I am alive. I have returned from hiatus much sooner than anticipated. All is well. A special thank you to EternalCanadian for our literary partnership.
Please enjoy.
Chapter 27:
City of Nusanaga, Persia IX, Leonides System, Human Controlled Space
22:05 Hours Local Time, December 11th, 2559
A muffled boom rattled the windows and the night briefly turned to dusk for a second as an orange fireball climbed into the air far away beyond them.
"Maisha! Get away from the window!"
A tiny six-year old girl, still flash-blind from the sudden explosion staggered back and ducked before darting back further into the room towards her father who was examining a small tablet with scrolling headlines very careful.
"I wasn't that close." the girl protested with an angry huff.
"You were closer than you realized. It's not safe to be next to windows!"
Her lip curled in a pout but knew it pointless to argue with her father.
"When can I go outside again?"
"As soon as people aren't so mad anymore."
"When will that happen?"
Her father sat motionless for a minute.
"I don't know." he admitted finally. "But one day people will come to their senses."
Another dull boom sent both of them to the floor.
Sharp knocks suddenly came from the door.
Panic overtook Maisha and she dove for cover behind an armchair. Her father jumped to his feet, his hand going to a small gun on his belt.
"Who is it?" he asked in a fierce whisper.
"Seruz, it's Mamad, your brother! You must let me in!"
Maisha watched as her father braced himself before flinging the door to their 3rd story apartment open. Her uncle was crouched against the stairwell, trying to minimize himself as a target. He was accompanied by her mother and aunt and two tiny cousins who were groggily being carried by their father.
"Quickly! You must come inside!"
The sounds of another blast followed by distant cheers prodded the tiny group of people into the apartment.
"Come dear," Seruz motioned to his wife who embraced him tightly. He turned to his brother who gently put his two daughters on their couch.
"Now, tell me, what's going on out there?"
"The whole neighborhood's gone mad with blood."
Her father shook his head and clasped his face with one hand.
"I was a fool to think you would be safe to stay there."
"None of us thought that the situation would spiral like this." her mother replied.
"The local garrison is trying to defend City Hall right now. All major roads in and out of the city are sealed. The spaceport has been grounded. We're not going anywhere right now."
"Any luck raising anybody off-world?"
Her aunt and uncle hung their heads.
Maisha huffed impatiently as she watched the adults talk and stretched out on the floor clutching at the fibers of the carpet.
As near as she could tell, this whole week had been bad because people were so angry. She didn't understand why exactly, but she knew it had something to do with an announcement being made that there was another war going on in a different galaxy. She didn't want to ask any one of the people that marched outside with rocks. She knew that sometimes when people were angry, they didn't think straight. Sometimes they would hurt other people - and Maisha didn't want that to happen.
Whatever the reason, that didn't change that she hadn't been to school in three days. She initially liked that, but then people started getting angry at the Soldiers and they started fighting with them too. This caused her Father to keep her inside all day. There was only so much one could do before they got bored, cooped up inside the house. They weren't allowed to go outside, to open windows, to turn on the lights, everything was just boring. She wished she could visit her friends.
"Do you think anybody is going to make people stop fighting?" Mamad asked forlornly.
"I'm sure our Leaders are aware of the situation. They'll send help." her mother replied.
"I hope they send it soon." Maisha mumbled before turning her attention back to the carpet.
OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
CLASSIFICATION: PRIORITY ONE ALPHA
0006 HOURS, December 12th, 2559
/Priority Message COMM-SCRIBED/PTS 9386-9
39489-72738-SO /CINCONI Serin Osman
07960-48392-TH /CNO/FLTADM Terrence Hood
ECC: 'Security_Council'
RE: Buyer's Remorse
Terrence,
I apologize for being the bearer of bad news earlier in our meeting. Unfortunately I don't have good news this time either.
You'll no doubt hear about it soon, but the President is demanding an emergency convocation of the Security Council tomorrow in New York with the Cabinet. My guess is it's because of the update I sent her 15 minutes ago. Sec I - II and the Colonial Ministry are having a miserable time with new reports of instability on several colonies. BB is giving me on the clock updates. We also got word of a Squid-head ship that apprehended a Kig-Yar vessel that was loaded with weaponry scavenged from Andromeda. We might need to consider devoting more assets to preventing this kind of trade. May I remind of you of just how difficult it is to contain some of these groups. We do not need terrorists of any species running around with lasers. I'll throw myself out the airlock if they smuggle a lightsaber over the borders.
If half of what makes it to BB's ears are correct, then we have a major leak we need to plug. Suspicions are currently pointed at one or two Marines who were coming back to receive medical treatment -must have spooked some of the Doctors because they started a big game of telephone.
