Chapter 20: Uncomfortable Surprises
Shress POV
As Shress awakened from her slumber, she could feel her suitor's muscled arm wrapped around her middle, his front pressed into her back. The warmth she felt was blissful, as for once in her life she felt the comfort and safety that only a male could bring. Her male. Her Michael.
With careful movements she slowly turned around in his arms, and peered at his relaxed face. For the first time since she had met him, it appeared as if all the stress that he felt during the battle for the human planet of Reach had gone as he slept so peacefully.
Mindful of her claws, she gently brushed his fur. She felt happy being held by him, and just to be here with him made her throat thrum.
'He called it purring did he not? I wonder if human females do it too.'
She couldn't help but continue, pondering her situation. Out of all her past suitors not a single one of them made her feel this way. If only he would stay. There was one thing that she feared would push him away. After all, it had pushed all the others away.
'No! We have been through so much together. He would not just leave me for that… Would he?'
Despite herself her mind flicked back into the past as she absentmindedly ran her hand down his chest.
'Just like all the others, right?'
Her own thoughts began to taunt her, filling her heart with the cold dread of uncertainty.
'No.' Slightly tightening her hold on Michael, feeling reassured simply by his solid presence, 'He is different. He has shown more honor and care for me than any other.'
Shress was brought out of her thoughts by Michael's arms tightening around her waist. She watched as he took a deep breath, his single mouth widening into a yawn and his eyes slowly blinking open, still unfocused from the restful slumber.
He looked up to her, his forest green eyes locking onto her metallic silver slits. He smiled.
"Now there is a sight I can get used to seeing in the morning."
Shress can't help but smile back before she sat up and stretched her muscles a bit. She could feel Six's eyes on her but he made no move to act on what he saw. She saw no harm in it. In fact, she liked it. No other male had ever acted like this to her.
'If he is looking, that means I must be appealing to him… I hope,' She thought, a warm flush appearing on her face.
"Are you hungry, or do you want me to show you where the bathroom is so you can shower?"
"I would like to groom myself if I could. We have spent some time on this ship and I believe that I am starting to smell." She sniffed herself and her mandibles twitched in disgust. "I can eat afterwards," She added.
Michael swung his feet off the bed and stood up before gesturing for Shress to follow him. As she scrambled with the covers, she looked over to see that Michael had reached the portal to the main hallway. He quickly typed something in the keypad next to the door, and with a gentle hiss, the door opened and they both stepped out.
They walked to the crew's quarters and stepped inside. Six pointed to the door that contained the three basins Shress had seen before. The door seemed to open from his gesture and slid open.
"Here is the bathroom. If you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask."
Shress watched him walk towards the dining area before she entered the room, hearing the hiss of the door shutting behind her. She headed further into the room, and took a quick glance around. It appeared the same as the last time she'd inspected the compartment. Inside were the three basons, one that stood on a ledge that was far too small for her, another that stood low enough that she could awkwardly sit on it, and a third that was just barely big enough for her to fit inside with her legs stretched.
'This must be the grooming station,' She thought as she examined what she now realized was the 'shower' Michael was talking about.
On a shelf next to the cleaning station were some fluffy cloth squares that were folded neatly inside of a cabinet with glass doors, somehow undisturbed by the slipspace jumps that the ship had undergone not three days ago. Intrigued, she opened the drawer. There were some scented soaps wrapped in some kind of foil thrown haphazardly on top of the disheveled towels. She picked one up and sniffed it, letting out a satisfied grunt and finding the scent alien yet pleasing.
She turned to examine the shower. It had a small spout above that, if she crouched down slightly, she could fit under. There were two small handles inside, one blue and one red, and a few small shelves where she could store some of the soaps she had found when she wasn't using them.
Decision made, she stripped herself of her roughly made clothing, used her talons to rip her way into one of the foiled soaps, and opened the glass door, before squeezing herself inside. She growled when she hit her head on the spout above, forcing some cold unused droplets to rain down onto her head.
As she shivered slightly, she glanced down to look at the small colored knobs below her: red or blue.
'The humans have a habit of making their off and broken switches red, so blue must mean activate,' She thought. With care, she took a talon and pressed down on the middle of the oddly shaped blue protrusion.
Nothing happened.
Growling, she nudged it with a bit more force and noticed that it turned a bit. With the realization that she must turn it, she took two fingers and violently twisted the nob .
Freezing cold water sprayed down from above and drenched her before she could react. With a yelp she threw the glass door open, forming a small crack where it slams against the cabinet before stumbling in a frenzy out of the basin and onto the floor.
As she laid there, freezing cold droplets of water falling from her skin onto the cold metal floor, her surprise turned into a burning hot fury. She let loose a vicious snarl that would intimidate even the most hardened of warriors.
The knob predictably remained unthreatened by her show of aggression.
Her threatening snarl turned into a groan of frustration.
She yelled, "Curse you humans! Why must you make things color coded! No text or command button I can press!"
For just a moment, she wished that she was on one of her people's ships, if only to groom without uncomfortable surprises. Getting up from the metal floor, she quickly turned the blue dial back to the off position, and attempted the red one. Within a few units, steam began to filter out of the small stall. She carefully stuffed herself back into the enclosure, allowing the now hot water to wash over her. She let out a small sigh.
'That's much better. It's been far too long since I have washed myself.' She blanched as she thought back to how long it had been since she had last groomed herself, 'Has it really almost been a full cycle?'
With a renewed vigor, she grabbed one of the rougher cloth squares, lathered it with the scented soaps, and began to scrub her body down. Unconsciously she began to purr, the feeling of warmth from the water and of the course cloth scrubbing away the loose dirt that had managed to get through her armor. She relished in the feeling of being clean after so many missions without the ability to groom herself, her troubled thoughts seeming to flow down the drain with the dirt and grime.
After a few minutes of washing herself with rough motions, her skin now blushing a light blue all over, she stepped out of the shower. Standing there slowly dripping; she turned around and used a talon to turn off the water.
