Chapter 12: Kel
The air was cold, so cold that Kel and the others would have frozen to death if it weren't for their armour. Even then, he could still feel it. It still made him shiver. The land wasn't even visible, it was buried beneath high piles of hardened snow, packed so dense that it would barely be dented by a plasma mortar from a Wraith. Their vision was completely obscured by a blizzard, even some instruments weren't able to see through it. This was Kel's first battle, and of course they sent him in under the harshest of conditions.
Kars 'Chelamee was a no-nonsense type of leader. He cared not what conditions he fought in, and he didn't listen to the excuses of his underlings. He was the kind of leader that the Sangheili needed, if he didn't so blindly follow the Prophets. He was the kind of leader that Kel wanted to be.
Explosions went off around them. Unggoy charged recklessly into the line of fire. One more human roadblock remained between them and their target, a human firebase. One of the most heavily defended fortresses they could go against. Normally for a force of their size it would be certain death. But not for a leader like Kars 'Chelamee. The only thing that would be able to take Kars down was a foe he never expected, and that's eventually would be his downfall.
Kel 'Dauramee had been pulled aside by the General as they neared a safe location. His performance in the battle had been rather lacklustre, and that wasn't the kind of performance that Kars 'Chelamee stood for. The General was disappointed, but it was his job to make every Sangheili into a warrior he was proud of.
"Let go of yourself, 'Dauramee," Kars said, placing a rough hand against Kel's shoulder. "Do not be a coward in the face of danger. Sometimes you must shed your own blood to achieve victory."
Kel's only response was a nod, which Kars returned. The General was right. Kel had been staying behind, worrying more about his own safety than anything else. Even Sangheili Minors could take many hits before going down. Kel knew that, but he didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Not when he had his own plan in mind.
He wanted to send a message to the Covenant, and it was important that he stay alive long enough to do that. He would wait until the battle ended, and he would strike Kars 'Chelamee down. He respected the General, but there was no better target he could take down than him.
Of course Kars didn't know Kel's true intentions, he would think Kel was just a dumb recruit who was reluctant to fight in the war. The General let go of Kel, and they rushed forward to a trench cut into the snow where Kars's forces were waiting for the attack on the human fortress.
Kars crouched in front of the Sangheili and displayed a projection of the fortress from the monitor on his wrist. In each corner of the fortress was a tall gun tower, each of which could rotate 360 degrees to defend the base.
"A squadron of Banshees strafed the base earlier," Kars said. One of the towers glowed red. "This turret was heavily damaged before the squadron got shot down. In its current state it is susceptible to small arms fire, so we'll take it out and enter the base from that corner. Several squads of Unggoy will be used to distract the other turrets, so we'll have to move quickly before they're killed."
That was the one thing Kel didn't like about Kars, his disregard for life. The Unggoy weren't particularly bad fighters, especially when they were against the frail human soldiers, but Kars saw them as nothing more than cannon fodder. The Unggoy couldn't object, or the General would kill them himself.
Each Sangheili confirmed that they were ready for the mission, all except for Kel. Kars gave him a look of disdain, but Kel didn't make any expression that would betray his feelings. Only an empty gaze that seemed to creep the General out. The thought of a Minor scaring a General was almost amusing, but Kel had never laughed at anything.
"Warriors! With me!" Kars shouted, not wasting anymore time with Kel. He stood up and quickly climbed over the trench. Kel and the other Sangheili followed close behind, and the group charged through the snowy hills toward the human fortification.
Human soldiers crouched behind bags of sediment, and they blindly fired over them at the approaching Sangheili. Kel could feel the bullets bouncing off his shields. Each impact caused him to stumble, but none of the bullets did any real damage to him or his armour.
Bolts of plasma shot past Kel as the Sangheili behind him fired, wasting their weapons' batteries on the bags the humans hid behind. Kel didn't plan on wasting anything, he needed as much as he could for his plan. He grabbed one of his four grenades attached to his belt, and tossed it over the bags. He had been trained extensively in throwing grenades, and he even practised throwing similar objects during downtime; he didn't plan on forgetting any of his training.
The humans barely had time to react before the grenade exploded, killing three of them. Two more humans rose from their cover in an effort to retreat, but they were gunned down by another Sangheili at Kel's side. The shooting stopped, the humans were dead. Whatever human soldiers remained had to be inside the fortress, and now their path to it was clear.
"Good throw," Kars said to Kel as he ran ahead.
