POW
Jack woke up with a start.
He appeared to be in an Elite tent. At least, that's what he thought it was. He'd only seen them before on attacks on Covenant base camps, large, ornate octagonical tents with their Honor Guards standing outside. And judging by the size, shape, and two shadows standing by what appeared to be the entrance, that description fit.
He sat up. Looking down, he discovered that his armor was gone, replaced with a small, tight-fitting, grey, almost boxer-like pear of shorts. Directly to his left was Keira, who, glancing at her legs, was wearing the same "uniform"-wait, but that meant-oh, damn, she had a top. She looked like she was either asleep or uncouncious-but not dead, as a pulse on her neck revealed.
Less groggy now, Jack looked more carefully at his surroundings. Instead of the extravagant furnishings he had come to expect from the Elites housing, the interior of the tent was composed of nothing but a dirt floor, a hole in the ground that he assumed was a latrine, what looked like a drinking/eating trough, and-prisoners.
All around him, various Covenant sat slumped in the dirt in a rough circle around the tent. Of course, only the races prone to rebellion-Elites, Grunts, and Hunters-were present. All were asleep-or dead, he had no idea, considering that the collection of convicts were thin as sticks by Covenant standards.
"Saen. Look. The human is up," said a voice to his right.
Jack spun around to see a weak looking Elite next to an Engineer he hadn't spotted before. "Ah, human," it rasped. "Glad to have to have you here. Some of the others might not trust you and the female, but we will need your help nonetheless..." His voice trailed off as he leaned back into the wall, closing his eyes. "I am Gau 'Ottumoni. We must...escape...this horrid place..."
Well, damn. Wherever they were, they clearly weren't going to get killed any time soon. That meant they were in some sort of Covenant POW camp. He had never heard of such a thing, but seeing the Heretics in this state...Of course, knowing the Covenant, it was probably more like a concentration camp. Either way, he and Keira were pretty damn screwed unless they got the hell outta here, fast.
"Wake up maggots! Breakfast!"
'Yay,' thought Jack sarcasticly. 'Breakfast time.'
In walked a surprisingly small Elite in dull black armor. The Major then walked over to the trough and slipped a data-pad into a jack just above it. Punching in a code, pipes opened, spewing out some sort of gruel-like substance. All the prisoners, now roused by the Elites yelling, moved toward the trough and began eating by using their hands and/or dipping their faces-except for one Grunt who remained immobile. "You, traitor," said the Elite. "Get up." The Grunt remained. The Elite sighed. "Another dead. Ah, well, take him away." The two Honor Guards from outside came in and dragged the body away.
Jack shook Keira awake. "Wake up," he said. "We've been captured."
Keira mumbled something and sat up. "What the hell?"
"Just move over to the trough and follow my lead." he answered.
With a Spartans prescision, the two made their way over to the trough, and Jack whispered, "Pretend to make break for it, I'll take out the Elite."
Keira paused-this was all moving a little fast, but her training was kicking in-and, looking as suspicious as possible, looked over at the door. Then, rising as loudly as a Pelican into the air, she sprinted for the doorway. The short Elite spotted the escape attempt as he was supposed to, and turned to stop her. In it's haste, the Elite did not notice the other human coming behind it. Only when it felt the human grab it in a headlock did the Elite realize what was going on.
Jack reached under the Elite's "chin" in an attempt to quiet the alien. This proved to be a mistake. The Major's mandibles bit down and twisted in an attempt to shred Jacks fingers. Shaking off the pain, Jack grabbed the Elites snout and flipped it back over his shoulder. The prisoners began to turn around at the sound of the commotion. The Elite he spoken to before-Gau, Jack thought-parted his mandibles in a Sangheli smile.
"Now! Fellows, our escape is nigh!" The captured Heretics shuffled over to the fallen Elite and began beating it with their bare claws. Before Jack had time to react, the major was covered in attackers. It would certainly never survive.
Then he remembered Keira. He turned to the door just in time to see her come in. "We're in the jungle, grid 26-41, I think-I can see the island to the east. The Honor Gaurds will be back soon."
Jack nodded. He turned to the Heretics, who now briefly paused from eating the Elite. "Let us handle this. It's too dangerous for you in your state." Jack wasn't sure whether the Heretics were friendlies or hostiles-a troubling conundrum for a Spartan. But he was pretty sure that they wanted to get out of here as much as he and Keira did. And he would never let a man get left behind.
Not after the Cradle incident.
But 'Ottumoi shook his head. "These zealots have taken what passes for a home and our brothers. They will die by our hands."
Jack might've grinned if he wasn't so focused on keeping on his bad-ass extierior. You had to admire their determination. "Alright. Keep to the shadows, we'll take them by surprise."
No sooner were these words spoken when a full squadron stood outside their door. Jack spun around and saw a Brute march toward toward him. It raised the butt of it's gun-and everything went black.
Again.