Glancing around the room for a device to dry herself, she spotted the cabinet with the larger towels within it. Shrugging, she grabbed one of the fluffy cloth squares and began wiping herself down, hoping that this was the intended use of the cloth.
Now fully dry, she looked around for her poorly made clothing which she left on a small shelf earlier. Lifting it to her muzzle, she took a sniff. She can smell her scent faintly but it did not smell too unclean yet.
'If this trip takes much longer I will need to make more clothing,' She thought to herself. 'There must be more gray cloth somewhere on this ship.'
With care of her talons, she began to dress herself before opening the door and walking outside the bathroom. As she walked down the hallway toward the bedroom, she could hear the water running in Michael's room. Realizing he was using the small washroom attached to the officers quarters, she decided to wait for him to finish.
She began to walk aimlessly around the prowler, until she found herself standing in front of the portal leading to the room with the strange blue beds. Typing in the jumble of numbers that Michael taught her, the entryway opened. With the sounds of her footsteps, the only noise to break the sound of the prowler's engine humming, she walked through the door and began to investigate the room more closely.
Immediately her eyes zeroed on the strange pod beds scattered along the majority of the walls along the sides of the room and she decided to take a bit of a closer look at them. Upon approaching the contraption, she realized that there were some red monitors next to them with words flashing along the screen. After a second she manages to interpret the strange letters.
"Warning! Cryo Pod disabled."
With a grunt, she turned her attention to the now named 'Cryo Pod.' It appeared to look the same as the last time she examined it. The beds are lined up against the walls, their blue insides remained cool and felt slightly damp when she put her claw tip against it. It was made out of a blue transparent material that formed to her touch, yet retained its shape once left to itself.
'I'm going to have to ask Michael about what that blue squishy stuff is.I have never seen anything like it in all the planets I have visited.'
Satisfied with her investigation, she turned her attention to the rest of the room. There appeared to be a rather large mess scattered around her—a large amount of debris and machinery strewn about.
As she walked down the aisles of beds, her foot brushed a wire that trailed across the floor. She saw that there were a large amount of papers dotting along the far edge of the room, which appeared to be the origin of the mess. She can also see that along the far wall, there appeared to be a table half full of objects ranging from more wires and machinery, to books to a small bolted down container.
Curiosity filled her as she made her way over to the strange assortment of objects, the papers and dust crunching under each step. There was a strange picture of the slipspace drive that she had fixed earlier. Once she made it to the desk, she grabbed one of the stacks of bound paper.
'Maybe the answers are within some of these archives.'
With a mental shrug she flipped a few of the papers around with a talon and attempted to read them. She instantly could tell she would not be able to understand it with her limited understanding of human writing. The only thing the papers had in common was an odd black and white pyramid symbol with a circle in the middle and the letters 'UNSC' over it. A growl escaped her mandibles. Perhaps Michael could translate it.
She set one of the papers back onto the desk and took a look at the small container bolted down to the desk. It had a screen with more of the symbols she recognized as the human numerical system. She tried to use the code Michael had given her, but like the box where she found the clothes, it blinked red and remains locked. Tilting her head slightly, she attempted the code once more, only to receive the same response.
Frustrated, she clipped her sword once more and began to work on the small metal box. Within a few moments, there was a neat line encircling the top, and with a careful nudge with her hand, the top was separated.
She nearly dropped her sword at what she found. Sitting cradled in a padded enclosure, wrapped in a very fine red cloth appears to be a softly glowing orange crystal. It seemed to hum with a power of its own. She recognized the object from her time as a zealot scouring the galaxy for similar artifacts. This was a Forerunner slipspace crystal, the kind found within the center of the gods' shuttles that the Covenant had found occasionally. Immediately her heart picked up pace as age-old instincts took over.
'What a glorious find! I must bring this back to the Proph–'
Her thoughts died in their place as she realized her situation. Her whole life, any time an artifact left behind by the Gods was found, it was to be brought before the San'Shyuum for study. Now what should she do? She was an exile who chose the company of a human over her own people. She was staring down at a holy artifact, yet she had no idea what to do with it.
Making sure it was safely secured, she carefully placed the now cooled down top half of the box back over it. Wishing to at the very least find some answers, she began to look through the human papers scattered across the floor. After a few moments of scanning over blue sheets of paper and scattered machine parts, her gaze landed on another one of the small bound archives that Michael had called a book.
She reached down to pick it up. Quickly opening it and scanning the first page, she realized that unlike all the other sheets of paper around, this one seemed to have been written by hand. She recognized a few of the words: 'Crystal. Artifact. Not Covenant. Unknown properties.'
She snorted in amusement, 'Obviously it has unknown properties to you. You humans don't even know how to properly manipulate gravity yet, let alone slipspace!'
On another page she found some hand drawn pictures of what appears to be the crystal, some machines, and the human slipspace drive that she repaired. Wanting to find more answers, she shut the book with a small thump, and decided that she would get answers through the only one who could actually give them to her. With that thought, she walked through the small debris field around the desk and made her way out into the hall towards the officers quarters.
Once she reaches the door, she types in the code and the portal whooshes open. After waiting for a unit, she can tell that the water from the small bathroom attached to the bedroom is not running. Realizing that Michael has had enough time to groom himself, she begins to walk toward that room, seeing the door is slightly open. Thinking nothing of it as she closed the distance, once she peered in, she saw something that stopped her in her tracks.
From the look of it Michael had just gotten out of the shower, but that was not what had frozen her.
He was half-naked.
Realizing this is the first time she has seen him without a shirt, her face immediately began to warm, yet for some reason she could not look away. He was in front of one of the small raised basins with nothing but a small white towel covering his lower regions, peering into a reflective glass as he took a small object and ran it along his face. Almost against her will, her eyes traced his form, able to get a good view of him while he was distracted. His muscles were more defined then a male of her species would have been, the skin being more malleable and less tough, looking as if they were chiseled from stone yet he had always moved with the grace of a dancer.
As her eyes drew lower she was able to admire the differences in her suiter's core muscles compared to those of a Sangheili. instead of the wave-like pattern that she herself has, he has eight bulging muscles on his abdomen.
