Hello, I actually am going to get a chapter out early, what a surprise, and Aggiefan to answer your question, yes it does and it sucks, but things are getting straightened out, thank god, anyway on with this story.

Karl sat there for a while, just thinking, he had no idea what his mind was telling him, but his instincts have never failed him before and he hoped that they would not fail him now. Him and Soya have had some pleasant but short conversation in the past, but nothing serious. I mean sitting there for hours on end nothing is wrong with a little chat, right?

Karl leaned back in the chair and just looked out into the depths of space, they had gone into slipstream, so all he really saw was light going pas him at the speed of light. Funny when he thought about it. He had never really looked out into space on the past ships he has been on, he had been in the barracks at the center of the ship.

He sighed and put his hands behind his head, there was just no way he could fall asleep in this unfamiliar and relatively 'hostile' environment, he had done it in the past but never out in the open and everyone knew where he was. 'Ah fuck it I will stay up' Karl thought as he put his helmet back on and leaned back in the chair again, trying to look as still and relaxed as possible. 'This is going to be a long trip' he thought as he looked at the clock on his HUD. 'The time zones will definitely be totally fucked' Karl thought again.

After a while he saw a figure moving in the dark towards him, he didn't move at all, he acted as asleep as possible to see who it was approaching. Since his hands were behind his head he slowly pressed the button to turn on low- light vision. He saw it was a sangheili he did not recognize and decided to speak up.

"Whatcha doin..." Karl said in the most casual voice possible. It stopped and just looked at him, probably shocked. "I have come to speak with you." It said while sitting in the chair across from him.

"Oh really? What about?" Karl said as he put his arms in front of him now and crossed them. "About news from Earth... The organization called ONI have put a price on your head, a price that many rogues in my species would love to have."

Karl sighed, "Well they can try, but they will fail, and fuck ONI, they would love me dead after what I did, and how do you know about this." Karl said raising an eyebrow under his helmet. The sangheili let out a deep sigh, "Because they asked me to kill you." Karl didn't flinch, this one was unarmed, he could see clearly and had no armor on just robes.

"Ha, glad you didn't take up their offer, would have been a bad idea on your part." Karl said letting out a light chuckle. "I know you are no threat human, I do not see you as one, so and money is nothing to me, but if you are not careful you could start a full blown war."

Karl got up from his seat and his arms were still crossed as he looked away from the elite who he could tell was old and wise. "Well I will take your word for it and I will be cautious, I need all the allies I can, other than Soya and Jede of course. I am an exile now and your people won't be the only ones hunting me for sure, how much was it?" Karl asked as he turned around. "It was 1 million in your currency."

Karl scoffed, "I am not worth that much money, to be honest I am flattered. The Insurrection want me dead anyways." Karl said as he made his visor see through.

"Well human I am going to return to my quarters to rest." The elite got up and put a hand out to Karl, which Karl took. "My name is Tas 'Sadomee." "Karl Kuhn." Tas nodded and released Karl's hand. "I wish you the best of luck in survival human." He said as he left.

Karl sat back down and turned his low light vision off, he had to think of even more things now. 'My mind is packed with bullshit' Karl thought as he put his hand behind his back again.

Several days later...

They had finally made it to Sangheilios, it was a large and dry planet, Karl had seen nothing like it. For most of the trip Karl had stuck to his corner and only moved to eat and drink some of his rations. More or less he didn't speak a word to anyone after that night and had only followed Soya around when needed.

Karl had his AR on his back and pistol to his side while Following Soya off the ship, and to Karl's surprise he did not get many nasty looks from anyone at the dockyard, most of them being soldiers manning it had to likely act polite and not like fools, which Karl liked, a little discipline never hurt anyone.

Karl decided to ask a question that had been on his mind since they arrived, "So where we staying?" Karl said in his normal monotone voice. "At my family's keep at the edge of the city, I will make sure you are welcomed and not treated too horribly." She said while they walked from the dockyard into the city streets.

Karl kept his head on a swivel, Jede looked more relaxed and so did Soya, but Karl was in a very hostile environment and treated as such.

After a couple of hours of walking they had reached a large semi- fortified structure that looked to Karl as, well, a castle. Except it was a completely different architecture than anything he had ever seen. It looked so well... Alien.

When they reached the gates he found two very warrior like elites holding long spears guarding it. Both of them when they walked closer gave a respectful bow and mumbled something in their own language which Karl thought was a respectful gesture. But when they saw Karl they immediately pointed spears at him, in response Jede walked in front of him and said something in their own language. He turned around to Karl and looked him in the eyes, even behind his visor.

