Chapter 29: Kel

Kel had never run through the forest so fast in his life, he ended up nearly tripping over the foliage several times. Fural and Jors didn't seem to be as out of practice though, they managed to get ahead of him. By the time they heard the sound of gunfire in the distance the sun had begun to rise again, though the long shadows cast by it still hurt the visibility of the forest.

Several bolts of plasma cut through the foliage ahead of the Sangheili, a few of them hit Kel and dissipated against his shields. It felt strange to be getting shot at again, the last time he had was during the escape from the human base. The feeling was almost refreshing, like he was a long retired warrior entering battle once more.

Kel managed to catch up to Fural and Jors just as they pushed into the clearing around Kel's campsite. Endo, Kress, and the Unggoy were engaged in a firefight with a pack of five Jiralhanae, all of which had their backs turned to the approaching Sangheili. The beasts hadn't been expecting them to come from behind. The Kig-Yar, Rahg, was nowhere to be seen.

In a single swift move, Fural ignited his sword and cut two of the Jiralhanae down. The way the Blademaster moved was graceful as he slid along the ground and cut the legs out from a third Jiralhanae. He was clearly deserving of the title. Kel was unarmed, so he attempted to distract the last two Jiralhanae. Kel slid through the mud and punched one in the hip, causing it to stumble long enough for Kress to line up a shot with his carbine and take the beast down. The last Jiralhanae was shot through the head by a beam rifle, which came from deep in the forest behind it. That told Kel where Rahg had gone.

Kel noticed several other corpses in the ground as the small skirmish ended. Unggoy and Kig-Yar bodies sat in the grass, their blood seeping into the ground and staining the soil. When Kel had first heard of the fracturing of the Covenant, he had thought it was just the Sangheili fighting against the Jiralhanae, he hadn't expected the other member races to be split between the sides.

"Is that all of them?" Kel asked.

"For now," Endo replied. "But I heard more Phantoms, they've got to be landing all over the forest."

"How did they even get here?"

"The Blade of Ages…" Fural breathed.

"The what?" Kel asked.

"Our ship must not have been disconnected from the Covenant battlenet," Fural said.

The crack of a gunshot in the distance cut their conversation off before it could go any further. Whoever shot at them missed, and gave them the opportunity to rush for cover. But they fired again, and this time they hit a target. The head of one of the Unggoy, Dunyap, exploded. The Unggoy's lifeless body fell into the grass as its bioluminescent blood showered the group.

"No! They killed Dunyap!" the other Unggoy, Zimling, exclaimed as if no one had seen what just happened.

Everyone moved to cover behind the 'Vettrumee's Rest, making sure to stay out of the Covenant sniper's line of sight. Sure enough as Kress had said, Kel heard the hum of more Phantoms in the distance. It led Kel to wonder just how many soldiers the Covenant had sent to the planet just to kill a few Sangheili.

"I don't suppose that harness you stole has a communicator, does it?" Fural asked.

"Not anymore," Kel said. He ducked as he heard the sound of another shot striking the hull of the Phantom. "I lost it a while back."

"Then take this," Fural grabbed the communicator from his belt and handed it to Kel. "It's the only spare I have, so don't lose this one. It's already patched into our private channel."

Kel took it and attached it to his gauntlet, and it connected to the General harness's systems. When a voice came through it, he heard it through his helmet's speakers.

"I have eyes on the Jiralhanae sniper," came the voice of Rahg. "He's moving quickly to get another angle on you."

"Take him out as soon as you can," Fural said.

The next second Kel heard the sound of the beam rifle fire, and Rahg gave confirmation that the sniper was dead. Now that they had a little more breathing room, Kel climbed into the 'Vettrumee's Rest to acquire his concussion rifle. Now that he was armed, he could properly fight back.

"Drift reports that the Blade of Ages has been disconnected from the network," Jors said. "And its stealth systems are engaged, the Covenant aren't going to find it up there."

"Good," Fural said. "We need to make it back to the Undiminishing Conviction, and get out of here."

"No can do, Blademaster," Rahg said over comms. "Jiralhanae corvette in orbit. It will shoot us down at first chance."

"So we're stuck here," Fural sighed.

This wasn't how Kel expected things to end. Though they had been able to kill the few Jiralhanae sent at them thus far, they wouldn't be able to hold them off forever. Soon there would be more than just a corvette above them. Kel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Planning wasn't his thing, so he decided to consult the voice in his head. He could hardly understand it whenever it spoke, but maybe he could pull his own meaning from its words.