Realizing she was pervertedly ogling the male she began a courtship with not even two days ago like a harlot, she felt embarrassed and forced her eyes away from the scene. For some reason her body wanted to turn back around and continue to look, but her pride would not allow it. She turned around and as silently as she could, made her way back to the door before making it back out into the main passageway before closing the door. The moment she did so she regretted it as the hatch loudly swooshed shut, making her twitch her mandibles in annoyance.
'He definitely heard that,' She thought to herself, her face blushing.
With a haste that only came from frayed nerves, she quickly made her way to the dining room, the book in her hand long forgotten. She felt confused and disgusted with herself. Remembering all the lessons she had with her mother about courting, she knew that she should not have stolen such a look of that nature at Michael without his knowledge, as it was the male who was supposed to initiate such actions. Since it was her, a female, she would now be seen as impatient and dishonorable if he found out and she did not tell him.
'I must tell him.'
Her face lost its blush and she felt her two hearts skip a beat. She sat down onto the couch attempting to mentally prepare herself for his angry outburst, yet finding herself falling short. She did not want him angry at her, but what she was taught was clear.
'My family would be ashamed of me yet again.'
Six POV
Michael could hear Shress's light footsteps fading softly in the distance as she made her way to the door.
'She must have seen me,' he thought to himself, quickly glancing at the slightly open door. He felt nervous—what did she think of him?
'Did she see me naked when I stepped out of the shower earlier? Did she like what she saw? What if I am ugly to her?'
The door to the main passageway let out a loud hiss as it shut, causing the Spartan to chuckle. If she had been attempting to be stealthy, she should have left the door open. Even though he would have noticed her either way, he hadn't lived as long as he did by letting his guard down after all.
Swiftly, he dried himself off with one of the towels he found before putting it into a small storage container in the wall that had been designed to automatically wash the laundry. He reached down for his clothes and brought them up to his nose, smelling them, hoping they had been clean enough to keep wearing. They didn't seem to smell too bad.
Six began dressing himself in what seemed to him to be the smallest clothes that could possibly fit him, before he made his way to the door of the washroom, his shirt stretching to its limit as he reached for the open hatch. With a few presses of the keypad, it slid open before he stepped into the bedroom.
Glancing over to the bed, he remembered what happened last night. All other times they slept together in the bed, Shress was timid and unsure, but once they reached the bed last night, she was all over him. He began to feel warmth blossoming up in his chest once more as the feeling of her crawling over to him and the two of them embracing each other with no hesitation filled him with an emotion he, a Spartan, never thought he would feel.
Contentment.
He looked over to the burnt out remains of his MJOLNIR armor, remembering each battle he was in while wearing it. Insurrectionist terrorists, Covenant invasions, assassination missions… Before now, that was all he had ever known. The only memories that were not of combat and war were the very few memories he had from before he "volunteered," but now? Here on this prowler with Shress, Six was not a Spartan. He was someone else—someone happier.
In the moments before he fell asleep with her, he did not wish to rush into battle as it would just bring him away from her embrace. He did not want to put his armor on as it would just be another barrier between the two of them, and he didn't even wish to have a gun as he trusted her with his life.
He walked over to the bed and put his hand on where her pillow was, completely undisturbed from where it lay the day before. It took a second before Six realized that this was because she used him as a replacement cushion. He began to wish for the company of his otherworldly companion even more now.
His military training kicked in as he began to make the bed, only taking a few seconds for him to complete the small chore. Taking the time to reorganize his thoughts, he examined his handiwork before turning to the hatch leading out into the passageway.
Typing in the code, the door slid open and he started down the hallway, stomach growling as he thought about breakfast. Within a few seconds he found himself at the closed door that leads into where he was sure Shress was.
He tried to loosen up his body and relax his mind. 'This conversation should be interesting,' he thought to himself as he entered the rec room.
After a moment of scanning the room, Six's eyes landed on Shress's slouched form. Judging from how she was wringing her hands and her twitching mandibles, it appeared as if she was extremely nervous about something. He hadn't realized her anxiety over what had happened earlier this morning far outstripped his own.
With quiet steps, he walked over to the spot next to her and took a seat. Throughout it all, she refused to even look in his direction, remaining in her distressed state. He could even hear her slightly talking to herself, catching only whispers and unable to make out any words. Minutes passed between the two of them while neither knew what to say as he wanted her to work out whatever it was that was tormenting her. Every time the two met eyes, they both looked away with a blush, each remembering exactly why the situation was awkward. Neither of the two soldiers knew how to start the conversation.
With a rumbling growl that filled the space between them, she stood up and began to pace around the room, seemingly at random. Six sat there a bit confused as to what she was doing before she turned and looked at him, her mandibles moving as if she were speaking but no noise came out.
Feeling slightly worried for her, Six decided to speak up.
"Michael I–"
"Shress–"
They both began speaking at the same time, causing the awkward feeling in the room to somehow increase. In the quietness that followed once they both stopped speaking, the engine's constant hum filled the silence as the two of them then gestured at each other with a hand.
"You go first," They said in tandem.
'Damn this is going to be harder than I thought!' Michael grimaced as he looked at the blushing Zealot before him, before she took a breath in and began speaking once more.
"Michael, I am so sorry." She stopped pacing the room and looked at him, arms straight at her side and back stiff. "While you were grooming, I saw you before you managed to get yourself fully covered. My ancestors would be so ashamed of my actions towards you once I found out that you were not yet clothed. I have acted shamefully and am unworthy of calling myself your suitor." At this, she knelt down and lowered her head close to the floor. "Please forgive me, Michael, for my dishonorable actions. I will accept any punishment you deem fit to gain your forgiveness."
"Wait, what?" Six replied, the mental whiplash eliminating his nervousness.
Shress, her eyes still locked on the floor at his feet, said "It is profoundly shameful for me to have seen you grooming yourself in nothing but a simple cloth wrap."
Six just sat on the couch, staring at the near-prone Sangheili before him in shock, though he tried his best not to let his face show it. Of all the things he expected when he woke up this morning, this was not it. Obviously, she crossed some sort of cultural boundary that he had no idea about, and he honestly had no idea how to deal with it.
