Rust winced as he sat up...it was odd...he wasn't exhausted and he doesn't remember dreaming, not that he was complaining. Rust walked to the garage where he kept his mirror, which was right next to the eye wash station and chemical shower. He took off the bandage on his shoulder and saw the wound on his shoulder, he sighed knowing it felt worse than it was. He put on a fresh bandage then left to go wear his armor.

After a few minutes he finally got the last piece on, it was a bit difficult when you had a hole in your shoulder, but he managed. As he finally made his way to the main part of the small base, Penitent Tangent was floating around...Rust couldn't help but chuckle. He didn't know how an AI could get anxious, but it was clear his orb friend was patiently waiting for his story. "Ah, Rust! You are awake. Oh, thank heavens, and you even cleaned yourself up. Now I believe it is time we had our talk! So, what happened while you were out there?" Rust let out a grunt, he could already feel his hand cramping as he thought how much he needed to write to explain what happened.

Finally, what seemed like hours of writing, Rust finished using many pages from his journal. Penitent Tangent scanned each page carefully to fully grasp what went down. Tangent couldn't believe what he was reading, "You met a Sangheili?! If what you are writing is true, then it must be a specimen of immense size! I am astounded that it left you alone, even if you both fought together against the flood, I could have all but concluded that it would have slaughtered you. Not only that, a four person group that also consisted of an Unggoy, a Jiralhanae, and a T'vaoan?" Before Tangent could continue Rust tapped a piece of paper that read

"Yep, you were right about the space chicken. I remember, you saying that you found it's foot prints near our base, chances are they may know where we are." Rust looked at Tangent waiting for his response. Tangent replied with

"That's horrible, that means they can attack, and we would be caught unawares...however, if the Sangheili lowered its head to you then I can only assume that you have earned its respect...which hopefully means they are neutral to you now."

Rust quickly wrote. "I hope so...I doubt I would win in a fight against it, and I'm just talking about on its own. If its squad attacked...well, I doubt even Plague Squad and I would be able to win against them."

Tangent seemed surprised as he said "That's surprising...it's not often I hear you praise a potential enemy, even through all those combat situations I gave you, you always said you could have won if it was Plague Squad.

Rust nodded and wrote "I'm not joking...they were a tight knit team, that much was clear... They covered each and every weak point the other had, it was...terrifying to see knowing that could have been me at the other end of their weapons. My team always told me how dangerous the Covenant could be but seeing it myself first hand was something else…and that was just a small team."

Penitent Tangent agreed "Yes while I personally do it know how the war was going before, I ended up with you, I can only surmise that the Covenant were much stronger physically and technology wise." Rust nodded and looked out the window…He knew he would be on their radar now, Rust knew he probably has don't seen the last of them, especially now that they are contesting for survival. Rust then scratched down and passed it to Tangent.

It read "How is the flood activity, I know you said all flood in the immediate area has been wiped out, but I want to make absolutely sure."

Penitent Tangent responded with "I have been running scans all night as you've slept, and forgive me, but I have also left the base to confirm, I do not know past the surrounding area but everything in a ten mile radius holds no evidence of any flood activity.

Rust nodded and wrote down "Then I'm going to take advantage of this and go hunting. Fortunately, I found way more than what I needed in that base up north." Rust then grabbed his BR55, as much as he liked the burst fire single shot is all he really used now a days to save on ammo.

Penitent Tangent cautioned "Are you sure it's wise to go out in your condition? You have been getting less and less sleep, not only have you've been suffering from early stages of sleep deprivation it has also not have been more than 24 hours since your battle with the flood. Reclaimer, I insist that you get some more rest!"

Rust rolled his eye and wrote "I promise to rest more when I get back, but I can't let this opportunity go to waste, I'll die of starvation before I die from sleep deprivation anyway, not that I'm in a bad spot…but it's better to be prepared don't you think?"

Tangent sighed "Alright, however I will require you to rest for at least 8 hours upon your return. I am worried about you."

Rust paused…he wrote down a small note reading "I know, I promise I'll try to take better care of myself." Rust then opened the door and left. He hated lying to Tangent, but he knew things were only getting worse from here on out as he now knows he is in an ever present contest of resources with a force much stronger, faster, and smarter than him. He opened a pocket on his vest and picked out the items he had inside...four dog tags, they belonged to Plague Squad...He spent an entire year hunting down the mutated bodies of his family to properly put them to rest. He shook himself out of his thoughts, getting sentimental will only distract him from his goal, he needs to start hunting if he wants to catch anything by dinner time. He sucked in a shaky breath and began moving into the forest looking for any tracks, dung, anything that could give him a sign of life around him. As he continued to scant the forest, he did end up finding tracks of a large bird...he cursed, that means that Skirmisher has been around here.