Sacrifice your flesh, the voice said. Only as one may we defeat our enemies.

Sacrifice? Kel wondered what there was around him to sacrifice. He looked up at the 'Vettrumee's Rest, and a very bad plan began forming in his head. He was sure one of the others could come up with something better, but it was the best he could come up with from the words he heard.

"I have an idea," Kel said, getting Fural's attention. "We need to hijack a Jiralhanae Phantom, and rig its reactor to overload on command. We can extract the reactor cores from my Phantom to amplify the explosion."

"Then I assume we pilot it remotely into the corvette and detonate it inside?" Fural asked.

"Yes," Kel said. "The only tricky part is hijacking that Phantom."

"Not so tricky, I think," Rahg said over comms. "Jiralhanae are setting up a base in the grasslands outside the forest."

"Then I could sneak in and steal the Phantom," Fural said. Kel could tell by the tone of his voice that the Blademaster liked the plan.

"Me come with," said Zimling, "me trained in all kinds of stealth."

"I agree," Jors said before Fural could object. "I should come with as well, though it will be quite a hike back to the Conviction."

"I am trained to fly a Phantom," Kel said. "I can go with them while you get the Conviction ready to fly."

"I will keep watch on the base," Rahg said.

"Then Endo and I will join 'Cinatee," Kress said.

Kel was surprised at how fast everyone had agreed to his plan, he wasn't even sure if it was possible at first. Kel was glad that this group of people was capable enough to make something stupid work.

"Returning to you. Lots more Jiralhanae are on the way," Rahg said.

"I'll get to work on removing the cores," Jors said. "Give me some cover."

Everyone nodded to each other, and they waited for the Jiralhanae to approach. Jors climbed into the 'Vettrumee's Rest's core maintenance hatch, and began the process of removing the reactor cores. They didn't have a lot of time before the first wave of Jiralhanae arrived. Three of them approached through the trees, each one clad in power armour and armed with spike rifles. Kel was able to blast one back with his concussion rifle while Zimling stripped another of its shields with his plasma pistol. Endo shot it through the head with his carbine before it had a chance to recover.

Kel ran to his side, running fast enough to get ahead of the Jiralhanae's shots. He fired another round from his concussion rifle at the Jiralhanae he had already shot, using the force of its rounds to keep it down long enough for Fural to finish it off with his energy sword. A shot from Rahg's beam rifle dropped the third.

A stream of plasma then slammed into Kel's back, breaking his shields. He ran for the cover of a tree as more Jiralhanae came from the west side of the clearing. Kel saw the glow of Kig-Yar shields as a phalanx pushed through the foliage on the south side.

The plasma rifle wielding Jiralhanae blasted Kel's tree cover, tearing through the wood and causing it to fall. Zimling overcharged his plasma pistol and fired it at the Jiralhanae, stripping its shields from its armour. As soon as Kel's shields recharged, he moved out of cover and finished the Jiralhanae off with two more shots from his concussion rifle.

The Kig-Yar phalanx soon got in range of the group and they opened fire with their plasma pistols, stripping the shields away from both Endo and Kress. The two Sangheili minors rushed for cover, and Kel helped them by firing the last two shots in his concussion rifle's magazine into the phalanx of Kig-Yar. Even with their defence gauntlets to protect them, the shots caused them to stumble. Fural sprinted up to them and began cutting each one apart with his sword.

Kel reached for another magazine for his concussion rifle only to realise that he didn't have any. He either had left them in the Phantom, lost them, or hadn't even thought of taking more magazines with him when he stole the General's harness. He couldn't remember, and he didn't have time to find out either way.

Kel's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a Jiralhanae behind him, one that had somehow managed to sneak up on him. As he turned he saw a gravity hammer bearing down on him. There wasn't time to do anything before the hammer hit, and sent him flying across the clearing. His shields had been stripped from his harness, but they had stopped the hammer from breaking any of his bones. He ended up landing on one of the Kig-Yar just a moment before Fural was about to stab it.

"'Dauram?" Fural asked, startled at Kel's sudden appearance.

"Jiralhanae Chieftain," Kel said as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Fural looked to where Kel had come from. Two Chieftains came out of the treeline, each one flanked by two more Jiralhanae soldiers. Kel managed to get back on his feet, and he realised that he had lost the concussion rifle. He had never really been too sentimental about it, but it was one of the few things that had belonged to Kars 'Chelamee. Losing the weapon felt like dishonouring the General, and there might not be time to get it back.

