Chapter 33: Fural

Relief had washed over Fural after it had been so easy to convince the Hidden Blade of the Assembly's promise, and when it was revealed that the Blade had known about it for some time already. Still, Fural couldn't help but doubt the future. After their vengeance against the Covenant was secure, would they use their fleet against the humans? Was their destruction in the Gods' will?

So many feelings clashed inside Fural that all he could do to let them out was drive his fist into the nearest bulkhead. A dent was left in the shape of his fist, anyone would know what happened if they passed by and saw it. But that was enough for Fural to get his emotions out, and continue without being bothered much.

He made his way to the starboard hangar bay by himself while Kel stayed behind to continue speaking with Raku. A certain feeling of nostalgia set in as Fural passed other Sangheili through the Sacred Provenance's halls, he felt as if he was aboard the Supreme Crusader again, or any of the other ships he had served on.

In the starboard hangar deck sat four Ru'swum-pattern phantoms, two in each bay; and there were at least ten Elsedda-pattern banshees that Fural could see. Between all of the vehicles there were all kinds of crates filled with different kinds of supplies, and weapon racks with as many different guns as an army would need.

It was a messy hangar deck, but it held the necessary requirements to keep an army of vengeful Sangheili armed and ready. They no longer had the luxury of storing their things in warehouses, or aboard supply ships. The few warships of the Fleet of the Perilous Dawn were all they had to survive on.

The former Shipmaster of the Supreme Crusader stood at the other side of the hangar, directing the workers that moved each crate. After the failure at Installation 04, Fural hadn't expected to see Mace 'Rylan again.

"Shipmaster!" Fural called to him, getting his attention immediately.

Mace stared at Fural for a few short seconds, seeming to not recognise him at first. But when he did, he approached, and gave a bow of respect. Fural returned it, and the two clasped their hands as old friends would after reuniting.

"'Nasamai," Mace said. "I was not expecting to see you here."

"Same to you," Fural replied.

Mace told Fural of how he had lost the Supreme Crusader, and the plan to get it back. Fural had served on that ship longer than any other, so it was a ship that he would like to return to. And having something as big as a Syfon-pattern assault carrier at its lead would make the Fleet of the Perilous Dawn a force to be reckoned with.

Then Fural exchanged his story, of how he had escaped High Charity, and how he had fought against the Jiralhanae. Though in the latter half of the story, Kel was more of the hero than him.

"So, you're a Blademaster now?" Mace said. "How does it feel?"

"It is a responsibility I do not carry lightly," Fural said. "I will use my rate to bring honour to our fledgling fleet. I will use it to put fear in the hearts and minds of the Jiralhanae, and the Prophets."

"Your brother would be very proud," Mace said.

"He would…" Fural sighed. "I wish he was here."

"He died a warrior's death. That is all any of us could ask."

Fural wanted to tell Mace that he had no idea what had happened to Dom, but in the end, his brother had died fighting. So there was some truth to that. And he didn't have it in him to argue with a superior anyways, if Mace was even still considered a superior. They weren't in the Covenant anymore, there wasn't much reason to continue following the same ranking structure. Fural tried not to think about it, he didn't want his accomplishment of becoming a Blademaster to be soured.

A silence fell over the two, as most of Fural's conversations seemed to go. Beyond everything they had discussed, there wasn't much more to talk about. All there was to do was wait until the next fight came, though that was what most of Fural's life had been like.

"I will return to my ship," Fural said. "When the time comes, I will fight with all my strength to take back the Supreme Crusader."

"You have my thanks," Mace said. "May the fight be glorious."

Fural bowed to the former Shipmaster once more, and he made his way back to the dock. A Kig-Yar T'vaoan oversaw the repairs and the retrofits to the Blade of Ages, who was helping to remove the destroyed seraphs from the hangar deck and to repair the damage the ship had taken during the escape from High Charity.

Not long ago Fural wouldn't have trusted the T'vaoan at all, though he still didn't trust it completely. Rahg had done a lot to help Fural see the Kig-Yar in a new light, though in his mind, not every Kig-Yar could be Rahg. He passed the T'vaoan as he entered the ship, neither of them so much as acknowledging the others' presence.

