Chapter CXXXII: Conversations

October 13, 2544 (UNSC Calendar)/

Catamaran City, Catamaran Peninsula, Asilon, Omicron Ebur System

"One cannot get tired of the truth."- Socrates

I half expected to awake in soft fluffiness, brightness all around. When I opened my eyes I would see my dad, my uncle, and Scarecrow waiting for me. They'd be smiling, maybe sadly, but they would be happy to see me. One of them would help me up, probably my dad, looking every bit as young as he had when he died. I imagined that my dad would put his hand on my shoulder and then hug me.

Of course, all this would be happening on a cloud or someplace similar, with bright lights illuminating me from everywhere. For some reason I expected that there'd be buildings nearby, they wouldn't be modern buildings, or even have an actual architectural style. They would be some sort of Roman/Greek style, with open rooms and terraces, maybe some sort of sci-fi thrown into it just to finish it off.

I had been raised in Catholic church, raised to believe that life wasn't everything. All my life I had this thing in the back of my head, telling me that there was a Heaven. I didn't always believe that I would get in there, in fact, at times I was sure that I had a special place in Hell waiting for me. But then again, the church had decreed that Hell wasn't a real place. Some people then started asking what would happen if you died and didn't go into Heaven, but that's besides the issue. Heaven was bound to be in the sky, where else would it be? Some people said that Heaven was whatever you wanted it to be, but for some reason I liked the idea of a place in the clouds, where everyone you knew and everyone you didn't was close by.

I didn't wake up in heaven.

My eyes tried to adjust to the light, or rather, the lack of light. I realized that I didn't have my helmet on when VISR didn't go on. There was blood on my face, my temple was hurting, probably the source of all the blood. I winced a little bit at the pain, my face moving cracked some of the dry blood on my cheeks. I groaned a little bit and rolled my head from side to side, cracking my vertebrae as I did so. I needed to do a quick damage assessment on myself.

"C'mon, c'mon," I muttered, "legs, arms…fuck."

My left arm was spread to the side and pinned under something, I tried moving it, but it was impossible, especially when I was feeling as weak as I was. I grunted and tried rolling on my side, but my left side hurt like hell when I tried. I turned over, using my right hand to try and pry at whatever was keeping my left arm pinned. Enough feeling-around revealed that it was a pile of rocks. That was the realization that I was buried underneath rocks.

"Shit," I cursed, remembering the explosion, the charges, the dam. Nezarian, Grass. "Shit."

There was a rumbling sound over to my right, it alarmed me. It was a sound that a living creature would make.

"Who's out there?!" I called out, reaching for my sidearm. I patted the holster and realized that my pistol wasn't there. That didn't make any sense, I hadn't pulled it out when all things went to hell. It should've still been there. "Who's-"

"I see you are awake."

Fuck…

I kept moving my right arm and legs until I found what I was looking for. I rolled my helmet towards me and turned on the flashlights on the helmet. The four miniature bulbs illuminated the small cave we were in. It was a cave, no way in and no way out, roughly some six yards in length and four across. I was in one of the corners and the source of the voice was one the one opposite towards me.

At first I told myself that I had to be dead. There was no way in hell that I would be alive in the same room with an elite unless I was dead. Not a full-fledged ultra to top it off. It was the ultra that I had slashed on the leg and armpit, I could tell by the blood coming from those two spots. It stood up slowly, the ceiling was high enough to allow the alien to fit with little trouble. It was an impressive specimen by any standards, not the tallest that I had seen, not the biggest that I had seen, but it was still enough to stand out.

You see, elites share the broad-shoulders means badass things with us humans. As it stood it walked towards me, limping ever so slightly from the wound on its leg. The elite was unarmed, that much was clear, but it didn't need a weapon to rip my arm form my shoulder and beat me to death with it. It was wearing the white armor that ultras typically wore. There were scratches and marks from shrapnel and bullets that had bounced off, not all of those marks looked to be new. This alien was every bit the veteran that I was.

"What do you want?" I asked, I couldn't come up with anything else to say.