After a moment, Six realized he was sitting there dumbfounded and needed to say something to the emotionally distraught Sangheili. He opened his mouth to try and comfort her, "Shress." The moment her name left his lips, Shress appeared to press herself closer to the floor, obviously assuming he was going to dish out some kind of punishment or something. Michael grimaced as he looked at the prostrating Zealot before him.
With an unsure glance to the side, Six thought hard, 'How am I even supposed to comfort her right now?'
At this, Michael began to feel nervous, realizing that the situation he had found himself in was a lot more delicate than he originally thought. Choosing his next words carefully, he began in a soft voice, "Actually, Shress, I don't think I have any right to find any fault in what you did."
Slowly, she pushed herself up from her position on the floor, sitting back onto her folded legs as her head tilted in obvious confusion. Before she could reply with the question that was sure to be on her mind, he began speaking again.
"It really is not as serious as you think it is, Shress. I mean, it's not like I was fully naked. I had a towel on at least." He said with a chuckle. Leaning back into his seat, he continued to think about what she said.
'Does it really matter anyway?' The Spartan thought to himself, thinking back to his days training with his fellow Beta Company spartans. 'Modesty was literally beaten out of us all a long time ago.'
Looking down and seeing Shress glancing up at him from the cold metal floor of the Prowler, Six wanted nothing more in that moment than to help her back to her feet. Yet, this seemed as if it was something that she needed to work through on her own.
"In your culture is it not dishonorable for someone to see their suitor unclothed before they have been mated?" She said, her voice sounding so small for someone who had persevered through so much. Six understood some of the rigorous formality that made up the Sangheili customs and culture, but this was quite a stretch for him. After all, what real culture did he have?
"I wouldn't know."
Shress slowly stood up in front of him, her seven-foot form towering over him like a vengeful goddess of war.
"What do you mean?" Shress slowly questioned, her eyes slightly narrowed..
It was at that point Six started to realize he might be in danger of bodily harm here, so he again tried to choose his words carefully. "During my training, I was grouped up with a lot of other spartans," He flushed at the memory.
"What about it?" Her tone remained neutral as she took a few steps closer, towering over his still seated form, the overhead light behind her outlined her form as her shadow engulfed Six.
'She's going to make me say it.' He took a deep gulp as he continued, "I was bunked with other…" Thinking about the right terms, he decided to proceed with the most clinical terms he could, almost as if he was reporting to a superior officer.
'Did I really just call her a superior in my mind?' he admonished himself before mentally shaking himself off. 'Get it together Six, you are losing it.'
"... Females." Shifting back and forth on his feet, he met her gaze unflinchingly. "Modesty to a Spartan isn't really considered to be a very high priority, Shress. We are trained not to pay much attention to such things as… it might distract from any mission we might have."
Her expression unreadable, she turned around and began to pace. Six sat there in silence as he waited for her to gather her emotions, watching in suspense as she turned to him and opened her mandibles, only to think better of it and continue her pacing.
Realizing that his words could be twisted to say he hadn't noticed her own beauty, Six immediately started to mentally panic, a trait he realized was quickly becoming a massive problem. Wanting nothing more than to reassure her, he spoke up without thinking again. "That doesn't mean I don't find you attractive! You are very beautiful and… I mean I–"
The confidence he gained not even a second ago was now completely gone, so he did the one thing that never failed him. He shut up, sat at attention and faced his eyes forward, forming the military thousand yard stare that every single soldier is taught. He was sure he looked like a complete idiot sitting there staring straight and unmoving as if she could only see him if he moved, but, if basic training taught him anything, it was to take your punishments like a Spartan.
Shress's figure loomed over him, form darkened due to the lighting behind her as she spoke, Six tightening his muscles in preparation. "You think… my form is attractive?"
"Yes, ma'am," He said. His voice did not squeak, and he would brutally murder anyone who said that it did.
Suddenly, Shress moved. Six was ashamed of himself, his eyes closed as he felt her form crash into his. Expecting pain, he was unprepared for the feeling of her swinging her arms around him, her long neck latching itself into the crook of his neck as she began to purr loudly, her throat pressed against his own causing the vibrations to cross over into his own body, massaging his tense muscles. Unconsciously relaxing into the embrace that she gave him, she began to nuzzle his neck lovingly and said, "I find you quite handsome as well, my suitor."
'What what?'
As Shress continued to hug him lovingly, Six's mind began to whirl at a mile a minute.
"Shress?"
She pulled herself a bit off of him as she sat down in his lap, arms over his shoulders and she placed her forehead against his, her sweet scent filling his nose.
"Yes?"
"Why did you think your actions were dishonorable, yet you are hugging me for doing the same?" He asked, legitimately confused.
She let out a loud laugh as she took a talon and began to run it through his hair lovingly. She laughed, "It is because you are a male. You cannot help it."
Six thought for just a moment, attempting to find out if he should be offended by that or not before deciding that he did not care. Everything is back to normal. He wrapped Shress up in his arms and pulled her closer to him, and they fell back onto the couch.
— UA —
They remained like that for what felt like hours. He felt the same feeling he had this morning: contentment. Eventually the two of them reluctantly got up and began to eat breakfast together, the muffled thumps of her jaws tearing the meat apart filling the room as Six finished one of the MREs he found. He glanced up to see her finish her meal and began to stand up, stretching her muscles out before moving back over to the couch. She sat on the furniture before moving a clawed hand to the empty spot next to her, looking at him expectantly. He smiled back at her, getting up to join her.
Upon reaching the couch, the two of them resumed their comfortable position, happiness filling his being as he kissed the one he has grown to care so much for.
'Life has never been this good.'
Suddenly, he got a feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that has saved his life countless times in the past. One that told him that he was missing something. With that thought, he broke off the kiss and reflexively scanned his surroundings, even though he knew for a fact that there was no one else on the ship.
His eyes nearly passed over a small worn-down notebook that seemed to have been dropped carelessly onto the floor next to the couch. There was the insignia for the Office of Naval Intelligence on the cover.