Kel grabbed one of the Kig-Yar's plasma pistols off the ground as Fural jumped back into the battle. It wasn't his kind of weapon, but it was leagues better than being unarmed. He ran to join the battle once more, and he used the plasma pistol to take out the shields of one of the lesser Jiralhanae. It was finished with a beam through its head from Rahg.

One Jiralhanae that wielded a plasma rifle focused its fire on Kress as the young Sangheili popped out of cover, and took out his shields. Kel shot that Jiralhanae next to take the heat off Kress, causing it to then shoot back at Kel. Another shot came from Rahg's beam rifle, taking it out as the shot went right through the Jiralhanae's skull.

"Jiralhanae have found me! Have to move," Rahg said through comms. "Cannot provide cover."

Fural slid across the mud toward one of the Chieftains, narrowly avoiding a blow from its hammer. The Blademaster ran around the Chieftain, dodging each blow with ease. His movements only made the Jiralhanae angry, and it got to the point where the Chieftain threw the hammer down and grabbed Fural with its hands. Fural didn't let it hold him for long, he swung his blade and cut both of the beast's arms off of its body. He finished it by stabbing it through the chest.

"No matter," Fural said between heavy breaths after the Chieftain fell. "Stay alive, we can handle these beasts."

Kel turned back to see how the others were doing, only to see a Jiralhanae holding Kress into the air with the blades of its spike rifle pierced through his chest. Kel shouted and blasted the Jiralhanae until his pistol overheated, which didn't do much to the thing's armour. It dropped Kress and returned fire on Kel, who threw the overheated plasma pistol at it. He ran straight up to the Jiralhanae and slammed his fist into its abdomen, and by complete accident he produced an energy dagger from the gauntlet of his harness. He hadn't even known that energy daggers were a thing, let alone that there was one installed in the General harness. It would have been useful to know about it beforehand, but he didn't complain, as it had helped him save Kress.

Kel crouched next to the young Sangheili and inspected the damage, even though there wasn't anything he could do about it. The spike rifle's blades had gone straight through Kress's armour, and had ruptured his lungs. Nobody there was any kind of medic, he was going to die no matter what happened next.

Another stream of plasma burned into Kel's shield, and he turned to see another Jiralhanae firing at him. He turned back to Kress as he let the Jiralhanae shoot him, and he silently asked for permission to use his gun. Kress gave him a nod, and Kel took the carbine out of the dying Sangheili's hands. His harness's shield broke just as he turned to fire back, but the carbine wouldn't be enough to take the Jiralhanae down before it would kill him. The plasma burned into his armour with each shot, destroying all that was left of Kars 'Chelamee.

Two streams of plasma shot out from behind Kel, and melted through both the shields and the power armour of the Jiralhanae. He looked behind him to see Jors 'Cinatee wielding a plasma rifle in each hand. The pilot attached them to the magnetic holsters on his thighs and he reached down to help Kel up.

"The cores have been removed," Jors said. "We're going to help Rahg, and then we're getting away from these Jiralhanae."

"Understood," Kel sighed as he got back to his feet. He looked down at Kress, who was now dead.

"He died with honour," Jors said solemnly. "We must go, but we will not forget him."

Kel nodded, and followed Jors to the edge of the clearing. He looked back and noticed that the second Chieftain had been killed while he wasn't looking, and he was thankful to have ran into a Blademaster of all people. They would have all been dead if not for Fural.

Kel and Jors ran through the forest, they could see Fural and Endo engaging a group of Jiralhanae through the trees. Ahead of them was another Chieftain alongside a group of Jiralhanae minors, who were bearing down on Rahg as he sprinted through the foliage. Kel, Fural, and Endo all fired on the Jiralhanae Minors with their carbines, easily stripping them of their shields and finishing them off with shots to the head.

The Chieftain eventually caught up to the Kig-Yar, and swung its hammer as the four Sangheili fired everything they had at it. Rahg turned, and the hammer struck the Kig-Yar in the chest. He was flung straight into a tree behind him, and only after that had they been able to kill the Chieftain.

"Rahg!" Fural shouted, sprinting over to the Kig-Yar once the fighting ended. Jors followed close behind.