Kel said nothing in return. He and the others followed the General. Lights in the distance came into view as they passed over another hill. Due to the blizzard, none of them could actually see what it was, but they knew it was the human fortress.
"Remember," Kars said, turning to the group, "never pause for a second. Run as fast as you can to the gun tower and keep shooting at it, it will fall."
Kars pointed toward the fortress, Kel could just barely make out the outline of the damaged gun tower. The ground shook as the towers began to open fire, the loud thumping drowning out the sound of the wind blowing into Kel's ears. The Unggoy had been sent in, and the attack had begun.
"Charge!" Kars shouted. He and the other Sangheili sprinted out into the open. The tower they were charging toward turned towards them and opened fire.
Explosive rounds slammed into the ground around them. Another Minor took two direct hits, and his body violently exploded. Ribbons of blood and organs showered the attacking Sangheili, but even that wasn't enough to slow them down.
Kars wielded a concussion rifle, and he blasted the tower with its explosive shots. The other Sangheili fired with plasma rifles, but Kel only had a needler. A weapon that was completely useless in this situation.
The tower switched targets after blowing the Minor open, now it fired at Kars. Where the turret was able to take the Minor's shields down with one blast, Kars was able to survive two direct hits, each one knocking him to the side. But they didn't knock him down. The General sprinted even faster, he was at a speed that seemed comical with his bulky armour weighing him down.
The tower missed the next two shots, which went straight past Kars and hit the ground in front of Kel. The explosion from the first shot knocked him down, and the second blasted him into the snow. The shock from getting hit stunned him. He couldn't see anything, nor could he feel anything. Every sound he heard was muffled as if he was somehow in a different room.
"'Dauramee!" He heard shouting, but he couldn't make out the voice.
Am I dead? He asked himself. The shouting came again.
"'Dauramee! Kel!" the voice became clearer. It was high pitched, mechanical, there was no way it was a Sangheili.
"Kel 'Dauram?" Bygone Era said.
Kel opened his eyes. The monitor was right in his face, its single blue eye was all he could see. He was back in the telescoping facility, facing the projections of the Halo rings, and the Ark. Why am I here?
Era floated away from Kel. There was no expression that the monitor could show, so Kel couldn't even begin to tell what it was thinking.
"It seems you are still awake," Era said, not taking its eye off Kel. "Are you alright?"
No. No I am not.
"I'm fine," Kel said. "Just… Thinking."
"About what, might I ask?" the monitor asked, tilting to its side.
"About…" What was I thinking about? "All of this. The Covenant, the Forerunners, everything."
"Right," Era said. The monitor finally floated away from him and examined a screen on the other side of the room. "Based on the communications I've intercepted, the Covenant seems to revere the Forerunners. But you tell me you didn't even know they were real."
"I had always assumed the Covenant was using its faith just to get us to serve," Kel sighed. "But now I see that they are real… And that they are glorious."
"But they are not Gods," Era turned back toward Kel. It was tilted in a way that made it seem almost disappointed. Maybe it can express feelings.
Kel looked back up at the projection of the Ark. If the Forerunners were not Gods, then how did they create such magnificent things? He was inclined to believe that Era was telling the truth, as the monitor itself was a direct creation of the Forerunners. But what if Era was lying? What if the millenia that the monitor had spent in solitude had corrupted it, and turned it against its masters?
Kel almost laughed at himself for thinking that was even a possibility. Whether or not the Forerunners were Gods, he could at least see now why the Covenant worshipped them. They were magnificent.
"How long will you be here?" Kel asked the monitor.
"For as long as this facility must remain operational," Era replied, turning back to the screens and watching over the planets.
"Then I'm going to go back to my home," Kel said. "But I will come back eventually."
"I understand," Era said. It turned back and floated up to Kel. "Would you like me to show you the way out?"
Kel nodded. He preferred to not have to climb down the entire mountain. Era floated out of the room, and Kel followed. They moved through several identical corridors, so many that Kel would have easily gotten lost if he was alone, and eventually they entered another rocky chamber with no exit.
"Hm, it seems the exit has gotten blocked," Era said. "I suppose that will happen after thousands of years. Please stand back, Kel 'Dauram."
Kel scoffed, but he did as he was told. Era was supposed to be the facility's caretaker, yet it didn't seem to be taking very good care of the facility. It was a small thing, but it was enough to make Kel question the monitor. He backed into the corridor behind him, and watched as the monitor cleared the debris.