Six stiffened underneath Shress's hold, causing her claws to tighten as she swirled her neck around to look at their surroundings.
"Michael, what's wrong?"
He slowly dislodged himself from the couch, a feat by itself as he was sandwiched between the back cushions and a seven and a half foot alien who did not want him to move. Small growls of annoyance bubbled up from her throat as he swung his feet around and his bare feet met the cold metal floor.
Shress, her makeshift pillow now gone, lays down fully and stretches her legs out fully, clearing the side of the furniture by at least a foot.
Six bent down and picked up the book and gave the cover a quick examination, wondering where it came from. The book itself looked like a note pad of some kind, the ONI logo front and center, with no other indication of what it contained. Flipping the notebook around in his hands, the spine gives a bit more of a clue as to what it contains.
'Dr. H. Glassman. ONI Section Three, Beta Three Division, Study of Artifact T-190.'
Looking over to the Sangheili, who had her mandibles wide open in a yawn. He decides to speak up, "Shress, do you know anything about this?" He held up the notebook so she could see it clearly.
She turned to look at him, quickly spotting the book and blinking a few times, her eyes becoming unfocused, her mandibles twitching as she mumbled, "Oh, that! That's what I wanted to talk to you about before I became… distracted." Her face quickly became a dark indigo as she shifted her weight, jostling him in the process. "I was wondering if you could read it to me?"
Six looked back to the book in his hands, before looking back over to Shress.
"Where did you even find this?"
"I found it in the room with all the cryo pods. There were some papers and machinery that was thrown around by the slipspace jump, along with a–" Her eyes widening suddenly as she quickly jumped off of the couch, rushing out of the room, the claws of her feet clinking quickly against the floor.
"Shress? What's wrong?" Six stood up quickly and hurried after the panicked Sangheili, wincing a bit as he strained his injuries, yet he ignored it and continued on. He found Shress growling at the keypad to the door to the cryo bay as it made a sound that Six recognized as 'incorrect input.' Walking up behind her, he typed in the passcode and the door opened, revealing the cryo bay.
At first he did not see what mess she was talking about, but as his eyes scanned farther down the rows of cryo pods, he saw it. The mess started about halfway from the end of the large compartment. The far end of the room has the majority of the clutter as it appeared as if a small tornado had been through it. Wires, screws, assorted tools, and machinery were scattered across the floor. Before he could even think about what all of this equipment and paperwork's purpose could be, Shress was moving once more, brushing past him without a word and heading straight to a desk he was sure was not there the last time he was in this prowler. She reached a small box and lifted off the top, covering the top of her form in a bright orange glow.
Thoroughly confused at this point, Six made his way to the desk, carefully avoiding all the wires and sharp objects that shress just barreled through, jealous at how tough her feet were. He reached her just in time to see her grab the box and pull out something. It was wrapped in what appears to be velvet cloth and is emanating light by itself, but other than that he couldn't even guess what it is, as it was obviously not natural.
"Shress, what is that?"
"This is one of our God's artifacts," She whispered. "It is a crystal used in the center of their spacecraft to aid in travel through slipspace. They are incredibly rare, even amongst the Covenant. They are only seen when one of their creations has been disassembled for study. I have only ever seen one before, and it boosted the speed of the craft it was placed into near instantaneous speeds." She examined the crystal in her hands as it glowed through the fibers of the fine cloth, her talons curled around it gently, before her fingers relaxed, and she delicately placed it back into the container. "This is a very powerful artifact and should not be kept in a small metal box on a shelf."
Six looked back down to the book, then over to the advanced equipment surrounding him, starting to realize that their getaway vehicle might have a few more secrets than he originally thought.
Looking back up to Shress, he realized she had a bit of a stormy look on her face. Attempting to cheer her up a bit, he reached up and touched Shress's arm, trying to get her attention.
"Shress?"
She looked away from the glowing crystal, her foul look disappearing as eyes locked onto his. "Yes Michael?" She replied.
"I think it would be a good idea to figure out what all this stuff is." He waved a hand absentmindedly over the scattered equipment around them. "After all, you did want me to read this book. Though I doubt it will be as interesting as the last one."
Shress laughed a bit as she made her way to the door, yet again stepping through wires, screws, and tools without a care in the world. She made it to the door and turned around, only to see Six tip toeing through the minefield of small pointy objects. "Michael? Are you okay?"
"Yes, why?" His focus completely on the floor below him as he navigated through the room.
"You seem to be having a bit of trouble walking, are you hurt?" She asked, concerned. She began to walk back over to him, yet again carelessly ignoring every twisted piece of shrapnel scattered on the floor.
"Shress, humans have very tender feet. If I step on one of these." he gestured to one of the small pointy objects on the ground around him. "It would sting a bit," He reluctantly admitted.
Shress stopped her approach, looked down to his feet, then back up to him, before she began laughing. Despite himself, Six rolled his eyes at the near hysterical Sangheili in front of him, his own lips twitching at the corners at the sight.
'At least someone's happy about the situation.'
Resigned to making some progress while she regained her breath, he made his way towards the door, face burning.
Her laugh quieted down before she spoke up, voice still tinged with mirth, "Imagine that? The mighty demon warriors, the greatest enemy of the Covenant's biggest weakness is someone stepping on your toes." Her melodic whistle-like laugh increased in volume along with the rising red tide covering his face
Becoming angry with her teasing, he fully turned his attention to her which turned out to be a grave mistake as the moment his attention leaves the floor, he stepped with his full weight on a small screw.
He was a Spartan III supersoldier. He had fought through droves of rebels and Covenant soldiers, been beaten with shock batons, drowned, shot, stabbed, and burned. He had been trained to ignore all manner of pain and suffering without even flinching, and no manner of torture could break him.
But damn did that hurt.
Striking this one up as a loss for humanity, he returned his attention to the floor and swiftly got out of the debris field, quickly making it through the door with a still giggling Shress following close behind.
The two of them seemed to have regained control of their emotions by the time they returned to the rec room, as they both sat down side by side on the couch and six brought the book into focus.