Kel hadn't had the time to get to know Rahg, not like Fural and Jors did. The two were clearly hurt, but Kel had seen far more Kig-Yar die before this. He hated to admit it, but they weren't all that important to him. Kress's death was something that hit him harder, as he was a young Sangheili who had barely gotten to live his life. Kel could have even saved him if he hadn't gotten so distracted watching Fural. He wasn't even sure if Endo knew about it, the other young Sangheili stood at Kel's side and watched as Fural and Jors rushed over to Rahg.

"Endo," Kel said slowly, though he didn't waste time in saying what he needed to say. "Kress is dead too."

Endo looked up at Kel with an expression he couldn't read, and then turned back to the clearing where his brother had died.

"He's… gone?" Endo asked.

"The Jiralhanae got him," Kel sighed with a nod. "If only I had been faster…"

"It is not your fault," Endo breathed. "He died fighting the enemy, that was what he wanted. I only wish I got to say goodbye."

"He died with honour. One day you will get to say goodbye."

Kel gave Endo a comforting pat on the shoulder, and he joined Fural and Jors by Rahg's body. He didn't know what to say, so he watched in silence. But then he noticed that the Kig-Yar wasn't actually dead. His body convulsed, and he choked. Rahg had just survived a direct hit to the chest from a Jiralhanae's gravity hammer, and that was enough to make Kel respect him.

"He's alive!" Fural exclaimed.

"Not for long," Jors sighed. "We need to get him to the Blade of Ages immediately."

"Then take him with you," Fural stood. "Kel, Zimling and I will move out at once."

Jors nodded, and he lifted Rahg as he stood. He gestured for Endo to come with him, and the Minor eagerly obliged. Fural slid Rahg's vambrace off of his arm, and he accessed the tactical map on it. It produced a hologram that showed where the Covenant base was before the Blademaster downloaded it to his own suit and put it away.

"We need to move now," Fural said. "For Rahg, and before any more Jiralhanae arrive."

"Right behind you, Blademaster," Kel said.

"Good," Fural nodded. "Zimling, do not slow us down."

Kel hadn't even realised the Unggoy was next to them. He carried a sack over his shoulder that held the cores from the 'Vettrumee's Rest. Kel was always surprised at how strong the Unggoy were for their small sizes.

"Trust me, boss," Zimling said. "Me not slow at all."

"Good," Fural said. "Let's go."


Night had fallen by the time they reached the clearing where the Covenant base sat. It hadn't been that long since they set out, but the days on Kel's planet were short. Kel shook his head when he realised that he hadn't even given the planet a name in all of the time he'd spent on it. Fural noticed Kel's thinking and gave him a strange look, which he waved away as something to not worry about.

He would be leaving the planet soon, and he wasn't sure if he would ever be coming back. He wanted to give it a name before he left, and he had the perfect one. Kars. There was no greater honour than having an entire planet named after you, if Kel survived this then he was going to make sure that the planet would be called Kars by everyone he saw it.

The General harness had suffered significant damage, so there was no telling whether or not he would survive another fight. That didn't mean he wasn't going to give it his all. If he did survive, the harness would need to be replaced, and that was what saddened him. On the brighter side, he had managed to find the concussion rifle in the short time they had before they set out, and he had found a few spare magazines for it in the back of the 'Vettrumee's Rest. He most likely wasn't going to need it for this mission, but he was still glad to have it.

Now that they were out of the forest, the moonlight bathed the clearing in a soft blue light. Every time Kel had looked up at the moon he had wondered what was there, and why it was blue. He hadn't spent a lot of time learning how celestial bodies worked, but he assumed it was entirely covered in water. Because of the presence of the telescoping facility, Kel wondered if there were Forerunner structures on the moon too. Maybe I'll get to see one day, he told himself.

"You're both in luck," Fural whispered to Zimling and Kel, dragging him out of his thoughts. "I brought two spare active camo modules with me."

"What's the plan?" Kel whispered back as Fural handed him the camouflage module.

"First I'll get the gate offline. Once you're in, you and Zimling will board the Phantom," Fural explained. "I'll get in the control tower and disable the base's defence guns while you give the Undiminishing Conviction access to the remote control."

Kel didn't have the strength to tell Fural that he didn't know how to do that, but he was sure he would be able to figure it out once he was aboard. He only knew how to fly Phantoms, not work their other systems. He tried to remember if 'Vettrumee had taught him anything else, but for the moment he couldn't. If he wasn't able to figure out how to work the Phantom, hopefully he could play it off as him being out of practice.

"Jors will pick us up, steer the Phantom into the corvette, and detonate it as soon as we enter orbit," Fural finished.