Whatever they must have said has got the people scared. It's gone viral too. At this point, we need to prepare a response to address the concerns. Section Two's opinion is that suppression would now only fan the fire. Agents will be at ground zero within the hour and we should be able to get some answers. Either way, Lodestone, Umbra, Mesa Largo, Sedra, Persia IX, and Tribute all have some form of violent protest going on - and those are only the most recent developments. even going to talk about the stuff we've seen on Luna and Mars. Borealis, Kappa Prime, Utgard, Conrad's Point, and Caledonia are all at risk for major escalation in the next 24 hours.
I'll attach the files so that you know what it is the mobs are talking about. A couple choice tidbits include the composition of armies on both sides and the Jedi/Sith dynamic - in other words, the stuff that we don't need making rounds around the Orion Arm. Other ears on the ground all report the public at large thinks we rushed into war too quickly. Many think that we bit off more than we can chew. While you and I know this isn't true in some cases, the sheer production and military capabilities of either side was underestimated by us incredibly. BB keeps running the numbers and I keep shaking my head. If we had the same production capacity during the War, we could have taken on High Charity with nothing more than a fleet of Frigates and still had thousands more waiting to chase every Covie fleet back to the Ark and beyond.
At the core, this is what is motivating President Charet to seek a way to pull out before we get entangled further. The details and nature of such a "withdrawal" will have to be hammered out tomorrow. Personally I think some of her concerns are a little unmerited but it doesn't change the fact that we need to figure out something fast. We don't have the resources to put down two dozen insurrection movements if the situation continues to destabilize across the board.
President Charet is actually more concerned because of a report that was recently put out by the Surgeon General of the Colonies that was co-authored by Section One. They are concerned of possible biological consequences of continuing our involvement in Andromeda. Put simply, there are diseases in Andromeda that we as a species don't have an immunity to. The possibility of our entire effective combat force being incapacitated by disease is considerably high, even if we implement strict containment protocols.
BB is decidedly pessimistic on whether biological warfare will ever come to our door. We're talking pandemics we haven't seen since the Rainforest Wars. That's something you can speak to Dr. Hikari and Dr. Melby when you next see them. I asked why this would be an issue now if we've been surrounded by aliens with a thousand different pathogens of their own. Dr. Hikari seemed to indicate that most of the viruses we've come across didn't either affect human kind or that they've already been neutralized with vaccines of our own making. She also stressed that while there's still a danger that something might blow up once in awhile, but we're in a position where we can actively perceive and watch trends and respond to them almost instantly. But you already know this, after all you were the man who pushed for the new standards in vaccination and disease prevention in all active-duty servicemen and women.
Recall with me the Republic agreed to a two-way share of information concerning the nature and neutralization of various pathogens, but so far the Republic has failed to honor their end of the bargain quite spectacularly. In so doing, we still have not developed an early warning system that would allow us to anticipate and respond to any new threats. President Charet in conversation with the Chancellor was told that the Senate had to approve everything before he could sign off on it which seems to be a polite way of saying that it's not going to happen any time soon. Have you seen recordings of their proceedings? No wonder the Galaxy fractured in two.
And then there's Palpatine.
BB is still running analysis tests on every scrap of information we have on the man and I'm not sure we even have a full picture of him. Palpatine compounds all of the issues ten-fold, he seems to be the wildcard in all of this. He may claim that the Senate is in control, but really, who is it that actually holds the strings? The Senate seems to be deluding themselves if they think they have power. I suspect if we were to put a an AI behind the Senate's pocketbooks, we'd see where their loyalties truly lie. He could force a bill through if he really wanted to under the Emergency Powers Act. He, not the Senate has the reins.
That being said, if the Senate were to come together on an issue, I suspect there's little he could about it. I suspect he doesn't want to provoke a Senate that is stupid enough to think that we wanted to kill their populace with "forcing our agenda" down their legislative throats. And you thought we were the Xenophobes.
Charet is weighing her options right now. Our relationship with the Republic is strained at best. Maybe the joint war-games on Kamino will help ease tension between the two sides. I've had to repeat to the President that we can't simply just up and leave, not when we have the biggest Forerunner Find the Universe has ever seen squarely in Andromeda. I'm sure you share the same ideas as I concerning the Republic figuring out a way to access the Tech. At worst, if they can't they might choose to deny it to us. And that is something that is completely unacceptable. Maybe you could drive that point through her head.
If she threatens to pull out unless demands are met, perhaps we might be able to justify staying in Andromeda, but we'd have to figure out how to sell that to the Public. I'm not very confident that Palpatine will listen though. She's got a point though. If the Republic will not meet our demands, then perhaps we should reconsider just who our friends are.