'The contents of this are most likely classified far beyond me, even looking at it might get me court-martialed,' He thought for only a moment before he felt Shress lean her body against him, her body warmth bleeding through the small amount of clothing between the two of them. 'Well, wouldn't be the first thing now would it?'
The silence grew between them as Michael began to read, the vast majority of the technical details of the journal going over his head, but some key phrases sticking out, 'Babd Catha forerunner vessel' 'Doctor Halsey not notified' and 'Classified tier one' being chief among them.
With every minute that passed his expression grew more confused and disturbed, causing him to stop reading in order and just quickly skim through the journal, reading a bit from each page. Once he reached the last page he read the hastily written words on the page for a moment before shutting it with a soft thump and placing it on the couch next to him. Michael sighed before putting the book down and putting his head in his hands.
'We couldn't just get a normal prowler, could we?'
"Michael, what's wrong? What does it say?"
He sighed before looking slightly up at her.
"It's a science journal from someone named Doctor Henry Glassman. It says that the structure under the ice on reach was actually a crashed Forerunner ship that was being studied for some years now. A while ago they found the slipspace drive, but didn't know how it worked, so they cracked it open and found the crystal." Taking a moment to process everything, something stood out from what he read. Looking over to the Sangheili next to him, he reached over and took her hand in his, saying, "Shress, you said you have seen our slipspace drives before. Did you notice anything different about this one?"
Peering over his shoulder, she waited a while before responding, "It was a bit different I suppose, there were some components that I had not seen the last time, but it still appeared to be rather primitive. Why?" She finished, her head tilted in curiosity.
"This prowler was used in an experiment by ONI in an attempt to speed up our slipspace capabilities. The doctor studied a forerunner slipspace drive and attempted to replicate it, or at the very least boost our own drives with what he learned from it." He picked up the worn notebook and placed a finger on one of the frayed edges of the book, before returning his attention to the Sangheili next to him. "The doctor spent years trying to figure it out and used this ship as the next test for it, and you made it work with no tools in less than ten minutes. ONI would do anything to know how you did that Shress, that's amazing."
She rubbed a hand over her arm, embarrassed, before her attention returned to the book. "What does it say about the crystal?" She asked, her voice tinged with concern as she patiently waited for Six's reply.
"The Doctor studying it had no idea what its purpose was, as every test he did on it came back with inconsistent readings. It was placed on his workbench until he could come up with a breakthrough." He said, remembering the coffee stains on the pages where the crystal was mentioned, the doctor was obviously perplexed by the object. "Then the glassing began and they were forced to evacuate. Due to the crystal's odd energy readings, they were not sure that a normal slipspace drive would work correctly around it and the slipspace drive in the prowler wasn't operational, so they left it back on Reach."
Six noticed that Shress was staring off at the far wall, deep in thought. Just looking at her, Six began to see Shress in a new light. She was brilliant and didn't even know it. What she knew, if she shared it with humanity, could save millions of lives and easily buy her a ticket to getting her asylum with humanity. With this new plan hatching into his mind, he realized this could be her chance to not end up imprisoned in some ONI black site, but before he could voice his idea, she spoke up.
"I have devoted all of my life to the prophets Michael. I have fought for them in glorious combat, searched ancient ruins and temples for them, and killed so many all for a cause that has revealed itself to be false." Her voice was grave, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. "What do I have left if all I have fought for is a lie? What was I searching for if what I found went to thieves? How do I forgive myself, let alone ask your people for forgiveness for those that have died by my sword?"
Tears welled up and slid down her face, landing on the deck. As he saw the one he had grown to care for in such a state, a pang of sadness filled him and his throat clenched. He quickly closed the small distance between them and wrapped her in a deep embrace, hoping that his mere presence would break her out of the sadness she had fallen into. She stiffened before relaxing and returned the hug, rubbing her clawed hand through his hair once more, a soft melancholy sigh escaping her lips.
After a few moments, Shress began to speak up once more, her mandibles brushing the top of Six's head as she talked, "Michael, I am worried about what will happen once we arrive. Your people have ample reason to despise my people, and I am not so innocent myself."
Six broke the hug, and moved one of his hands to her cheek, wiping away the small trail of water that had fallen from her eye with his thumb. "Shress, what was done in the past is over and can't be changed. Do not worry about what you did or what you were but what you can become, and what you can do now. In case you have forgotten," he bumped his forehead against hers, "I am human, and I forgave you a long time ago. Even after all the Covenant has done to me, I can still see clearly that you are the most honorable person I have ever met, Sangheili or otherwise, because even though it was all you have ever known, you refused to be a part of it. At the top of that spire on Reach I saw you for who you were, and that is someone who wants to do the right thing, even if it costs you your life to do it. For that, you may not have what you did before, but I will always be here for you."
Tears stopped falling from her face, but before six could even comment on it, her mandibles closed and she smashed her lips against his, kissing him as the two of them fell back onto the couch, once again enjoying each other's presence, completely lost to everything except the small world around them.
Shress La'Vdam POV
Suddenly, Shress jerked awake as Michael jumped up, a familiar piercing whistle filling the air. Shress chewed her mandibles as the painful whistling continued before it finally ended.
She turned to Michael who appeared to have calmed down as well and she asked, "Michael, are we arriving?"
He gave a deep sigh and he looked at her with loathing in his eyes, "Yes. We will be exiting slipspace soon."
Shress felt multiple emotions starting to fill her. Disappointment, irritation, but mostly fear. She knew they were heading to earth, the original home of the human race. She had been comforted by her suitor not too long ago, but now with the moment arriving, she felt a sort of doubt beginning to take over yet again.
She remembered what she had done, destroying planets, killing thousands and all for a false cause, her very name engraved into the grave of millions of humans. Would the humans be as quick to forgive as Michael has?
As if sensing her discomfort, her human suitor walked towards her and wrapped her in a hug. She eagerly returned it, but couldn't help feeling a bit foolish. She was a Zealot, one of the best warriors her society could produce, yet here she needed the reassurance of her suitor as if she was just a weak house mistress.