"Sounds good," Kel nodded.

"Then let's move."

Kel and Zimling attached the camo modules to their armour. Neither of their harnesses were built specifically for stealth missions, so they would need to activate it manually, and it wouldn't last for very long. Kel knew his bulky harness would make a lot of noise as well, so he made sure to be very careful with his movements.

The front gate of the base was covered by an energy shield. Kel could see Jiralhanae and Unggoy through it as they guarded the vehicles inside. There were several Ghosts, and even Banshees in there. If they had waited any moment longer before moving out, then they would be facing an unstoppable Covenant force. The fact that the Jiralhanae didn't currently know where they were was the only thing saving them.

All the Covenant forces inside would be alerted as soon as the gate went offline, so Kel thought about how he should time his movements. Moving too fast would interfere with the cloaking field produced by the camo module and make him visible, but he couldn't move slowly or stay still forever. He couldn't see Zimling as the Unggoy was cloaked beside him, so he hoped that he would follow his movements.

The energy shield soon went offline, and Kel slowly made his way inside. His and Zimling's movements were masked by the sound of the heavy Jiralhanae footsteps, and the two were able to navigate their way to the back corner of the base. Kel peeked around the corner of a munitions tent and saw a trio of Kig-Yar guarding the way to the Phantom they were planning to steal.

Kel's camo module went offline just as he was watching the Kig-Yar's movements, he didn't even realise it until he was pretty sure they noticed him. He looked to his side and saw that Zimling's cloaking had gone offline as well, and he gestured for the Unggoy not to move. Zimling gave him a nod, and he stayed with his back pressed against the wall of the tent as the three Kig-Yar made their way over.

The module recharged just as they turned the corner, and Kel disappeared before they could see him. The three Kig-Yar looked directly at him, and got uncomfortably close. He couldn't move even a muscle without letting them know he was there, so he just waited. The Kig-Yar were eventually convinced that nothing was there, and they moved on to another section of the base. Kel let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

Kel and Zimling made their way to the Phantom as quickly as they could without giving themselves away. The transport's gravity lift was offline, and they weren't able to activate it remotely, so Kel had to jump through the port and climb his way through. Luckily for him, the Phantom was empty inside.

He then realised that Zimling wouldn't be able to climb in on his own, so he dropped back through the port and looked around. Nobody was near them, so Kel risked speaking.

"Zimling," he whispered. "Hop on my shoulders, I will boost you up."

He crouched, hoping that the Unggoy would be able to see him. Eventually he felt the weight of the little guy climbing on top of him, and standing up on his shoulders. Kel extended his legs as much as he could, to the point where he could barely hold himself up anymore. He and Zimling's camo modules deactivated again without warning just as the Unggoy reached up to grab the entrance port to the Phantom.

Kel nervously looked around as the Unggoy climbed through, and he quickly jumped up after him. He let out another breath, and made his way to the pilot's seat. The dashboard lit up the Phantom's dark interior as he began figuring out how to give the autopilot to Jors.

"Hey, big man," Zimling whispered behind him. "Boss man trying to call you."

Kel looked down at the communicator that Fural had given him and only now realised that it had been cut apart. He figured he hadn't properly mounted it and that it had gotten destroyed when he accidentally activated the energy dagger.

"Give me your communicator," Kel said. Zimling handed it to him, and Kel spoke into it. "Blademaster?"

"What happened to the communicator I gave you?" Fural asked on the other side.

"It may have gotten damaged during the battle."

Fural went silent. Kel couldn't imagine he was very happy about that.

"Are you still there?"

"Yes. I was trying to call you to tell you that this plan may not work."

"I assume that is because of all the Banshees stationed here?"

"Correct. I can try to fabricate an authorised launch of the Phantom but that would take too much time, time that we don't have. And an autopilot will not be able to evade them. Once those Banshees launch, they will shoot the Phantom down. That corvette is going to keep us here until we die."

"I wish we'd thought of this sooner," Kel said.

"If we had gotten here sooner... Do you have any ideas?" Fural asked.

Kel closed his eyes, silently asking the question in his head. It was the voice in his head that had given him the initial plan, maybe it could help him here. He thought of the questions he wanted to ask, and he waited to hear the answer.

It is not your time, the voice said, your end will be in unity.

Kel drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. If it was truly the Gods that spoke to him, if they truly believed that it was not his time, then they would save him. They wouldn't let him die no matter what he did.

I am your salvation, the voice said, echoing his thoughts. Give yourself to me.