The elite walked to the middle of the room and sat on a rock. It was a pretty big rock that looked like it had to be moved there. It seemed weird how the alien's legs were positioned in front of it, but that wasn't precisely unexpected, seeing as it had backwards-bending knees and all that. It crossed its arms, gripping each forearm with its hands. For an alien gesture, it was strangely human.

"To talk," it said simply. Its voice sounded forced, unnatural. The sound was almost guttural and slightly unnerving.

"To talk?"

The elite seemed to be annoyed at my reply. I honestly had no idea about it, body language was nothing like I was used to. "Your language requires subtle changes in tone to indicate whether a…sentence…is a question or not."

I couldn't help it, I chuckled a little bit. "What's with your…way of talking."

"I've learned this…barbaric language from captured prisoners and transmissions, human. I dare say I speak it better than most of you…insects."

"I don't see it that way," I replied truthfully. "You sound like a dictionary."

"Why wou-" The alien stopped himself with something that sounded uncomfortably close to a sigh of frustration. "That is beside the point, human."

I coughed, this cave was full of dust from, well, everywhere. "Why am I still alive?"

"When we came onto this planet we expected the Jiralhanae to do the job, maybe not well and certainly not exemplarily, but we expected them to get it done. Then they got their ships shot down, one by one."

"Heard about that," I shrugged.

"Then they were on equal ground with you humans. We expected a simple campaign, exterminate the few of you that were left and wait for additional ships from High-"

"High what?"

"Quiet human," it snarled. "I am talking."

"Right you are," I agreed, spreading my right hand sideways in a surrendering gesture. My shoulder started hurting like hell the moment I moved it. I must've been too scared to be in pain when I moved around earlier. The broken collarbone was now hurting.

"Then those imbecilic Jiralhanae managed to lose. To you humans."

"Hey, we do our best," I taunted.

"Silence," it said, waving one hand lazily. Very human indeed. "And now this, just as we are finally forced to interfere in the campaign you show up."

"As I said," I started.

"Quiet," it boomed. "Not only have you managed to guarantee your own death, you only succeed in delaying your extinction."

"Big words for someone buried beneath a ton of rock."

"Big words…" it repeated experimentally.

I rolled my eyes. "It means that you have no right to be conceited. You find yourself in the same position that I do. Oh, and you are about to lose this little campaign of yours."

"As usual, you show ignorance."

"As usual? You don't know me."

"I meant your race," the elite said with a snarling growl. Don't ask me what the hell a snarling growl is, it's pretty much what you imagine it sounds like. "Every single human vermin on this planet will be dead before the sun rises again."

"You have your backs against the sea, you're dead."

"Your forces provide an equal match for the brutes, as you call them, on the ground, but there'll be nothing you can do against the Second Fleet of Eternal Deliverance."

"Second Flee-" I realized just what that meant an instant after I repeated it to myself. My helmet was within reach, I grabbed it and placed it over my head, activating the radio and broadcasting on all frequencies. "To anybody listening, this is Sergeant Castillo from the Inconvenience. There is a-" My helmet was pulled from my head violently and tossed to the side.

"There is no way to communicate with anything outside," the elite assured me. "And you have dishonored yourself by going against the one that saved your life."

"You didn't save my life," I countered. "That pillar and that big-ass piece of pavement there saved my life. You see, those are the ones supporting the rocks above, not you."

"If one spares your life, he is saving it."

What can I say? Split chin had a point.

"Fine, I dishonored myself, so what? I'm still stuck in a cave with a split chin."

The elite closed the distance between itself and me in less than a heartbeat, suddenly its four jaws were spread open in front of my face, as if trying to take a bite. Its breath stank. "Careful human," it said. "Do not test my patience."

"You're keeping me alive for a reason," I told it, glancing away from the rows of sharp teeth. "Why? You won't need me as a hostage, you wouldn't use me as a hostage."

The elite moved backwards a little bit. "You are right, I wouldn't stoop that low."

"You'd die," I told it. "I'd certainly use you as a hostage if it meant that I could stay alive."

"Your race is weak, pathetic." The elite then sat back on its rock and examined me carefully. "Still, you are tenacious and you die with honor, even if you don't fight with it."

"Thanks," I chortled. "You are excellent killers." I meant for it to come out as an insult disguised as a compliment but I ended up just complimenting a squid head. Man, I must've hit my head really hard.