Michael pulled back and looked her in the eye as he said, "Every so often, we all could use some reassurance to get through this hard life."
Shress felt her mandibles form a smile. She had no idea how he did it, but he always knew what to say. He smiled in return and leaned down and they shared a kiss. After a few moments though, the same irritating whistle sounded through the compartment, and they broke apart.
Michael shifted his weight around as he said, "I'm going to have one last look around and see if I can find anything more… presentable that I can wear."
Shress smiled teasingly at him, it is true she supposed, he does look a little…unprepared for an audience. His feet were still bare, there's a strange aroma starting to set into his clothing and the combination of the long sleeve garment and short lower clothing does look ridiculous on his large frame.
"Alright, but you still look handsome to me."
Michael's face turned red slightly as he turned to leave. Their intertwined hands soon fell away as he walked out, but not before he casted her one last smile before the door sealed them from each other.
Shress sighed as she sat back down, trying to keep herself from worrying as she pondered her new life. Will it be any better than the old life she left behind? How will humanity view her? Would she be allowed to fight beside them on the field of battle?
She shivered at the thought of fighting against her own people. Could she do it and did she want to? Shress shook her head, she was a warrior, but now she had no idea who it was she was fighting for. Finally she got up and headed to the door, she needed something to do to keep her mind occupied.
—UA—
Shress carefully eased her helmet on and looked to the mirror she found in the closet where she stored her armor. She looked no different than any other time she had worn her Zealot armor, but she knew just from a glance that she had changed simply by the way she was standing. She was no longer standing with confidence and honor, but with heavy shoulders and tired eyes. She had helped in a needless genocide.
She wondered what Michael was doing; the simple thought of him was enough to cause Shress to smile. She was ready to leave, but paused and looked at the mirror again. The sudden thought of Michael was enough to change her appearance; she saw a woman standing confidently with a smile on her face. She turned away, still smiling and headed out the door.
She walked down the hallway and entered the bridge. She had not set foot within the room for what felt like days, but everything seemed to be the same. The consoles still hummed, strange lights blinking on odd machinery and the screen showing the outside views as nothing but a black void.
Micheal was sitting at the main console, typing and reading off of it, working diligently no doubt. He was wearing the same top clothing, but now he wore a garment that wrapped around his individual legs, fitting, but like all other clothing it appeared to be too tight for him. She noticed his feet were now encased in the same metal footwear that he wore when he was in his Spartan suit.
Shress walked over next to Michael and tapped his metal foot with her own and said, "It appeared at least one piece of your armor has kept its function." She said, the laughter from the day before bubbling up.
Michael smirked at her and tapped her foot back as he said, "Well if I had some tough feet like yours then boots wouldn't be necessary."
She continued laughing as she sat next to him, "It's still hard to imagine that you, a Spartan, the most skilled warrior of your civilization, have tender feet."
The Spartan turned, probably to say something, but at that moment one of the consoles started to emit a series of noises, drawing his attention back forward. He tapped in some commands before leaning back in his seat and looked to Shress and said, "You might want to brace."
Shress pressed herself into the seat as best as she could while gripping the small arm like protrusions, but it was made for humans, not Sangheili. She tried pushing herself back from the console so her legs could have some more space when a small beeping noise began to sound. Knowing what was coming, Shress hung on tightly to the arms of the chair when there was a sudden flash on the screen and she shot forward when the craft came close to a complete stop.
Shress barely caught herself from falling out of her seat and so did Michael. They both repositioned themselves while Michael said, "Well, that went a bit better than last time."
Shress grumbled. The Spartan just chuckled while shaking his head before looking up and Shress followed suit. She had a hard time believing they were finally there.
A blue and green planet shone brightly in front of her. Large white swirling blobs creeped across it. The sun that the planet was orbiting was large and yellow. A smaller pale planet, probably a satellite, was positioned close to the primary planet, it appeared gray and as she focused closer on it, she could see artificial lights.
The human homeworld was not quite what she expected. Sanghelios is fairly large with three orbiting suns and two satellites attached with the surface mostly covered by scattered land masses between large bodies of water. She didn't think Earth was a complete duplicate of Sanghelios, but with the amount of effort the Covenant was using to find it she would have guessed it would at least look opposing. Instead this world appears peaceful, small, and non-hostile, the last place she would have expected the thriving and dangerous humans to originate from.
"So," Shress turned when she heard Michael talking to her, "What do you think?"
Shress smiled as she said, "It's not what I expected, but still, I haven't seen any other planet like it before."
Michael smiled once more before tapping some controls and he started to talk, but not to her, "Cairo station, this is Spartan B312, LW commando, I am coming in, ETA five minutes. Be advised I have a HVI with me. How copy, over?"
There was a heartbeat of silence before a response was heard.
"Spartan, this is Cairo station." A voice emitted from one of the console's devices, "How did you get here so fast, Reach fell just a week ago, over."
"Cairo, I have a HVI with me who has critical knowledge, both on the Covenant and slipspace science. I can fill in the blanks later, but I'm requesting permission to land, over."
There's another moment of silence before the voice responds, "Roger that Spartan, come in for a landing, Cairo's CO will like to talk to you, over."
"Looking forward to it, see you in a few mikes, Spartan B312 out." Michael flicked more switches and the ship rocketed forward, heading towards the planet.
Shress waited a moment before turning and asking, "What's a HVI?"
Michael looked at her and grinned.
"It's an acronym, the letters stand for a word, 'HVI'. it means 'high valued individual,' which you are, to me anyway."
Shress feltherself become warm when she heard him say that before she looked down, feeling slightly embarrassed. Michael laughed before redirecting their course and they continued on.
Shress watched as they descended before asking, "So are we landing on Earth?"
The Spartan shook his head, "Not yet, we have to stop at Cairo station first so they can verify we are not a threat."
Shress let out a sigh, "That might be difficult for me to convince them of."
Michael reached across and took her hand as he said, "You're with me. I'm sure we can work something out."