"I'll pilot the Phantom up to the corvette myself," Kel said. "You and Zimling head back and signal the Undiminishing Conviction."

"This is a one way trip, 'Dauram," Fural said. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Not exactly," Kel replied.

He pulled up a holographic view of the Jiralhanae corvette, and studied its position above them. As if his plan wasn't bad enough already, he got an idea to make it worse. On top of all that, it had been so long since Kel had run the simulations that he wasn't sure if he still had it in him to evade a squadron of Banshees, and then he wasn't sure if they would make it in time to get the Phantom aboard the corvette without them knowing. But it was the only thing they could do.

"Tell whoever is controlling the Blade of Ages right now to position the ship right next to the Jiralhanae corvette," Kel said. "Make sure its hangar deck is in line with the corvette's port side hangar entrance."

"That corvette is going to see it and open fire," Fural said.

"It only needs to stay there for a few minutes, its shields should hold for long enough."

"Alright, what are you planning?"

"I'm going to land the Phantom in the corvette's hangar, and jump out. I'll propel myself into the hangar deck on the Blade of Ages."

"This is ridiculous…" Fural said, his tone betraying his disbelief in this plan,"but not impossible... I'll tell the crew to move the ship at once. Once Zimling leaves, give us three minutes before you start the launch."

"Thank you," Kel said.

"Good luck, and good hunting 'Dauram. May Fied call your name in the Hall of Eternity, should you not return."

Kel didn't know what that meant, but he assumed it was something he should be honoured about, especially if it came from a Blademaster. He handed the communicator back to Zimling, and the Unggoy promptly made his way out of the Phantom after he finished setting up the reactor cores to explode.

The next three minutes were agonising. He had lived so peacefully on his own for so long, and now he was about to do something that could very well be the end of his life. But this was the kind of blaze of glory that he had always wanted to die in. His younger self would even be proud, as this is a direct attack against the Covenant as well.

Once exactly three minutes had passed, Kel launched the Phantom. He turned straight toward the corvette in orbit and flew as fast as the Phantom could move, he didn't want to give the Jiralhanae time to find out the launch wasn't authorised and send those Banshees after him. Though they did anyway, Kel was far enough that they wouldn't be able to catch up to him in time. The corvette came into view and hailed him, but he didn't answer. They had no idea what was about to hit him.

He saw the Blade of Ages move into position on the other side of the Jiralhanae corvette, and the corvette opened fire with its plasma cannons. The Blade of Ages's shields held against the blasts, there was little more time to waste. He flew the Phantom into the corvette's hangar deck, and didn't even take the time to properly land it. It grinded across the floor until it came to a stop directly in the middle of the deck.

Kel jumped out of the gravity lift port, and he sprinted across the deck to the port side door with his concussion rifle in his hands. The Jiralhanae on the hangar deck opened fire on him as he neared the door, and Kel jumped through just as their shots impacted on his shield. He took a deep breath and began letting it out very slowly once he was in the vacuum. Then he lined up the concussion rifle and fired, using the blast to propel him across the open space, toward the hangar deck of the Blade of Ages.

There hadn't been time to think about what being in the vacuum of space would be like without anything to protect him, for now he was completely exposed to the elements. His face was impossibly cold, so cold that he felt like he was on fire, and his vision began to progressively get worse as his eyes burned. Luckily for him the corvette was blocking the sun, so he didn't have to deal with its heat burning his skin. All he knew was that he couldn't hold his breath, as he had been taught that when learning what to do if a part of a ship was exposed to vacuum.

A round from the Jiralhanae corvette's plasma cannons flew dangerously close to him. If it were even a few centimetres closer it would have burned him alive, the heat from the explosion as it hit the Blade of Ages did a number on his shield. He fired the concussion rifle again and again, exhausting the magazine to propel himself faster and faster.

He felt gravity take him, and suddenly he could breathe again. He heard someone behind him shout something, and he watched the Blade of Ages pull away from the Jiralhanae corvette very aggressively. The corvette's hangar deck was soon consumed by a brilliant purple fireball, which set off a chain reaction and disabled the ship's plasma cannons just as they had planned.

The hum of a Phantom then filled Kel's ears, and that told him the Undiminishing Conviction was aboard. Kel felt someone grab him, and lift him out of his harness. He wanted to move, to protest, but his whole body felt like it was burning. He was more than glad that he had just survived that, but he was going to make sure to not do something like that ever again.