He didn't know the reason why it was here as it could be three possibilities. One, it was here hunting...a bad possibility to be sure as that means less food for himself, Two, it could be doing recon on his base...and even worse possibility, or Three, It was just passing through the area...He knew however, that option number three wasn't the case, if it was just passing through, He most likely would have found tracks belonging to that Brute, or Elite. He involuntarily shuddered as he remembered the Elite...He didn't understand why it terrified him so much. It didn't make sense, it wasn't some normal fear, like how he was with the Brute or even the Skirmisher. No, that thing terrified him, he's killed a few dozen of Elite flood and they have never had that much of an effect.

Quit distracting yourself." Rust thought annoyingly, "Look at the tracks, they're at least a week old, if it came through here then it is long gone by now." Rust was getting more and more annoyed with himself, he hasn't been this paranoid before, not even the flood had him on edge this bad...probably because the flood prefer to bull rush and shoot at prey...if the Skirmisher was hunting him then he probably wouldn't know...and if worse the Elite was hunting him...He remembered Bruce teaching him about how Elite's act. They either do frontal combat wanting to kill and die a true warrior's death, or they are the most efficient stealth backstabbers in the covenant.

He shook himself out of thoughts once again, once again reminding himself to focus, he scanned the ground and gasped. He found a split hoof print, it even had two smaller points behind the two hoof halves, this meant it was those weird moose things Scott told him about! They were massive creatures with 6 legs, even though they were large and of course temperamental they're meat was delicious. He continued to watch the ground carefully, he smiled when he saw a pile of dung, the individual oval pellets were about an inch long, he quickly turned on his thermals and sure enough, it was fresh! Rust smiled it seemed he hasn't killed everything around him after all. Rust quickly but quietly followed the direction the hoof was pointing.

Zaya stretched in her room, before picking up and putting on her armor. As she walked around, she did her daily rounds checking up on Broccyus, Tis, and Zaplak, she took the middle of the base to work through her sword drills...She always liked to train as she thought and so far, her thoughts recently turned to the small heretic, they came across yesterday. She ran and reran the memory in her mind of how they met the imp. It didn't make sense to her how a single human wiped out that many flood, even if she ignored the plasma turret, its kill count was high, it mowed down a good portion of the flood with the weapon Broccyus supplied him. She snorted in annoyance, as she continued to swing and sidestep around the courtyard fighting in an imaginary battle.

The imp...that's what she classified him, a human in black armor, they looked similar to demons, but they are much smaller in size and ferocity. They travel in packs, sometimes three, sometimes four. They fall from the skies in glorified cans, springing from them like monsters possessed by a greater evil, refusing to back down from even the biggest of threats...but she can't recall a single time that an imp traveled alone. That's not to mention the way it fought either, it was inexperienced at best.

She instantly could tell it had very little experience fighting in a squad, it's reaction times were too slow as it would watch what the others did first before realizing what it needed to do. Not that it was a bad thing as it showed intelligence and kept from shooting her and her squad in the back. She growled remembering how it 'saved' her by throwing a drop wall in front of her to allow her shields to recharge, she knew she would have been fine, but it wasted a valuable piece of equipment. Her shield was much stronger than a normal Sangheili's shield. She huffed not only was it inexperienced, but it was reckless. Seriously, who in their right mind watches someone get flung by a writhing mass of infected tentacles and flesh, and their first instinct is to get its attention and jump into its arms! If it wasn't for Tis it would have either been infected or it would have been smashed into the ground!

Zaya huffed as she slowed down...she thought about its faults...now she must think about its boons. She retook her stance before once again flinging herself at the imaginary army. It protected Tis at almost the cost of its own life, she didn't see it herself, but Tis told her how it tackled her out of the way from that laser weapon the flood had. It wasn't stupid either...at least not when it came to actually killing, though its strategy could use some work. Its plan to use all of the grenades in Zaplak's bag was smart. It instantly came up with a plan and followed it with no hesitation, even if it meant jumping into the arms of death...it's as if it doesn't value its own life, not the worst trait to have, but could become a problem later. She huffed again, and though he did waste that drop wall...it was helpful to have full shields against an enemy that could kill you the minute it drops. There is also the fact that it traded with Tis, and even armed Zaplak despite not finding a suitable weapon for itself. She blinked as her hand slipped a bit on her sword, she cursed to herself as she regripped it. It is intelligent and can make decisions that could better a squad despite the fact that it has difficulty fighting in a squad...The prophets always said that the humans were heretics, and they all deserved to be purged that they deserved not mercy, and that they were mindless beasts made to be slaughtered...