"Ha! Flattery will get you nowhere," the elite told me. For some reason I could hear a faint bit of pride behind its tone.

"What's your name?" I asked it, suddenly realizing that I had never once heard an elite called by name. The gargantuan alien seemed to ponder on that question for a while. It seemed to consider whether it should answer me or not, simply staring into the floor while humming. "Are you gonna tell me?"

"I do not see why I should keep my name hidden from you," it replied finally. "After all, knowing who killed you will make it a bigger victory for me. My name is Malke 'Vadamai."

"Gunnery Sergeant Francisco Castillo," I told it, surprising myself. "Most people call me Frank."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you allow yourself to be called a shorter form of your given name?" 'Vadamai asked. "You shame yourself by dishonoring your forefathers."

"I honor my forefathers through my actions," I replied. "And allowing my friends to call me Frank is a sign that I respect them." I don't know why I had to explain myself to it. I don't know why I even bothered to.

"Your culture is primitive," Malke muttered, mostly to himself. "Your traditions are the marks of barbarians."

"You really like that word, barbarians," I told it.

"It fits you well," Malke said. "Culturally inferior, militarily inferior. You're overall a lesser race than ours."

"And yet we find ourselves on equal ground," I chuckled. "You are so full of yourself, believing yourself better than us. You're every bit as bad as you make us to be."

"I have killed hundreds of your kind human," it growled. Malke assumed an attack position. "Sangheili are stronger, faster, smarter than you are."

"Only hundreds?" I asked, swallowing my anger. "You should see the corpses of the squid heads that I have killed. If I stacked them up together they would go around this world."

I must've overdone it a little bit, because the alien just sat back and laughed. I can't describe it any differently, it was eerily similar to the sound that we humans made. I was slightly offended that it didn't jump to kill me at the moment. "I believe that you are a warrior worthy of wariness if not respect, Frank." My name sounded weird coming from an alien. "But do not try to provoke me with lies."

Oh, I see what happened, it didn't understand human exaggeration. Well, good for me, I guess. I don't know, I was on uncharted territory here.

"Fine," I said. "Whatever you want." I sighed slowly and cracked my neck again. "You still haven't told me why you kept me alive."

"I do not truly know the answer myself," it admitted. "I guess I was…curious about your race."

I laughed at the alien. "I'm curious about your race too," I admitted. "There's gotta be quicker ways to kill you."

"A warrior's view," it conceded. "It seems to fit you, Imp." Malke tilted its head slightly to the side. "Your race is weak, you can be killed easily. I understand why you would want to know our weaknesses."

"Do you ever get tired of saying that we're weak?"

"One cannot get tired of the truth?"

"Huh, Socrates?"

"What?"

"Nevermind," I said. "Stupid comment." I glanced around nervously, for some reason I didn't want the elite to be offended. If it decided to kill me it would mean that I would be dead. And that would be dead. Bad, I mean bad. "So, you're curious about my race, what do you want to know?"

"Why do you not surrender?" Malke asked bluntly.

"Ha! Do you really have to ask? What kind of coward would choose extinction when we could fight."

"Why do you fight?"

"To survive," I shrugged. "Everyone has the right to live. Human dignity and all that, United Nations. You wouldn't understand."

"Everyone earns the right to live the moment they are born," the elite agreed. "But the prophets have decreed your extinction. You spit in the face of the Forerunners, you will all be left behind when the Great Journey starts. We are just…speeding up that process."

"A million dead covvies said you're doing a pretty bad job at it. And that's just on this planet."

"Those were under Jiralhanae command, it is not our failure."

"You've had countless failures."

"The molten remains of your planets would say otherwise."

"You bastard," I spat, jerking forwards only to be stopped when my left arm pulled me back down. Those stupid rocks wouldn't budge, but I did feel myself slipping a little bit, that meant that I could slide my arm from it if I tried hard enough. And so began my struggle to pull my left arm from the rocks without the fucking squid noticing what I was doing. "I'd like to see you be on my side, you'd go crazy."

"It is a small marvel that you haven't already lost your mind."

"Stronger than you imagine," I assured it, smiling broadly and showing as many teeth as I could. "Ask your dead friends when you join them."