"You must see the Keep master at once if you are to be kept here. I will escort you there but once there you must use your own tongue to talk to him, he also knows english from years of fighting the war, but after it ended he decided to return home. Also he is my father so don't make him angry, I know from personal experience." Jede said as he leaned in closer to Karl.

Karl let out a simple, "Understood." And with that they were let into the massive compound and Soya went in a different direction followed by what looked like younger girls, maybe sisters, handmaidens? Karl just shrugged and kept Following Jede and saw people from what it looked like going on with daily things doing whatever Sangheili do, Karl had no idea.

They reached a massive building in the center and after talking to some guards Jede let Karl inside but then waved him off and Karl was all alone. He looked around and saw massive pillars along the outside- center of the room. And of course at the end was a thrown like thing with a large sangheili sitting in it with what looked like maybe his wife next to him.

"Come forward human, I was told of your arrival." It said with a booming voice, almost as scary if not more than the zealot Karl had fought back on Earth during New Mombasa. Karl walked forward and saw at closer inspection he was missing the lower left mandible and curiosity got ahead of his manners. "How did that happen?" Karl asked the old elite. He seemed to not even be offended by it, "I had a fight, with a demon during the war." It said in a matter of fact tone.

Karl just nodded and walked forward, he took off his helmet and put it under his arm still looking around and noticing there were guards everywhere. "Are you nervous human?" He said and scooted forward in his chair a little. Karl replied flatly, "Not as much nervous as I am prepared. It's instinct as a warrior in your past I am guessing you know the feeling."

"Indeed human, so you are a warrior, a warrior in fact assigned by your race to defend my daughter, are you not?" Karl turned towards him again, "Yes sir, and now an exile until I can get my situation, well... Situated."

The elite rubbed his chin, "I have taken exiles, but none of your scale human. What happened that caused this?"

Karl explained everything that happened during his encounter with ONI. The old elite scratched his head, "They sound like blasted fools, you obviously were doing your job." "Well they are assholes, they will do anything to benefit them only, not the human race or UNSC." Karl said as he walked up to the throne on request of the old keep lord's wife.

"I human am Jaka 'Nulcam." He held out his hand to Karl, which Karl took and shook. "Karl Kuhn." He said in response.

"You seem fit to stay here, you are not a fool or anyone meaning to harm us, only protecting the UNSC's ambitions, which I am for the alliance, after the Arbiter showed us the lies of the prophets I took up arms with him to save our own race. But many oppose sadly, you will just have to be careful." He looked at Karl one last time, "Continue serving your species, continue protecting my daughter." He said in a matter of fact tone. Karl nodded and left the keep.

When he got outside he saw Soya approaching. "Come with me Karl I will show you your quarters and also around the keep so you do not get lost." Karl nodded and followed behind her. He followed her to a large part of the keep which was also heavily guarded, which must have been someplace important. "This is where the family sleeps, but you will stay here so you can guard me more efficiently." Karl just nodded. They walked to the end of the large hall and she pointed to a door near the end, "This is my own room, yours is two doors down. Here is the key Karl." She said as he gave him the key, Karl nodded, "Thank you Soya, and your family for letting me stay." Karl said as he walked down to his own room.

When he reached it and opened it inside was a large open space which looked like a kitchen and/ or dining room. On the other side was a door which led to a bathroom from the looks of it and it looked very similar to a human bathroom which he bet he could figure out quickly. Leaving that room he found a room that was most likely the bedroom because it had a large bed and some shelves near it. 'That's where i'll put my ammo' Karl thought as he walked over with his bag of things, mainly extra clothes and ammo. He neatly stacked all of his ammunition on it and sorted it out by type and which gun it went to, '50 AR mags, 12 .50 Magnum mags, 150 shotgun shells...' he was noting as he placed them. He then walked over to what looked like another shelf and put his light body armor and other tactical gear on it such as holsters, pads, and extra armor that he tucked into his regular UNSc uniform and not his ODST armor.

Karl yawned as he took his armor off and then his under suit. He then walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower. After that he put on his long sleeve black shirt and black tactical pants. After he put those on he put on his balaclava which only exposed his eyes, after that he put on his knee and elbow pads which briefly after put on his tactical vest. He walked over to his bag and took out his shades and put them on. Karl walked over to the ammo cache and stuck 5 magnum magazines into his vest, after that he put his knife holster around his calf and stuck his knife into it. After that he went over and put on his pistol holster which already had his pistol in it. He was now fully ready to walk around and explore the keep a little more and get to know it, and if he can the people. 'Mine as well make more friends than enemies' Karl thought as he stepped out of the room and went to go explore the keep.