Chapter 14: Fural

Weeks had passed since the fighting on Erde-Tyrene had come to a halt, and the Prophet of Regret had made an important discovery. One that was so important that High Charity was on its way to see for itself.

Fural was right. There were more Halos out there, and Regret had found one. The Blademaster wished he could be excited, but he felt almost nothing. All it meant to him was more pain and death, despite this kind of discovery being what he wanted. And now he had to come up with a new mission, he needed something else to give him purpose.

Rahg had already been complaining to Jors about how the mission had changed, and Jors had to reassure him that there were still opportunities to make a profit. The crew had almost fallen apart before it could even be put together. Jors was still working on getting more of his friends onboard, though he hadn't had much luck.

Fural sat in his home, looking over the files he had been given on the few Sangheili that Jors had been able to recruit. None of them were any kind of distinguished officers, they all had only a few battles on their records. The file that surprised Fural the most was that of the Unggoy, Zimling.

Zimling had fought in almost every major conflict since the attack on the human world of Arcadia, which was a long time ago. Each battle the Unggoy had continuously received awards from, which was an almost unbelievable sight. How does that make any sense? Fural wondered. Most officers only used Unggoy as cannon fodder, and this one had somehow survived through all of these conflicts.

The service record only made slightly more sense when he realised that Zimling was part of the Special Operations division, the same division Fural had been a part of before becoming a Blademaster. The two already had more in common than Fural had expected. Jors might have been right when he told Fural they would probably even get along.

But they would have to meet first, and Fural had no idea where he would be able to find such an Unggoy. Jors hadn't been answering Fural's calls for the past day, nor was he at his home, and Fural figured it was because he was busy recruiting. Unfortunately for Fural, that meant he was alone again. He made his way to the Blade of Ages, and hoped that Easy to Drift could at least give him some kind of company.

The Huragok had gotten used to Fural's presence with his regular visits to the ship, and now it floated around as if it didn't know he was even there. Despite the corvette's small size, it had a small hangar deck. And it contained several Seraphs to launch for combat support. Fural found Drift examining the armour on one of the landed Seraphs.

"Huragok," Fural called to it. "Sorry, Drift."

The Huragok turned to him; it very much didn't expect the Sangheili to actually talk to him. It tilted its head in a questioning gaze, all six of its eyes blinking in unison. Fural hadn't exactly thought this all through.

"Do you have a way to communicate with me?" Fural asked.

Easy to Drift paused for a moment. It then floated over to a terminal next to the Seraph it was examining, and typed something on the keypad with the cilia on its appendages. The words on the screen read, WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE?

"Have you seen Jors around here?" Fural asked. "I cannot find him."

I HAVE NOT, Drift typed out.

Strange, Fural thought. It wasn't like Jors to drop out of contact for no reason, not even if he was doing some recruiting for Fural. It came to him that his friend could very well be in trouble.

"Drift, can you help me find him?" Fural asked.

NO, Drift typed.

"Why not?" Fural asked, frustration creeping up in his voice.

I DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO HIGH CHARITY'S SYSTEMS.

"Then I will get you access."

NO.

"Listen to me, Huragok," Fural growled. "I will kill you myself and replace you with a Yanme'e, do you understand? You will help me find my friend."

Drift's neck curled in toward its body, the expression in its eyes was fearful. It slowly reached for the keypad, and typed in its response.

I WILL HELP.

"Good," Fural sighed. Though he wasn't afraid to kill the Huragok, he didn't actually plan on doing it. They were infinitely better engineers than any Yanme'e. "Stay here, I will return."

The Huragok did as it was told, it signed something to Fural that he didn't understand. Fural left the Blade of Ages, and he made his way back home with haste. He opened his locker and stared at the set of armour that he had received when he became a Blademaster, the armour he hadn't even worn since the ceremony. It was the same kind of harness as the one he wore on Alpha Halo, but coloured white instead of grey. He was told it had better shielding too, but he never got to test it. If Jors really was in trouble, then he was sure he would get some testing in. If he wasn't, then Fural was just embarrassing himself.