"Denklo was an excellent swordsman," he growled quietly. "That you bested him will bring shame to his lineage."

"He wasn't that good," I shrugged, wincing at the pain that that motion brought. "Wait, was he the first or second swordsman that I killed?"

"Know your place, vermin!"

"I know my place," I replied. "It is in the battlefield, fighting your kind and killing it."

"You do yourself too much honor. I should kill you right now."

"Why don't you?" I taunted, still wriggling my left arm little by little. It was numb and I couldn't feel anything from my elbow onwards.

"I've told you, mere curiosity."

I shook my head in disapproval. "Would you have let me live had I not killed your friends?"

"Denklo was an exemplary swordsman, as good as myself, if not better. And he only had the rank of minor! Imagine what he could've become in the future, he would've cut down thousands of your kind with ease."

"Good thing I killed him then," I shrugged.

"He was but a child, only old enough to have become a swordsman, you ended his life before it could even start."

I lost it. "Ended his life before it could start? What about you? You are the monsters, you are the ones that kill millions of innocents from orbit, burn entire planets for some sick religion. You are the ones that have killed children and infants before they could grow. You are the ones that end lives."

The elite did something very akin to a shrug. "It is the will of the gods."

"Well, your gods are fuckin' wrong."

My right hand had already palmed a rock by the time the elite jumped me and gripped my throat. I banged the alien's wrist twice before it could squeeze and then tossed the rock at the open wound on its armpit. It recoiled from the pain and roared in anger, letting go and putting pressure on its wound. It looked at me angrily before taking a step back.

"You are different than most of your kind," it said. "Most of you fight when facing certain death, that is honorable enough, but I have yet to meet one that fights as cunningly as you."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. After that there was a large pause in the conversation, I took advantage to slide and try to yank my arm from the rocks. The elite saw what I was doing and shook its head, indicating that he thought my actions were futile. I did manage to pull back an inch or so, but stopped because I didn't want to be spotted. "So, what's with your presence here?"

"I do not understand."

"Your fleets, they're usually segregated."

"Segregated?" Malko moved its jaws experimentally as it repeated the word, he didn't quite get the pronunciation, but it was a good effort regardless.

"Separated. By race."

"The Jiralhanae aren't worthy of so much recognition," it said. "They have gained the- Bah, it does not matter. What would you understand of things bigger than you?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," I said, wiggling my arm a little bit more.

"We came here to inspect. See that they did the job appropriately." He moved its wounded arm around experimentally, testing its strength. "We would then report to the prophets."

"You know, I killed a prophet once," I said in a conversational tone. "You make a big fuzz about them, they're as easy to kill as unarmed grunts, if not more so."

By this point the elite just shot me a look of anger, it didn't bother trying to kill me again. "You have sealed your fate. The gods will not let you into the Great Journey."

"I thought that they wouldn't let me regardless, you know, being a human and all that."

"Witty, defiant, and stupid. I expected to have an intelligent conversation with you."

"Can't say I expected the same thing," I admitted. "Perhaps an interesting one, but so far you've provided me with nothing but disappointment. You're just a fanatical alien fighting for a different race that doesn't care about you. You're a grunt, you are being used."

"I accept and embrace my role," Malko said, "I know that I am a mere warrior, a tool for the prophets to use as they please if it furthers the Covenant's goals. You should embrace your role in this universe."

"And what? Die?" I shook my head. "I'm going to take down as many of you as I can before my heart stop beating."

"Heart?"

"Yeah, important organ in my body, sends blood all around." I made a fist with my hand. "Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom." With each boom I contracted my fist as if it was a beating heart. "You know?"

"I understand what you are talking about."

"I'm not going to die here," I told it.

It made that chuckle noise again. "You sound so sure of yourself that I almost believe you."

I smiled. I almost believed myself. "You see, the difference between me and you is that I have friends. Right now they are going to be looking for me, they know that I'm alive."

"They have no way of knowing that."

"Oh, but we do," I disagreed. "Every human has devices monitoring their body, we know exactly whenever one dies."

"Why are you telling me this?" it asked. "You should keep things like that secret."

