029 Color
Character: Shadow Blade
Enre kept his gaze on the floor, knowing better than to look up at a time like this. He waited in silence as he watched the feet pace before him. The other elite grumbled something but it was too lost in the growling that accompanied it. Another elite entered the room striding toward Enre and the shipmaster.
"What is the meaning of this? Why have I been called?" Enre looked up for just a second catching a glimpse of the golden armor of the Arbiter before turning his gaze back to the floor.
The shipmaster growled in annoyance. "It is this one. He and his troops have a request that must be approved by you, and would have to be put forward to the humans."
The Arbiter moved over and stood before Enre. "Rise," he commanded. Enre stood and met the Arbiter's gaze. Annoyance, frustration, apprehension, all was clear in the Arbiter's face. "What is your request, Field Marshal?" The title didn't come out as an insult as Enre had expected. Usually people treated it as an insult but from the Arbiter it sounded like a proper title.
"My warriors and I wish to stay behind and assist the humans in defending their world from the Flood." Enre stood tall, knowing that his request was odd. The surprise and confusion was obvious in the Arbiter's features.
"Why would you abandon your people at a time like this? We are set to go through the portal and stop the prophets. Why chose to stay behind and miss the glory of the fight? The chance to see a new Forerunner structure like none we've ever encountered."
Enre huffed involuntarily at the mention of the Forerunners. "The humans are standing by us as we go through the portal. The only honorable choice is to insure that we do not leave them to fight on their own against the Flood. Besides, Forerunner structures hold little interest for me. They are structures, nothing more. Only bad things come from their things. Long ago the Prophets came from the skies with adapted Forerunner technology, allowing them to enslave our race and blind us. The Flood populates the rings and I expect no better from whatever is on the other side of that portal."
The arbiter paced a bit, considering the words. "It is honorable to want to return an extended hand of assistance to the humans as they offer us one but your forces are too small to do any good here. The humans that stay will die to the Flood and we who go through the portal will stop the Prophets and the Flood. A human construct has promised a solution to the Flood, through the portal. Would that not be a better use of your strength?"
Enre looked away and snapped his two remaining mandibles. "No, it would not."
"Logically it would be, which means there is another reason you wish to stay. I want no lies if you wish my permission to stay," the Arbiter stated. "Now why?"
"Honor, loyalty, and kinship, Arbiter." Enre clenched his fists. "There is a human, and her warriors, who are ordered to stay and fight." He absently reached up and scratched at the scar on his neck. "She and I have history, and they are as siblings to me. In combat we show our true color and she is more Sangheili than many that have dare raise a weapon to her. I will not abandon them to the Flood. There is nothing honorable in abandoning another warrior."
"How dare you speak of a human as our kin, let alone a female as a warrior? You have obviously lost your mind," the shipmaster snapped.
"No, I see more clearly than you who is driven by old ways and seeking revenge," Enre shot back.
The shipmaster took a step forward but the Arbiter stopped them. "Enough!" The word echoed in the room. "Is this human really worth it? Risking your honor and family."
"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "So many will follow the Prophets through the portal driven by their revenge but they do not know what I have learned from this one human. Our history is a back and forward of trying to end one another but the moment we were ordered to work together all that hatred and anger was set aside for a greater purpose. How many of our warriors are set to go through that portal with revenge in their hearts and miss the fact that they can stop the Flood and it should be their focus?" Enre took a step toward the Arbiter. "Can you say your reasons for leaving are more honorable than mine for staying?"
The Arbiter snapped his mandibles. "This will not go over well with our people. You will be shamed and your family killed. Wife, children, all dead."
"My family is already dead and to not stand by this human, what I believe in, would only shame their memory." Enre had expected to be shamed; he and his warriors were ready for it.
The Arbiter studied him closely, looking for any waver in resolve. "Do you know of the Shadows, Field Marshal?"
Enre nodded, old Sangheili history having been one of his favorite things to learn about. "The Shadows are a group of Sangheili warriors from any Keep that are chosen to deal with the affairs of the Sangheili people and put those concerns above all others, even that of the Prophets. They have not existed since before the Arbiter position became that for only the shamed."
"They were shamed warriors who could only find honor in serving their people," the Arbiter added. "Just as the honor has been returned to the position of Arbiter, so is it time to bring back the Shadows. It should satisfy our people and it would do well to try to stop the Flood from surviving on this side of the portal. Your first task will be to keep any Flood from surviving and making it back to our home."
Enre bowed to the Arbiter. "For my people I will see that it is stopped."