Fural left his robes on the floor, and got himself into the combat harness. It felt strange wearing armour again. He felt like he was preparing to go back to war, even though that was true to some extent. He was going to war with whoever had hurt his friend. He left his quarters, and stopped by Jors's place before going back to the Blade of Ages.

Jors's apartment was the exact same as Fural's in layout, with only a few changes in the placement of the furniture. The cushions of the chairs and the sheets on the bed were a vibrant magenta, contrasting with the dark purple walls. Fural had a hunch to check Jors's armour locker, and it was empty. That told him that he definitely was in trouble. But with who? And why didn't he tell Fural about it?

Fural searched around the apartment more. On his desk was his communicator, which had several messages left on it from Fural. He had already figured that he left it behind, so he couldn't use it to track him. There was also a set of files on the desk, the same that Jors had given Fural for the crew members. He looked at each one, and he found a file that Jors hadn't given to him. It was a file on a Jiralhanae. That answered Fural's questions, but it also gave him more. Footsteps at the door caused Fural to turn around, and draw his sword. But all he saw was the Kig-Yar, Rahg.

"Whoa there, Blademaster," said Rahg, raising his hands. "What are you doing here?"

"Tell me what you're doing here first," Fural said. He didn't put his sword away, or even move. He only stared at the Kig-Yar with a look that was almost lethal.

"I came to see Jors," Rahg said. "I wanted to talk about the mission."

"You mean you wanted to back out?"

"Not exactly," Rahg said slowly, he rubbed the underside of his beak with his claws. "It doesn't seem like he's here."

"He's missing," Fural said, finally putting his sword away. If Rahg was a part of this he would deal with it. But for the moment it didn't seem like he was. "I came to see if I could find anything out about where he's gone."

Rahg squinted. It almost seemed like the Kig-Yar thought Fural was in on Jors's disappearance. But he let out a hearty sigh and looked down.

"If you have an idea of where he is, I'll help you find him," Rahg said, to Fural's surprise.

"Are you expecting me to pay you for this?" Fural asked.

"He's my friend," Rahg said. "The money doesn't matter to me in this case."

That was surprisingly respectable. If Rahg was being truthful, then Fural disliked him slightly less.

"Go to docking bay D-24 and board the Blade of Ages," Fural ordered. "I will meet you there. I have a plan in place."

Rahg gave Fural a sharp nod, and retreated from Jors's apartment without another word. Fural took another look at the Jiralhanae file. Sparatus was his name, and he had served on several ships alongside Jors. When Fural looked closely at his picture, he realised that he recognised him. He was the Jiralhanae that Fural had dismembered during the night of 'Vadamee's trial. This isn't over, the words of the Jiralhanae sounded in his head.

Fural took the file with him, and he made his way back to the Blade of Ages with haste. He found both Rahg and Drift in the hangar deck, where the Kig-Yar seemed to be poking at the frightened Huragok.

"I've never been this close to one of these things," Rahg said. Drift let out a small squeak every time Rahg poked its side.

"Leave it alone," Fural said. "It's helping us."

"Of course it is," Rahg sighed and stepped away from Drift. "That's what they were designed to do."

"Drift is going to access High Charity's systems from a place where it can't be cut off," Fural explained. "It's going to search the station for Jors, and then that's where we'll go."

"Hm, I've always wanted to go crawling through the bowels of High Charity," Rahg said with a chuckle. Fural couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "Never had a good reason to until now."

"We're not doing this for fun," Fural said.

"And you're incapable of being fun," Rahg said, poking Fural with his elbow. "Come on, Blademaster, try and live a little."

"I am living," Fural said.

"You know that's not what I meant," Rahg said with a sigh.

"Enough, we're moving now."

The longer they waited, the longer Jors waited. Fural didn't want his friend to be alone for too long, if he wasn't dead. Fural and Rahg moved back to the docking tube, Drift moved along very reluctantly. The Huragok was their best chance at this, and Fural only felt slightly bad about threatening its life.

