Well lets see whats happening on the human side, eh?
And to Empress of Muffins and anyone else that might be wondering about the tau/covenant alliance, they're quite similar in certain ways when you think about it, and there's also another reason which will be revealed in a few chapters time.
Thanks for the reviews and keep on reading.
"Good shot Lieutenant," Captain Keyes said.
"Thank you sir," Lieutenant Hikowa said.
"The rest of the Covenant ships are retreating, along with half the unknown ships," Cortana reported.
"Now, lets see about these other ships, they haven't run or fired on us, so they must be trying to figure us out first," Captain Keyes said, looking at the scan data scrolling across one of the screens.
"They appear to be initiating concentrated scans on us and the rest of the fleet," Cortana said this last word with a hint of sarcasm, as the surviving fleet consisted of themselves and six others.
"Well lets not keep them waiting, send them a communiqué Lieutenant Dominique," Keyes said.
"Yes sir, attempting, to find a frequency they will respond to … there, go ahead," Dominique said.
Keyes took a deep breath before speaking, "This is Captain Keyes of the UNSC ship, Pillar of Autumn to the unknown vessels, please identify yourselves."
Keyes almost fell off his chair when a view screen lit up and he saw who, or what, was on one of the other ships.
Humans? Impossible, Captain Agros thought, then said to the man on screen, "This is Captain Agros of the Imperial battleship Emperor's Fury."
Keyes couldn't believe what he was seeing, the man was clearly human, but only some of him remained that was flesh and blood, the rest seemed to be metal implants and bionics.
"What is that?" Ensign Lovell whispered.
"Quiet," Lieutenant Hikowa hissed.
"Quiet both of you," Keyes said, "I apologise for my crewmen, they have never, indeed neither have I, seen such a … an … altered human."
Captain Agros waved his hand dismissively, "In that case you must indeed be young blood, but there are many captains who have gone even further, so far as to completely join with their ships, now, as to the current situation …"
"Indeed?" Keyes said questioningly, "First we would like to know who controls the other ships that ran off with the Covenant ships."
"You are not in a position to demand answers captain, you are out-manned and out-gunned, and I do not trust you," Captain Agros said threateningly.
"Captain, multiple lock ons, their weapons would tear us apart," Cortana said.
Keyes remained calm, "It seems you have us at a disadvantage Captain."
"Now, the ships that appeared along with your own, these Covenant you spoke of," Captain Agros said.
"It's a long story," Keyes said.
"We have time," Captain Agros said, annoyed.
"Perhaps this would be better explained face to face?" Keyes suggested.
"Very well Captain, I expect you on my ship in fifteen minutes; and with minimal escort," Captain Agros said, before terminating communications.
"Pushy ain't here," Ensign Lovell said.
"Are we going then?" Lieutenant Dominique asked.
"Do we have a choice," Keyes said, it wasn't a question, "But you're not going, someone has to keep an eye on the ship."
"You're not going alone sir?" Lieutenant Hikowa blurted out.
"Indeed not, but he said minimal escort, and I intend to take as few people as necessary," Keyes said in thought, "Tell someone to get a pelican ready in five minutes."
With that, Keyes walked out of the room.
Spartan-117 was servicing his MA5B assault rifle when Captain Keyes walked in. He stood to attention ad barked, "Captain on deck!" before snapping off a crisp salute, along with his other Spartans who followed suit.
"At ease," Keyes said, before approaching John, "I have a mission for you."
"Glad to hear it sir," John said.
"You've been monitoring communications I take it," Keyes said.
"Yes sir," John replied simply.
"Good, then you probably know what I'm here to ask you for," Keyes said.
"Sir, you want us to escort you sir," John said.
Keyes nodded.
"Yes sir," John said, turning his head, "Fred, gather some we- …"
Keyes put a hand on John shoulder plate, "No, this is going to be an escort of one."
"Sir?" John said, confused.
"Your Spartans are the best for the job, anyone can see that, but we have no idea how the sight of you will provoke them, now imagine the sight of 4 of you, that's more danger than necessary," Keyes said.
John nodded in understanding and went himself to grab his assault rifle.
"And minimal armaments, just the basics," Keyes said.
"Yes sir," John said, also holstering his pistol but refrained from picking up some grenades. With that, he followed the Captain out and to the shuttle bay, where they boarded the waiting pelican and flew out to meet the waiting battleship.
Sergeant Diras stood waiting on the landing bay floor. The transport which had arrived from the unknowns' apparent capital ship had settled down and a ramp was lowering. Diras hefted his combat shotgun and carefully aimed it at the opening ramp. A figure stepped into view. Diras gasped and almost dropped his shotgun, he was looking at a space marine, decked out in layered armour with a black under layer and green plating on top, but the helmet, unlike vids of space marines he'd seen, this one's helmet had a yellow face plate which hid the face behind it, unlike the eye slits and incorporated rebreather he'd seen on space marine helmets. The space marine also held a weapon he'd never seen before, it looked like machine gun, not unlike a bolter but more akin to a stubber in its apparent design.
The space marine proceeded to scan the area, swivelling his weapon around to take in the entirety of the docking bay, as well as Sergeant Diras and his team before lowering his weapon and turning and nodding to someone else in the transport. From behind emerged a normal human who he assumed was the captain because of the respect the space marine showed him, which in itself was unusual.
"Captain I assume?" Sergeant Diras asked, approaching Keyes.
"You would assume correct, I suppose you're here to take me to your captain?" Keyes asked.
"Yes sir, if you will follow me," Diras said, waving his men in around the two newcomers.
The space marine looked around ones more, then nodded to the Captain who said something he didn't catch. Diras ignored this and began leading the way to the bridge, where his Captain was waiting.
John shifted in his armour nervously. He was alone as a single escort for his Captain on what could possibly be an enemy ship, surrounded by people who could turn out to be hostiles. Captain Keyes had warned him to keep an eye out and that's exactly what he intended to do. As they proceeded down corridors, he made a mental note of each turn in case they needed to escape. He also sized up the escort, 5 men, each carrying what looked like a pump action shotgun, and all wearing minimal armour which looked like it wouldn't be able to withstand a sustained burst of MA5B fire. Nonetheless, his priority was Keyes' life, which means he would probably use his body to shield the captain. He judged that his armour could withstand 2, maybe even 3 direct hits but anymore and his shield would probably collapse and his armour shredded. Therefore, he would need to take out at least 2 of them before they could react. With a warning he thought it would be possible, but it would be hard.
By this time they had reached what appeared to be the bridge of this overly large ship, before them stood the semi-mechanical form of the ship's captain, John noticed that both legs and one arm were bionics, as well as one eye and a chest plate. Then he calculated the chances of him breaking one of these with some automatic fire and didn't like the results, and made a mental note to aim for the head if force was required.
Captain Agros watched as the Captain he had spoke to walked onto the bridge, along with what appeared to be a space marine, but after a quick study of the armour it was wearing, decided it was more likely an imitation of a space marine, maybe even designed to try and intimidate, well it wont work, Captain Agros thought to himself.
"Captain Keyes," Agros said.
"Captain Agros," Keyes nodded with respect, "This is Spartan-117," Keyes said after seeing Agros' attention shift to John.
So he is not trying to pass this off as a space marine, interesting, Captain Agros thought.