Era's soft blue eye slowly faded to an aggressive red, and a beam of light shot out of it. The beam cleanly cut through the rocks, creating an opening that Kel could use to leave. Through the hole Kel could see his little shack he had set up before he took on the mountain climb, he was right next to where he found the metal sticking out of the rocks.
"All clear!" Era said, turning back to Kel. "You may leave now."
"Thank you," Kel said slowly. He stepped through the opening and took a breath of fresh air.
Kel hadn't even been in the Forerunner facility for long, yet it still felt strange being outside again; like he was stepping onto a completely different world. He turned, expecting to see Era watching him, but the monitor already left. He understood that the monitor had far more important things to do.
Thankfully Kel had an exceptional memory, especially when it came to the lay of the land, so he would be able to find his way back home easily, even when he wasn't entirely familiar with the area around the mountain. And because of what was inside the mountain, Kel would never forget the way to it.
The sun was setting by the time Kel made it back to his Phantom. He had killed a few rodents along the way, and he had set them by a fire to cook. He began to shed his armour now that he was certain he was in a place of safety, and he left it against the log where he sat to eat. His life continued as normal at first, but he couldn't take his mind off the facility while he was away from it.
The Forerunners had hid a facility of vast importance right where he had decided to settle, and he didn't know about it until now. Until the war with the humans had reached its height, or at least Kel figured the war was reaching its height from what he saw. He never would have found the facility if he hadn't decided to climb the mountain the previous day, but it had been there the whole time.
How convenient that Kel had lived next to it all along. Maybe that was a sign of something, a sign from the Gods. But Era said they weren't Gods. That can't be right. No mortal could do what the Forerunners have done.
Maybe Era was like Kel. Maybe the monitor had rebelled against those higher than it the same way that he had. Any rebel would say anything to make their former masters look bad. There was too much to think about, and so little time to think about it. He finished eating his dinner in a few large bites, and climbed back into his Phantom to sleep.
His makeshift bed hadn't moved, not that there was any reason for it to. Nothing about his residence had changed, yet he felt like it had. Maybe it was him who had changed. He rested his head on the mossy growth as he laid down, and he closed his eyes.
"On your feet, 'Dauramee!" came the gruff voice of the field officer above him. Letho 'Hiramee was his name. The officer aggressively grabbed Kel by his neck and lifted him to his feet. The human gun tower in the distance violently exploded, showering the area with shards of burning metal and wiring.
All Kel could hear in his ears was the constant slamming of the other towers blasting the General's cannon fodder. If it wasn't for the blizzard, he was sure he would be able to see fields of dead Unggoy around them.
"Forward, warriors!" Kars 'Chelamee shouted. "Let us achieve victory!"
Letho gave Kel a disgusted look, which felt very unwarranted, and turned to enter the human fortress. Kel and the other Minors followed. Kars had set a charge against a wall, and blew it to create an opening.
A line of Kig-Yar that Kel hadn't even realised were with them entered first, blocking the bullets fired by the human soldiers with their defence gauntlets. Kars entered second, blasting two humans onto the floor with a single shot from his concussion rifle. The humans hadn't even gotten into cover yet, clearly they weren't expecting to be breached from behind.
Kel moved in right after Kars, and fired two bursts from his needler. Two more humans in front of them dropped, and the corridor they had entered into was now clear. Their mission specifically was to clear the base, and find any data they could on the locations of the other human worlds, so there was a lot of fighting ahead for them.
Kars led his small army down another corridor, and they gunned down yet another squad of human soldiers. One human was able to get a grenade behind the line of Kig-Yar. Kars ordered them to fall back, and Kel made it around a corner just as it exploded. The grenade took out all of the Kig-Yar, leaving the Sangheili more vulnerable in the front. Kel noticed as he turned the corner that Kars's shields had been damaged as well. If his shields weren't able to fully recharge, that would make things significantly easier for Kel.
Corridor after corridor, the Sangheili cleared the base of its human occupants. They had lost two Minors along the way as they had moved to the command centre, and each human squad they ran into did a little more damage to Kars's shields each time.
When they did reach the command centre, Kars ordered Kel and another Minor named 'Zeramee to enter with him, and he ordered 'Hiramee and the others to watch the door. Kel wondered why the General wanted to be alone with the lower ranking Sangheili, but he figured it was for combat experience. He wasn't going to complain, things were only getting easier and easier.