The group moved through all the docking bays, and navigated through the tight corridors of the station's Spires of Gifting. The crowds of Unggoy and Kig-Yar merchants who had docked to the station made way for them, figuring they were on some kind of important military mission. This was Fural's first time down there, he had never known how many traders there actually were visiting the station every day. It was just as crowded as the city streets hundreds of levels above them, if not more.

Eventually they found what they were looking for, a maintenance accessway that was used mostly by Huragok and Yanme'e. Fural would barely be able to fit into it, so he let Drift go ahead on its own.

"Ah, the Spires of Gifting," Rahg said after a deep breath. "So much money to be made."

Fural slowly shook his head. Every time Rahg talked about money, Fural couldn't stand it. There were so many more important things in life than just making money. To stop Rahg from continuing, Fural turned to the accessway and pushed himself inside.

"Rahg, come on," Fural said, turning back to the Kig-Yar watching him. "We're going with Drift."

"Oh, you just can't stand me," Rahg sighed before climbing through the hatch behind him.

"Yes, that's correct," Fural responded. "You can just see right through me, can't you?"

"It's a special skill," Rahg said. Fural couldn't see him, but he could hear the smirk in his voice.

Fural pushed through the accessways, following close behind Drift. His armour made it significantly harder to navigate through the tight tunnel, but he was determined. Whatever Drift found, he wanted to see it for himself. And he didn't trust Rahg enough to just leave him alone with the merchants.

Eventually another hatch brought them into a larger corridor, where Fural could fit more comfortably. Terminals lined one side of the corridor, and Drift accessed one of them. The Huragok's appendages floated over the terminal's keys, it didn't even look like they were touching them. But the screen lit up. It scanned through hundreds of sections of High Charity, searching for whichever one Jors was in.

The screen stopped with a view of an alleyway, in the corner of the screen Fural could see Jors. He was laying on the ground, not moving. Fural almost thought it was too late until the screen zoomed in on him, and he saw it was just his armour. It was broken in several ways, but Jors was not in it. Fural let out a sigh of relief knowing that his friend could still be alive.

"He has to be close by," Fural said, "keep searching."

Easy to Drift searched through several more camera feeds, and eventually came up with nothing. It turned to Fural with a defeated expression, and signed something to him that he couldn't understand.

"If it can't find Jors, no one can," Rahg said, translating the Huragok's signs. Fural was glad the Kig-Yar was useful for something.

"No, someone can," Fural said. He pulled out the file on Sparatus, and showed it to Drift. "Can you locate this Jiralhanae?"

The Huragok returned to the screen and commenced another search. It quickly resulted in a view from inside a warehouse, where Sparatus appeared to be in the middle of some kind of card game with a few other Jiralhanae. According to the camera feed, it was very close to where they had found Jors's armour.

"Heh, guy must be having fun with just one arm," Rahg commented.

"When I find him, I'll take his other arm," Fural growled.

Drift pulled the location of the warehouse from the server, and sent it to the heads-up-display on Fural's helmet. He would need to go back up to the city, but hopefully that wouldn't be too long of a trip.

"Thank you, Drift," Fural said to the Huragok. "You may have just saved my friend's life."

Drift looked at Fural with a suspicious expression. He did threaten to kill it to get its help, so he understood if it didn't like him, but he appreciated the help. Even if he didn't give it a choice.

"Return to the Blade of Ages," Fural ordered Drift. He figured Rahg wanted to stick with him.

Drift floated back through the maintenance tunnels, and Fural and Rahg followed close behind it. The crowds outside parted for them again, Fural hoped they didn't look suspicious. A Sangheili and a Kig-Yar helping a Huragok with maintenance was not exactly a common sight.

"So, you got a plan yet, Blademaster?" Rahg asked in front of the crowds.

"Yeah, it's called 'wait until we're not around so many people'," Fural growled. He forcibly grabbed Rahg's shoulder and pushed him into an empty docking tube away from the crowds.

"Relax," Rahg chirped, pulling his shoulder away from Fural once they were alone. "Even if any of them did hear us, they wouldn't care."

"I don't take unnecessary risks," Fural said, crossing his arms.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Fural pulled up the map to the warehouse on his HUD. It was in an area of the city that had so little residents it could be considered abandoned, which would make fighting significantly easier. A plan formed in his head as he studied the warehouse and the area around it.

