"Harr harr harr harr," the voice boomed. Troy couldn't turn around; he was manacled to the table face-down. He felt the plasma-whip slap his back and distort his body in pain. He mentally sighed in happiness. They were going easy on him today. That didn't stop him from crying out from the agony of his already-wound-covered back. Maybe that's why they were giving him a reprise; so he could heal up a bit. Otherwise they would shred him to pieces, and what would be the fun in that? They enjoyed hearing him scream. Tears of hopelessness ran down his face as he concentrated on the number in his head. Fourteen fourteen fourteen fourteen... he couldn't lose the number. Counting the days kept him sane, kept him from breaking. Fourteen days... they won't have given up yet. He still had a chance. He cried out again. Fourteen fourteen fourteen fourteen...

Troy gasped and sat up. He was covered in sweat. He could still feel the emotions fresh in his mind, as if he were still experiencing the memory. He ran a hand through his sweat-matted hair and breathed out slowly, trying to calm himself. He had fallen asleep about ten minutes after Sally had left him, and it seemed as though she hadn't come back. Did Calsu kill her? Is she hanging by her legs getting skinned alive? Is she having every bone in her body snapped, then healed, then snapped again? Was she being tormented for trying to help him? Was he next? Troy tried to fix his mind on how nice Calsu had been to him before, how human she had seemed. But all that came to him were the memories. Torture, agony, insanity. He wrestled with all the surfacing emotions and ghosts that haunted his past. He remembered the flailing body of Private Weis as the flood burrowed into his neck, and what he had done about it next. Private Weis brought up his Magnum even as he screamed until there was no air in his lungs. Suddenly, he seemed at peace.

"Tell Margret I love her," he told Troy. Then there was a bang, and the Private's blood sprayed across the wall. In that moment, Troy had realised how meaningless his life was. Was anyone going to miss him if he died? Troy remembered this now, and remembered how he had made it through the past few years of his life. His sole purpose was to make sure what had happened to him didn't happen to anyone else. Private Weis had understood that; he'd taken his own life so that the Flood wouldn't spread. Troy got up and walked back to his barracks, he needed a change of clothes badly.

Calsu searched every single pod in the bay and couldn't find him. She checked the note Sally had left her and confirmed she was in the right place. Troy must have left, most likely for his barracks. She ran down the corridors to the location she remembered her friend's barracks to be. She knew if she didn't catch him there, she wouldn't have enough time to see him before the mission. She forgot her courtesies in her hurry and barged in. Troy was standing there, half naked, a discarded and sweaty uniform at his feet. His head jerked up to look at her. He looked very startled.

"Pl-please. I tr-tr-tr-tried to tell her!" Troy begged, dropping the clean shirt he was holding. Calsu had caught sight of something that had interested her though. She grabbed Troy by the shoulder and spun him around. She gasped. Burned into his skin was the mark of the Covenant. Many long red stripes surrounded it, Calsu knew they were whip marks. She could see some other faded wounds too, but they were healed enough so she couldn't tell what they were. Down the left side of his chest there was a long scar that extended right down to his stomach. Forerunners knew what that was from. All she could do was stare at his muscly body as he slipped his shirt on, blushing.

"I am terribly sorry for what I did... I panicked, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you," Calsu apologised, hoping it would be good enough. "You have been through some terrible things... I understand your phobia now." Troy blushed more and walked past her.

"It's all in the past now, don't worry about it. Besides, it wasn't you who did it." Calsu wondered why all men couldn't be this wise. So many times she had given him reason to doubt her... yet he still gave her his trust. She hated what had happened to her, but hated how she had reacted to it even more. She felt ashamed that she had cracked so easily, and a human had been stronger than her for a longer time than her, and in worse circumstances than her. She had lost it when she lost her ability to make children, and this human had lost everything. His family, his confidence, his will to live, his trust. And yet, he was still a better person than her.

"I will make it up to you," she vowed. Troy paused.

"Hey uh, I don't know if this is personal or not, but what did you mean when you told me I had given you something to live for?" Calsu had that look about her, the look people got when they were going to be talking for a long time.

"For many years, I have been slaughtering your kind, thinking it was going to give me honour and glory. All it did was waste lives, as being a female I couldn't achieve anything, even if I did a better job than the males. So that became pointless, then it became even more pointless after we realised our whole religion had been a lie. Then the humans took us in, and we realised the mistake we had made, such a fatal mistake... I thought I deserved to die for the heinous crimes I had committed, but then you came along." She paused to glance at him, to check if he was still listening. "You made me realise that life wasn't a straight road. You think it is going somewhere, then you realise there is a turn ahead. In a complicated way, you made me realise things could change. I could be and do whatever I wanted. Then there was the accident..." She trailed off, and fell into a depressed silence.

