if I' am a heretic!?" he shouted. "Well it's a lot much better than being a mindless Covenant soldier." His step father stared at him wide eyed. At that point it dawned on him that his step father was clearly brainwashed by the Covenant prophets into a war freak.
"So… Are you going to kill me now, that I am a heretic?" Thel just shook his head, still trying to recover from the shock. Z'jo was somehow relieved that his own father wasn't going to kill him, but somebody will kill him if he didn't get out of there at that instance. He then noticed his step-fathers Energy Sword's handle clipped to his waist. Using quick movements he grabbed it and activated it and pointed it at his father.
"Son." said Thel in shock.
"You still call me your son!?" asked Z'jo. "I just made myself a heretic. You are a mindless covenant soldier brainwashed by the prophets. I'm sorry, since I'm sentenced to death anyway, I might as well fight on the right side of the war. And by that I mean join the humans." Thel blinked, trying his best to make sense of it all.
"Join the…" he said dumbly. Z'jo ignored him.
"Yes. Or who knows, after everything we Sangheili have put them through, they might want to kill me. But at least I can die free and away from the Covenant with my conscience clear."
"Z'jo please…" Thel practically begged. Z'jo ignored him. His mind wavered at his options for escape. The door, he thought, but it was to far away for him to sprint it. The phantom, he looked at it at the corner of his eyes. If only he could find one who could drive him.
Then at the corner of his eyes he saw movement. To big for a grunt so he deducted it was a Sangheili. With lightning fast reflexes, he whipped around and placed his left hand on the neck of the Sangheili and the energy sword right in front of its face, to implicate that he was a hostage.
"Father help me." said the Sangheili with fear. Z'jo recognized that the Sangheili was also wearing Neophyte armor and it was his younger brother Zide. Thel took a step forward but Z'jo shouted at him, "Take another step further, and his head gets sliced off."
That made Thel stop his advance only staring wide eyed at him.
"Zide, do you know how to fly a phantom?" He knew this was a stupid question because Neophytes never receive training for this.
"Uh… Yeah a little." said Zide, shaking with fear; his eyes transfixed at the energy sword's blade inches away from his face.
Z'jo was surprised at this but didn't have time to think. He stepped under the hole of the gravity lift, and activating it. Once they were in he immediately locked the gravity lift, and ordered Zide to pilot the phantom out into space.
"Take us to the human planet which was scheduled for attack." he ordered.
'I overheard my father talking to Novi about a human planet that was scheduled for attack by my father's fleet. I thought, 'since I wanted to become an ally to the human's eye why not help them by warning them about their impending doom.''
"Are kidding, they'll kill us!" shouted Zide.
"I'll kill you first if you don't start this ship and head there."
***END OF FLASH BACK***
"… and that's how we headed for the road down to being allies with the humans. A little later when we were on the ship, we found out that our sister was there hiding. Apparently she wanted to join the Covenant army but at that time females were strictly limited. She snuck in the phantom hoping to find some armor to disguise herself, but was only knocked out by Sergeant Avery Johnson, whom we find later on the ship."
"We had a little bit of a hard time convincing them that we defected ourselves from the Covenant. My brother and sister, who were reluctant at first, later manage to get past the smoke and mirrors, to realize how much the prophets were fooling us. I could tell you more on how we managed to save you guys along with the Master Chief and destroy Halo; but it seems it may be for next time."
Z'jo stood up and headed up the hall and left to the double door; leaving Zen to realize that the ceremony was going to start in a few minutes. The story that had been told to him seem to make time fly fast.
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