"What kind of combat do you specialise in?" Fural asked Rahg.

"I'm a sniper," Rahg said. "And not to gloat, but I'm a pretty good one at that."

"Good. Let's return to the Blade of Ages, I think I have a plan."


Fural stepped onto the command deck of the Blade of Ages, and connected his harness to the holotable. He showed Rahg the area around Sparatus's warehouse, and he explained the plan.

"You will be here," Fural pointed to another warehouse next to Sparatus's. "Use your targeting headgear to locate all the Jiralhanae inside. Take out all of them except for Sparatus, he will tell us where Jors is. I will make my way inside after the first shot."

"Understood," Rahg nodded.

"After we have Jors, I'll kill Sparatus. Then we'll retrieve his armour, and go home."

"Let's do it," Rahg said enthusiastically.

Fural and Rahg left the Blade of Ages and made their way to the transport tube. Neither of them said a word more on their way back to the city, they both had a job to do and they knew they had to focus on only that. It was only then that Fural began to respect Rahg just a little.

The transport stopped in the residential district where Rahg retrieved his combat gear, and his beam rifle. Then they moved on to the industrial district. When they stepped off the transport, the area was empty. The only sounds were from the city in the distance, the place definitely looked abandoned.

Fural led Rahg through the alleys between the warehouses until he came up to Sparatus's. Outside of it stood two Jiralhanae guards, both wielding grenade launchers. Fural motioned toward Rahg for him to get into his position, and the Kig-Yar moved. He made almost no sound as he hopped through the alleyway, even clad in his full combat harness.

Then came the wait. Fural stayed crouched behind the corner of the warehouse, waiting to hear the first shot from Rahg's beam rifle. This would have been a lot easier if Fural's new combat harness still had an active camouflage module, but it seemed the armourers had conveniently forgotten about that. Not every Blademaster was trained in special operations, but Fural was.

Suddenly came the sound of the beam cutting through the air. The two Jiralhanae guards turned toward where the shot came from when another shot cut through the warehouse. Fural sprang from his cover and ignited his energy sword. The guards' backs were turned to him as they raised their grenade launchers to fire at Rahg's position.

Fural quickly stabbed one of the guards through its back, and he cut the other down before it could have a chance to react. A third shot went through the wall of the warehouse, and then a fourth. Fural could hear the sounds of panicking Jiralhanae through the warehouse's walls. At the fifth shot, Fural cut through the door, and stomped into the warehouse.

Sparatus was on his way to the door as Fural entered, there was a look of pure fear on his face. The table where he had been playing the game was flipped, and the cards were scattered all over the floor. Five Jiralhanae lay dead on the floor, blood pooling around them from the wounds in their heads. Rahg had done well.

Fural grabbed Sparatus by the throat before he had a chance to react, and he threw him on the floor. It took a lot of effort to push the big Jiralhanae down, Fural was surprised he even had the strength. He realised that there was a lot he could do when he was angry.

"Remember me!?" Fural shouted at the Jiralhanae on the floor, he brought his blades to his neck. Just an inch forward and Sparatus would be dead.

"I have no idea who you are!" Sparatus shouted back, his fear was clear in his voice. Jiralhanae always acted like nothing could stop them, and here Sparatus was embarrassing his entire race.

"Oh yes you do!" Fural leaned closer, and lowered his voice. "Remember your arm?"

The realisation set in in Sparatus's face. His fear was overcome by an expression of annoyance, but he still didn't move out of fear. Fural heard footsteps behind him, but they were too light to be another Jiralhanae. He recognised them as Rahg's.

"The area is clear," Rahg informed him.

"Good," Fural responded. He turned his attention back to Sparatus. "Now, where is Jors 'Cinatee?"

"I don't know!" Sparatus shouted. "I don't even know who that is!"

"You worked with him. Your file was on his desk. He is my friend, and I want him back."

"Jors… Wait, I think I remember," Sparatus breathed. "The Phantom pilot, right? I didn't take him, I swear."