She scowled and muttered angrily "The prophets..." She used to be such a loyal soldier to the prophets, but time on this floating rock has given her time to think...to question...something she wouldn't be allowed to do under their rule. The more she thought about how they did things and how they fought against both allies and enemies, promising a 'Great Journey' to those that would die for their sakes. They may have given her the ability to serve and to lead, but that just made her easy to manipulate and use...she wondered what they would have said if she ever did find the ring monitor, they wanted her to capture. Not that it matters, all the sentinels here have been deactivated as far as she is aware, which leads her to believe that it has been destroyed. As for the humans themselves, she fully believes that they are just an underdeveloped race that was just trying to advance their own civilization, now thanks to the Covenant Humans and anything that is not human will almost always kill on sight...a sad result but if she must slaughter every human to keep her squad safe then so be it. She would do so without hesitation or mercy.

Zaya continued to slice practicing sword drills, and running herself through mock battle situations, trying to keep her mind sharp during the boring times on this base...Just as she was about to lose herself to her thoughts again a shrill voice came from her left. "Zaya, are you alright? You look angry." Zaya turned to her T'vaoan friend.

"Ah Tis, my apologies but I did not notice you, I was busy thinking." Zaya said as she addressed her small companion

Tis chirped happily "Thinking about that human? I've been thinking about it too, it helped our flock live through the fight. I know you said to assume the worst when it came to humans, but that stands for something right?"

Zaya huffed and said "The situation forced us to fight together, however I am also thankful it did not shoot us in the back. While I do respect it for this, I will remind you to still treat it as an enemy. It may not be so helpful the next time we cross paths, and I expect you to kill it with no hesitation if necessary. However, do you think you can keep an eye on it? I would like to know it's movements, as it is a potential threat."

Tis bobbed her head and said "A scouting mission?" Tis asked as she cocked her head waiting for Zaya's answer

Zaya said "Not necessarily, I am not asking you to spy on it all cycle, I am asking if you can track it when you go hunting, if the human is alive and well then it must also have a food source, so if it is not too much trouble, track his whereabouts, find where it sleeps, and keep tabs on its location. I do not want to be caught unaware if I can prevent it."

Tis bobbed her head happily, "Yes, I've been wanting to go farther out into the forest anyway, I haven't smelt a single trace of the flood after our battle yesterday which means I can go farther to hunt." Zaya nodded smiling at Tis

"That is all I have for you, remember stay safe, and do not take any unnecessary risks," Zaya commanded. Tis bobbed her head happily and she took off in the direction where Zaya assumes she last caught whiff of the human's scent. Zaya then turned and left for the barracks, she knocked on Broccyus' door.

"Enter." was all Broccyus said before Zaya walked into his room. She saw Broccyus doing maintenance on his hammer, he looked up and asked. "Ah, did you need something Zaya?"

Zaya nodded saying "I wish to get your thoughts on the imp we fought with the other day." Broccyus nodded and set down his hammer Broccyus then stated

"He's young...and a male." Broccyus said simply. Zaya waited for more, then huffed as Broccyus just stared

"While that is helpful to know, I wish to know your thoughts not what you have discerned." Zaya said...then added "How did you figure out its age and gender?"

Broccyus said "Male and female humans smell different...as for his age, his stature gave it away. Now my thoughts...he's wounded, whether its fresh or an old wound I do not know."

Zaya blinked "How do you know the human is wounded? Was it cradling an injury?" Zaya asked as she thought back to it, she didn't remember it limping or clutching itself in any way, she didn't smell blood on it either.

"No, I did notice however that when it came to the left side, it was like he couldn't see the enemy." Broccyus stated

Zaya simply asked "How so? The Jiralhanae that had the laser weapon shot left at Tis and the human tackled her out of the way."

"Yes, however the Jiralhanae was in the middle of the hangar, not on the left side. As for how he tackled Tis, I believe he listened to her needler firing off so he could locate her...I have three reasons why I believe he didn't see the enemy from the left. Number one, Tis was covering me with needle fire as I fought off the advancing flood, however I couldn't hit every small maggot, they were too fast. I was about to call out to Tis to watch herself when I noticed that the maggots went straight for the human...almost directly at his left side. He could have just not been paying attention, but Tis' needles hitting the floor next to him killing the maggots should have let him know he was in danger as I doubt the human had enough trust in Tis to not hit him with a needle, however he did not react in the slightest. The second reason is when he was hit by needler fire from the infected Kig-Yar. I can understand not noticing the maggots, they are small, fast, and we were holding off an army, however I think glowing pink crystals being shot at you is noticeable, you would have to be blind or stupid to not notice it. While I am not sure of the human's intelligence, I do not believe he would not have seen them... unless he could not see from that side."