I laughed loudly, the noise echoing and booming in the small cave. "Dead men tell no tales."

The elite took in what I had said, no doubt going over my last statement repeatedly to try and understand it. Eventually it got the message well enough. "Are you threatening me, human? You are not in a position to do that."

"I'm just telling you what's going to happen." At that exact moment the sound of an explosion filled the room and the cavern shook slightly. "See, they're coming for me."

"Or perhaps the Second Fleet has arrived."

"To give us eternal deliverance?" I chuckled. "They're gonna have to get past Brooks before that." I banged my fist on the ground next to me. "That's no easy feat, he's killed more ships than I can count."

"You are a liar. Otherwise you are incapable of basic counting."

"Huh, pretty witty for a squid head."

"Most Imps that I've heard aren't nearly as…eloquent as you."

"Must've been a helluva soldier."

"Better than most," the elite admitted. "It didn't save him. It won't save you."

"You need to rely on others to survive. The ones I rely on are alive, the ones you rely on, well, I killed them." I sighed theatrically. "I told you this already."

"Enough human, you tire me. I will ask a question and you will answer."

This time I sighed for real. My arm was still stuck from the elbow down, but I was making progress. I could now feel something in my hand, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was. I just hoped that it was one of my knives. "Shoot," I told it.

"Your retreat pattern, how does it work?"

"Beyond my paygrade."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, only the big guys up top do."

"Understandable," it grunted in agreement.

That was a lie, I knew how the Cole Protocol worked just fine. If they thought that complete randomness was impressive, then we were doing a good job at it.

"Homeworld?"

"Do you really think that you'd know how to find it even if I told you how it's called?" I asked it. "Your star charts are probably nothing like ours." I threw the probably in as caution, we knew that their star charts were different than ours. "There's no way in hell you think that I'd answer those questions."

"For a person that does not believe in the Great Journey, you talk a lot about Hell a lot."

I rolled my eyes but decided to humor him. "I drop into hell for a living, I'm used to it."

"A battlefield isn't hell, impling."

"It's as close as we get to it," I said quietly. I jerked as another explosion resounded. It was louder than before, and it shook the cave even more. "Where's my pistol?" I asked all of a sudden.

Malko reached behind the rock and produced my M6 sidearm. It seemed reluctant to hold the small weapon, keeping it a good distance away from his body and scowling at it. After that he palmed it and tightened his hand around it. There was the sound of metal groaning and then he tossed the bent pistol at my feet. The barrel was at an angle, useless. "There."

"Thanks," I grunted. "That gun had been with me for a while."

"Attachment to objects is primitive and superstitious."

"Hey, where'd you learn to talk like that?" I asked. "Big fancy words and all that?"

"Your languages have been studied and archived. We cross reference them with our translating technology and have equivalent translations. This is how the Sangheili language is structured, of course, speaking this…English is almost an insult to myself."

"Huh." The elite was examining the ceiling, it was now worried that the cave would collapse on us. "Were you always a soldier?" I asked it, buying myself time and distractions.

"As soon as I reached the age I joined the armed forces, as every child must do."

"That explains your numbers," I growled to myself. "Do you ever desire to be anything other than a soldier?"

"I am what the prophets need me to be."

"If they didn't have a need of you, what would you be?"

"Shamed, dishonored, useless."

"No, you do not understand. What would your profession be if you weren't a soldier?" Great, now I felt like a teenage kid making conversation with the girl he liked.

"A sailor," it replied immediately. "Is that the word?"

"Depends, do you mean a crewmember in a non-military ship, or a sailor as in the man on a boat in the ocean."

"That one, the second one," it confirmed.

"Interesting."

"What?"

"Never mind, it's not important."

"Now it's my turn to ask the questions human."

I waved him to go ahead and suppressed a smile when I realized that my left hand was indeed holding a knife. It couldn't be anything other than Tenare's Damascus Steel knife, I'm not sure how I managed to get it to my left hand, but it was still there and I was gripping it tightly. The elite seemed to ponder on his next question for a bit, giving me extra time to shuffle my arm. I was now halfway through my forearm, if not for the darkness, I am sure that the elite would've figured out my intentions quickly.

"Very well, I have my next question."