"If you're no use to me, then I'll just kill you here," Fural growled.

"Jiralhanae say anything but the truth," Rahg said. He lowered his beam rifle so the muzzle was pointed at Sparatus's head. "But they also say anything to preserve their life. I don't think he knows where he is."

"I don't believe that," Fural said. "Check the basement. I will hold him here."

Rahg nodded, and made his way to the staircase in the corner of the warehouse. Fural looked Sparatus in the eyes, he could see several things. Fear, annoyance, rage. That was all Fural needed to see to know Sparatus was lying.

"If you wanted to get back at me you should have just come straight for me," Fural said. "You should not have hurt someone I care about."

"Noted," Sparatus growled.

"You won't get to make that same mistake again."

Sparatus reached up with his only arm, and attempted to grab Fural's hand. But Fural had seen it coming. He thrust his blades forward, and cut straight through Sparatus's throat. He watched the life fade from the Jiralhanae's eyes, it felt good.

"I found him!" Rahg shouted from the basement.

Fural rushed to the stairs and made his way down. Jors sat chained to a pipe in the corner of the basement. He had been beaten, and he was bleeding from several places all over his body. But he was still alive. He looked up and coughed when he saw Fural.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," he rasped.

"Can you walk?" Fural asked.

Jors nodded. Fural cut the pilot's chains with his blades, and helped him up anyways. He gave his thanks in the form of a nod, and they all left the warehouse together. Jors looked at all of the dead Jiralhanae with gratitude in his eyes.

"Good riddance," Jors grunted. "How did you find me?"

"I found Sparatus's file in your quarters," Fural explained. "I had the Huragok look for him when it couldn't find you."

Rahg sprinted back through the alleys in search of Jors's armour when they made it back to the transport tube. Fural set his friend down in one of the seats, and he stood in the opposite corner of the transport cart.

"So, you knew Sparatus?" Jors asked. "I was considering him for the crew… When I came to see him he caught me by surprise. He talked about you a lot."

"I cut off his arm," Fural explained. Jors gave him an understanding nod, but didn't say anything back. "I was drunk at the time, but I was the one that did that. I take it he captured you because we're friends?"

Jors nodded again. "I never should have even considered him," the pilot said.

"Why did you bring your armour?" Fural asked. "If you knew him, you shouldn't have needed to."

"I knew Sparatus, but I knew he travelled with a pack, and I didn't know them," Jors explained. "You warned me about the Jiralhanae, I just wanted to be safe. Still, I wasn't really prepared for it when they did attack me."

Rahg eventually returned, dragging Jors's armour behind him. Fural helped him lift it into the cart, and then they made their way back to the Blade of Ages. Rahg had let him know that his wounds were minor enough for the Huragok to take care of. But before they let it, they stopped at the control room and watched the screens. This was something neither of them wanted to miss.

Stars faded into view as High Charity exited slipspace. Right ahead of them was a blue gas giant, and in front of it was the ring. The new Halo that Regret had found. The outside of the ring was slightly different in design to Alpha Halo, but it was still beautiful.

"Wow," Jors breathed. "I never thought I'd see this sight again."

"I told you there were more Halos out there," Fural said. "The prophecies spoke of them."

"I should have believed you. It's… Beautiful."

Vibrant land covered the inside of the impossibly huge ring. Despite the tragedy that happened on Alpha Halo, Fural was warmed by the sight of a new ring. Maybe things would be different this time.

"I would like to see it for myself," Jors said.

"Once you're better, we will go," Fural said, placing a hand on Jors's shoulder.

He helped Jors back to the medical ward aboard the ship, and he had Drift look over his wounds. He returned to the control room and stared at the ring for longer. He didn't know how long he was there, his attention was only brought back to the real world when he heard Rahg say his name.

"What is it?" Fural asked, turning to the Kig-Yar.

"Getting reports of riots happening all over the city," Rahg said. There was something in the Kig-Yar's voice that Fural didn't understand.

"What did I miss?" Fural asked. How long have I been here? He wondered.

Rahg cleared his throat, his hands dropped to his sides. "The Prophet of Regret is dead."