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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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"-And so do I~."

February 26 2527 - Hour 1251

General Thela 'Vadamee

Far-East Jungles, Arcadia

Trigger Warning: There's a degree of psychological harassment (not sexual) unfolding in this chapter. It is unpleasant for the sake of highlighting a horrible character.

Thela was now certain of it, the invasion was going to fail.

She had this distinct grasp of the situation when RIpa's troops started to show their lack of preparation for what the Humans' counter attacking force was able to achieve. She wasn't sure if her troops would have fared better due to numerous factors which left their allies in tedious positions, however she could tell those would have had a greater grasp in not losing their heads when defeat looked certain. And that was shown when the cities her troops were assigned to conquer and fortify held better against the intense attacks from their foes' reinforcement.

Their lines were holding, just barely, and with the fall of the planet's capital back to humanity's control, it was now a matter of time before Ripa's current stronghold was discovered. The Arbiter had made it clear- the humans were expected to give them 'what they wanted'. Yet Thela wasn't sure what the utter cretin of a commander was trying to get. Actually, no one but him knew what was going on. The Prophets wouldn't have ordered this information a secret from the rest of the command staff, which meant Ripa was willingly keeping important orders to himself.

This... this was perhaps the worst thing an idiot could do with that much power. And something Thela couldn't allow to sit by and ignore. Finding the bastard's room was easy, but entering it left her in a rather displeased mood. It was spartan in sight, not much left within it but the strict necessary. Yet, the weaponry rack which had all old weapons once used by Sangheilis was stained in blood. Such a filthy stash was nothing short of disappointing for any normal Sangheili. Yet, Ripa was not that.

"I don't recall asking for your presence, General."

"Arbiter. The situation is getting out of hand. I demand you present the prophets' orders to us in their entirety rather than being just the messenger."

A blink, Ripa turned from his quiet cleaning of his helmet with a bored look. "Beg your pardon?"

"You have withheld information tied to the campaign which is costing us many men and equipment. It's the least you can provide."

Then Thela made a mistake. She walked closer to the sitting superior, ignoring the growing tension and getting in range for the worst possible development. She soon found herself dropped to the ground, his body pressing against hers. He wasn't wearing his armor, and Thela felt his full warmth on her. It was suffocating.

"You know, I have heard so many interesting things," He hummed as his mandibles got dangerously close to hers. "I heard of your fiery spirit. Of your incredible... skills."

His voice was husky, which prompted the female Sangheili to squirm in fright against his hold. He wasn't that strong, but he was overwhelming her at the moment. And he knew that.

"Once this campaign ends, I will do the right thing as my station requests- I shall duel you and claim you."

It wasn't a request, or an order- he was telling her the truth. He was stronger than her. He was too aggressive, impulsive, and extremely... terrifying. She forgot, much to her own stupidity, that this monster had raised arms against the Covenant before and the way he received this ceremonial role had set him off to feel powerful within their society. But what really horrified her was that he was right. He could do that- no, he was going to do that. And it left Thela in the worst state of mind she ever felt. Reality had crashed down on her and it had made her expectations bleaker than before.

Ripa let go of her at this point, letting her 'be' as he told her to go and 'prepare for defense'. She didn't utter a single word beyond that, retreating to her live quarters and trying to clean up. She felt dirty- she felt tainted. It was horrible. She heard of harassment of that kind before, but never once she would have believed someone like the Arbiter, regardless of Ripa's disgusting self, would have dared traditions so brazenly.

And the worst thing was that the lingering sinking feeling from that encounter didn't leave her even after hours of trying to push it aside. It didn't help that the humans had managed to produce tanks that used plasma with their weapons, allowing for their tanks to easily shred into the barrier they created to protect the forerunners' ruins, before ultimately cracking it. The hostiles started to slowly advance into the thicker jungles, finally finding issues in the form of intense guerrilla warfare. It was in those close quarters that the smaller force had a greater advantage on them.

Yet they were unable to warrant the maximum results out of it. Thela's orders were relayed in a slower pace than usual, and some were noticing this as well. No one questioned it, but some of the fellow officers were worried to see someone that had held her cool mind against worse odds was having trouble finding enough morale to handle that sort of labor. Ripa didn't say anything, the Arbiter still behaving calmly before the bloodbath ensuing within the forest. Once the humans got close enough, their ace in the sleeve was activated: the massive head of the heavily-modified Type-29 easily shredded the first waves of foes trying to get close to it. Tanks, aerial vehicles, and even well-hidden troops were getting mowed down by the unforgiving blue plasma blast released by the terrifying weapon.

Things were doing great at that point, but Thela's mood was just dropping even lower. This time the General had the 'decency' to hide it, but it was slowly becoming a concern to her too. And then the Scarab got destroyed. Ripa's mood hadn't wavered for a moment as he deployed on the field 'by the order of the Prophet of Truth'. The humans thought they had been completely defeated, so they were completely unaware of the ambush they quickly set up to capture one of their scientists. Ripa was going to take care of that, while Thela and her squad had a 'simple' mission: exterminate the humans' elite force.