"It wasn't an accident," Troy corrected her. "The Brutes did this to you. Remember that. Remember what happened, and make sure no one else ever has to experience it too." Calsu knew he was right. He had done it again, given reason to banish her doubts. So that is how he lives with it. He lives not for himself, but for others. Humans have more honour than the Profits ever suspected, more than I ever suspected. She suddenly remembered why she was there.

"We have another mission," she informed him. Troy nodded.

"Once more unto the breach?" he joked. Calsu smiled.

"Together," she agreed, happy with the strengthened version of their friendship they had just forged in that one moment of honesty.

Troy slipped on his helmet and stepped out of the Pelican into the sci-fi interior of the Shadow of Intent. Flint glanced back from his seat in the cockpit.

"Good luck," he said sadly. Hoi nodded to him and stepped off with Troy and Calsu. They were to meet up with their new team and get ready to drop in one hour. They hurried to the modified hangar in the ship that contained sixteen ODST pods and a small human armoury in it. There were five Sangheili and Four ODSTs there waiting for them, as well as a Sergeant. One of the Sangheili was wearing an intricately patterned shiny silver set of armour that displayed a rank Troy had never seen before.

"Arbiter!" Calsu gasped, falling to one knee respectfully.

"Rise sister," Arbiter commanded with a chuckle. Calsu hastily stood as straight as she could. Arbiter finished talking to one of the Sangheili and moved off to another room. The Marine Sergeant turned around to face them.

"Well it's about time!" he braked. He pulled a cigar out of his mouth and blew out a puff of smoke. "Alright, we ain't got much time, so let's get straight to the point! We've got a ton of Covenant bastards on our asses and they ain't playin' too nicely. So we're gonna show them a good time." He paused to take another puff. "You are going to drop in there and use the nerd herd's techy-gizmo to lock on to the Master Chief's signal so me and my team can go down there and save his ass. Sounds easy don't it? Well it's not! The corps always has a catch; you're gonna need to wait until such time as the Master Chief feels inclined to separate himself from the Profit's ship, which'll probably be some time after it breaks through the atmosphere. All you gotta do is hold out until the criteria are met, then take cover 'cause we gonna blow their asses straight to hell! Is your objective clear marines?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Mm-hmm, damn right it is. Now move out!" The ODST and Sangheili scrambled to find weapons and strap themselves into their pods.

"Hey Sergeant Johnson," one of the ODST called out. "How much resistance should we be expecting?"

"Let's put it this way marine; if you don't kick some ass, expect to find a foot up yours." The pods dropped. Troy glanced at the screens which showed him all of his teammates and their names.

"So, who here's ready to land feet first in hell?" an American guy by the name of Austin asked.

"Shove it up your arse Captain," an Australian Gunnery Sergeant named Caleb retorted.

"Twenty bucks says that I land on something again," a British person called Rob laughed.

"Huh, you won't be so lucky this time Rob. You're on!" a Mexican woman, Linda, accepted. Troy smiled. The parachutes blew and the pods jerked slightly as their descent was slowed. He glanced at four (not counting Calsu) Sangheili accompanying them. There was Nasu, he wore Blue Special Ops Armour and had red, glowing eyes. Toron'ar wore red Ranger Armour and had dull grey eyes; he seemed quite a bit older than the other Sangheili Troy had seen. Lorak wore green Minor armour and had bright blue eyes; he seemed very young and was constantly fidgeting. This was probably his first drop. The last was a Sangheili Major with shiny white armour that had barely a scratch on it, which led Troy to believe he had only recently acquired the rank. His name was Faer'tas. The pods struck the ground, sending sprays of dirt into the air. Troy kicked his hatch open and landed on the New Mombasa soil for the first time. He pulled out his SMG and SOCOM, and headed for the IFFCTD case he had been trusted with.

"I have yet to learn what we are doing with this 'IFF Co-ordinate Tracking Designator," Toron'ar stated as he watched Troy's back with his Carbine. Calsu jogged over to them with her signature duel Plasma Rifles.

"The location is just over that ridge," she told them, pointing. "It is swarming with enemies." Troy nodded, and started to head over just as the rest of the team arrived. On the way, Troy spotted, to his bemusement, a lone Grunt crushed under one of the pods. He glanced back and saw Linda hand Rob a twenty dollar note. The rest of the Grunt's squad was just ahead. They quickly disposed of them. Troy paused at the edge of the ridge.

"Uh... sir?" Hoi came up behind him.

"Oh," was all he could manage. There were at least a hundred aliens between them and their objective.