The three Sangheili entered the command centre with a bang, each of them blasting the human occupants with burning plasma and crystal shards. Kel felt the impacts of bullets against his shields as a human soldier shot him from behind, when he turned to kill the human he saw 'Zeramee punching it in the side of its head. The other Minor fired a burst of plasma in its chest once it was on the ground, making sure it was dead.
They were careful not to destroy anything, as the data the command centre held was vital to their mission. Kel only made a show of caring, but in truth, he didn't give a damn about the mission. Kars jumped over a terminal and slammed the butt of his concussion rifle into a human as it attempted to flee, and he drew a plasma pistol to shoot another fleeing human down.
The two last human soldiers in the room hid in a corner, and they popped over the cover of a terminal to fire at the Sangheili. Kel raised his needler to shoot them, but they targeted the General first. The two soldiers blasted Kars with their rifles, and he scrambled for cover as his shields finally dropped. Once Kel heard the pop of Kars's shields, he gunned the two humans down.
Kars and 'Zeramee converged in the middle of the room once it was clear of human soldiers. Kel crouched behind one of the terminals, pretending to search through it while he slowly reached to one of the dead humans and slid its combat knife out of its sheath.
"Let me know what you find, I will put the gun towers offline," Kars said as he accessed another terminal in the middle of the room. The General's back was turned now. It was the perfect time to strike.
"Turrets offline, you may start your descent," Kars said, presumably to his other forces.
Kel slowly rose back to his feet, approached 'Zeramee from behind, and jammed the knife into the Minor's neck. He was sorry that his fellow Minor would never get to experience the rest of the war, but he had no choice. Blood spilled onto Kel's hands, and 'Zeramee fell onto the floor.
Kars turned immediately when he heard the sound, but Kel was already in the process of lunging at him. Kars grabbed Kel's hand as he attempted to stab the knife into his neck, and held him off with his impressive strength. Kel grabbed the needler from his back with his free hand, and put a burst of its volatile crystals directly into the General's abdomen. The General slammed a fist into Kel's face before the crystals could pierce through his armour, and Kel fell back.
"What is wrong with you?" Kars shouted, grabbing his concussion rifle and aiming it at Kel. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Something that… Something…" Kel choked. He did his best not to move, he didn't want Kars to anticipate any other moves. "Something that we should all do. We all need to stand up."
Kel sprang back up to his feet once he regained his strength, and hurled the human knife at Kars just as the General blasted him with his concussion rifle. Kel was thrown back into another human terminal as the shot hit him, and he felt his own shields break. His vision was blurred, and he shook his head so he could focus again. Once he could see, he saw the General on his knees. The knife stuck out from his neck, and his blood pooled on the floor beneath him.
There was no time to celebrate, but it felt good to see that he had won. It felt even better to see how easy it actually was. Kel had fully expected to die rebelling against the General, but he still had planned for his success. He didn't waste a second more before rushing to Kars's body and stripping off his harness. He quickly exchanged them, leaving his own combat harness on the floor and getting into the General's.
Kel had practised for this moment many times, but the General harness took longer for him to get into than he expected. He felt his hearts racing, he expected the others to enter the room at any moment and catch him quite literally with his pants down. Luckily they gave him the time he needed to get the harness on before 'Hiramee knocked on the door.
"General!" the officer shouted. "Are you still in there?"
The General's harness made Kel feel powerful just by being in it. He almost wanted to try and get out of there using nothing but his bare hands, but he knew that was stupid. Now wasn't the time to be stupid. He quickly reached for the General's concussion rifle, and the door opened. Kel rose, and saw 'Hiramee standing in the doorway. Kel hoped for 'Hiramee to think he was Kars, but that was just him being stupid again. 'Hiramee recognised him as the once useless Minor instantly.
"What have you done?" 'Hiramee asked, bewildered.
There was no answer Kel could give. He squeezed the trigger of the concussion rifle before the officer could compose himself, blasting him onto the floor. The other Minors outside glanced at Kel with a confused look before they realised what was happening. They fired on him with their plasma rifles, but the shields of the General harness shrugged the blasts off.
Kel put the concussion rifle on his back, and grabbed 'Zeramee's plasma rifle from the floor. He sprinted toward 'Hiramee as he tried to get back onto his feet, and he kicked him hard in his jaws. He stomped on the officer's neck to finish him off, and he tackled one of the Minors. Three Minors surrounded him, but he was ready for them.
