Sorry to everyone that's been reading this, my exams came and after that it took me a little while to get back to writing, but the story's back now.
Also, a little something for my friends of the 29th Cadian ;)
Enjoy
"I do not believe a word you say," Captain Agros said, threateningly.
"And I have as little reason to believe you," Captain Keyes retorted.
"For all I know, you're infected by the taint of chaos," Captain Agros said.
"I told you," Keyes sighed, "The covenant are our only enemy, I don't even know who or what this dam chaos is."
"Then your ignorance is greater than I anticipated," Agros huffed, "You venture here without preparing yourself against the taint."
"I didn't choose to come here," Keyes was becoming impatient.
"Right, the odd warp occurrence you spoke of," Agros said.
"Warp? We were nearly crushed in slip space," Keyes said.
"Slip space?" Agros questioned.
"It looks like you're the ignorant one now," Keyes said, smugly.
"Do not dare to insult me," Agros glared at Keyes, he'd had enough, "You are to accompany us to the closest forge world, where the tech priests will be able to study your ships and your technologies in full."
"And if I refuse," Keyes asked matter of factly.
"We shall destroy your ships in the blink of an eye," Agros said.
"Just thought I'd ask," Keyes shrugged, and turned to walk out.
"A moment," Agros said, Keyes turned around before Agros continued, "If you think to run, know this, the Imperium is vast, its fleets huge, we would hunt you down quicker than you could betray us."
Without saying a word, Keyes turned back around and headed off, John right behind him.
Indolent worm, Captain Agros thought as he watched Keyes walk away.
Arrogant arse, Keyes thought as he walked off.
John had been ready to act at a moments notice as he had watched the 2 captains argue. A single false move and he would have shielded Keyes while killing the closest contacts, but he felt lucky this one time that fighting hadn't been the outcome, as he wasn't sure he would have been able to ensure the captain's safety, or his own for that matter. Now that they were back on their pelican and heading out though, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Not very goodly people are they," Keyes said after a few moments silence.
"They are very stubborn," John observed.
"Indeed, we both have no way of explaining what happened and our opinions are quite different," Keyes continued, "Maybe there is some truth to what he's saying, maybe not, I only hope we can figure all this out and somehow get home."
"Maybe not sir," John felt uncomfortable, realising he'd spoken out of turn.
"How do you see that?" Keyes asked confused.
"Sir, the covenant are here, we've drawn away a sizable amount of their fleet that had been over Reach. Now, it should be our priority to destroy them, ensuring that they can not return to threaten us again," John said, figuring out some of what he was saying as he went along.
"How do you suggest we do that?" Keyes questioned, "We are vastly outnumbered. We have the covenant beat when we greatly outnumber them, not the other way around."
"Allies, sir," John stated simply.
"Allies?" Keyes sounded a little shocked.
"These … other humans, though our opinions differ, we now share the same enemy, seeing as the covenant ships apparently disappeared with their own enemies, we should combine our efforts to destroying them," John said.
"My, my, you are keeping your self informed," Keyes said.
"It is my duty, sir," John stated.
"Well it may be a little difficult to make them see that," Keyes jerked his thumb behind him, at the vessel they'd just left.
"Yes, quite, I think it might be best if we went along with their demands; for the moment," John said.
"Perhaps so …" Keyes didn't like the idea but it was probably their only options.
As soon as they were back aboard the Pillar of Autumn, Captain Keyes keyed the bridge channel, "Ensign Lovell, link up with the other human ships and follow along with them, looks like we're hitching a ride."
"Yes sir," came Lovell's reply.
"Your mission cam was recording I take it?" Keyes asked.
"Yes sir," John replied.
"Good, you and your team study it well, analyse weapons, armour, ship layout, anything that might be useful and prepare for the worst, there's no telling what might happen if things go bad. It's quite a responsibility …" Keyes said.
"Sir, we are Spartans, we always prepare for the worst," John said.
"Good," Keyes said before heading for the main elevator to take him back to the bridge.
John keyed his squad channel, "Blue team, prepare for mission briefing."
"Understood sir," came Linda's reply, "Everyone's already training."
"If I may ask, sir," that was Kelly, "What's the mission?"
"Accomplishing the impossible," John said.
"Same old, eh?" she replied.
"Exactly, I'm bringing a recording of my time on that ship, we're to study and learn from that," John said, all acknowledgement lights blinked in his hud as they affirmed his orders.
Sergeant Diras kicked hard, sending his opponent sprawling to the ground, but he was tackled from behind. As he fell, he saw a flash of light, that of a las beam which caught his attacker in the side and knocked him back. Diras swung round and levelled a punch to his new opponent's midriff, causing him to double over, winded. He then ducked, this motion was accompanied by several more las beams, the combined impact of which, knocked the enemy to the ground. Diras offered a silent thanks to his squad mates lying in cover. He withdrew something from his belt, lifting it over his opponent, he knew this was the last one, all the others had been taken care of. He painted his opponent with a marker and shouted, "Last one neutralised!"
He then offered a hand to the 'dead' soldier, lifting him to his feet, "You're getting quieter there, I didn't hear you till you were only a few steps away."
"Awe sarge, I thought this time I managed to catch you out completely," the man said.
Diras chuckled, "Thanks for the covering fire Siros, Aurzel here almost had me!"
"No problem sarge, I was actually aiming for you," Siros replied.
There was a small amount of laughter before Aurzel shouted out, "Invictus, where'd you get to?"
There was a groan nearby followed by several foul words, "Your legs healed up nicely from the last time sarge."
"At least this time I didn't break anything, how about you?" Diras couldn't help but laugh.
"Only my pride sir," Invictus said, finally getting to his feet.
Major Grade Brostin sat quietly in his office, paper work wasn't his best thing when he hear someone clearing his throat at the door.
"Commissar," Grade said getting up from his desk.
"Major," the commissar said, nodding his head, "Is this a bad time?"
"Not at all," Grade said, "May I offer you a drink? I could use a bit of a break anyway."
"I wouldn't say no," the commissar said, "After all pushing these new recruits around can be tiring."
"I thought Sturm was doing a fine job at that," Grade laughed while picking up two shot glasses.
"Indeed he is but I still have to watch them, and you know what a handful they are," the commissar laughed too.
"So what's on your mind Reynolds?" Grade asked, giving him a drink.
"Do I need a reason to pay you a visit? You've been locked up in your office for days now, that's highly unusual for you," Commissar James Tibrius Reynolds said.
"Yes, we've received some disturbing news from a nearby planet, they may be sending us there sooner than we expected," Grade said.
"Hmmm, that may be trouble, we still haven't recovered fully from our last mission," Reynolds said.
"I know that, but they're quite adamant, they want the 29th Cadian on this," Grade said.
"Well it's nice to feel wanted," Reynolds smirked.
"Yes well, we'll have to make sure the men are up to it," Grade said.
"And women," Reynolds added.
"Yes they'll never let that down, so I suppose we should start correcting ourselves too," Grade chuckled at the thought.
"Am I disturbing anything?" came another voice at the door.
"Not at all, we were just having a friendly chat," Grade said.
"Oh good I could use a break," the new arrival said, slumping in a chair.
"What did they do this time Torch?" Grade asked.
"Either they're going to blow the mess tent up for its terrible food or Sturm's room because he's really making himself unpopular, either way I think I'll join them," Major Thomas 'Torch' Irving laughed.
Reynolds put a hand to his bolt pistol in case they were serious this time.
"Like I said, I could use a break," Grade said, downing his drink. He got up and walked out, accompanied by Reynolds and Torch, who helped himself to Reynolds' untouched drink.