One final note. Assuming we can pull off BLACKBIRD within the next 48 hours, we might not even need to justify dealing with the Senate. We'll have an ace up our sleeve. I'll have BB take notes as the reports come in. The sooner we get a permanent leg up on the Republic, the better. I'd prefer we keep the element of secrecy on this one.
As soon as you have a moment, give me a call.
- SO
Spartan Dormitories, "S-Deck", UNSC INFINITY
December 12th, 2559 00:15 Hours Standard UNSC Military Time/Calendar
Spartan William Gunther
A figure rounded the corner head of them.
"Freeze!" William ordered triggering the light on his gun.
Sophie's face lit up as the light centered on her and she came to a halt, her hand shielding her eyes. She was shaking.
"Rapier Five? What's going on?" William asked cautiously.
"She's been attacked! She needs medical attention...bad...lots of blood!"
"Whoa. Hold on a second. You're losing me."
Brittany stepped forward and knelt down in front of her.
"Sophie, take a deep breath."
"No you don't understand! Something bad's happened to-" she choked, unable to bring herself to say something.
"What happened Sophie?" Asher asked.
She swallowed deeply, shuddered and then spoke.
"It's Emily ma'am! She's been attacked!"
"Show us." William ordered.
The tiny Spartan took off running down the hallway and turned the corner towards their quarters. They all rounded the corner and saw the rest of Rapier hunched over a body.
"StatRep?" Castle Eight queried as she sprang into action.
"We just found her like this." Micheal said dazed.
Castle Eight nodded.
"I need light."
William moved the light overhead.
Emily's limp body lay sprawled across the ground. Bruises sprouted along the length of her arms. There were lacerations running from her head to her neck openly bleeding onto the metal floor. A single bootprint was impressed into the gore and smeared on the floor and wall before all traces of it disappeared.
"How long ago did you just find her?" Asher asked.
"Literally just now." Kevin replied. "Sophie noticed Emily wasn't in the room when she got up and she found her like this."
"I've got a pulse but it's erratic." Brittany reported. "Someone grab me a blanket or two right two."
"On it." Julianne said springing for their room."
"Kevin, get your team to start waking up the hallway. Maybe we can find a witness or more of those footprints."
"Yessir. Micheal, Sophie, get on it."
The two other Spartans dashed away and began pounding on doors.
Eight rolled her gently and William saw what looked like a massive cut along her back that was bleeding much more heavily than her other wounds.
"Four, grab my kit. Right next to the clock in our room. Go." Brittany her tone become seriously.
Four nodded and sprang to action.
"This looks like attempted murder, not assault." Asher hissed.
"Roland?" Kevin asked querying the ceiling.
There was no response.
"Roland?" he tried again.
Again, no response.
William's concern grow. Roland was never disposed like this - at least he wasn't supposed to be. If he had no eyes and ears on them, then Roland couldn't see what was going on. That would be impossible unless someone physically removed his eyes and ears.
Chelsea burst out of their room behind them with Eight's medical kit.
"Good." Eight said distracted before tearing it open and moving fast.
"I don't understand, why is Roland not responding?"
"We need to get Palmer down here now." Ralph spoke up.
"Good idea. Five-" William stopped himself. "Scratch that. Four, we're going to run to Palmer's office and raise Cain. Seven, retrieve Freya and try and figure out why Roland isn't here. Six, if she destabilizes, you're going to help move her. Go with Two and help wake up the block."
The Spartans sprang into action. William gave the gun to Kevin and they split directions.
William backpedaled and charged forward down the hallway retracing their steps back to the S-Deck.
"Think she's in her office?"
"Probably." Chelsea replied.
The two of them tore down the hallway, their footsteps echoing up and down the massive room.
They reached her office in no time at all. Chelsea pounded on the door.
"Open up Commander!"
No response greeted them after 10 seconds.
William brushed her aside and pounded on the door rattling it and the frame. William tried again and this time left miniature craters on the door.
"Commander, this is urgent. If you don't open the door we're breaking in!"
No response greeted them.
William sized up the door.
"Fireteam Leader, stand down!"
Palmer was standing to their right clutching a stack of papers with Captain Lasky right next to her.
"Fireteam Castle you are thirty seconds away from being sentenced to a week of being sentenced to brig. You all better have a good explanation for why you're trying to break down my door!
"Ma'am, we got a problem." Chelsea began.
"I'll say we do!" Palmer interrupted. "What gives you the right to-"
"Commander, there's been an attempted murder in the Spartan Barracks."
Palmer stared blankly at him, clearly not expecting this answer.
Lasky was the first one to speak.
"Where? How long ago?" he demanded urgently.
"Right outside our quarters. Sir, it's one of Fireteam Rapier."
"Lasky held up a hand to a sensor and the door swung open. He grabbed the stack of files from Palmer's hands and shoved them inside.
"Then we better get down there. Roland?"