Several Huragok and Kig-Yar mechanics were hard at work on the hangar deck, but the other areas of the ships were just as devoid of life as they usually were. He silently walked to the medical bay to check on Rahg, who was still unconscious in his bed. Fural didn't know when he would awake, but all that mattered was that he was still alive.

Jors remained in the control room alone, keeping watch on the ship's systems. He hadn't bothered to leave and check out the Sacred Provenance at all. Fural found him there, and stood at his side.

"Mace 'Rylan is here," Fural said, which was enough to get Jors to take his eyes off his station.

"The Shipmaster?" Jors asked.

"Yes," Fural said. "We're all that's left of the Supreme Crusader's crew. Just him and us."

"So he lost the ship, I take it?"

Fural nodded, and retreated to his command chair where he sat down. "We're going to help him take it back. Us, and the rest of this fleet."

"Whatever he needs, I'll do it," Jors said. "That ship was my home more than anywhere else."

"As it was mine."

Fural turned in his chair, taking in the room around him. After they took back the Supreme Crusader, he wondered if he would see the Blade of Ages again. He didn't particularly like the ship more than any other, but he had gone through hell with it. It was a ship more than deserving of respect, even if it was just a little stealth corvette.

He wondered if the ship would be handed off to some other commander, or if it would remain his. Never had Fural considered becoming a Shipmaster or anything of the sort, but he found some joy in sitting in the command chair and ordering his crew around. He'd begun to feel like it was the place he belonged.

So much of his life had been spent chasing the rate of Blademaster, something his brother had been preparing him for since he could even walk. For the first time, Fural began to wonder if he had been chasing the wrong thing. Perhaps that was why he had struggled for so long in his journey.

Fural watched Jors as he monitored his station, unmoving. He wondered how long the pilot had been there, and how long he would stay.

"When was the last time you slept, Jors?" Fural asked.

"I… cannot say," Jors replied. "I don't know."

"You should rest. I can watch the stations."

"Just because I haven't slept doesn't mean-"

"The attack is tomorrow," Fural cut him off. "We need you in your best condition."

Jors held Fural's gaze for a few seconds before he sighed, and turned to leave. Even though Jors was a pilot, he was still a good fighter. They were going to need him in the coming battle.

"If anything happens you will be the first to know," Fural assured his friend.

Jors nodded, and left the control room. For the first time when being left alone with his thoughts, Fural was at peace. He didn't think about his brother, or Installation 04, or any of the other terrible things that had happened since, he didn't even feel like slamming his hand into the nearest wall again. All he thought about now was the Blade of Ages, and his place in the coming fleet. He began to realise that for the first time in his life, he was truly free.


When the next day came, everyone was well rested. Fural attended the briefing aboard the Sacred Provenance, where he was informed on all the details of the attack. Him and his crew were going to be joining the teams taking the ship's control room.

Fural had killed enough Jiralhanae to know that the fight inside the carrier shouldn't be too much of a challenge, though he worried for the ships in the fleet.

At the time Fural had arrived, the Fleet of Perilous Dawn consisted of one Ket-pattern battlecruiser, a Ruma-pattern carrier, four Zanar-pattern cruisers, and six Ceudar-pattern corvettes, not including the stealth corvettes that wouldn't be participating in the space battle. None of the ships were permitted to damage the Supreme Crusader, so the fleet could end up getting torn apart. Fural would make sure to act quickly when getting aboard the carrier, he didn't plan on letting the fleet die in exchange for it.

As soon as the briefing ended, Fural returned to the Blade of Ages. Everyone was already there, gathered in the bridge at their stations while Kel watched from the back of the control room. They also had several warriors join their crew as well, who were all gathered on the crew deck.

Rahg had been transferred to the Sacred Provenance, as it would have been too dangerous to keep him aboard the Blade of Ages during the battle. Though the Provenance wasn't all that much safer, at least its chances of getting boarded by Jiralhanae forces were significantly smaller.

"How is the ship?" Fural asked Jors as he sat down in his seat.