Shress didn't say anything as they continued their journey, unsure of what else to say. As they neared the planet's surface, Shress was now able to see that there were a number of large objects floating in the atmosphere. She blinked her eyes a bit to make sure she was seeing correctly; there were dozens of the objects floating around in space, each as tall as a building and in the shape of massive guns.
"Those are Orbital Weapons Platforms," Michael explains when he sees her staring, "It's one of the few weapons we have that are effective against Covenant ships, there are about three hundred of them spaced out all over the planet."
"Impressive." Shress remarked. She had never seen any orbital defense system like this before. Then again Sanghelios had no need for defending its inhabitants, who had not been attacked in almost a thousand years now.
"Spartan, this is Cairo, do you read, over?" The same voice from earlier came through the console.
"Copy Cairo, what is it?" Responded Michael.
"I just sent you directions to hangar C-01, does your computer have lock on? Over."
Michael checked a terminal close to where he is sitting and said, "Affirmative, it's reading nice and clear Cairo, will be docking in one mike, over."
"Copy Spartan, Cairo out."
Shress breathed in an attempt to calm herself. From the sound of it, they had reached their destination. She felt something on her hand and looked down to see Michael clutching it once more while his green eyes looked into hers.
"It will be ok." He promised, "I won't let anything happen to you."
She wrapped her longer fingers around his and said, "I know."
They smiled at each other before looking back at the monitor. Slowly they approached one of the stations that grew larger and larger as they got closer. Soon Shress could fully see the size of the station. It's almost as big as a capital flagship standing on end. Lights flashed everywhere, all along the exterior and interior structure. She could see square panels on the sides, and after a moment of pondering, she realized they were windows. The area they were approaching appeared to be a solid wall when it suddenly began to unravel itself, revealing a large room with a large amount of equipment scattered around.
The shuttle slowed as it approached. Shress felt a jerk as they entered the superstructure. She looked up and watched in wonder as five mechanical arms lowered themselves from the ceiling and reached for their spacecraft. The ship shuddered, probably the robotic limbs grabbing hold of them. Delicately, the arms lowered the ship down to the floor and they landed with a soft thump.
For a while, both Shress and Michael sat there, as if waiting for the other to move.
Finally Michael stood, but instead of leading the way, he held his hand out to Shress. She peered at it curiously before she grabbed it once more. Slowly, Michael pulled her back to her feet and they stared at one another.
Shress gazed into his green eyes and he stared into her silver ones. He reached his hand up and ran it down her cheek and ended at her neckline. She hummed for a moment before leaning down and the two kissed. Michael wrapped her into a hug, running his hands up and down her back while Shress did the same, but she added running her hand through his black fur to her motions. They pulled apart, no longer embarrassed or feeling awkward; a feeling that Shress was grateful for.
Michel looked down briefly before looking up and said, "You are our ally now but… maybe now isn't a good time to tell others we are… together."
Shress thought for a unit before nodding in agreement. The humans will be reluctant to accept her as a friend, so finding out that she and Michael were now pursuing each other romantically might not help much either. Despite the end of their journey she suddenly felt her suitor stiffen beside her and craned his neck to stare behind them.
"Michael, what's wrong?"
"The ship," he responded in a strained voice, "It's got cameras. I'd completely forgotten about them."
"What is a camera?"
"They are recording devices. They would be watching anything that is happening on the ship."
Her face flushed to match the rising heat of her suitors as she realized the implications, of everything that had occurred, did so on record. She twisted around in his hug and saw the camera, an innocuous piece of black material tucked in the corner of the room.
"Can you do anything about them?"
Michael didn't respond verbally, instead he broke out of their hug and dropped back into the chair again. Shress saw him input various commands into the system and watched as various symbols appeared on the screen, until he eventually leaned back in what Shress hoped was relief.
"Michael?"
"We're alright, as best as I can tell without going into the files, there's no indication the cameras have drawn power, no change in stored data and nothing has been transmitted since before we left Reach and our contact with Cairo Station."
Seeing her quizzical look he elaborated.
"ONI's not stupid. If I attempted to access the camera recordings they'd know it and want to know why. So I do the next best thing: Have any of the cameras used power? Has any data been added that would correspond to video footage? Has anything at all been transmitted? All concealable as part of some 'good manner' checks that any conscientious operator would do to complete their shift." Here he flashed her a grin. "Especially since it has the welcome effect of covering them in-case something goes wrong in the near future. There could be remote cameras with their own data storage and power hidden away, but I doubt they'd do that on one of their own classified projects."
He stood up and she followed suit enjoying the resumption of their interrupted hug.
"There's no recordings then?"
"Nothing, as far as I can see."
They continued to stand close to one another while holding the other's arms, still gazing into each other's eyes before Michael sighs sadly and says, "We should go."
Shress nodded in agreement and said, "Lead the way."
Together they walk out of the control room and head to the primary hatch. Michael entered the same numeral code and they both stood back as it began to hiss and slowly start the process of opening.
While they waited, Michael looked at Shress and said, "I'm not too sure how people will react if they see you walking around with full combat armor on."
"I will not stand in the presence of others wearing rags."
Michael nodded but he leaned in close to her and said, "I know, but I don't think people will respond well if they see you like this."
Shress growled lightly, "If it's of any comfort, I left my weapons." She looked at him sharply, "Which I expect to receive back afterwards."
Michael smiled and nodded, "Of course, I'll retrieve them myself." He was silent for a minute before saying, "I just want to let you know, rags or armor, you're still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
Again Shress's breath was caught in her throat. It wasn't because he told her she looked beautiful, but because she heard the sincerity in his voice.
She wished she could reach out and kiss him again to show how great her feelings were for him, but the door opened and revealed the interior of the space station. Her jaws flared a bit at the unusual and strong smell that clouded the place. She smelled perspiration, strong aroma and some scent that reminded her of fuel cells. Michael looked around inquisitively as well.
Hesitantly they walked down the ramp, Michael leading the way, appearing more and more confused by the step. All of a sudden there was the sound of rushing feet and clanking metal. Stepping out of the shadows were dozens of humans in black body armor, all with weapons trained on them.
One of the humans stepped forward and held up a rifle and shouted, "Both of you, hands in the air!"