"Captain Lasky! I was about to contact you. Spartan-"
"We know Roland. We're on our way there."
"Oh, well in that case I'll just sit here and twiddle my fingers. Freya is working on restoring my eyes and ears right now. They're just about done."
"What do you mean?"
"Someone took out my eyes and ears in the block. I can't see anything going on there. I thought it was a hardware malfunction at first and was going to send a team down there to get it repaired, but then this happened."
"Roland, see what you can do about getting an eye on the scene, but get a medical team to the barracks now."
"Already on it. I've already dispatched a forensics team as well."
"Lead the way."
The four of them took off at a sprint that Lasky could barely keep up with.
As they approached, William heard a lot more voices in the hallway. They once again turned the corner and found the corridor filled with commotion. The lights had been restored.
"Captain on deck!" Kevin called out and a small group of Spartans consisting of Majestic and Crimson all backed away from Emily.
"What happened?" Palmer demanded.
"I don't know." a sleepy DeMarco said trying his best to avoid yawning. "We were all woken up by the kids."
Thorne punched his shoulder.
"-Spartans." he corrected himself. "All we know is that someone just tried to kill her."
"Rapier heard a scream, a thump, and they found her like this." Asher added.
Lasky swore as he looked over Emily's limp figure.
"Report Spartan." he said looking to Castle Eight.
"Emily is stabilized Captain - if at least for a moment anyways. We need to move her to a Hospital ward. Further examination leads me to believe it was attempted murder but I'm not about to rule out on any other actions as well."
"Sir, Roland's eyes and ears were manually removed by somebody. Someone tore off an access panel further back and tore out the cyberlink connections. I created a temporary splice with Freya's help but it won't hold forever." Felix interjected.
"Thank you both."
Captain Lasky sighed heavily, stood up and examined her and quietly swore.
"Palmer. Wake the block. We need to get to the bottom of this now. We are due to start exercises in less than 12 hours and I am not about to have the Spartan Division tied up because of a criminal investigation.
More voices from behind drew Will's attention. A medical team darted around the corner with a stretcher in hand followed shortly behind by a group of MP's.
"Everyone clear the area right now."
The Spartans assembled move to the side.
"Roland?"
"Y-Yes Captain." A static-filled voice responded.
"I want all surveillance footage of this block for the last hour called up."
"Captain, I keep t-telling you, I don't have eyes over here. Freya informed me that someone physically ripped out the fiber-optic cable allowing me access to the system."
"Acknowledged. Whatever you have, I want it in my hands ASAP. Wake the Spartans up and direct them to Room 25-B for a briefing. I want names of possible suspects in thirty."
"Aye."
Brittany stepped back from Emily and watched as the Medical Team carefully placed her on a stretcher before leaving.
"Sir, can we go with her?" Kevin asked.
"I'm not sure the Doctors will let you in with her, but go ahead."
Kevin collected the members of Rapier and followed behind.
"Yo, Castle, you see this?" Madsen called out.
William looked over to see Spartans Madsen and Grant waving them over by their door. He approached and saw something scratched hastily into the door. Moving closer, he was unsure of whether his eyes were deceiving him.
"Captain Lasky? You might wanna take a look at this!" Thorne exclaimed.
The Captain appeared in a second and bent down.
"What am I looking-"
He stopped and William watched as his eyes examined the door.
The door contained a simple message scratched hastily with a blade with blood smeered over the etching sinking deep into the metal as a sort of macabre tattoo. The only thing more worrying were the contents of the message:
You're next.
Location Unknown
Special Operations Officer Ripa 'Talam
They were coming out of Slipspace, he was sure of that.
Ripa groaned and shifted from his position slumped against the wall. His bindings stung his nerves as he moved his stiff arms too far away from his body causing him to reflexively contract them. They had been traveling a while now, the time of which he could not tell. His mind began to race with all the possibilities that this presented.
Option A: His captor was changing course to throw off any would-be pursuers.
Option B: His captor was approaching an ally and was making preparations to embed himself with the enemy.
Option C: His captor dropped out so that he could re-calibrate the drive and the navigation systems.
Option D: His captor was dumping Ripa out the airlock.
Neither of these options sounded pleasant for Ripa.
He looked out of the shielded door from his cell in the brig to a large table that held his helmet and his weapons. How he longed to run his blade through the traitor that had tainted it with his touch.
As if on cue, the door opened and his captor walked through it swiftly.
"You're awake." he observed before striding over to one of the swords, the same one that he had defiled with it's touch. With a snap-hiss it flared to life. "A fine blade indeed."
"You dishonor it with your touch." Ripa snarled.
His captor ignored the comment and took a few swipes with it, noting the ghostly contrail it left behind, the sizzling - almost fire-like appearance, the pale blue white color that separated it from other blades that were darker in hue and coloration.