Zaya nodded...how odd... "Your third reason then?"

Broccyus huffed as he said "When he rushed to go grab Zaplak's bag of grenades I noticed that when he looked at the juggernaut as he picked up the grenades, he was craning his neck to the left. As if he was trying to look at it from his right side...I believe he is either blind or partially blind from the left side."

Zaya nodded saying "A weakness we can exploit if need be...you were always observant of the smallest things on the battlefield. I always wonder how you do it, but I am getting side tracked. I came to ask if you think he is someone we should be worried about."

Broccyus stated "I...do not believe he will attempt to harm us if he is truly alone, he would be trying to stay alive just as we are doing. That does not mean that I think he is harmless, as I believe once the resources run thin, we will be at each other's throats. Who knows he may be of use again." Zaya nodded as she was thinking over Broccyus words, then Broccyus speaks again asking "Are you going to ask Zaplak's opinion on this human as well?"

Zaya laughed and said "I already know his thoughts, he would say 'That damn human used all my grenades, kill him!" Zaya said in the shrillest voice she could muster, eliciting a chuckle out of Broccyus.

Suddenly they heard Zaplak's voice yell out from the other side of the wall "Of course I'm pissed it used my grenades! I'm more pissed I didn't get to see the explosion! What kind of person uses someone else's grenades and not even wait for them to see the explosion?! IT'S BARBARIC!" Zaya and Broccyus couldn't help but laugh at Zaplak's words. Once their laughter died down Broccyus added with a serious note.

"Another weakness I noticed from the human...he was fearful of you."

Zaya said "I'm not surprised I-" but she was interrupted by Broccyus

"I didn't mean like how most humans fear you, I smelt it on him he was terrified, I couldn't sense that same fear when he interacted with Zaplak, Tis, or even me. You personally are his fear." Broccyus stated

Zaya was surprised "A human who is terrified of me but can jump into the grasp of a Flood Juggernaut without a seconds hesitation...what an odd imp."

Tis ran through the forest, it had been a long time since she could sprint like this without being too cautious, she was still cautious, but now that the flood had been reduced, she could sprint as hard as she wanted. She quickly sprinted to where she smelled that human a few days ago. She wouldn't take too long to look for him, she just wanted a general idea where he was before she began hunting. She quickly sprinted through the trees, dodging rocks and branches. She smiled as she began leaping up onto the branches, she loved jumping up high places. She continued moving as fast as she possibly could until she finally found the place where she last smelled the human. She sniffed around, looked at the ground, and even checked tall grass and the trees...If the human did come here before its clear it hasn't visited this place since she's last been here. Tis smiled, she loved a good hunt, not that humans were particularly hard to hunt. The ones that fought against her and her pack always believed they were predators, so they did very little to hide their scent or tracks unless they were also hunting.

After an hour of searching, Tis huffed in annoyance as she couldn't find a trace of the human. She did find tracks of the human, but they looked very old. The tracks led to an odd sight for Tis, there were 4 stakes in the ground, in line with each other. The stakes had another stake tied to its center parallel to the ground, but what was really odd to her was that each stake had an imps helmet on top of it...she shook her head, if the human she was looking for has been here it's obvious it hasn't visited in a long time.

Tis continued her hunt, this time for food. To her great luck she found a large animal. She smiled, although she didn't know the name of it, she knew this animal could feed her entire flock. She got ready to pounce on the unsuspecting creature. She liked to rip the throats out of her kill, she didn't want to use a weapon as that would be a waste of ammo and it would make noise. She then pounced, but as soon as her feet left the branch, she was perched on a loud bang ran out of the forest startling Tis. Tis watched as the animal instantly dropped, she tucked and rolled to try to avoid slamming into the animal. As soon as she regained control of her fall, she sprang up slinging her needler to her hand and aiming where she heard the sound...once again, just like last time, she found herself face to face with the human. This time though, the human had a much bigger gun than the small one it had when they first met. She cursed to herself wondering how she missed him when she swept the area just a few minutes ago. She was locked into another stalemate, neither of them firing...