He blasted one with his plasma rifle until it overheated, melting the Sangheili's body apart and burning his own hand. Another Minor grabbed him from behind, wrapping his arm tight around Kel's neck. Kel pushed himself back, knocking the Minor off of him as they hit the floor.
Kel noticed the General harness still had a few plasma grenades along its belt, and he formed a quick getaway plan in his head. He got back to his feet, and dropped all of the grenades on the floor before fleeing down the corridor. The remaining Minors had little time to react before they went off. The explosion behind him shook the entire fortress, and almost threw Kel off his feet.
The original mission would have ended with the group leaving the fortress by boarding a Phantom that would land on the roof, so that was where Kel needed to go. Kel sprinted through the corridors, looking for whichever path would take him to the roof. He couldn't read the human language, but he was sure he could understand the signs on the walls. He spotted one next to a door that appeared to show a staircase, and he made his way through it. Sure enough, there was a staircase there.
Kel ascended the stairs, and he exited on the roof. The Phantom was already waiting there for them, along with two Kig-Yar and another Sangheili Minor. It seemed that word was already out that Kel was a traitor, as the two Kig-Yar immediately opened fire on him. Luckily for him, neither of the Kig-Yar wielded defence gauntlets, and the shots from their needle rifles wouldn't do much to his shields.
Kel fired on the closest Kig-Yar, taking it down with a single burst of plasma. The Sangheili fired on him with a plasma rifle, which would eventually burn through his shields with the distance they were at. Kel dropped the plasma rifle on the floor and grabbed the concussion rifle. He missed his first two shots on the Sangheili as it quickly manoeuvred around the rooftop, but he was able to land the third and knock him back. He fired another at the feet of the last Kig-Yar, and knocked it away. He sprinted after the Phantom and reloaded the concussion rifle.
The Phantom began to fly away from him as he got closer to it. No! I'm so close! Kel rushed to the edge of the rooftop, stopping himself before he could slip off and fall. The Sangheili and Kig-Yar were already getting back on their feet. He wasn't about to lose everything he hoped to achieve just because he couldn't jump far enough.
Without too much thought, Kel turned and aimed the concussion rifle at his own feet. He jumped and fired, using the force from the blast to propel himself toward the Phantom. He just barely managed to grab onto its doors as they were closing, and he slipped inside.
Things were moving so fast, Kel couldn't waste any time. He pushed himself to his feet, and rushed into the Phantom's cockpit, where the Sangheili pilot was fighting with the controls. He dropped the concussion rifle so he wouldn't accidentally damage anything, and he grabbed the pilot by the shoulders. He forced him out of his chair and threw him into the Phantom's troop bay.
"You will pay for this!" the pilot said as he attempted to get back onto his feet.
"You are the one who's paying!" Kel shouted. He tackled the pilot, and punched him repeatedly in his head.
He used his full strength with each swing, slamming his fists into the sides of the pilot's head over and over until his helmet broke apart. When he felt the pilot stop struggling, he got back up and took the Phantom's controls.
Kel had only flown Phantoms in simulations, but he had done it so many times that he had memorised the controls. He turned the Phantom away from the human fortress, and flew away.
Kel had disabled the Phantom's transponder as he flew through the skies of the human world that he hadn't even bothered to learn the name of. Everything he thought of up until that moment was how he would escape. Every single day since even before he was forced to join the Covenant military, he had practised for this very moment.
And now that the moment had come and gone, he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't live in the Phantom forever, he would eventually die and never be found in the emptiness of space. He searched through the Phantom's navigation databases, and he didn't find anywhere he could go. The Covenant would be everywhere, and he couldn't risk being found by anyone.
He opted for a blind jump, but there was something he needed to do before that. He ascended into the space above the planet, far away from the Covenant fleets above. He closed and pressurised the cockpit, then opened the troop bay doors. The Phantom shifted, and he left the body of the pilot behind.
The pilot would float on in space forever, orbiting the system's star alongside the planets until the day someone would bump into him, which likely would never even happen. He closed the doors and repressurised the ship, and then made the jump.
It was several hours of journeying through the blackness of slipspace before Kel appeared above a habitable world. A single blind jump and I've already found a place to live? Kel scanned the planet, which returned basically nothing.
An uninhabited and uncharted world at the edge of the Covenant's territory, all for himself. He didn't believe in the Forerunners, nor did he believe in any Gods. There was no one to thank but himself for this incredible find.
He descended toward the planet's largest continent, where he planned to make his home. And that is where he would live forever.