"This is no blade of the Qikost Merchants." his captor observed.
He examined it a little more before he gave a sound of recognition.
"You are 'Talam."
It was a statement, not a question. Ripa remained silent.
"If the blade didn't give you away, then the crest certainly did. No other sword bears the sign of the sword and the forge."
"And what does it matter to you?"
"I only wish to examine the blade, nothing more. But I'll sheathe it if that will make you feel better." he said before snapping the blade off in a flash of light and replacing it back on the table. "You are lucky to come from such heritage. For it, I will spare your life."
This caught Ripa off guard, but he sensed that this captor was not being dishonest. That did little to console him behind the shielded doors of a cell.
"Where are we?"
"If you must know, we are in Separatist controlled space heading for a planet named Lola Sayu. The defense fleet is pretty substantial.
"Who are you?"
"Who am I?" he repeated Ripa's question. He gave a pained chuckle. "I know not who I am anymore." He waved his aside as if to brush aside the question. "But that does not matter. What matters is that I am your captor and you are my prisoner."
"And what comfort do you plan on extracting from the Separatists? What could they possibly offer you that Sangheilios couldn't?"
"I don't know. But I believe my prospects here are much more favorable in this galaxy. Once I turn myself over with all of my information and you as a prisoner, I will slip away from notice and disappear from the universe at large."
"I hope your name is blasted from the walls of history."
His captor sighed.
"Me too."
An audible alert from what Ripa supposed to be the bridge caught both of them by surprise. Without another word his captor disappeared and Ripa was left alone in his cell.
Minutes passed. The ship's vibrations intensified for a moment in a pattern, almost like it was passing other, much larger ships. For all he knew, they could have waltzed right in to their Capital world.
At least he was alive. Should he manage to retreat back to friendly lines, he could avenge all this blasted piece of vespin scum had done.
The ship started to decelerate now. Inexplicably, in the middle of the room, an image came to light - presumably of the location they had come to.
Ripa took in the details and felt a growing sense of unease.
The planet they were heading to was cracked - literally. Almost half of the planet's crust had been blasted away by some sort of celestial impact to create a glowing sickly yellow-black amalgam of detritus orbiting the planet's core. The landscape was hellish - to put it lightly. Volcanoes and incendiary flows of lava dotted the planet breaking up the dead husk of the purple surface in great gouges of yellow-orange blood.
"We're approaching the planet." His captor informed him.
The tug of gravity fluctuated as they entered the planet's atmosphere and the ship's gravity attempted to slowly transition to the planet's. A nasty buffet of turbulence bucked the ship a little bit as the tiny vessel made headway through the atmosphere.
Ten minutes later Ripa heard the landing struts deploy before the ship's forward momentum ceased and it started descending quickly to the ground. An uncomfortable jolt sent Ripa's head against the back of the plating that lined his cell, but otherwise all was still.
Moments later his captor appeared again. The cell walls deactivated. He debated rushing and attempting to knock out the other Sangheili but he couldn't think of what else to do. He had no way to free his hands of the bindings and even if he managed to escape, the chances of escaping on another ship were slim to none at the moment.
His helmet was tossed to him and Ripa awkwardly caught it with his bound hands. It took some maneuvering, but it was placed back on his head. Both of his swords went on his captor's belt though.
His captor had managed to find a plasma rifle in addition to his pistol and motioned for Ripa to start walking.
He proceeded to the entrance and started a helmet recording. He was sure it was going to be removed from him soon if he was a prisoner, but, at least for his peace of mind, it would help for there to be some sort of record.
A sharp rap on the boarding ramp greeted them.
"Open up. Inspection team." An almost comical robotic voice ordered.
The door opened and a boarding party of a dozen Battle Droids in red markings greeted them.
"Are you the spy?" the lead droid asked.
"I am. I brought a prisoner for further interrogation as well."
"You will come with us alien." The Commander ordered. It was met with a round of spastic head-bopping and Roger Rogers'.
Ripa was shoved forward by two of the droids and he was led slowly to a lift. He turned around to see the ship they were on parking in an almost comically small space with little room to spare before the doors closed and the lift shot upwards.
They were then led down a series of hallways until they came at least to the end of a corridor with a big set of doors in front of them. They hissed open with a sudden whoosh-ah! and proceeded in slowly. The were in what looked to be a central operations chamber.
A bipedal figure turned around from his position overlooking a hologram of their ship and from the way he carried himself, Ripa surmised he was in charge of this place.
The creature facing him was reptilian with smooth and scaly mottled green skin stood before him. While the creature was taller than all humans he had encountered, both he and his captor easily looked down on it. Even so, it looked like it could hold it's own with in a hand to hand fight. It had long thin arms and thick hands with three fat fingers, each ending in a razor sharp claw. A pair of red eyes with horizontal black pupils was set back on a pointed skull.