"Repairs could not be fully completed, but the ship and its active camouflage system is operational," Jors said. "So long as the enemy does not shoot at us, we will be fine."

"I hope you don't plan on us getting shot at."

"I'll certainly try not to."

Fural looked around at his crew, trying to gauge if they were ready for this or not. The last battle the ship had been in was against their will, but this time they knew what they were going into.

Zimling was as eager to fight as he always was, and Jors was possibly the best navigator in the entire fleet, whether he was in top condition or not. Endo seemed a lot more confident at his station than he was before, and now he knew more about what he was doing.

"This is the Prophet of Doom, we are ready to enter slipspace," the voice of the Prophet of Doom's shipmaster echoed around the control room.

"The Venerated Lance is ready," came another voice.

The rest of the fleet checked in as the ships moved into position for the slipspace jump. The stealth corvettes docked with the Sacred Provenance checked in to make sure all of their warriors were ready. Before the last few ships could confirm their status, Endo waved at Fural to get his attention. There was a concerned and confused look across the minor's face.

"Sensors say there is something coming toward us," Endo said. "I think something is about to exit slipspace."

Though it was an inconvenient time, Fural was glad to have more ships joining them. More firepower was just what they needed.

Fural looked at the display in front of him, and watched as four slipspace portals opened ahead of the fleet. Two Ket-pattern battlecruisers, a Varric-pattern heavy cruiser, and another ship that Fural hadn't seen before exited the portals. The tactical station tagged it as the Enforcer of Will, a Kewu-pattern battleship.

Before anyone had the chance to celebrate, a fleet wide alarm went off. Endo brought up a transmission from the Sacred Provenance while Fural watched the battleship fly forward, and cut a Ceudar-pattern corvette in half.

"Engage stealth systems!" Fural shouted to Endo, and then to Jors. "Drop us from the dock!"

"Alert, Fleet of the Perilous Dawn, Covenant ships have found us, I repeat, Covenant ships have found us!" the shipmaster of the Provenance shouted. "All stealth ships release docking clamps!"

The ship lurched as it prematurely dropped out of the Sacred Provenance's dock.

The Fleet of the Perilous Dawn began to break formation, every ship flying in a different direction. The Enforcer of Will passed between the Provenance and the Prophet of Doom, trading shots with both ships using its plasma cannons, and then the ship sped away from them.

"Blade of Ages to the Sacred Provenance," Fural said, opening a connection to the cruiser. "Do we engage?"

The Covenant heavy cruiser opened fire on the Prophet of Doom with its plasma torpedoes, and began launching banshees. The Prophet's pilots hadn't yet been ready to launch, the Covenant fighters were going to get to them first.

"Sacred Provenance, come in!" Fural shouted when he didn't get a response.

Fural watched another Ceudar-pattern explode into pieces when it was hit with a volley of torpedoes from one of the Covenant battlecruisers. The light cruisers all fired at the Varric-pattern heavy cruiser with their plasma beam emitters just as the ship's shields dropped to fire again, causing heavy damage to its hull.

"We're trying to determine how they found us," the Provenance finally answered. "We have no choice but to engage."

"Shipmaster! What do we do?" Endo shouted, his voice betraying his fear.

The Enforcer of Will left the fleet's weapons range, and stopped to turn around. It began another attack run, and gutted the Venerated Lance from stem to stern with its flensing lance. Whatever kind of ship that was, it was clearly the biggest threat.

"Jors, get us close to that battleship," Fural ordered.

Fural expected the pilot to object in some capacity, but to his surprise he plotted an intercept course without question.

"Zimling, ready the plasma beam," Fural ordered.

"Sure thing, boss!" the Unggoy said enthusiastically.

The Enforcer of Will flew straight past the Blade of Ages, the ships were so close to each other that one faulty move would cause them to collide. But the stealth systems were working, it had no idea they were there. Fural got another view of the heavy cruiser as they turned to match the Enforcer of Will's course, and watched as it destroyed another of the light cruisers with its plasma lance. The remaining two light cruisers took advantage of the heavy cruiser's fire, and they destroyed the ship's lance before it could hit either of them.

