Chapter Nine
2100 Hours, September 18
2547 (Military Calendar) /
Arcadia, Procyon System
Near Abaskun City
Raven looked out over the moonlit forest, a blanket of black soot settling over it. A cold wind wrapped around her, chilling to the bone. Red flames still flickered in the distance, finally beginning to die out. Raven sat with her back against a frozen rock, her two SMG's resting lightly across her lap. Her ankle was wrapped with a strip of cloth she'd ripped from her pant leg, and then she had used the extra to bind her shoulder.
She had tried not to hear the anguished cries that echoed up to her position on the plateau, wincing every time the voices suddenly fell silent. The innocent people of Aloide turned to dust, along with the not-so-innocent Insurrectionist base. She amused herself by thinking that her family could have escaped, huddling in the shadows waiting to be rescued. But she knew it wasn't true. She knew her family was dead. Along with Aloide, the covenant had also glassed her base, and they had all been killed there, too. The girl briefly wondered if the UNSC base had been destroyed, but swept the thought away, knowing it didn't matter now.
So Raven was once again, alone. With a choice. She could recede into the deep jungles of Arcadia, leaving the world behind until the eventual fiery end. Or...she could get revenge. Revenge on the one who had most likely caused all of this.
Sheal'Ahljm, better known as the elite that the Lieutenant Colonel Kam had begun trade with. Raven only knew him by name, or of what Kam had told her, as she had never been permitted to meet him. But from what she could tell, that shipmaster was greedy and prouder than the prophets themselves. She also knew Sheal was something called a zealot, although she hadn't the slightest clue what that meant. All she cared about was if someone were to be responsible for the slaughter, it would be him.
The covenant had left orbit approximately eight hours ago, except for a single corvette that remained in low orbit. In order to reach Sheal, Raven would somehow have to get on that vessel. Of course, there was no way of knowing if Sheal was the shipmaster of that particular ship, but it's all she had right now.
With a germ of a plan, Raven slid her newly cleaned SMG's into their holsters, and clicked them into place. The extra weight around her waist felt so natural she almost felt incomplete without them. She spider-laced her black combat boots, and lurched to her feet, her head spinning. The bullet wound in her shoulder was deteriorating. It could be worse, she thought, I could be dead. A voice in the back of her mind whispered, might as well be.
Raven swung her legs off the side of the plateau, and began to pick her way down the slippery mountain. She attempted to stick to large rocks protruding from the side, but ended up just slipping and sliding down the rest of the mountainside. At the base, she stood and wiped the mud from her pants, and continued on her way. Raven knew this continent like the back of her hand. She had been up, down and around it so many times even she couldn't keep track anymore. The –dead- Lieutenant Colonel had sent her on supply raids, scouting missions, and like her most recent, data collection. And although she enjoyed the rush of excitement and adventure, she often found herself sitting atop a long forgotten building of Pirth. The city was abandoned in 2531, after the first covenant attack. It was the only place Raven was truly at peace.
Was siding with the Insurrectionists the right choice? Raven was uncertain if she should have left them a long time ago and joined the UNSC. Be on the good side, the one that might not have stabbed her in the back. Although after yesterday's events, Raven doubted if that would ever be possible. She had already made her choice, and she would be forced to stick to it.
A branch snapped away from her hand and whacked her in the face, cutting her cheek. Raven pulled back and touched the stinging incise, a tiny drop of blood leaking from the wound. She wiped it away, and slowly began to avoid the gripping vegetation, instead of trying to shove her away through it.
Raven angled herself towards her home colony, Aloide. She found the path that she usually used to make trips between the settlement of Abaskun and the Insurrectionist base, and followed along it until the colony came into view on the right. Or what was left of it.
The girl just stared. Heat still poured from the smoking ruins, billowing into the clean air above. Massive, gaping fissures were carved into the earth, swallowing the debris that drifted through the air. The same bustling streets that once held squealing children and barking dogs, were now eerily silent and empty.
Raven bent down, and sifted her fingers through the ash, staining her fingers a dirty black. Lost in her shock, she barely noticed the flicker of movement coming from her left. She slowly crept back into the brush, vanishing. Three small creatures waddled past, strange masks attached to their dog-like faces. Raven recognized them from books she had read back at base, while she was training for active duty as an Innie. Grunts. Fairly useless, the covenant used them as cannon fodder. Raven just hoped these were the only covenant left on Arcadia. Elites, or Sangheili as the covenant called them, would be the real problem. The girl was so absorbed with the aliens before her, she jumped when the brush rustled behind her.
"Never thought…I'd see you back here." A frail voice coughed behind her. Raven whirled around in surprise, yanking her right SMG from its holster, as her left arm refused to move. Raven leveled the gun towards the noise, the safety switch on her SMG already clicking off. As soon as her eyes focused on her assailant, Raven's finger slipped away from the trigger.
An elderly woman looked up at Raven, covered in burn wounds. She was lying on the ground, propped up against a small tree. The grey shawl that was draped over her shoulders was torn, and covered in a red tinge, blood.
"Last time I saw…you…you were just a little thing." She lifted a shaky hand and held it a few feet off the ground. Raven cautiously lowered her weapon, and took a step closer to the lady, kneeling down a meter away.
"How do you know me?" she asked, trying to understand why the woman was just lying there. Her eyes fell on a ragged wound in the woman's torso, most likely caused by a stray plasma shot. Or an Elite just wanted an easy kill.
"I saw you the day the rebels took you." The women sputtered, her breaths becoming shallower. Raven crawled a little closer. "You were just a child, trying to cling to your mother. I… remember they wouldn't tell your parents why they were stealing away their child." Raven knew the woman must be delusional; as Raven had left the colony on her own eleven years ago…hadn't she? That's what Kam had told her; that she was just too young to remember? Raven shook her head.
"I left of my own accord." The old lady's eyes saddened, and she turned her head to gaze into the distance. Raven thought she saw something glistening tumble off the woman's cheek, but she blinked and it had already disappeared. The elderly woman's voice was just a hoarse whisper, and Raven had to strain to hear her.
"Will you always believe…what someone…" the woman sputtered on the last word, both her hands drifting to her torso. Her chest fluttered, her face contorting with pain, the life seeping into the earth below. The old woman's chest stilled, her hands slumping. Raven gingerly reached out, and slid the woman's eyelids closed. Just one more life to add to the list.
As Raven draped the shawl over the woman's body, she suddenly felt something flicker to life in her chest. Anger. She didn't just want revenge, Raven wanted to watch the life drain from Sheal's eyes. Raven wanted to cause him pain. She wanted to make him bleed. And if she wanted to do that anytime soon, Raven had to get on that corvette. And although Sheal might not be on that ship, she would make sure he came back to this planet, one way or another.
Raven half-stood, in order to remain hidden from the alien's view, and silently picked up her SMG, keeping the safety off. She took one last look at her home, burned to ashes, and turned toward the one place that could help her.
After the covenant attacked, the people who remained on Arcadia formed a small lawless settlement, Abaskun. It's located on Mu, the continent thankfully Raven was already on. The settlement wasn't ruled by anyone, there was no law and order. That made it the perfect place for acquiring contraband. Because if Raven sought to kill a certain hunch-backed alien, she would need a ride.