The creature must have been expecting them to be shorter because his eyes fastened on both of them with unease. He regained composure a moment later.
"We've been expecting you." the creature said in a rasping voice.
"I've come to seek asylum from the Sangheili. I took a prisoner with me in my escape. He is a Special Operations Officer and could be of value to the Confederacy.
"I see." the creature turned it's head.
"Droid! Contact Count Dooku at once."
A tactical droid obeyed at once keying in a series of codes on the table until an image materialized of an older human male dressed in fine robes.
"What is it Mardossk? You are interrupting me Trandoshan. This had better be worth it" Dooku said coldly folding his arms.
"My apologies Count, a spy from the Allied Species has arrived at The Citadel. He brings a prisoner and seeks asylum." Mardossk said slyly.
The Count turned and focused on the two Sangheili.
"I see. We meet at least Sangheili. I thought I told you that you were to remain in the shadows."
"I tried Count, but this one here caught me in the act of delivering a message to you. I fled with him as my prisoner." his captor explained.
"How disappointing." the Count's lip curled. "Tell me, in this last report that you would have sent. Is there anything more of value or use that you could offer? Did you have anything new to report to me?"
"No-" his captor started to explain.
"Then you come to Lola Sayu with a loose set of lips in two and offer nothing new to me?" Dooku said dangerously.
"Wait a moment, I don't think you under-"
"Mardossk, see to it that these two are imprisoned."
"What?!" his captor exclaimed. From all around the droids trained their weapons on the Sangheili.
"Remove their armor," the Count continued, "their weapons, their gear."
"I helped you in exchange for my freedom!" his captor roared outraged.
"-you may keep what you want in that pathetic little trophy room of yours."
"I'll carve your heart out with a stone knife and feed your entrails to the Helioskrill!"
"Impound their ship. Search their databases for any navigational data for their galaxy and report any findings to me at once."
The hologram fizzled out.
A sickening smack from a Super Battle Droid sent the Sangheili to his knees. Two more took position next to him on either side with blasters trained on his head.
"You heard the Count. Give me everything now." Mardossk ordered with an predatory gleam in his eyes.
"Drop your weapons." the droids echoed.
With rage burning in his eyes, the Sangheili eyed the room full of weapons trained on him and slowly threw everything on the floor.
A droid with an electrostaff jabbed the Sangheili popping the shields and sending him to the floor. Two droids sprang up and bound his hands.
Mardossk aproached slowly.
"You made a mistake alien. Coming here is the last mistake you'll ever do."
Ripa watched as his blades were awkwardly picked up by the Trandoshan.
A staff jabbed into his back forcing Ripa to kneel with a painful grunt.
"And what do you have to say?" Mardossk said approaching him.
"Leave my blades alone. You are not worthy to wield such weapons."
"I don't think you understand alien. You're a prisoner of the Confederacy. You are a prized trophy. Your swords are heirlooms of my success. I'm going to lock you away so that you never see the light of day again. Do you understand this?" he purred.
A claw ran under his chin and Ripa snapped his mandibles and managed to tear through flesh causing the Trandoshan to retract his hand as if it touched something hot.
"Why you little split-chin freak!" Mardossk said angrily as he examined the damage done to his hand. He turned back to the table.
"Away with them!" he bellowed
Ripa felt a painful numbing sensation bore into his body, then all went black.
Deck 18, Briefing Room 25-B, UNSC INFINITY
December 12th, 2559 00:47 Hours Standard UNSC Military Time/Calendar
Spartan William Gunther
The atmosphere was uncomfortable as Spartans slowly started assembling in a briefing room designed to hold all of them. They had been ordered into armor by the Captain making it even more of a tight squeeze. Nobody really made eye contact with each other and all conversation was held in muted whispers.
Except for Fireteam Castle.
The conversation was a mix of flashing signal lights on their HUD and speech held internally on private channel. From the outside the eight Spartans stood stone-cold in place but within the helmets a furious and fast-paced conversation was taking place.
"This is so cliche." Felix said with eyes rolling.
"What are you talking about?" William asked.
"The whole 'You're next' thing? Come on, Will. It reads like a bad mystery novel."
"Felix, a Spartan was almost killed. Do you not understand how serious this is?" Asher questioned. "When did you decide to be Cast,e Three?"
"Hey, I'm not that cynical. I do understand how serious this was. When was the last time Spartans tried to murder other Spartans?"
"Spartan Micheal Crespo, August 2555." Freya replied. "Attempted to murder Spartans Kojo Agu and Edward Buck."
"Exactly. This isn't great for our PR is it." Felix grumped.