"Fleet be advised, stay clear of the battleship," the shipmaster of the Provenance said. "We are firing torpedoes."

The Provenance fired a salvo of sixteen torpedoes before Fural had any chance to object, so he ordered Jors to slow down. The torpedoes beared down on the Enforcer of Will as the ship's flensing lance charged for another shot. Fural wondered why it was getting ready to fire while it was being shot at, though that question was soon answered.

All sixteen of the torpedoes that were fired at the Enforcer of Will turned away without warning, and flew aimlessly off into space. Fural felt the ship jolt underneath him as Jors dodged one that flew a little too close to them.

"What just happened?" Fural asked.

"Battleship diverted the torpedoes," Jors explained. "Kewu-pattern ships can disrupt guidance systems."

"Oh… great…" Fural sighed. That made things more complicated for the rest of the fleet, but it didn't change their mission. "Continue the course, get us on top of that flensing lance."

After the torpedoes were diverted, the flensing lance fired at the Prophet of Doom. Luckily for them, the carrier's shields were stronger than those of the corvettes and light cruisers, and they held against the assault. But they wouldn't hold up against another shot.

Soon the Blade of Ages caught up to the Enforcer of Will again, and they placed themselves above the ship's flensing lance emitter. For Fural's plan to work, the ship would need to lower the shields to fire again, leaving them only seconds to disable the emitter before it could break the Prophet of Doom's shields.

"Get us under those shields as soon as they go down," Fural ordered. "And Zimling, you must destroy their flensing lance emitter as soon as it fires."

He wasn't sure how much faith he had in the Unggoy, but at least he was eager to fight. That gave him enough hope that this would work.

Fural felt the weight of the ship as it turned, still matching course with the Enforcer of Will as it prepared for another attack run. The flensing lance emitter glowed bright as it prepared to fire, and Fural watched the shields drop with so much anticipation that time seemed to slow down.

The Blade of Ages's plasma beam fired at the same time as the flensing lance. The Enforcer of Will's emitter melted, and a chain of explosions shook the ship's bow. Jors pulled them away from the battleship's course and Endo reengaged the stealth systems before they could be fired on. Fural watched as the beam that had been fired overloaded what was left of the Prophet of Doom's shields, and seared a section of the hull.

"This is the Blade of Ages, the battleship's main weapon system has been disabled," Fural reported to the fleet's channel.

"Understood," the shipmaster of the Sacred Provenance said. "All ships, target the Covenant battleship! Strike it down while it is vulnerable!"

Another stealth corvette disabled the excavation beam aboard the Varric-pattern heavy cruiser, and the other three stealth corvettes worked together to destroy one of the battlecruisers. Though their foes were still formidable, without their lances they wouldn't be winning this fight.

The heavy cruiser launched a volley of plasma torpedoes while it shot down an incoming volley from the Prophet of Doom with its pulse lasers. The torpedoes locked on to the Sacred Provenance, which didn't seem to be firing on them. Fural assumed the ship's point defence system had been damaged during the fight; those torpedoes were going to hit and destroy the entire ship.

"Jors, we need to intercept those torpedoes," Fural ordered.

"This is the Sacred Provenance, stay clear of the battleship!" the Provenance said on the fleet channel. "I repeat, stay clear of the battleship!"

"There's no time!" Jors shouted back. "We need to move!"

The Enforcer of Will fired on the Provenance with its remaining plasma beams, giving the cruiser the chance to charge its plasma lance. The Provenance flew underneath the shields of the Enforcer, and carved a line of fire across the battleship's hull. The torpedoes that were chasing it slammed into the damaged hull, setting off another chain of explosions that ripped the ship apart.

A final explosion of the ship's fusion reactor ripped the Enforcer of Will in two as it overloaded, scattering its remains across the void of space. The Sacred Provenance pulled a violent turn, firing its engines almost to the point of overloading so it could slow down.

"This is the Sacred Provenance, battleship destroyed," the shipmaster of the Provenance said.