Tis took a deep breath...and slowly lowered her needler, she wanted to show the human the same action it did yesterday. Hopefully it would mimic her action as she did for his...fortunately he did, he lowered his gun as she did hers, he took a much more relaxed stance, though she could tell it was still tense. Now came the next part...how was she going to take the food back to her pack when it was the one who killed it? She doubts it would just give it to her...and thanks to his loud gun any other prey would have run off, not that she could blame the human, it didn't have sharp claws or fangs like her, and even if it did it wasn't nearly as fast as she was.

Tis glanced at the dead animal, she took a breath. She remembered Zaya teaching her and everyone in her flock English...she was rusty, but she knew this would be the only way out of this without bloodshed. She cleared her throat and gave the human her full attention, she noticed he tensed up at her sudden gaze. She opened her beak and summoned up all her English lessons she could remember. "Tis, like food." Tis blinked...then slapped herself on her beak thinking "No, wrong...I'm glad Zaya is not here she would be laughing at me!"

Rust was on edge, he finally tracked down the moose thing when that Skirmisher leapt out of the tree. He was tense, should he shoot it? Should he leave? He cursed himself as he knew what he was about to do, he should kill it. Fighting the flood was one thing, but she was here, near his base, hunting the prey around his immediate area... He cursed himself again as he stepped out of his cover and walked towards the confused Skirmisher, with his gun raised. He didn't know why he didn't just shoot it...but he knew it wouldn't sit right with him as they did fight for their lives together, even if it was a forced team up. It instantly turned to him with its own weapon raised. He waited...they were once again in a stalemate, but to his surprise she did the same thing he did at the base, she was lowering her gun! Rust prayed it wasn't a trick, He knew the Skirmisher could easily raise her gun and just shoot him before he could, they were just that fast. However, he decided to show the same trust she did, and lowered his gun. Now this is much better, a completely awkward situation where potential enemies just...stare at each other.

The Skirmisher kept looking at him but would glance at the kill. Suddenly the Skirmisher turned to him, her eyes snapping on to his making him tense up involuntarily. He heard an odd noise come from its throat...what was it doing? It opened its beak...then said in some shrill, high pitched voice. "Tis, like food." Rust blinked...what? It spoke English?! He watched as the bird slapped her beak with her hand. It took another deep breath and tried to speak again.

"Human...Tis make deal? Tis gives human small part of all catch...and Human let Tis take most of catch...Tis share small part of catch with human, and Human share large part of catch with Tis..." The Skirmisher named Tis huffed and tried again "Tis, need food for flock. Flock is large. Tis trade small parts from catches with human, that way human no use ammo, Human give only large animal to Tis, Human can still take small part...Deal?"

Rust thought about it...while he is a bit annoyed how she is trying to spin this as taking his food...he knew he wouldn't be able to eat this all in time anyway. If he takes the Skir-...Tis' deal, not only will he have a passive supply of food, but he will also save ammo as it said...and on another hand he will be doing them a favor. Which could even be more valuable than food at this point. Rust took a deep breath and nodded his head... he watched as Tis looked...surprised? It cawed and did a little hop. It was happy? Tis immediately grabbed the hind leg of the moose thing and in one fluid motion, ripped off its leg, thigh and all. It turned and offered it with what he could assume was a smile on its face. He took the leg, and it hoisted the other leg on its shoulder and sprinted off...it turned and looked at him again and cawed out "THANKS HUMAN!" and then continued sprinting. Rust shook his head, if only Bruce could see him now...he'd be shaking his head, Scott would be yelling at him, Scott was terrified of Skirmishers, called them 'Evil Raptors with no souls." Charles would probably be laughing, and Jacob would probably already be hunting it. He took the leg and began walking back to his base.

Tis dropped the animal next to a tree, she still had one last thing to do before she left back to her base with her flock. She sprinted back to the place where she saw the human and began to slowly follow him, making sure that she hadn't made a single mistake. She was glad she was able to make a deal with it, but she still had to finish the last thing Zaya asked of her which was 'find where he lays his head.' She stuck to the trees and relied on her smell rather than her vision. She was ecstatic though, she introduced herself to a human and made a deal with it, one that the human accepted. She bet Zaya would be pleased to hear how she did this...or yell out her, Zaya did say not to take unnecessary risks, though this just meant she would have to convince Zaya she did not have a choice.

She continued stalking the human this time getting to where she could see him, she watched as he came to the base of a large mountain, he then pulled out an odd rectangle, he pressed it to...something...then a door opened up in the mountain! No wonder she couldn't find him earlier, she's seen hidden human bases before, but nothing like this...once the door closed, she couldn't tell there was even a base her, she climbed to the top of the tree and stabbed it with a needle from her needler, marking it so she won't forget where it was. Not that she thought she would. She then left to go find her prey and take it back to her flock, her mission was successful