"It's bad enough to be fighting a war when you can't trust the outside world, but not being able to trust your other Spartans?" Asher asked. "That's something new."
"Are you feeling okay Felix?" Brittany asked.
"Yeah, I'm feeling fine."
"You have a funny way of reacting to personal death threats." Freya replied.
"Just part of the job description. Everything is trying to kill us sometimes. Relatively speaking, this is a really lazy way to threaten us. It was a brilliantly thought plan, but amateurish in execution - no pun intended."
"Look Felix, I get your sense of humor - or whatever you claim it to be, is a little off-color, but there's a fine line between funny and stupid. Make another comment out of line and I might send you to get checked out by a shrink." William said with growing annoyance.
"Fine Commander. Just trying to break the tension."
"Felix is right though. This was a well-thought plan." Asher replied.
"What's this? Ash coming to my-"
A continuous red light from Castle Two cut off Felix's comment mid sentence.
"What I mean is that whoever tried killing Spartan Emily thought about how they would do it. To rip out the eyes and ears for the block, incapacitate her, carve messages into our door and then smear it with blood and then fail to remove traces of themselves from the scene all before someone came out to find her? We're lucky we got to her as soon as we did. There wasn't a lot of time on the perpetrator's hands to react once things started moving."
"It had to have been another Spartan. Your average marine doesn't overpower a Spartan any day of the week. The bootprints, the strength needed to rip metal and cable out of a wall?"
"Captain on deck!" someone in the vast crowd shouted and the room instantly came to a halt and stood at attention as Captain Lasky, followed by other Executive Officers emerged through a door in front of them followed by Commander Palmer and Red Team.
"At ease." Lasky said and the sound of 500 Spartans relaxing their stance made the room rock a little.
"Spartans. I am sorry to call you here so early in the morning. However circumstances require your full presence and attention."
He paused, and swallowed uncomfortably.
"I'm not sure how to say this other than to go ahead and say it. There's been an attempted murder on one of your own by another Spartan."
The body of Spartans absorbed this comment in silence. Reactions were varied from positions and muscles tensing, to nervous looks at others.
"One member of Fireteam Rapier is currently in the Hospital. She will make a full recovery and provide testimony and witness against the other.
He paused again and massaged his temples.
"Look, I'm not sure I need to convey how serious this is. We are called upon to defend Earth and her Colonies. We take lives because we have to, not because we're monsters. Murder is not tolerated within the ranks of servicemen and women be they Spartan or not. Because we expect her to make a full recovery and provide the identity of a murderer, I am speaking to all of you and giving the perpetrator a chance to confess quietly. They will be removed from the ship and stripped of all weapons and armor while they transfer back to Earth to explain their actions in front of the UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps. Per recommendation of my superiors, I am offering this chance to you so that you may avoid the public eye of your-"
"I did it."
Lasky stopped as a voice void of emotion admitted guilt. All eyes turned in the room, searching for the source of the voice. William watched as a small circle parted around Fireteam Shadow with Horatio Fry looking at Isaac.
"Shadow Four? You did this?" he asked horrified.
"I'm not repeating myself Fireteam Leader." he spat, as if the title itself was an insult. "Shadow Three came up with the plan. I carried it out."
All eyes shifted to Daniel now. He removed his helmet and let it drop to the floor
"What can I say?" he asked with a grin. "Guilty. As. Charged."
The words sent a visible shiver through the Branch.
"Monster!"
The cry came from Fireteam Rapier as they suddenly broke formation and pushed their way towards the two would-be killers. Fireteam Majestic caught them by the shoulders and held them in place. At the same time, the other Spartans grabbed them and forced them forwards towards Captain Lasky.
A pained expression drew itself across Captain Lasky who seemed to age years before them as he watched them come forward.
"Take them to the brig." he directed Red Team who began walking towards the two followed by Palmer. The surrounding Spartans parted to allow Red Team to strong arm both of them away.
"But why?" Fry asked as the two were being carried off. "After everything I've done for you? Why!"
The two gave no answer and only resisted for a little bit before they were seized by Red Team. As they started heading towards the door, they came in sight of Castle. For one moment, William and Daniel locked eyes with each other.
"You're next." Daniel said writhing in Jerome's grip as they passed. He spit in their direction as a final act of animosity before Jerome seized him and yanked him away plunging further into the crowd.
When the door had slammed behind them, all eyes turned back to Captain Lasky.
"Fireteam Shadow, you will report to my Office in Ten. The rest of you, Return here in six hours for a briefing. I suggest you all get some sleep. You've got a busy day ahead of you. Dismissed."
"What is their problem?" William asked no one in particular as the team filed through the door of their quarters. "Why do those two hate the sight of us?"