All that remained of the Covenant fleet was the heavy cruiser and the battlecruiser. The entire fleet focused on the heavy cruiser, ripping into it with every torpedo and plasma beam they had. The ship appeared to be turning to retreat, but they had burned through the ship's shields and were able to take out its engines.

Despite that, a slipspace portal opened at the front of the heavy cruiser as it still tried to make a jump. But the lack of engines, and the damage to the slipspace drive caused the portal to rip the ship apart. The final Ket-pattern battlecruiser was able to make a successful retreat.

"Endo, report," Fural said, staring at the display in front of him after the Covenant's retreat.

"We're down four heavy corvettes, and two light cruisers," Endo said. "Prophet of Doom has significant hull damage, Sacred Provenance's point defence systems are offline. No count on how many fighters lost yet."

Fural sat back in his chair with a certain feeling of devastation setting in. They had lost six ships to a fleet of four, and two ships were significantly damaged. Even though the Covenant retreated, the battle didn't feel much like a victory.

"How are we doing?" Fural asked.

"No hull damage…" Endo said. "There was a fire in the reactor, stealth systems seem to have overloaded. Easy to Drift has already dealt with it."

"Good," Fural sighed. "Open a channel to the Sacred Provenance. I must speak to the Hidden Blade."

Endo complied, and they waited for Raku to answer their call. It would be a few minutes of silence before the assassin finally answered.

"Blade of Ages… 'Nasamai, is that you?" Raku asked.

"Yes," Fural replied. He thought about what he wanted to ask, realising he didn't know how to ask it. "The mission… does this stop us from going forward with it?"

The assassin's response was delayed, he too seemed to doubt that their mission could be a success now.

"We have no choice," Raku said. "We will continue with the mission. We cannot let the Supreme Crusader get away."

"I understand," Fural said. "We are prepared to continue the fight."

"Good. Before we go, I must request something of your crew."

"What is it?"

"I need to see Kel 'Dauram. In person."

Fural glanced behind him at Kel, who had been standing at the back of the control room for the whole battle. He seemed a little confused at first, but he seemed to figure what Fural had figured. This had something to do with the Assembly.

"Very well," Fural said. "Kel will be on his way to join you."

Raku gave no response before the connection dropped.

"I can fly myself there," Kel said as he turned to leave the control room.

Fural nodded, and let him go.

"Check our systems again, make sure we're not damaged," Fural said to Endo as he stood up from his chair and left the control room.

Now that the battle had ended, a tension that had set in Fural's muscles slowly lifted. He hadn't realised how stressed he was until after the fighting was over, which wasn't much different to how he usually felt. It was just that it somehow felt different. A naval battle was significantly different from the kinds of battle he was used to. And as much as he enjoyed ripping apart the enemy with his sword, or watching them fall with a shot to their head, he felt he enjoyed the thrill of sitting in the control room even more. It wasn't any safer than any other kind of combat, and he felt like he had been able to do far more with his ship than with his sword.

Fural remained in the hall outside the control room, letting his body relax. The door opened, and out stepped Jors, who didn't seem nearly as tense. After all, the pilot was a lot more experienced in naval combat than Fural was.

"That was good flying," Fural said to his friend.

"You held up well yourself," Jors said. "I had not expected you to take the job of a shipmaster."

"Neither had I," Fural admitted. "That was... an experience."

"Indeed. Perhaps you have found your calling."

"I wouldn't say that yet," Fural said. "My calling is to be a warrior. Whether it is on the ground, or in the control room."

"Then maybe you are among the best of us," Jors said.

Fural looked at his friend in disbelief when he heard the truth to his words. Even if he didn't doubt himself as much as he had in the past, he never thought of himself as being the best.

"The best warriors can fight anywhere, at any time," Jors said. "The more they do, the better they become."

"You sound just like my brother," Fural said.

"I may have picked up on some of his wisdom," Jors said with a soft chuckle. "But it is true. In the coming battle, and the war, we need the best warriors. We need you to show the enemy what we're made of."

Fural nodded, taking in his friend's words. There would be a lot more losses in the coming mission now with the state the fleet was in, but that didn't matter to Fural, that changed nothing for him. He would be ready for the fight, like he always was.