"I'm waiting."

"Your race has basic understanding of…laser and plasma technology," it stated, it mulled over its words before going ahead. "Yet you still use crude metal weapons for close combat. Not even the Unggoy are that backwards."

"The brutes have no problem with them," I observed, "and you are allies with them."

"Allies, nothing more."

"Of course."

"Answer my question."

I sighed, trying to come up with an answer. "Creating laser knives or plasma knives would be too expensive, we might be able to contain plasma within magnetic fields or have lasers used as weapons, but it is more cost effective to use knives. Those never fail and never," I paused for effect, "run out of battery."

"They're barbaric."

"Barbaric times require barbaric weapons," I told the alien. "With a knife I can do plenty of things, I can cut rope, I can cut my meals, I can scratch plans in the dirt, I can gut an animal." I stared the alien deep in the eyes. "I can gut a squid head."

"I can gut you as well," it informed me, "plasma blades are sharper and deadlier than your…knives."

"Yeah, where are they now?"

"Same place that your knives are," it taunted. It would've been ten times more effective had I not been clutching one big ass knife right now.

"My turn. Your women? Why haven't we seen any females."

"The place of the female is at home, raising children and seeing to the estates. Females are not meant for war."

"Our females fight alongside us," I told it. "Some of the best and bravest soldiers I know are female."

"And yet they die when they could give birth to more warriors."

"They know what they are signing up for. In this war death is almost a given."

"So it would seem," it groaned.

"Just ask your team, all of them are dead."

"Do not give yourself too much credit."

"You were the one that said that I killed a swordsman as good as you. Come on, if you had a sword and I had my knife I'm sure that I could give you a beating. Wait, I already did, how's the cuts?"

Another loud boom rocked the entire cave violently. This time I was able to hear mechanic noises through the walls. They were actually coming to get me. That, or tanks were barreling through, trying to kill whatever was left of the covvies. Either way, it spelled good for me. My arm was almost free, I could just yank myself out if I needed to, I'd probably bang up my fist like hell, but it would be worth it. I could feel the handle of the knife now, the elite was getting angry and I had a feeling that I'd have to use it soon.

"That warrior was a better one than you," he proclaimed. He, it, whatever.

"And yet he's the one whose blood pools on the ground. You seem to be bleeding more than me too," I added. I sighed and shook my head. "You know, if I was in your place I would've executed you the moment I saw you."

"I can still do that, human," it reminded me. "A simple matter of crushing your head."

"My head is harder to crush than you'd think, mostly because of my arms and legs, they tend to get in the way."

"You think you're funny?" it asked, obviously mad.

"No," I said. "I know I am."

Malke 'Vadamai, Elite Ultra wasn't very amused by my attempts at humor. I might've known very little about alien body language, but what little I knew involved knowing when they got extra pissed. I could tell that this one was about to blow up on me. I just needed to get my hand out. I didn't want to tear the skin from my hand and was taking it as slow as I could while still moving. I tried making my hand smaller, but it was hard to squeeze through, especially now that my gloves were almost completely gone. At least that's what the pain indicated.

"My turn," it said. "You move too fast, faster than any other human I've seen. Well, except for one."

I raised an eyebrow, twisting my hand slightly to the side. Malke was now standing up and making it look like it was going to do something. "I'm fast," I said simply.

"And strong. Stronger than any Imp I've seen." It took a step towards me.

My right hand moved around until I grabbed a metal wire. I had seen it before, but I knew that I couldn't do as much damage with it as with my knife, besides, I was saving it for an emergency. "Stop flattering me," I said.

"I've only ever seen a demon move as fast as you."

"A demon?"

"You call them Spartans."

"I'm not one of those freaks," I spat. "I'm a hundred percent human."

"Pity for you. If you weren't then maybe you'd have a chance of getting out of here." It stepped on my right hand, forcing me to let go of the metal wire. I cried in pain. My elbow was still hurting from the rock shrapnel and my collarbone was all but shattered. The pain ran all the way from my wrist to my shoulder. The fucking alien must've sprained it when it stepped on me. It stepped back when another explosion brought down rocks on its shoulders. Now I could hear the mechanic sounds clearly. In fact, I could hear plasma and gunfire.