"I think they hate the sight of you and Asher more than us." Ralph said as he crashed onto an armchair. "Those ***** always seem to go ballistic when they see either of you more than anything else. I think they hate us just by association.
"It takes a special kind of insane to openly admit without any reservation that you committed a crime." Chelsea added. "I don't think any of us were expecting that."
"Freya?" Will said as he took a seat on the sofa.
The red-haired avatar flared to life on the nearby pedestal.
"Yes?"
"How much of a secure connection can you get with this room?"
"I can lead Roland for a twist or two if that's what you're asking."
"William?" Asher questioned.
"How long would it take for you to start digging into Shadow Three and Four?" he said ignoring his number two.
"This is ship is far out of quick access range for any files currently not already stationed on board."
"William?" Asher tried again.
"So how does ONI get their up-to-date information?"
"Well, I didn't say it wasn't accessible. Information is much lighter and faster than enormous flagships and there isn't so much of a reconciliation process when it comes out the other side of a slipspace portal. It would take a fair amount of time, but I could reasonably get you access to anything you needed. Besides, it would give me an excuse not to interact with F.I.L.S.S."
"William, why don't we call it a night and forget about Daniel and Isaac until tomorrow." Asher firmly suggested. "They're in the brig right now under lock and key right next to an airlock. I don't think they'll be bothering anybody. If Lasky doesn't decide to outright execute the two, they'll be shipped off given a trial, court-martialed, and either imprisoned for life or killed.
"Asher they are threatening the lives of this Fireteam! I want to know why!"
"We all want to know why Will. Please don't make this a personal matter. If this trails back to us, we could lose Freya or even be thrown in the Brig like they were.
"It's personal when they start fights and carve messages in other people's blood on our door." he shot back.
"Unfortunately I don't think our superiors care about that. In their eyes, the problem has been contained."
"Look, something doesn't add up and I want to get to the bottom of it. Why on Earth is ONI keeping them on this ship? They. Are. Time-bombs. I don't want to have one go off underneath my feet without warning."
"Uh, we're just going to leave you two alone." Chelsea said from the corner next to the women's bunks.
"Yeah, call us if you need anything." Felix added before disappearing behind the other door.
Asher sat down opposite William.
"Will, I think you just need to let this go. They are not going to be hurting us."
"Ralph, take yourself to your cot." William ordered as he struggled to find a response to Asher's words.
"I just got here!" he protested as he picked himself off the chair before disappearing.
"Look, I just got all of you back. I'm not about to lose the entire team again." he replied as soon as the door was closed.
"I don't plan on losing anyone on the team either." Asher said insistently.
"You got a funny way of showing it."
"The way you're going about this is going to get yourself in major trouble!"
"What, you expect me to march up to Captain Lasky and demand the full truth?"
"Absolutely. I expect you to do that and to go through every available route open to us until we run out of options. I'm not okay with going behind the backs of UNSC leadership just because you're bent on figuring out the life story of two people."
"I'm not trying to figure out their life story! I'm trying to figure out why two Spartans are so bent on seeing us be miserable! Anyone else would wonder the same!"
"William, I am not going to see you court-martialed because of this." Asher said angrily. An ugly color was rising in her face.
"Doesn't it even concern you a little bit what the deal is with Daniel and Isaac?"
"It does concern me! Nothing adds up with these two! We've seen their faces before but don't know where! They're absolutely mental! They're capable of violence without any sign of remorse! I don't want to come across you in the middle of the hallway stabbed to death!"
"Oh, so you do care about my well-being."
"Yes William! I happen to care about your well-being a lot!"
A sudden silence filled the space between the two Spartans and the two of them suddenly found it hard to meet the other's eyes.
"Awkward." Freya commented from her pedestal.
"Look, Freya, scan the Archives on Infinity for any relevant information on Shadow Three and Four that's beyond our pay grade. File a request to Captain Lasky if you have to." Asher said flustered.
"Done. I'll keep everything perfectly legal." she said reassuringly.
She stood up suddenly.
"I'm going to bed Will. It would be best if you would as well."
With a quick stride, she opened the door to her bunk and disappeared. The door closed uncomfortably loud.
William looked back at the door, then back to ceiling before letting out a long sigh.
A little shorter than my usual 10k chapter lengths, but I hope this will be sufficient. Anybody notice the correlation between the date of the story and the date this chapter was published? No? Anyone?
"Romantic tension" is not my strong point in writing. This chapter may not have been up there in terms of previous quality, but I hope you'll forgive me as I try and dust off my keyboard.
In other news, we have introduced the Citadel, Lola Sayu, and a new plot twist in the story of Daniel & Isaac. Feel free to theorize for yourself what is coming.
It's good to be back. I'll have more for you later this week if all goes well. We will be returning to a Star Wars perspective next time.
Yours in writing,
theotherpianist