It was there that she felt a 'change' in her mood. The human from before, the one from Harvest- he was there. Again. It felt like he was the one chasing her at this point and... and she wasn't sure how to handle the news. It was great since she could try and kill him, it wasn't great since she didn't feel in full shape at the moment. Something her subordinates didn't catch on as they prepared to engage against their planned targets. The thickness of the foliage gave their armors' active camouflage greater cover as they waited for their preys to get close enough to strike.

It was just three of them. two humans and their Brute. Despite the advantageous situation, despite Chol Von's favorable sniping spot, and despite Rtas' excellent hiding spot close to the youngest of the small team... Thela hesitated for a moment from throwing the attack. The words from Ripa still have her slightly shocked and unable to formulate any response. Then, a flash from Rtas' comms had her snap and react with a single order. 'Attack'. The force moved, with Chol's sniper hitting the brute's arm and disabling her for a moment as the Kig-Yar moved in with her plasma rifle, while Rtas looked to take down the shorter human.

Thela rushed in, expecting to get done with this insufferable foe and get back to her current issues. Her armor sponged some of the bullets coming her direction, with her speed allowing her to zero the distance with her target and forcing it to ditch the rifle he was using to deploy his melee weapon. A knife. The blade struck back against hers, but did little to dull away the sheer momentum her pace carried, forcing the target to get pushed back and away from the rest of the group.

Sparks started to fly as something felt different than last time- the human's skills with his weapon was greater than before, and the openings in his stance were significantly less. It was a struggle, and one she felt close to losing due to how suddenly this was all happening. Her Plasma Sword quivered as it was getting overheated due to the exchange, while her opponents' knife was hardly getting dented by her relentless assault. It was so stupidly intense, and so stupidly draining that something in her instinct snapped and had her react in a very odd way.

She struck again with frustration flaring in her grunts and thoughts, his possible amusement irritating her to the point her sword slamming once more against her foe's knife with greater power behind it. The only difference this time around was that the blade carried outward and ended up yanking itself off her grip and pulling the knife with it too. They were now without weapons- and she was ready to finish it like it happened like last time.

Slamming against her foe, she thought she had the means to overwhelm him by sheer power alone like Ripa did with her, yet the human held strong and he didn't allow her to push him down. She struggled and it felt odd... because they were now hugging. Her posture eased down for a moment, a chance which the human could have used to push her back, yet he didn't as they found themselves stuck in a rather unusual... embrace.

...Why is he hugging me back?

Was that a trick? Was he trying to lull her in a false state of security? Was it a lie?

He didn't falter, he didn't move- he just hugged her and... then Thela realized she was crying. It became clear to her now that she was put and her sight got blurry due to the tears accumulated by her eyes. Her throat itched as it released stuttered vibrations and she was... hyperventilating. Did he catch on that? How long had she been crying? Was this why he hesitating to go and kill her? Also...

Why is his touch so nice? Why is my enemy kinder than any other ally I had?

No words were exchanged at that situation and these thoughts ultimately snapped something in her, a sob cut-short left her mouth before she pulled out of that improvised hug and proceeded to run away, ordering a retreat of her troops. Rtas flared a surprised grunt as she stood over her unconscious foe, ready to finish her, while Chol merely nodded as she was having a bit of an issue finding a good spot to hit the brute on due to her slightly thicker armor. The rest of the team employed on the rest of their targets retreated with mixed success. No kills, but a couple of injured foes were left behind during that intense skirmish.

The ambush had been successful, the human researcher had been captured but... Thela felt something else had happened. She failed, yet it didn't feel like that. That hug- that stupid hug... it felt like it had done something in her mood. She felt less gloomy about what happened with Ripa, but it was something despite the lingering depressing feelings about it. What had happened? Why did hugging a human - the one that she had hunted down up to this point - cause her to have these moments? Thela couldn't tell for sure and doubted she had anyone to bring this up to. What she could do right now is get back on the ship as they moved for their next 'act'.

They had a Shield World and Forerunner Fleet to claim after all...

AN

Despite her cleverness, Thela isn't without flaws just like Log's team ain't exactly prepared for masterfully-planned traps. They aren't Spartans and they suffered some wounds because of it. But Log? Oh, Log will have a lot to think about what had happened and a conversation with Sif since she saw that hug happen.

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

REVIEW Q&A

Osterreicher97: In Canon Hood made the mistake of angrily ordering Roman Blue to be exposed in a skirmish to fight back the Covenant when he noticed that many ships were getting destroyed. The end result was that the Roman Blue couldn't follow Forge when he requested for that. Since the skirmish is different with the Roman Blue having no reason to weaken itself, the chances of the ship attaching to the Spirit of Fire for the ensuing trip are quite high.

SmokinBarrrel: I already mentioned this is not that kind of story. Plus SIII worked with young candidates that were subjected to slightly more advanced medical treatments compared to SII subjects and with crappier weapons.

LezGo35: As of right now the main slow-burn pairing is LogXThela.

Guest (Chapter 27): They make an appearance.