"They're coming for me," I told it, grunting through the pain. "You're as good as dead. Squid."

Malke put pressure on my wrist, this time I heard cracking. I cried out and cursed at the elite for all I was worth. I was now furiously working my hand. The cave was shaking as something removed the rocks form the top, or the side, I don't know. The elite was looking around, evidently furious that my people had gotten here earlier than his dumbass alien friends. I finally managed to pull my hand free, but kept it by my side.

Suddenly, a small ray of light appeared, lighting up the alien. It covered its eyes at the sudden brightness and roared angrily. I could hear human voices shouting, they sounded worried. It was kind of flattering.

"Huh, looks like I won."

I wasn't prepared for the elite suddenly grabbing my neck and lifting me up until my feet weren't touching the ground. I had seen the same neck lift on countless movies and cartoons, I had seen brutes and elites do it before, I just hadn't been on the receiving end. It banged me against the ceiling, stunning me. I could now hear the voices clearly, they belonged to my squad, I could tell that they were busy fighting off aliens while trying to dig through the rubble. They really did care after all.

Still, there was a more important matter at hand right now. "Why do you bother," I told it. "You're as good as dead anyways."

"I will kill every last one of your men," it told me, sounding completely sure of itself. I knew that he was wrong.

I kicked violently at the elite, hitting it in the chest and belly but not doing any damage. The alien simply stretched its arm to the front, it was amazing that he could keep me, a tall and heavy man in full armor, above the ground while its arm was outstretched. Malke also moved its hand from my jaw to my throat, not constricting but severely limiting the air supply.

"You might be stronger and faster, but you are still weak," it said, tightening its grip with every word. "Your race is pathetic. Even if the prophets hadn't decreed a holy war against you, you would still deserve death."

I kicked again, this time twisting and delivering a nice blow to its jaws with the tip of my right boot. I managed to sneak in a quick breath before the elite slammed me against the wall behind me. I could've really used my helmet at that point.

"You stupid primate!" he boomed angrily. "You are going to die regardless of whether you get out of here."

"Everybody dies," I spat.

"You'll die before your time, much like the rest of your pathetic race. You are weak-willed and stupid. You should know your place."

"I know my place just fine, thank you," I coughed through the vise grip on my throat. I was hitting at the alien's wrist with my right hand, waves of pain with every single punch that I delivered.

"Why do you persist, human?" it asked me. "Why do you bother fighting, why are you not obedient and just lay down and die?" It now pulled me close to its face, its jaws open and its breathing heavy.

"You know us pesky humans," I said, seeing the opening and gripping my knife tightly. "We aim to misbehave." With that I stabbed upwards at the elite, I was weak, tired, and dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Instead of hitting dead center I grazed one of the jaws of the ultra. The cut was still deep enough to make the elite roar out in pain and drop me. We both collapsed to the ground, with it landing next to me, one of its hands pressed against its face. I immediately pounced on top of the alien and prepared for a second and final strike. "Seems like I was right," I taunted it.

Another stabbing motion was all that it took for me to kill the elite. I suddenly felt weak, weaker than I had felt in a very long time. I felt every single scratch and bruise on my body, not to mention the major injuries. My vision started fading despite the increasing amount of light coming into the cave.

"Dead elite, shit, looks like he didn't need our help," Caboose's voice came weakly.

I smiled at that and then went unconscious.

Thanks to Sniper Fodder for proof-reading this chapter.

Well, first things first. I don't believe Socrates ever said "One cannot get tired from the truth", but in the context of the story it's funny because Frank thought that little Mr. Friendly Elite was quoting Socrates. If I have to explain the joke any further than this I will be disappointed. So let's just pretend that you all got why it's funny that Frank thinks the elite quoted Socrates.

Now, at first it seemed to me like this chapter wasn't going anywhere, but then I realized that the awkward conversation was exactly right for this chapter. Two completely different philosophies and races meet. What made it interesting though, was that both Frank and Malke are very much alike. Not that any of them would be willing to admit it, but they are both warriors through and through.

Also, I apologize for blatantly stealing a quote from Serenity. Uncancel Firefly and all that.

Please review and stay strong.

-casquis